How to set up your camera: white balance, shutter speed, aperture

Having bought or received a brand new camera as a gift, everyone wants to start comprehending the basics of this art form as soon as possible. To be happy with the result, you need to learn how to use the camera. To do this, it is important not only to become familiar with the basic technical aspects, but also to figure out how to properly configure the camera.

This issue is especially interesting for people who have a high-quality digital device in their hands. Unlike a simple "soap dish", it has wider settings that help to get high quality footage. For example, "white balance", "shutter speed", ISO. Of course, you can study the instructions for a long time and persistently and photograph the same object in order to obtain optimal quality. To cut down on the time for self-study, you can use the advice of the professionals presented in this article.

How to set up your camera: basic parameters

A digital camera has a number of important settings on which its operation completely depends. Of course, you can set it to automatic, but then the result can be disappointing. That is why professional operators always manually set: "white balance", ISO, "aperture", "storage format", "shutter speed".

White balance

Responsible for color rendering. Digital technology has preset presets that allow you to set the white balance taking into account lighting. These include:

• cloudy;
• daylighting;
• shadow;
• auto mode;
• incandescent lamp;
• fluorescent lamp.

Each light source has its own color. And if the human eye has the ability to regulate the incoming information, the gadget is not capable of this. This means that the yellow light emitted by the incandescent lamp will not change the hue in the photo. Objects around the light source will be of the same tone. The option avoids this.

If the balance is set incorrectly, then all colors will shift to a cold or warm spectrum. Of course, this can be fixed, but then you have to resort to special photo editors.

Excerpt

A function that allows you to set the time interval during which the light beam will affect the photosensitive element. Together with the diaphragm, they form an exposure pair. The fastest shutter speeds, equal to 1 / 4000-1 / 8000 fps, are used for photographing fast moving objects. For normal shooting, average values ​​- 1 / 30-1 / 200 fps are suitable. It can be configured not only in manual, but also in automatic mode.

Diaphragm

An element that is part of the construction of the lens. With its help, you can adjust the size of the hole through which the beam of light penetrates. The brightness of the finished frame directly depends on the amount of the latter. The wider the hole, the brighter the picture.

Also affects the depth of field. The higher the parameter, the sharper the objects that are at a considerable distance from the operator will be. Usually used for landscape photography. For portraits, a lot of depth is not needed. It is enough to set the position of the element within the range of 1–2.8. So, the faces of people in the foreground will be clear, and objects located in the distance will be blurred.

ISO

One of the most important characteristics that a person is able to regulate with his own hand. Responsible for the sensitivity of the device to the luminous flux. Under good working conditions, it can be set between 100 and 200 units. The higher the setting, the brighter the photo will be. But not everything is so simple, because by increasing the value, you can get a large amount of noise - the frame will begin to "crumble" into pixels. Therefore, professionals recommend setting the minimum parameters.

You can remove defects using the "Noise reduction" option. It compares the information received with the "Black Frame" and subtracts visual defects so that the result is a high-quality picture. However, it should be borne in mind that interaction with this function takes quite a long time - the process of photographing one frame can take twice as long. That is why noise cancellation is usually not used.

Image saving format

Photos taken with a modern digital camera can be saved to an SD card or other solid state drive. Moreover, the device allows you to choose the format in which the information will be saved. There are two of them: JPEG and RAW.

The first is especially common among amateurs and novice operators. They prefer to get the finished image right away without additional post-processing. In this case, the information takes up less space on the carrier, and the recording is carried out with compression and processing using the processor of the device.

Information saved in RAW format is obtained directly from the device matrix, without preliminary processing by the gadget processor and special compression. This allows using a photo editor and effortlessly processing certain values ​​that cannot be changed when saved in JPEG.

Variables include:

1. "Exposition".
2. "Light".
3. "Shadow".
4. "White balance".
5. "Suppression of digital noise".

The main disadvantages of the RAW format are the large size of the saved information and the ability to watch the footage only with the help of special software.

Flash sync

All modern digital devices are set by default in such a way that the flash always lights up at the beginning of the exposure. This is good when a person is interacting with stationary objects or short shutter speeds.

However, when photographing moving subjects or using slow shutter speeds, the result may be unpredictable. It is highly likely that the images will turn out to be blurry, with a distorted trajectory along which the captured object moves.

To avoid this, you need to use the option "Flash Sync" - Real Sync. She will independently change the position of the flash by moving it to the end of the frame. This will help keep the subject in focus, and motion and blur will be behind the subject, not in front of it.

Semi-automatic operation

To facilitate the choice of exposure, especially for amateurs or novice operators, each device is equipped with a semi-automatic method. It involves photographing with the aperture or shutter priority set. If you set the shutter speed priority, a person will be able to set the light sensitivity with his own hand, and the aperture mode setting will remain with the device's processor. Usually the option is used when shooting at sports events or photographing moving objects.

The way in which the processor of the gadget adjusts the shutter speed, and the person sets the aperture value with his own hand, is considered more demanding in terms of the necessary skills. It is used to work with reportage photography and in case of insufficient illumination. The aperture setting allows you to independently control the background blur and depth of field. It should be understood here that an increase in sensitivity negatively affects the quality of a photograph, in which a large amount of digital noise appears.

Automatic mode: pros and cons

In addition to the semi-automatic way of working, the devices are capable of functioning in a fully automatic mode. This is the best option for novice operators. But it should be borne in mind that it does not allow to fully reveal the potential of the model, the quality will not differ from the photos taken with the help of an inexpensive "soap dish". Therefore, having learned to work with the automatic method, you need to gradually comprehend the semi-automatic and manual version.

Using the knowledge gained in practice, you can quickly and easily master this interesting and creative lesson, learn how to work with gadgets and set fine settings.