6 Key Settings You Must Check Before Pressing the Shutter

Introduction: Many novice students have a very serious problem, which is to take pictures as soon as they see interesting subjects, completely ignoring some important settings of the camera, resulting in an environment that has the potential to become excellent photos. It’s also wasted, what a pity! In order to improve the chances of students successfully taking good photos, I would like to share my settings before pressing the shutter button! 6 key settings that must be checked before pressing the shutter button

(1) Will the ISO sensitivity be too high or too low?

Many students only pay attention to "aperture" and "shutter" when shooting, but it is often the easiest to make mistakes. ISO, high and low ISO also have different uses. If you use high ISO "unnecessarily", it will only increase the noise and reduce the quality of the photo. Therefore, we must pay attention to whether we are using the appropriate ISO before shooting. Shoot.

So what is the "appropriate" ISO?

For example:

You shoot with a 50mm handheld in daylight, use ISO1600, and the shutter reaches 1/1000s. This is actually an inappropriate use of ISO, because according to the safety shutter, a focal length of 50mm only requires a shutter speed of 1/50s. Therefore, in order to maintain photo quality, the ISO should be adjusted to a lower value in this case, such as ISO100 , lowering the shutter close to the safe shutter.

Remember to keep the ISO appropriately low in a well-lit environment to preserve photo details.

(Nikon D810 / 200mm / f/4 / ISO200 / 1/160s)

(2) What aperture is suitable for the balance between "depth of field" and "incoming light"?

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If you have a basic understanding of photography, you will also know that the aperture has two functions. One is to control the amount of incident light, and the other is to control the depth of field. Then we have to consider these two factors before pressing the shutter. If When the light is insufficient, we must enlarge the aperture, but to that extent depends on the acceptable range for your shooting!

Let me give you an example:

In a dark environment, I used 50mm handheld to shoot scenery, using ISO800, aperture f/8, I found that the shutter was too slow (1 second), and the photos taken handheld will be blurred, so I enlarged the aperture to f/2.8 and changed the shutter to 1/50s , just enough to take clear photos hand-held; but here’s the problem? The aperture of f/2.8 will make the depth of field too shallow, so slightly narrow the aperture to f/4, but the shutter will slow down accordingly, which is lower than the safety shutter. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the ISO to 1600 for shooting, and ultimately use f/4 + ISO1600 + 1/50s to retain the depth of field without blurring the photo.

In low-light environments, you have to carefully consider the trade-off between depth of field and amount of incident light.

(Nikon D810 / f/2.8 / 1/50s / ISO200)

(3) Does the shutter comply with the "safety shutter"?

In addition to the above " In addition to "aperture" and "ISO", shutter is also one of the items that must be checked. The most basic thing is to see if the shutter speed meets the "safe shutter" standard (please read this article: A must-read for novices to teach you what is Safety Shutter), but be aware that if you are shooting high-speed moving objects, your shutter must be accelerated according to your heart's condition, and must be higher than the "Safety Shutter" to freeze the subject.

When shooting handheld in darkness, you can use a higher ISO to maintain a safe shutter speed.

(Nikon D810 / f/4 / ISO2500 / 1/50s)

(4) Do you need to adjust the white balance in the on-site environment?

If you are When shooting RAW files, the white balance can indeed be adjusted in post-processing, but I usually adjust the white balance better during shooting so that I don’t need to do a lot of post-production, and a correct white balance can allow you to When viewing photos with the camera, you can feel the real effect and further determine the style of shooting. Therefore, if the situation permits, be sure to adjust the white balance to an appropriate setting!

After correcting the white balance (picture below) ) to restore the photo color to normal.

(5) Is the shooting opportunity fleeting?

Sometimes the timing of shooting is very important, such as sudden situations or street photography. "Timing" determines whether a good shot can be taken. Photos are very important. Sometimes there is simply not enough time to make various settings or considerations. At this time, the author will quickly increase the ISO a little and press the shutter button to shoot. This way, even if the wrong aperture is used, there is still a chance to take clear photos. , although high ISO will increase signal noise, raising ISO can speed up the shutter, which is better than taking blurry photos due to hand shake; and sometimes for certain subjects (such as black and white street photography), signal noise can actually add a bit of color to the photo. What a taste!

The monkey happened to be sitting next to the statue, so take the opportunity to take a photo.

(Nikon D810 / f/4 / 200mm / 1/200s / ISO640)

(6) Is the composition suitable?

The last thing to pay attention to is When it comes to composing a picture, the most basic but useful one is the "rule of thirds" composition. Of course, you can also apply different composition methods to take photos. In addition, if you plan to crop, rotate or straighten in Photoshop, you should leave a little more space on the four sides so that you have more flexibility during post-production. Pay attention!

If you plan to rotate or crop during post-production, you need to reserve a position during shooting.