Common mistakes with camera settings: 1.

White
balance

The vast majority of photographs are taken with the

cameras white balance set to the Automatic option.
Its an easy choice that gets it right most of the time,
but its not completely foolproof and many systems
have a tendency to correct natural variations in light
colour so that images look a bit too neutral.
Warm early morning or evening sunlight, for
example, can be made too cold.
When shooting outdoors better results can be
achieved in many cases by switching to the Daylight
or Sunny setting.
It can even produce better results than the Auto
setting in shady or overcast conditions.
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Most cameras also have Shade or Cloudy white
balance options that inject a bit more warmth into
images.
In some situations this colour-shift can be
excessive, but its worth experimenting with your

camera to find out how each white balance setting

performs in a range of conditions.
For the ultimate in control, use the Custom or
Manual white balance option and set the value
manually.
Your cameras manual will explain exactly how to do
this, but fundamentally it involves photographing a
white or neutral grey target (a piece of card works
well) in the same light as your subject and telling
your camera to use this image to set the white
balance.
If you photograph the white or grey card again after
the manual white balance has been set in camera,
you should see it rendered neutral.
If you wish, you can use your cameras white
balance adjustment controls to warm or cool the
results or experiment with a non-neutral
calibration target.
Common mistakes with camera settings: 2. Sharpness

Most digital cameras allow you to adjust the level of

sharpening that is applied to JPEG images as they
are processed.

Some photographers assume that the highest

setting is the best option as this will produce the
sharpest images.
Unfortunately, it doesnt always work like that and
strong or high contrast edges such as a clean
horizon can end up looking over-sharpened and
having halos.
Conversely, using the lowest setting can leave fine
details looking a bit soft nevertheless, this
generally looks better than over-sharpened edges.
The best way to get good results direct from the
camera is to apply sharpening cautiously on an
image-by-image basis or at least use a mid-range
setting for most shots.
However, those wanting the very best results should
apply sharpening selectively to raw files post
capture.
Common mistakes with camera settings: 3. Autofocus

Many photographers allow their camera to set the

AF point for them because its a quick and
convenient way of shooting.
However, most cameras assume that the subject is
the nearest object and that its close to the centre of
the frame.
While this may be fine much of the time, if youre
shooting an off-centre subject with lots of objects
around it, the camera may try to focus on the wrong
thing.
The solution is to take manual control over AF point
selection so that you can position the active point
over the correct subject.
Your camera manual will explain exactly which
mode you need to use, but its usually called
something like Single point AF or Select AF.
Once the correct mode is set, use the cameras
navigation controls to select the AF point that lies
over your subject in the frame.

Occasionally you may find that there isnt an AF

point that lines up with the subject, in these
situations employ the focus-and-recompose
technique.
To do this simply select the central AF point (as it is
usually the most sensitive), and move the camera
so that it is over the subject.
Then half-press the shutter button so that the
camera focuses the lens. Now, keeping your finger
on the shutter release, recompose the shot.
Once youre happy with the composition, push the
shutter release fully home to take the shot.
Common mistakes with camera settings: 4. Flash sync

By default, cameras are set to fire a flash at the

start of an exposure. This isnt an issue with fast
shutter speeds or when the subject and/or camera
are motionless, but it can produce odd looking
results with long exposures and moving subjects.

The problem is that a ghostly, blurred image of the

subject is produced in-front of a correctly exposed,
sharp version and this makes it look like its moving
backwards.
The situation is easily resolved by delving into the
cameras (or flashguns) menu and activating the
second-curtain flash option.
This will tell the flash to fire towards the end of the
exposure so that any subject movement is recorded
as a blur behind it rather than in front.
It makes the image look much more natural and can
really emphasise the speed of the movement.
Common mistakes with camera settings: 5. Long
exposure noise reduction

In-camera long exposure noise reduction works by

taking a second dark exposure immediately after
the image has been recorded.

This dark image is taken with exactly the same

exposure time as the first, but the shutter doesnt
actually open so no light reaches the sensor.
The idea is to record the non-random noise which is
caused by variations in pixel sensitivity and hot
pixels, and that becomes visible with longer
exposures.
Because in-camera long exposure noise reduction
effectively doubles the exposure time for each shot
many photographers are tempted to turn it off
especially with exposures that are several minutes
long.
However, the results of using it are well worth the
wait.
It is possible to perform your own dark frame
extraction using image editing software, but it is still
advisable to shoot several dark frames throughout a
shoot as the level of noise tends to increase as the
sensor warms up during its heavy use.

The most foolproof approach is to use the in-camera

system.
Common mistakes with camera settings: 6. Shutter
speed

Many novice photographers overestimate their

ability to keep a camera still and consequently shoot
handheld with relatively long exposures.
A general rule for getting sharp images from a
hand-held full-frame camera is to use a shutter
speed that is at least one second divided by the
focal length of the lens.
This means that if you are shooting with a 100mm
lens, the shutter speed needs to be at least
1/100sec.
This rule can be adapted to work for sub-full-frame
sensors by taking into account their focal length
magnification factor.
For example, a 100mm lens on a Canon APS-C
format SLR, like the EOS 700D, has a 1.6x focal

length magnification factor, so the shutter speed

would need to be at least 1/160sec.
Many lenses and some cameras now have image
stabilisation systems built-in and this allows slower
than normal shutter speeds to be used when the
camera is handheld.
Some lenses now claim a 4EV compensation which
enables the shutter speed to be reduced by up to
16x. Thats the difference between 1/125sec and
1/8sec.