How I take pictures (Settings)
This is one of the quickest ways to learn, but don't hesitate to switch to Auto if you really need the shot!
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This is one of the quickest ways to learn, but don't hesitate to switch to Auto if you really need the shot! 〰️
Allllrighty, as you might’ve guessed from the title, this post is primarily dedicated to the settings I use when taking photos. I do intend to discuss my process of finding and setting up shots, but that’s going to come later down the line. For now, let’s try and learn the equipment that will be getting us those shots!
As a quick refresher, here’s the gear I take on normal shoots (aka: Roaming around mostly aimlessly while keeping an eye out for anything that looks even remotely interesting):
Canon EOS R + Canon EF-RF Mount Adapter
Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS
2x LPE6N Batteries
2x SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC Memory Cards (Capacity is up to you, I usually spring for 64Gb cards)
If I’m planning on taking shots late at night I’ll usually grab a K&F Concept Ball-Head tripod, but we’ll talk about that when long exposure photography comes up.
Lens Settings
Before we go to the camera’s settings, let’s take a quick look at lens settings. Most modern, and a great deal of older lenses, come with Optical Stabilization of some sort. You can usually find this by looking for one of these designations in the lens’ name:
OS (Sigma/Canon)
VR (Nikon)
OSS (Sony)
Optical Stabilization moves around elements within the lens to compensate for things like shaky hands and sudden gusts of wind. Most lenses come with two “modes” of optical stabilization, and you can switch between them with a physical switch on the side of the lens.
On most OS-Capable Sigma lenses, you’ll find these two modes, where mode 1 actively compensates for movement in both the X and Y axes (side-to-side and up-down). This is the mode you should be using in most scenarios.
Mode 2 actively compensates for movement in the Y-axis (up-down). This mode is useful when you’re tracking a moving object, and are panning the camera to follow it. Removing stabilization in the X-axis prevents the lens from “fighting” your movement, which has the potential to result in a blurry image.
This isn’t really relevant at the moment, but if you’re using a tripod, you will want to turn off your lens’ OS system, since it will try to correct for movement that isn’t there, resulting in a blurry picture, especially if you’re taking long exposures. If you’re taking a short exposure, say 1/250th of a second, you’re less likely to experience issues, but turning off the OS system is a good habit to get into (All of my long exposure shoots begin with a shot where I forget to turn off the OS system, so that’s fun).
You’ll also see another switch (and this will be on all lenses, unless it’s a fully manual lens), which lets you choose between AF and MF (Autofocus and Manual Focus). I usually set this to Autofocus, since this allows the lens to be controlled by the camera’s AF system. When you’re in this mode, most lenses still let you adjust focus using the focus ring, so it’s the ideal way to shoot in 99% of situations. The other 1% of situations are things like Astrophotography, where you want to find focus once, and then not move it again. The best way to go about this would be to let your camera try and autofocus first. If it focuses correctly, you can then switch it to manual and not worry about it. If it doesn’t, switch it to manual anyway and then visually focus your lens.
Camera Settings
Now we come to the more complex part of this post. Understanding how your camera works can take a good long while, since there’s a bunch of stuff that you can combine together based on your needs and style. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t fully understand my daily driver EOS R just yet, and I’ve been using it consistently for a while.
Let’s start with the basics, the different shooting modes:
Auto: The best for when you just need that shot, but can’t mess around with more advanced settings (this is a great backup while learning to use any of the other modes below)
Aperture Priority: This gives you, the photographer, control over the aperture of your lens, and automatically adjusts everything else (primarily shutter speed and ISO) to expose the image correctly
Shutter Priority: This gives you, the photographer, control over the shutter speed, and automatically adjusts everything else (primarily aperture and ISO) to expose the image correctly
Manual: This gives you, the photographer, full control over every aspect of the shot, including Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO. This is, in my opinion, the best way to learn how to take photographs, since you’re really forced to think about the settings you’re shooting at. But be careful, using the Manual mode when you’re new can be challenging and it could discourage you if you don’t get those shots you’re looking for
I primarily set my camera to Manual with Auto-ISO. This gives me control over Shutter Speed and Aperture, while giving the camera control over ISO. This is great for my purposes, since I usually only mess with those two values, and don’t care too much about the ISO I’m shooting at. I have limited the maximum ISO in this setup to 12800, since any more than that and the noise gets a little too strong for my liking. This is also one of the best ways to use my usual camera, the EOS R. It has two rotary dials, one at the front of the grip and one at the back. The one at the front controls shutter speed and the one at the back controls aperture. This way, I’ve got control over both of my primary settings without having to navigate through menus.
If you’re just starting out, I would recommend setting your camera to this mode every so often when you’re in a low stress situation, and getting a feel for it. Eventually, you will start to automatically keep track of all your values, and you can adjust values at a glance!
In this mode, the EOS R, and most other mirrorless cameras, will give you an “Auto” indication under the ISO number, which will switch to the actual ISO number when you half-press the shutter button.
It’s important to note that while I rarely stray away from these settings, I will occasionally take control of the ISO myself, either lowering or raising it based on the shot I want to take. The camera usually does a great job of this, but sometimes it’s not quite the shot that you had envisioned.
These are not, however, all the settings that are important to keep in mind. Another important one is drive mode. Drive mode refers to the way your camera takes pictures, and there’s a few options:
Single Shot: Takes one shot only when the shutter button is pressed. To take another one, you have to release and press the shutter button again
Continuous (In some contexts, continuous-low): Takes shots for as long as the shutter button is pressed/until the buffer is full, at a moderate pace (Less shots/sec)
Continuous-High: Takes shots for as long as the shutter button is pressed/until the buffer is full, at an accelerated pace (More shots/sec)
Self-Timer: Waits a certain amount of time before taking a shot, kind of like the timer on a phone camera
Now I will admit, the mode I frequent might get a few eyebrow raises. I pretty much leave my camera on Continuous-High all the time. Continuous-High on the EOS R means around 8 shots/sec (or 8 FPS). The reason I find this helpful is that when taking handheld shots, sometimes there’s movements larger than can be compensated by the selected shutter speed and the lens’ OS system. When this happens, taking a series of shots ensures that at least one of them will be properly still. Additionally, when tracking a moving object, firing off a series of shots ensures that there will be at least one shot that is correctly focused and framed, giving you a lot more flexibility when choosing which photos are best while editing.
This is a bit of a “lazy” way to take photographs (I quote, and agree with, Mike Smith on YouTube), but it ensures you get those shots, at the cost of more files to sift through at the end. It’s a benefit that outweighs the costs in my opinion. Especially since I cover events as a photographer for a student-run news outlet, making sure the shot is taken is significantly more important than half a minute more in Lightroom.
You should also pay attention to your autofocus modes. Most DSLRs are a little limited in features such as Eye-Detect Autofocus, so we’re going to primarily focus on Mirrorless cameras in this section. The two main modes I frequent are:
Eye Detect Autofocus + Servo AF
Expand Center + Servo AF
There’s a couple of things to unpack here, starting with “Servo AF”. Servo AF means that the camera continues to track and adjust focus as long as the assigned Autofocus button is pressed. Second, Eye-Detect is pretty much exactly what it says, it tracks the eyes of human subjects within the focus frame. If it can’t find any faces, it tracks the most visually prevalent object in the frame. This is a very efficient mode to use when shooting most scenarios involving people. However, if there aren’t any people, I usually switch it to Expand Center mode. Let’s talk about that. Expand center basically places the autofocus zone in the center of your frame. It then places an array of AF-points around that central point, and then picks the most visually prevalent object from those points. This gives you more precise control over what is in focus, and makes it a lot easier to take most everyday shots.
There’s one more setting I’ve changed to suit my needs: The autofocus button. Most cameras, regardless of DSLR or Mirrorless, will try to autofocus when you half press the shutter button. This is fine in most cases, but it does remove the ability to control when focus is being adjusted. Basically, it gives the camera control over when the focus is being adjusted, rather than giving you control. The solution: Back-Button focusing. It literally means what it says on the title. You use one of the buttons on the back of the camera to control focus. Most modern cameras have AF-buttons that already serve this purpose, so you basically only have to disable the autofocus designation for the half-press action in the settings. Just google your camera model followed by “back button focus” and you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a guide that will walk you through it.
Now you can press the button for as long as you need focus to be kept, and then release it the second you need focus to be locked, for example, when you’re doing astrophotography.
And that’s it! Remember that these are the settings I use personally. This doesn’t mean these will work for everyone. These are, however, good starting points, and you can then google solutions to any pain points you discover while taking photos regularly!
