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Get to Grips With Digital Camera Settings

A guide to nailing digital photography exposure!

You've probably come across the basic digital camera settings for selecting the exposure of a shot: Manual, Aperture Priority ('A'), Shutter Priority ('S') and Program.

(Aperture priority lets you specify the aperture size whilst the camera automatically finds the right shutter speed. Shutter priority does the reverse, giving you control over shutter speed and taking care of the aperture).

But which is the best one to use!? Once you've got the hang of digital photography exposure it’s tempting to simply think: Manual mode = good / Program mode = bad...

...and as for those aperture priority and shutter priority digital camera modes, they’re just pointless extras!

But there's a reason why aperture priority and shutter priority exist in your SLR camera settings. They're incredibly useful! Think about it...

When you're in manual mode how often is it essential that you fine tune both the aperture width and the shutter speed?

It's normally just one thing that matters, like freezing moving objects or isolating a subject from its background. The light rarely makes it necessary to be in control of both.

So if you're a bit dim like me and struggle to think about 2 things at the same time - 'A' and 'S' modes are waiting for you!

Personally, I like to keep my camera on aperture priority mode for most situations, leaving me to think about depth of field and concentrate on what the subject is doing. I then change to other digital camera modes when necessary.

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The 4 Main Digital Camera Settings for Exposure

Manual

Manual mode is only necessary in very specific light or when you are after a specific effect. For example:

Shooting under studio lights which are very precisely arranged.
Some low light photography. You may need to balance your selected aperture width (depth of field) with a very specific shutter speed to get the right result.
For creative effects, e.g. long exposure photography. Long exposure photography is useful for capturing misty moving water or abstract scenes.
Deliberately bright or dark images. Digital photography exposure is a technical means of achieving an artistic result. Just leaving things to the camera might not always create the effect/mood you are after.

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Aperture Priority

I like to use aperture priority mode a lot because the depth of field is normally more important than the shutter speed and the light rarely causes the shutter speed to be so slow as to cause camera shake.

It gives me the best of both worlds: an automatically calculated exposure and creative freedom. Perfect! So aperture priority is great for:

Everyday shots, when the light is bright enough not to have to worry about shutter speed and you just want to focus on your subject.
Landscapes. Provided you've got a tripod to negate the problem of camera shake, use aperture priority mode to set a nice big depth of field for your landscapes and snap away.
Portraits. 'A' mode comes into its own with portraits. Whether you're isolating your subject from thir background or using a large depth of field, it's the best of the SLR camera modes for this type of photography.
Street scenes. 'A' mode is my favourite of the digital camera settings to use for these shots because it gives me the freedom to keep a close eye out for the next shot and grab it spontaneously without fiddling around balancing the exposure.

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Shutter Priority

Shutter priority is handy when your major concern is shutter speed. For long exposure photography I like to use manual mode. So I select shutter priority from my digital camera settings when I want to freeze objects. This helpful for:

Sports photography. Set a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action, whether it’s bowls or Formula 1, and let the camera do the rest!
Wildlife photography. If you're lying in wait for a gem of a wildlife shot, make sure you're free to seize the instant spontaneously with a quick enough shutter speed.
Some low light photography. You may want to simply use choose manual mode from your SLR camera settings when working in tricky low light. But often the biggest danger is camera shake, which can be dealt with simply by making sure the shutter speed is fast enough.

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Program Mode

Ok, so now you see that the simplistic 'manual' = good / 'program' = bad understanding of digital photography exposure is a bit rubbish!

Well, half rubbish perhaps! Program mode rarely trumps aperture or shutter priority mode, which both automatically calculate exposure, whilst allowing creative freedom.

But program has some uses like:

Sudden opportunity presents itself and you don't have a second to engage your brain! Just slip the digital camera settings to program and snap!
Some reportage. In decent light when you are not interested in using a wide aperture to isolate your subject, just focus purely on getting the shot you need without giving any thought to the details of digital photography exposure.

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So that about wraps it up! These 4 digital camera settings each have their advantages, so don't limit your self by only sticking to 1 or 2 of them. Get the most from your camera!

Manual mode does tend to be a lot more useful than 'program', but 'A' and 'S' are often more useful than manual.

Digital camera modes are pretty simple really, and the sooner you get the hang of them the more control you'll have over digital photography exposure.

I hope this guide to digital camera settings will help you get to grips with digital photography exposure a bit more.

Need to scratch up on some other basics? Return to the Digital Photography Basics Page or check out 'What is Aperture?', 'What is Shutter Speed?' or 'Understanding Camera ISO'

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