The Magical Camera Settings

Almost at the beginning of every summer, I (Sam) will get an email from someone who will ask me questions about their new digital camera that they are taking with them on vacation in the coming week. More often than not they will ask what camera settings they should apply to get the very best images out of their new camera (this is where I close my eyes for several seconds and let the steam blow over).

My response most of the time will be, "Just put the camera in P (for Nikon) or engage the green square (Canon) and have at it." But this time I feel I have to write about it.

First, never ever purchase an item such as a digital camera weeks prior to "needing" it. One, it may not look like one but a digital camera is a computer which can't be learned in one or two days. Two, it's an electronic device that has a 5% chance of failing after the first few days of use. Unfortunately, most people will be running around getting their last minute items they need to go on that special trip and to have to go back to the store and exchange the camera? Or even worse, send it back to the online retailer he/she bought it from? It can create the crazy that wasn't there to begin with.

But what really gets me is that a digital camera has so many functions/buttons/settings/knobs, THINGS that need to be understood prior to "getting the best pictures we can". The manual for the Nikon D700 is over 400 pages alone! Granted, you will not need half of the information from the manual so let's call it 200 pages. Still a lot of pages to read about your new electronic computer you need to use to take memorable images with on that special trip you've been planning for months now.

The truth is, I could simply tell people what my settings are on my camera but more than likely I'll get yelled at when they come back from their vacation. Reason is that my settings are customized to extract as much data from a scene that I can, knowing that I will enhance the image in post. I use a custom linear curve, contrast set to -1, sharpening set to -1, and depending on the situation I shoot in raw. If I give these settings out (which I just did) I would get emails asking "...why in the world are my images sooooo dull?" My response - these are my magical camera settings. Again, my settings are different than what anyone would expect. My cameras are set to optimize the data of the sensor (chip) inside the camera with the knowledge that I WILL post process the image.

Okay, then readers will look at what I just wrote and say to themselves, "If these settings make dull images, then all I have to do is crank it up from there". Cranking it up settings equate to sharpening +8, contrast +1, Saturation +1 and Vivid picture settings. Well I'll get yelled at again for not warning them about the other side of the coin. This is what I'd get most likely, "My kids skin is orange/red, my wife's dark grey evening dress is blotch black, and my cool off white Tommy Bahama shirt with neat patterns is a sea of white which makes people think I have a pure white dress shirt on from Mervyns". No bueno me says!

So what is the magic camera setting then? Surprise surprise surprise! There ain't any, zero, nada, zilch.

If you're a novice fun seeker/photographer and just bought your digital camera and you're going on vacation somewhere cool and lovely and you don't have time to learn about your rig, then put it auto and know it's going to be que sera sera.

Now if you do have time to learn about your new camera, then first, find your histogram. You have one, I guarantee it (Nikon and Canon). If you have channel histogram capability then enable it. Learn about the histogram. It's a graphical interpretation of the scene. 0 (pitch black) is all the way to the left and 255 (snow white/star burst) is all the way right. Everything in the middle is where you want your data to reside. Without having to get too complex (because it does get complex) try and stay away from these extremes unless the scene actually suggests pitch black and/or snow white blinding highlights. The histogram is such an important tool that I spent an entire chapter on it in Sureshot and Fantasy Photos (DVDs that sold through infomercials).

One last thing I will suggest is to control something...anything. I know I know I said go auto. Auto settings won't let you control anything camera-wise and I still hold to my recommendation of using it if you won't/don't have time to learn about your camera.

By controlling something, I mean control your exposure by using the shutter priority or aperture priority features of your camera. Controlling one of these features will allow you to learn quickly what the other feature does which in turns teaches you about exposure which is in relation to the histogram, got it? Hopefully, you will control something.

Enjoy the new rig and learn how to take good pictures. But remember this as well, taking good pictures is one thing, making them great pictures in post is another.