Camera Settings

When I started in digital photography, cameras sucked. If my ISO was over 600 there was noticeable grain in the image. The camera did an okay job focusing, but definitely not to the caliber they do now. I shot on automatic for the longest time. My photos were okay but not great.

When I started getting serious, reading books and learning, It was frowned upon to shoot in automatic because you gave up creative control and relied on the computer inside the camera to take your picture. If I’m doing that, am I a real creator? Any monkey can push the button on the top of the camera. I started early shooting in manual and making mistakes but learning.

I was posting on Flickr and other photographers could see my settings. It seemed that I was less of a photographer if I wasn’t shooting on manual mode. I switched to manual and took a lot of photos that didn’t come out.

I still shoot in manual, but I let the camera have a little input now. I always control one of the parameters, but I may let the camera do one or two of the other sides of the exposure triangle. I used to lock my ISO as low as I could because it yielded the best, no grain results. My current camera can handle a very high ISO… 12500 without noticeable grain or acceptable amount of grain in low light. I also use higher iso to let my flashes not work as hard.

I never shot flash until the past few years. I didnt understand how the exposures worked. Now I control the light using multiple flashes, higher iso and aperture or shutter priority modes. I also shoot a lot of photos and still throw a bunch away, but when I get it right, man does it come out excellent.