Know your camera.
Know your camera sounds like an obvious thing but it is well worth repeating. You don’t want to be fiddling with the settings while the action is happening! Do you want to be able to freeze the action or take beautiful landscapes? Do you want to take candid portraits or street scenes? Most of the time, you might keep it on program mode, however, this can be a bit limiting…
Knowing your camera and what it is capable of will give you ultimate control and allow you to take better pictures.
Habit.
My own personal habit is to keep the camera on aperture priority when I’m out and about taking general travel photos. I have a small wheel on the front of the camera right by my finger to increase or decrease the aperture to give me control of depth of field and shutter speed.
Consequently, if there is an action shot, something happening quickly or I just want the thing I’m focusing on in focus, I can do it just by setting the aperture to F4 or lower. Conversely, if I want lots of depth of field I can set the aperture to F22. Also, make sure you know how to turn the flash off on your camera. Artificial flash in some situations can kill a photo.
Work out your system
Ultimately, it is personal preference but work out for you, what you are mainly photographing that day and have your camera set on that so that you are ready to shoot at a moments notice.
If you are out taking general photos maybe fit a zoom lens instead of a prime so you are more flexible. Have a think about what photos you want to get. If you are not sure on the best way, look at your camera manual or Google the question. Also, Youtube may be able to help. If you are out to get specific photos of something, read up on it before you go and practice the settings you’ll need on your camera. I practised with my Northern Lights photos, as I knew it would be very cold and wanted the settings to come without thinking! That way I could focus on capturing that elusive spectacle and not worry about the camera!
Know your camera – In Conclusion
Dig out your manual and look through it as to what your camera can do! If you can’t find your manual you can always download it in digital form from the camera manufacturers website. Ultimately, the only way to get to know your camera is to practice, practice, practice!
But that’s great!
You now have an excuse to get out and take some fantastic photos!
Below is a selection of the actual gear I use. For the full list of equipment I use to take all these photos check out My Travel Camera Bag
For all my tips and tricks see my Photography Tutorials page.
To see all my gear, check out What’s In My Camera Bag.
Below is a list of my most popular tutorials on photography.
They form the Basis of My Top 10 Photography Tips
Click here for my Photography page with all the links on.
Disclaimer: In short, some of the links on this site are affiliate links. These means that if you click on the link and buy the item, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The money, of course, helps go towards the upkeep of the site – so it’s a win-win for both of us! Any videos used on this site if not my own, are, of course, used within Youtube’s sharing guidelines.
