All your camera settings explained in an easy to understand language.

The popularity of digital cameras has really sky rocketed in recent years, which has had the affect of bringing prices down to a much more affordable level. Almost everybody you know or a member of their family will have a digital camera.

This means there are thousands of people out there that are completely new to photographic terms and settings. Throughout the following pages we shall go through the most common settings that are included in most of the modern cameras on sale today and in recent years. These pages will not be specific to one type or make, so whether you own a fancy digital SLR, a pocket sized compact camera or anything in between there will be something here for you.

The first and most important thing to learn is how to access the settings in your camera. There are two common ways to adjust the settings in modern cameras, the first is through a menu viewed on the screen usually brought up by a menu button or switch. The other is via a manual dial that is turned to set the camera or to bring up the relevant menu. Check the manual that came with your camera to find how to access your cameras control settings.

The first setting to check is the white balance (WB). this setting controls how the ambient light around you affects the colors captured by the camera. White balance is a very easy to set, just choose the setting that closely matches the situation you are in.

White Balance Settings

The camera you use may have fewer or more choices. From left to right the settings are:

AWB (Automatic) - The camera looks at the light in the brightest parts of the image and tries to guess based on the hue of those areas.

Daylight - Sunlight gives a blue tone to white areas, the daylight setting compensates for this by adding yellow to the image.

Cloudy - This setting adds more yellow to offset the hue given to images on cloudy overcast days.

Tungsten - Indoor light given off by light bulbs is a yellow color, in this situation the camera adds blue to compensate.

Fluorescent - This setting allows for the light given off by standard florescent strip lights.

Flash - The camera matches the white balance with the light produced by the onboard flash.

Underwater - If you are looking to take your camera diving, then this is your setting.

Evaluative WB - This a manually set WB. The procedure requires that a white card is held in front of the lens giving the camera the information it needs to set the correct white balance setting.

Get a free Photography course instantly. Click Here Now!