Setting up a nikon reflex camera. How to set up a new camera? Step-by-step instruction

To teach beautiful photography, you will need to learn many more tricks of photography. And in creating a beautiful picture, one cannot do without knowing the device of the camera. It is very important to understand how to set up your camera in various conditions photography. This is where we start our training.

Perhaps you have bought yourself a SLR camera, or maybe you are just starting with an ordinary soap dish. Now exists great amount cameras: SLR or compact, digital or film, amateur or professional. Whichever camera you use, they all work on the same principle.

Camera device

Any camera consists of two main parts: the lens and the photosensitive element. Previously, the film acted as a photosensitive element. Now in the era digital technologies, the photosensitive element is the matrix.

Light passing through the lens hits the matrix or film, where our photograph is formed. Happening on film chemical reactions, as a result we get a negative, from which we will get the final printed photo. On modern cameras, the matrix records light data in the form of numbers, which is why modern cameras are called digital. Film cameras are analog.

Matrices vary in size. The larger the matrix, the better quality snapshot. That is why the cameras mobile phone don't give much good quality, and professional SLR cameras amazing photo quality.

Another important part is the lens. Lenses are interchangeable and built-in. Any lens has an important mechanism - aperture. The aperture controls the amount of light that enters the sensor.

Lenses have several options:
- Focal length;
- Diaphragm.

We have already dealt with the diaphragm. Now let's deal with the focal length. Focal length is indicated in mm. You have probably already seen the inscriptions on the lenses: 50mm, 100mm, 18-55mm. This is the focal length.

Imagine that you want to take a picture of a bird from afar, then you will need a telephoto lens, for example 200mm. And if you want to shoot a beautiful landscape, taking the whole latitude into the frame, then you will need a wide-angle lens, for example 18mm.

Lens types:
- Ultra wide angle (focal length up to 24 mm)
- Wide Angle Lens (Focal length 24mm to 35mm)
- Standard (Focal length 35-70mm)
- Telephoto lens (Focal length from 70mm to 200mm)
- Super telephoto lens (focal length from 200mm)

There are two more types of lenses: FIX (Fix) and ZOOM (Zoom). Fix lenses have a fixed focal length. And zoom lenses have a variable focal length, for example 18-55 mm.

"Fixes" give a better picture, and "Zoom" lenses are more versatile and convenient.

Camera settings

Let's take a look at the term - exposure. This is the amount of light that hits our matrix. If there is too much light, the frame will be too light. That is, the photo will be overexposed.

If there is less light than necessary, then the frame will be dark - underexposed. With the correct exposure, you should get a normal shot.

Three parameters are responsible for the exposure in the camera:
- Exposure;
- Aperture;
— Light sensitivity (ISO).

Shutter speed is the time it takes light to hit the sensor.. Exposure can be long or short. Fast shutter speeds help freeze motion in the frame. And long exposures, on the contrary, blur the movement. Short shutter speeds can reach fractions of a second, up to 1/4000 sec. With this shutter speed, you can freeze any fast-moving object. Long exposures can vary from a few seconds to several tens of minutes or even hours.

There is a very easy one right: if you want to get a clear frame, then the shutter speed should be set no longer than 1 / focal length of the lens. Thus, if we have a lens with a focal length of 50mm, then we must set the shutter speed to 1/50 second or even faster.

The aperture determines the amount of light that enters the lens. As we already know, it is installed in the lens. Aperture is indicated by a number, such as F5.6 or f/5.6. The larger the f-number, the less light passes through the lens. So more light will pass through at F2.0 than at F8.0.

Such a concept as the depth of field is inextricably linked with the aperture - the depth of field of the depicted space. This is the distance at which our frame will be sharp. DOF depends on aperture, focal length lens and focus distance (the distance at which the subject you are focusing on is located). At small apertures, the depth of field is small. That is why, where we focus, the frame will fall into the depth of field, and the rest will be blurry (or unsharp).
You can calculate the depth of field using formulas or use the table. For example, if you have a 50mm lens and you focus on an object that is 10 meters away from you, then at f / 5.6, objects that are at a distance of 7.47 meters to 15.1 meters will be in sharpness.

Let's get acquainted with another definition - Hyperfocal distance. This is the distance of the front point of sharp space when focusing at infinity. To put it simply, if we focus on infinity, then from hyperfocal distance to infinity there will be objects in sharpness.

Light sensitivity or ISO determines how strongly the matrix (or film) perceives the light that is applied to it. ISO is also denoted by the numbers 50, 100, 200, 400,.., 1600. The higher the ISO number, the stronger the camera perceives light. ISO 200 means the camera takes in twice as much light as ISO 100.

If you set the ISO to high, noise or grain will appear in the photos. These are such specks in the photo that spoil the quality of our work. Therefore, try to set the ISO as low as possible.

Almost all cameras do well with ISO 50-400. Professional cameras allow you to shoot at higher values, even ISO 1600, while giving acceptable noise.
By the way, if you do not have the opportunity to reduce the ISO, then try to turn this disadvantage into a virtue. Many photographers intentionally add noise to a photo to give it a twist.

Proper exposure implies setting all parameters manually or automatically (more on that below). To set the exposure, you first need to decide what kind of picture we want to get. For example, if we want a beautiful portrait with a blurred background, then we need to set an open aperture (for example, F2.0). We set ISO 100 to start, now we select the shutter speed. Let we have a 50mm lens, then set the shutter speed to 1/50 of a second. Let's look at the resulting picture. If it is dark, then we can increase the photosensitivity. If it is too light, then reduce the shutter speed or cover the aperture (set a larger aperture value).

You need to practice a little, and you will quickly be able to set all the parameters based on the conditions of photography.

Tip: In the evening, you will have to slightly increase the ISO. And on a bright sunny day, you just need to set ISO 100.

white balance

The White Balance (WB or BB) is responsible for the correct reflection of color in our photo. The fact is that we are surrounded by different light sources: the sun, incandescent lamps, flashes. And each source has its own shade of light. In order to take this parameter into account, there is a white balance.
Each shade has its own color temperature, which is measured in Kelvin (K). For example, in sunny weather, the color temperature is 5200K, and at home (using incandescent lamps) 2850K. Our camera has special presets that help you quickly select the desired color temperature.
On the camera, you need to press the WB button and select the desired preset. Some cameras allow you to fine-tune the white balance by setting the color temperature.
Camera manufacturers give us a choice of several photography modes. All of them can be divided into three types:
— Automatic;
- Semi-automatic;
— Manual.

Automatic modes(P, night portrait, landscape, macro, and so on) select the exposure and ISO values ​​\u200b\u200bby themselves. Often you can set the sensitivity yourself or in AUTO mode. For us, such modes are not interesting, because we ourselves want to set up our camera.

semi-automatic(Av, Tv) make it possible to set one parameter from the exposure pair (shutter speed or aperture), and the other parameter is selected automatically.

One of the most common Av modes is aperture priority mode. You set the aperture yourself, and the shutter speed is selected automatically.

Another interesting Tv mode is shutter priority mode.. Here you set the desired shutter speed, and the aperture is selected automatically.

Manual mode M. Here we ourselves set both aperture and shutter speed. The exposure bracket will help us to correctly determine the exposure. This is such a line with divisions, which is located directly under the exposure settings.

When you have adjusted the exposure, press the shutter button halfway down. If the bracket shows a mark in the middle, then the exposure is correct. If to the right, then overexposure. To the left - lack of light.

IMPORTANT: the camera does not always correctly determine the exposure. This is an automatic mode that detects the brightness on objects and reduces them to an average number. Sometimes the camera can make mistakes, for this it is better to take a test shot and correct the exposure or ISO.

Article text updated: 12/7/2018

Most of my photos posted in travel reports or in photo tutorials contain basic information from EXIF ​​(Exchangeable Image File Format - data about shooting parameters, authorship, image processing program, etc.): shutter speed, exposure compensation, aperture, ISO and focal length lens. I publish these parameters at the request of novice amateur photographers who hope to find out in this way what settings are best for photographing certain subjects. I think that a more effective way is to figure out once and for all what parameters should be adjusted when shooting, what they affect and how they help to get a high-quality image.

To be honest, I think that learning to choose the right shooting parameters is much easier by reading a photography textbook, camera manual and trying out the knowledge gained in practice than learning from scattered articles on the Internet. The tips presented in today's photo tutorial are just an overview of the areas that a photographer must understand in order to get a clear, juicy, pleasing-looking picture. Even the basics include a very large amount of information, so in order not to get lost in the wilds of today's photo tutorial, let's see its contents.

1. What is ISO, shutter speed and aperture. The effect of these settings on exposure.
   1. Why photos can be soapy due to long exposure.
   2. What are the advantages of high-aperture optics for a photographer?
2. How to choose best mode shooting (PASM).
3. Examples of settings for photographing various scenes.
   1. A portrait with a harsh background.
   2. Portrait with a blurred background.
   3. Options for landscape photography during the day.
   4. Landscape at night.
   5. Setting up a camera for shooting a wedding.
   6. How to set up a camera for a group portrait.
   7. Options for shooting a concert or matinee.
4. Additional settings digital camera.
   1. Select the image quality when shooting in JPEG.
   2. You always need to adjust the white balance when shooting in JPEG.
   3. Single frame and continuous shooting.
   4. Autofocus setting.
   5. Metering mode. Exposure compensation. Bar chart. Active D-Lighting.
   6. Why exposure bracketing is needed.
   7. Brightness, juiciness, contrast settings when shooting in JPEG.
   8. Flash settings.
5. How does the "Auto ISO" function work?
6. Learn how to take good photos. It's not just the settings.
7. Conclusion.

1. Basic settings of any digital camera: shutter speed, ISO and aperture

What is a digital camera (doesn't matter if it's a DSLR, mirrorless, soapbox or even a smartphone)? Enlarged - this is the case in which the light-sensitive element is located (the terms are also used: matrix or sensor, light-sensitive sensor), on which the light passing through the lens falls.

In the normal state, the sensor is closed from exposure to light by a shutter consisting of shutters. When we press the "Shutter" button, the shutters open for a predetermined time, during which the light waves act on the matrix, and then close again. Inside the lens there are lenses that allow you to zoom in and focus (sharpen) on the subject, and a diaphragm (a partition of several petals) that allows you to expand or narrow the diameter of the light flux passing through the lens.

One of the main parameters of shooting is the correct exposure of the photo. Very generally, we can say that this is the amount of light that manages to get on the matrix between opening and closing the shutter. When the exposure is correct, the picture looks normal, when there is little light, the image will be dark, and if there is a lot, it will be too light.

© 2012 site

Sometimes make out good shot excellent possible
bypassing only the means of the camera.

I recommend to any novice photographer, whenever possible, to actively use the automatic camera. This applies to matrix metering, autofocus, automatic white balance, and everything else that can only be automated, and which modern cameras often do better than modern photographers. Put it all on camera menial work, and give yourself more attention search for beautiful scenes and harmonious composition of the frame.

But there are times when a camera that imagines itself too smart has to be taken with a tight rein.

Shot on full auto. What nonsense?
It didn't look like it at all!

It turns out that some simple manipulations can significantly improve the look of your pictures. I mean your good pictures. Mediocre shots with poor composition or dull lighting won't stop being mediocre no matter how much you fiddle with your camera settings.

The two most important parameters that you should be able to configure is exposure compensation and white balance. These settings are available for all cameras - the difference is only in the convenience of working with them. More expensive cameras allow you to adjust exposure and white balance directly, while cheaper ones can make you fiddle with menus. Please refer to your camera manual for details.

Keep in mind that the green mode so beloved by beginners ( AUTO) usually does not allow the photographer to control exposure, white balance, or many other useful camera options. The same applies to the stupid scene modes (portrait, landscape, macro, etc.), which severely limit the flight of fancy.

(exposure compensation) is used to forcefully change exposure in automatic modes. Matrix metering of modern cameras works well in most situations, but in difficult lighting conditions it can be wrong. Many cameras tend to overexpose when the scene's contrast is high, as well as underexpose when shooting low-contrast highlight scenes. It is for these cases that exposure compensation was invented. If the picture comes out too bright, you reduce the exposure, i.e. enter a negative correction and get a correctly exposed frame. If the picture is too dark, the exposure should be increased.

On most cameras for exposure compensation you need to press the button +/- and turn the wheel to change the exposure up or down. Some cameras are equipped with a separate exposure compensation control, and in some you have to set the appropriate correction through a special menu.

white balance

White balance is called so because its task is to preserve White color in the pictures it is white, regardless of the lighting, whether it is the reddish rays of the setting sun or the blue-green light of a mercury lamp. By choosing a white balance value that matches the current lighting conditions, you achieve the most natural colors. Also, like any other customizable camera setting, white balance can be used for creative purposes. After all, no one forbids setting the “wrong” white balance in order to deliberately distort the colors in the picture. Auto white balance generally produces acceptable results in daylight, but unusual light often requires you to intervene with the camera.

Why is all this necessary?

And then, that the camera sees the world differently than a person. She is unable to appreciate the beauty and exclusivity of the scene being filmed. The algorithms that control it are designed to obtain more or less acceptable images in conditions close to standard, and in fact it is non-standard conditions that most often turn out to be the most attractive for shooting.

It’s not enough just to see a photogenic scene, you need to imagine how the camera will see it and make the appropriate adjustments. In the digital age, this is easy to do. Take a test shot and look at the screen - if the image doesn't look the way you'd like, make adjustments and shoot again until you're happy with the result. Over time, your experience will allow you to anticipate the necessary adjustments before shooting.

I do not urge you to blindly copy the surrounding reality. Usually I don't shoot what my eyes see, but what my mind sees. Nature is beautiful, but why not make it even better if it is necessary for creative self-expression?

Is it possible to correct errors later?

As for the exposure, no, you can't. Overexposure is not allowed in digital photography. Even if you shoot in RAW, RAW converters (contrary to what the developers claim) are very limited in terms of pulling out blown highlights. Underexposure is easier to fix, although at the cost of increased shadow noise. Correctly setting the white balance is not critical when shooting in RAW - you can easily change the balance when converting. Correcting an incorrect white balance in a JPEG file can be a very time consuming, although feasible task. However, I prefer to set the white balance as soon as possible, even when shooting in RAW. This allows me to more accurately judge the exposure of individual channels using a color histogram, and it also makes my images look more aesthetically pleasing even before they're converted to JPEG.

What else can be improved?

Almost all modern digital cameras allow you to customize the overall look of your shots or. so-called image style. Nikon calls it Picture Control, Canon calls it Picture Style, Sony calls it Creative Style, Pentax calls it Custom Image, Olympus calls it Picture Mode. Regardless of the name dictated by the manufacturer's imagination, all these menus do the same thing: they adjust the contrast, brightness, color saturation, sharpness and some other image parameters. It is possible to choose one of the established schemes(Portrait, Landscape, etc.) in accordance with the shooting scene, or create your own bank of settings. For example, I almost always shoot nature and landscapes in the Vivid (or similar) style, with the Saturation setting often raised further to get more saturated colors, and the Contrast setting, on the contrary, lowered somewhat to better control complex light. If I shoot people with these settings, their faces will turn out to be unnaturally red, which is unlikely to be to their liking, and therefore the Portrait or Neutral scheme seems to be more preferable. For product photography, I usually use the Standard scheme, slightly raising the color saturation and lowering the contrast, which is necessary for more accurate color reproduction. You are free to use any style you like. There can be no irrefutable decisions here.

In essence, Picture Style settings mimic choosing one or another type of film, but unlike film photography, where you were limited to a single roll of film, in digital photography you are free to set the style for each frame individually.

When shooting in JPEG, you definitely need to select the appropriate style before shooting. When shooting in RAW, this does not matter. Style will only affect how the photo will look when viewed on the camera screen. I like this feature because it allows me to better evaluate the received shots in the field, while I still have a chance to reshoot them; allows you to show pictures to others immediately after shooting, and also reduces the time spent on processing if the picture does not need it. If you're only shooting in RAW, manually converting all your shots, and showing the public only the final result of your work, set the Picture Style to Neutral (Faithfull) or Standard, and shoot all scenes that way.

And now - one more example.

The first picture was taken in automatic mode. I saw this scene very differently.

First of all, the picture is overexposed. The birch trunks and the reflection on the log floating in the lake are devoid of texture. The forest in the background, as well as the water in the lake, seemed almost black to me, but here they are of some indefinite cloudy tone.

Exposure compensation of -0.7 EV brought out details in the highlights and returned the shadows to their rightful place. But what about color? Why is it so cold? It was evening, and the shore of the lake was bathed in the golden rays of the setting sun. Is it possible to take a warmer picture?

Can. The white shade balance helped convey the warm evening flavor, but the colors still lack saturation and the scene as a whole lacks contrast.

That's much better! By changing the style to vivid, I was finally able to convey the fabulous atmosphere of a forest lake. The scene gained volume and depth, and the trees began to glow against a dark background. (Move over to compare with the first picture.)

As you can see, the changes I made were not so significant, but the look of the photo changed in a striking way.

Thank you for your attention!

Vasily A.

post scriptum

If the article turned out to be useful and informative for you, you can kindly support the project by contributing to its development. If you did not like the article, but you have thoughts on how to make it better, your criticism will be accepted with no less gratitude.

Do not forget that this article is subject to copyright. Reprinting and quoting are permissible provided there is a valid link to the original source, and the text used must not be distorted or modified in any way.

Ah, these wonderful Canon cameras that are just asking for pens! Everyone who works hard, putting aside banknotes for the coveted EOS, knows what he is doing. Canon cameras are characterized by high speed performance, enviable autofocus, high image quality and simply magical color reproduction. That is why many photographers (both newbies and old schoolers) can drool all over the window for hours, looking at the most powerful boxes and lenses.
Since you already own a dream and are eager to learn how to manage it, we offer you to understand the brands of Canon cameras as part of the overall development.

What do the numbers and letters in the brand of your camera mean?

Most "beginning photographers" who consider themselves at least Ležek Bużnowski have no idea how EOS stands for. It is worth asking such a “professional” what the letter D means in the brand of his camera, so he, with an embarrassed look, quietly tries to go to Wikipedia. Well, perhaps a real talent does not need this knowledge, and only someone who likes to show off in the company of friends remembers this, but we believe that in order to learn how to photograph, you must know Canon by heart.

• The abbreviation EOS (Electro-Optical System) is consonant with the name of the dawn goddess Eos, which can be found in ancient Greek mythology. The first camera in this series was the Canon EOS 650, which saw the light of day in 1987.
• The D in the name stands for Digital.
• Cameras with 3 or 4 digits in the name (EOS 400D, EOS 1000D) are positioned as beginner cameras.
• If the name has one or two numbers, but they do not start with one (EOS 33V, EOS 30D), then you have a semi-professional camera.
• Canon for professionals is: EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 1D X, EOS 1D C.

Now you are sitting in front of the monitor, and in your hands, for example, Canon 600d - how to take pictures?

How to take pictures the right way: Canon for beginners

It is known that in Auto-mode the camera independently chooses the settings in such a way that in the end a suitable exposure is obtained. But it is worth considering that if you shoot in difficult lighting, then even the coolest camera will not always be able to cope with its task. Moreover, you want to learn how to take pictures with a Canon DSLR, using all the possibilities, and not just randomly press a button and wait for your luck. You can take a good photo only after you master the basic settings. Later you will intuitively figure out how to take pictures on 500d, 550d, 7d, 1100d, 600d, 650d, 60d, 1000d and other "d".

There are three main settings, and all of them, one way or another, are connected with light:

• Aperture is the size of the "hole" opened by the camera that allows light to pass through. The more open the aperture, the more light in the picture: everything is logical here.
• Exposure is the time for which you open the access of light to the camera matrix.
• Light sensitivity (ISO) - the higher the light sensitivity, the more light the matrix receives.

Learning to set Canon settings correctly

Your camera's aperture is referred to as "f/" + a number that will show how open/closed the "hole" that lets light through. If you want a blurry background - open the aperture, if you want to get a completely clear picture - close it. The further the aperture is opened, the smaller the number next to f/.

By adjusting the aperture value, you can focus on a specific subject and draw the viewer's attention to the subject of your choice. Like here:

An open aperture is just amazing "works" in pictures with butterflies, flowers and small objects. How to photograph a portrait? Canon with an open aperture - nothing is easier. Need to visually distinguish a person from the rest? Again - Canon with an open aperture.

You need to close the aperture when shooting a crowd, landscape and streets, in general, wherever you need to keep the whole picture in focus.

Students often ask: how to photograph with exposure? Canon is best suited to master this setting. First you need to decide how you want to capture the movement? After all, the longer the shutter speed, the more movement the camera will have time to capture, the short shutter speed, on the contrary, will stop the moment.

Long exposure is used when shooting a city at night, but it is worth resorting to the help of a tripod. Also with long exposure take some interesting pictures:

As for fast shutter speeds, they are good for shooting falling objects.

Light sensitivity is measured in units of ISO with values ​​of 100, 200, 400, and so on up to 6400. Higher values ​​​​are used if the shooting takes place in poor lighting, but noise (small dots) often appears in the pictures.

So, before messing around with this setting, decide:

1. Do you have enough light to take a photo at the lowest ISO setting?
2. Do you want to get a picture with noise or not? Black and white pictures with noise look cool enough, but color pictures sometimes spoil it.
3. If you have a tripod or any other way to mount the camera? Light sensitivity can be compensated by making the shutter speed longer, but then a tripod is indispensable.
4. If your subject is constantly moving, then you just need to raise the ISO so that the photo does not blur.

You will have to set a high ISO in the following cases:

• Sports games, dancing, children's holiday in room. In general, when a short shutter speed is simply necessary.
• In areas where the use of a flash is prohibited.
• The moment when the birthday boy is preparing to blow out the candles on the birthday cake. A flash can spoil the cozy light and the whole mood of the moment, so just increase the camera's ISO.

How to take pictures with Canon using the full power of the camera?

Daily observations show: the vast majority of owners of SLR cameras shoot only in Auto mode - a green box. And this bleak fact makes such an expensive purchase simply meaningless. Suppose you paid about 27,00 thousand rubles for your Canon 600d, but in auto mode your camera only works out 5400, i.e. excellent reflex camera only 20% are used. Do you want to learn how to shoot with Canon 600d and other models? Do you want to use your camera to one hundred percent? Then remember, and better write down.

semi-automatic modes.

In this part, we will discuss working with the following modes: P, A (or Av), S (or Tv), M, A-Dep. These modes are great helpers for beginners who do not yet know how to take pictures with their Canon, and generally do not know what they are doing. Experienced photographers also have a lot of respect for these modes as they save a lot of time.

1. The simplest mode is the P (Programmed AE) mode. This mode will help you get a good exposure of the frame, choose the aperture and shutter speed depending on what ISO you set. This is incredibly convenient for beginner photographers who are just experimenting with ISO.

You can also change the exposure values ​​​​(exposure parameters of shutter speed and aperture), for example, to Canon camera 550d this can be done with a slight movement of the roller scroll. If you need to set a faster shutter speed, then just scroll the video to the right, while the camera slightly closes the aperture, keeping the exposure at the same level. This will allow you to photograph any falling object that will simply freeze in the air in the picture.

2. Mode A or Av - aperture priority.

The whole point of this mode is that it allows you to control the strength of the background blur in the picture. You need to set the ISO value yourself and adjust the aperture, but the camera will set the desired shutter speed in such a way that you end up with a good shot. Here you need to decide if you want to get a blurry background, then set the appropriate aperture value, and the rest is up to the camera. Convenient, right?

When shooting a portrait on a Canon, set the ISO and open the aperture (the smallest number) all the way to get a blurry background, and the camera will set the shutter speed itself.

3. Mode S or Tv - shutter priority.

It works in exactly the same way as the previous modes: you set the ISO, and the aperture value remains on the camera's conscience.

In order to practice using this mode, find any moving object (person, cat, car, fountain): set a fast shutter speed - this way you will get a clear photograph of the object "stopped" in the frame. Now slow down the shutter speed, place your camera on any stable surface, and gently press the button. most likely, you will get a beautiful “blur” that displays the beauty of the dynamics of movement.

4. And the last mode is A-DEP (depth of field priority). By the way, it is not on all cameras. This mode allows the camera to set aperture and shutter speed so that all objects in focus are sharp enough.

It is worth adding that if you at least play a little with manual settings or semi-automatic modes, then you will never return to the “green box”.

If, after reading this article, you still have questions about what to do with your camera and how to photograph on Canon, then our teachers will be happy to see you in their courses.

The possibilities of digital cameras in terms of settings are great, modern technology allows you to change large limits various characteristics. Only different models these possibilities are different and each user decides how to set up the camera. But the principle of adjustment remains the same. How better camera, the more opportunities for manual setting, which allows you to change the artistic parameters of the photo to a large extent. If you have switched from “auto” mode to any other, then knowledge and experience in setting up a digital camera will help you here.

It will be possible to take good pictures when you can quickly and correctly use the created situation for shooting. And the situation is the illumination, and the distance to the object, its mobility, dimensions, etc. To get good photographs, it is better to know, at least a little, the theory, the capabilities of your camera, and practice is needed.

The mandatory settings are:

• exposure,
• white balance,
• focusing.

These characteristics are adjusted before each new shooting, and without them a high-quality photograph will not be obtained.

FOCUSING

Focusing in modern cameras works well in automatic mode, you just need to know how to select the autofocus mode. Autofocus is a system that automatically focuses the camera lens on one or more subjects. Autofocus consists of a sensor, control system and a drive that moves the lens barrel or its individual lenses. The camera has a tendency to focus on what is closest to the center of the frame. So if your subject is not quite centered and there are other objects between it and the camera, then keep an eye on what your camera is focusing on.

Autofocus drive

WHITE BALANCE

White balance is needed to correctly display colors in a photo. Basic ways to set white balance:

1. Shooting in Raw format allows you to set the white balance after shooting on a computer.
2. In many digital cameras, the photographer in the menu can manually set the type of frame lighting - the sun, daylight, blue (shadow) and cloudy sky, Fluorescent Lamp, tungsten filament incandescent lamp, photo flash, etc., and the camera compensates for the appropriate color temperature.
3. Another manual mode- color correction on a gray card.
4. Some cameras allow you to set the light source directly in Kelvin.
5. Auto white balance.

But setting the exposure in the camera sometimes causes great difficulties, because you have to change several parameters at the same time. Consider the choice of exposure in the camera in more detail.

Exposure setting

Exposure determines the amount of light needed to form an image with the correct brightness of the subject.

Main technical specifications cameras that you need to be able to adjust for the correct exposure are:

• excerpt,
• diaphragm,
• sensitivity.

In the camera, light passes through the lens to the matrix, and in the lens, the size of the hole through which this light passes is regulated. This hole in the lens is the aperture. The time during which light passes on the matrix to form a photograph is called shutter speed. And the ability of the camera matrix to respond to a certain amount of light is called light sensitivity.

These three values ​​are interrelated, as they determine the quality of a photo by its light characteristics.

But each separately of these parameters (shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity) affects some individual artistic characteristics of the images. So you have to combine them for correct setting camera.

In a nutshell, this is how their interaction can be explained. To obtain a picture that is normal in terms of illumination (normal exposure), a certain amount of light flux must come to the matrix to form it.

By changing the sensitivity of the matrix (ISO), we change its characteristics, and accordingly change the amount of light that is used to ensure that the matrix forms a picture with a normal brightness. The lower the ISO, the more light is needed, and the higher the ISO, the less light is needed to form a photograph.

And the amount of light entering the matrix can be adjusted using the aperture (the hole in the lens through which light passes). And with the help of shutter speed (the time during which light passes to the matrix).

Key values ​​on screen

You need to know that in addition the aperture affects the depth of field, in other words, the sharpness of out-of-focus objects. Shutter speed affects shooting moving subjects. By changing the shutter speed, a moving object can be made sharp or blurry.

By setting these two parameters correctly, you get the exposure pair (aperture/shutter value). Under these exposure values, to obtain a normal exposure (normal photo brightness), you can adjust the sensitivity (ISO) of the matrix. A higher ISO means that the camera electronics include more signal amplification. At the same time, noise is also amplified, which is especially visible in the form of fine grain in the dark areas of the image, so they try to shoot at the lowest possible ISO value (no more than 100-400).

In modern SLR cameras, they made it so that changing the aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity can only be done in steps, and these values ​​​​are already included in the camera. But the numbers are so chosen that changing one of them by one step changes the exposure by a factor of two. So, having increased one of the parameters by one step, it is necessary to reduce the other parameter by one step in order to maintain the exposure. In modern cameras, for greater freedom in the adjustments, intermediate values ​​\u200b\u200bare also introduced, so you have to carefully monitor this.

Manual modes for adjusting exposure

Depending on the shooting conditions and what you will be photographing (a static scene or a dynamic one), those values ​​​​that will have to be adjusted manually are also determined. Depending on this, select the mode on the camera.

MANUAL MODE M

At manual mode (M) You can adjust all three parameters (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) at the same time.

IRIS PRIORITY A

When the mode aperture priority (A) you set the aperture value, for example portrait shooting, you can also set the ISO. And the camera will choose the shutter speed itself for the correct exposure.

SHUTTER PRIORITY S

S mode is selected when shutter speed needs to be adjusted. In this case, the aperture is adjusted by the camera itself. For example, shooting sports competitions. You just set the ISO and adjust the shutter speed.

In all modes, you can additionally use exposure compensation if you think that the camera is choosing the wrong exposure. Exposure compensation - making adjustments to the measured exposure to correct errors or to obtain artistic effects.

Mode dial

P mode is called program mode. In the camera, it is introduced to facilitate the setting of characteristics for shooting. In this mode, you cannot adjust the shutter speed and aperture manually, this adjustment will be made by the automatic camera. But you can adjust the sensitivity, white balance, make exposure metering.

For example, the camera itself always sets the minimum possible meaning ISO sensitivity. But there are times when you need to raise the ISO value to get a clear and bright picture, and this is where manual adjustment comes in handy.

The camera may not adjust the brightness of the subject correctly when shooting high-contrast scenes (in the sun, in snow, etc.). In order to eliminate automation errors, it is better to use exposure compensation yourself, using the results of exposure metering.

You will need to set the white balance yourself to eliminate errors in the selection of colors in the photo.

All other shooting modes do not give the user freedom of choice in adjusting the characteristics of the camera, automatics work there. But sometimes these modes are more suitable and help out the photographer. For example, there is no time to prepare the camera manually, or the photographer is not yet experienced enough in the camera settings, and the automation still works better.

Exposure setting by exposure meter

The camera can automatically control the exposure, without human intervention. The camera uses the built-in exposure meter to measure the exposure of the scene and then these measured values ​​are used to automatically select one or two exposure parameters.

In automatic mode, the user can manually set one of the parameters, or the automation itself can set both shutter speed and aperture.

Having set in any of the modes the value of one of the exposure parameters (shutter speed or aperture) for the desired characteristics of the photograph, we find the second parameter by sorting through the values ​​until the value on the exposure meter (displayed on the camera screen or viewfinder) is set to zero.

The exposure meter can still be displayed on the screen in the form of a scale, then you can achieve by selecting the values ​​so that the pointer becomes in the middle of the scale, which will correspond to the normal brightness of the photograph. In some cameras, the exposure meter displays a number on the screen that shows how much more to change the exposure, and in which direction (+ or -).

Exposure meter in the form of a scale

The camera itself measures the exposure - it evaluates the brightness in different parts of the image. Since scenes can have very different contrast, there are several methods for determining exposure. With manual control, the center-weighted metering mode is considered the main one, and with automatic modes, the estimated exposure metering is considered the main one.

With automatic exposure detection, automation measures the brightness of objects in the frame, then it averages these values ​​and adjusts the desired characteristics. In some scenes, this brightness measurement may not be correct. For example, there is a lot of bright snow on the frame, the camera makes a decision based on averaged data that all objects are very bright and lowers the exposure. Then the desired object may turn out to be very dark. Now you need to intervene in the work of automation and make exposure compensation.

Brief procedure for setting up the camera

The procedure for working with the camera in manual mode can be as follows:

1. Before shooting, set the lowest ISO.
2. Then, if you shoot moving objects, then set the shutter speed and adjust the aperture until the desired exposure is obtained. You check the correctness of the aperture adjustment by the exposure meter on the camera screen.
3. At shooting static objects set the aperture to achieve the desired effects (sharpness of the object or background). Then select the shutter speed using the exposure meter.
4. If a the exposure meter signals the impossibility to select the exposure pair, increase the ISO and set up the camera again.

With all the adjustments, it is advisable to take test shots in order to make sure that there are no errors in the camera settings or that the automation works out everything correctly.

Camera adjustment simulator according to the main parameters:

Here you can select manual adjustment mode or aperture priority or shutter priority. In each mode, you can change the shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity and, after taking a virtual test shot, see the result.

In the background, you will see the blur or sharpness of objects, depending on the aperture value. You can see the influence of shutter speed on the picture by the girl's rotating toy. On the exposure meter in the form of a scale, control the correct selection of the exposure. You can also change the external shooting conditions on this simulator by adjusting the illumination, the distance to the object. It is possible to adjust the focus and check the effect of working with a tripod.

In general, try all the modes, set up a variety of digital camera settings and see the result in a virtual picture.

Conclusion

Almost all menu items that you see on the camera display can be attributed to the camera settings. All these points can be divided into general ones, which are carried out once and concern the entire camera. And there are those that need to be opened with each shot and configured separately.

Common camera menu items include date and time, auto power off, beeps, menu and display design, etc.

Additional features: GPS, Wi-Fi, connection to a computer, etc.

Functions for viewing photos on the camera: crop, rotate, protect against deletion, slide show, work with a memory card.

Shooting options: frame resolution, video quality (if there is a video), manual shooting or automatic shooting, use of preset scenes.

Special camera settings: flash firing setting, shutter response adjustment, exposure compensation, white balance setting, ISO setting, continuous shooting or single shot.