To help you get started on your journey, here are the key things you should know about how to dial in the best camera settings for your DSLR.

Quality control

When it comes to file formats, shoot in RAW rather than JPEG. The extra data that’s captured by shooting in the uncompressed RAW format gives you more flexibility to improve your shots post-shoot.

Try to keep light sensitivity as low as possible – between ISO100 and 400. Most cameras produce digital noise at higher ISO ratings. Noise looks like grain in your images.

As for white balance, you can leave it on auto, but you’ll become more confident at knowing when certain lighting conditions require you to switch to a specific setting, such as Cloudy or Tungsten.

Key controls
Aperture and shutter speed are crucial. The combination of these two settings affects not only the amount of light you let into the lens, but also the way your images look.

The aperture controls the depth of field by determining which areas of an image appear sharp. If you want a shallow depth of field, with a sharp foreground but blurred background, you need to select a wide aperture (such as f/2.8), and vice versa.

The shutter speed controls whether a moving object is frozen or blurred in your shot. The slower the speed, the more motion blur you’ll create.

Setting the right exposure mode
DSLRs offer a range of exposure modes, from fully automated – like a compact camera – to fully manual. Two popular ‘semi auto’ modes are Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority, which give lots of creative control.

Aperture Priority enables you to dial-in your chosen aperture and the camera automatically works out what shutter speed is needed. If you know what shutter speed you want to use to create a certain effect, Shutter Priority lets you select it.

The camera then works out the aperture you need for a correct exposure. Simple!

Get metering right
Metering modes depend on the camera and the brand, but the three most common on a DSLR are Multi-zone, Centre-weighted Average and Spot.

Multi-zone mode takes a light reading from across 
a whole scene. It’s suitable for everyday use and pretty accurate in most situations. Centre-weighted Average takes a reading that concentrates on around 70% of the centre of the frame and feathers out towards the edges. It’s ideal for shooting portraits.

Spot metering reads a tiny area of the scene and is therefore the most advanced and precise mode.

Setting the AF and Drive modes
To make your shots pin-sharp, DSLRs offer a number of focus modes. The two main settings are single-servo, 
for stationary subjects, and continuous-servo, for moving subjects. Most DSLRs enable you to select a focus point manually, so that you can lock focus on off-centre subjects.

The Drive modes enable you to determine whether a single frame is captured each time you press the shutter release, if shots are taken continuously for as long as the shutter is pressed down, or if the shutter is fired automatically after a set delay.

Make the most of the rear LCD screen
Now you’ve got an SLR it’s time to ensure you are using the bigger, brighter LCD properly. By this we mean using the zoom buttons to zoom into parts of an image on the rear screen, so you can check for sharpness or excessive noise.

And you should also get into the habit of checking your image’s exposure by calling up the histogram, or tone chart. A histogram bunched up to the left indicates under-exposure; bunched up to the right it indicates over-exposure.

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Congratulations on getting a new camera! It’s only natural that you can’t wait to start using it, but it’s worth spending a few minutes configuring it correctly first. Not only will this save you time and effort in the long run, but it’s a good way of familiarising yourself with your camera’s layout, features and functions. With the help of our quick-start camera set-up guide, it will only take a few minutes…

Select high-quality pictures

When it comes to file format, shoot in raw rather than JPEG. The extra data that’s captured in the uncompressed raw format gives you more flexibility to adjust your shots post-shoot if necessary (see page 7 for more on the raw file format). Try to keep the ISO as low as possible, ideally between ISO100 and 400, because digital ‘noise’ can be a problem at high ISO settings. As for white balance, set it to auto for now – as you progress you’ll become more confident at knowing when to switch to a specific setting, such as Cloudy.

Choose the right exposure mode

SLRs offer a range of exposure modes, from fully automatic – like a point-and-shoot camera – to fully manual. In between these two extremes are the two popular ‘semi auto’ modes – aperture priority and shutter priority – which provide lots of creative control. In aperture priority mode, you set an aperture and the camera automatically works out what shutter speed you need for a correct exposure, while in shutter priority mode, you set the shutter speed and the camera works out the correct aperture. Simple!

Choose the right metering mode

Metering options depend on the camera, but the three most common are multi-zone (also known as evaluative or matrix), centre-weighted, and spot. Multi-zone mode takes a reading from the entire scene and then sets the exposure accordingly. It’s pretty accurate, and is suitable for most conditions. Centre-weighted mode takes a reading that concentrates on the central 60% of the frame, making it ideal for portraits, and spot mode takes a reading from a tiny area and is therefore potentially the most accurate.

Set the aperture and shutter speed

Aperture and shutter speed affect not just the amount of light you let into the lens, but also the way images look. The aperture is used to determine the depth of field, which is the amount of the scene that’s in focus. If you want a blurred background, you need a wide aperture, such as f/2.8; and if you want everything in focus from front to back, you need a narrow aperture, such as f/22. The shutter speed controls whether a moving subject is frozen or blurred; the slower the shutter speed, the more motion blur there will be.

Set the focus and drive modes

To ensure your shots are razor-sharp, SLRs offer a number of focus modes. The two main settings are single-shot, mainly for stationary subjects, and continuous or servo, for moving subjects. Most SLRs feature multiple focus points that can be selected manually. The drive modes enable you to select whether a single shot is captured each time you press the shutter release, whether a sequence of shots are taken in rapid succession, or whether the shutter is fired after a delay of two or ten seconds.

Take a test shot

Now you’ve set up your SLR, it’s time to ensure you’re using its LCD properly. By this we mean using the zoom buttons to zoom in on parts of the image on the rear screen, so you can check for sharpness or excessive noise. And you should also try to get into the habit of checking your image’s exposure by calling up the histogram, or tone chart. A histogram bunched up at the left can indicate under-exposure; a histogram at the right suggests over-exposure. If you’re unsure, adjust your settings and try taking another test shot.

Back to: Get to know your camera – introduction

Forward to: Explore your SLR

When you look through your SLR’s viewfinder and half-press the shutter button, you’ll see the multiple autofocus points flash when they’ve achieved focus, and you may also hear a beep – depending on the make and model of your camera. These cues are designed to help you take sharp photos. However, if you shoot using basic shooting modes (such as portrait, landscape, sports, and so on), most SLRs will automatically select the AF point, and will then use this AF point to focus on what it thinks you want to focus on – usually the thing closest to you, which might not be what you want to be in focus at all!

Points of interest

However, one of the many advantages of using an SLR is that you can control what your camera focuses on by selecting your AF point manually. This means – when shooting portraits, for example – that you can focus on one of your subject’s eyes, even if it’s off-centre in the frame. The number of focusing points you have varies from camera to camera. The Canon EOS 1100D, for example, has nine AF points, the Nikon D5100 has 11, the Canon EOS 7D has 19, and the Nikon D7000 has 39.

Control the focus

To manually select individual AF points, press the AF Point Selection button on your camera and then look through the viewfinder. Use the top dial, crosshair buttons or joystick to cycle through each AF point until the one over your chosen subject is highlighted. Half-press the shutter button to lock the focus, then fully press it to take the picture.

Helpfully, the AF points are placed on (invisible) vertical and horizontal lines at points one-third into the frame, so they can also help with composition when it comes to the rule of thirds – use them as guides for placing the subject in the frame. Note that if all the autofocus points light up at the same time, you’re on Auto Point Selection.

Single Point AF

This mode is best used when shooting a portrait, say, or any subject that stays relatively still. It enables you to select a focus point manually. By default, the centre focus spot (which is the most accurate) is used for focusing in single point autofocus.

Dynamic Area AF

This mode is perfect for shooting fast or erratically moving subjects. Some SLRs have up to 50 autofocus points – you choose one, but if the subject moves away from that point, the camera will continue to focus using one of the adjacent AF points.

Single-Servo/One shot

This is the most commonly used autofocus mode. All you need to do is point the camera at the target, half press the shutter-release button and the lens will focus. Crucially, the focus point will remain locked for as long as you maintain the half press on the shutter release button, enabling you to recompose the shot while keeping the selected point in sharp focus. You can only shoot once the focus is locked, but you can usually override this with a setting in the camera menus, should you wish to.

Continuous/AI Servo

This is more suited to moving targets, such as sports or wildlife subjects. The main difference between this and one-shot autofocus is that the lens continuously focuses on your subject. The autofocus system tracks the subject to ensure that it’s sharp in the captured image.

By default, continuous mode enables you to take a shot whether focus is achieved or not. There are limitations, such as in motor sport, where a car comes towards you at a higher speed than the autofocus can keep up with. In situations like this, it’s best to pre-focus in one-shot mode.

Auto-Select/AI Focus

In this ‘intelligent’ autofocus mode, often referred to as ‘auto-select’ or AI Focus, the camera’s autofocus system automatically senses whether an object is stationary or moving, and then switches between one-shot and continuous modes.

Manual

Single-frame shooting

The camera exposes a single frame each time you press the shutter release. This is best used for still subjects such as landscapes and portraits, where you don’t need a burst of frames to catch a fleeting moment.

In this mode, your camera will fire off shots
at its maximum frame rate for as long as the shutter button is held down. It’s ideal for sports, but you need a memory card with a fast write speed for long bursts.

With typical options of two- or ten-second delays, the self-timer mode can be used to fire the shutter remotely when, say, your SLR is mounted on a tripod. This enables you to press the shutter before positioning yourself in the shot, or to reduce camera shake.

Back to: Perfect your exposures

Forward to: Choosing a lens