Basic camera settings all photographers should know

Photography is an art, but understanding the science behind producing great images is paramount. Whether a beginner or a professional, you need to know the basic camera settings to capture great images. When it comes to the basic camera settings all photographers should know, we often talk about the aperture (which controls how much light the camera allows in), ISO (light sensitivity), and shutter speed (which indicates how quickly the shutter closes) but there are other camera settings to know as well. 

Whether you are using a professional camera or a smartphone, understanding camera colour settings and white balance can elevate your photography. Here is a detailed look at the camera colour settings and DSLR white balance. 

Camera colour settings

In the world of photography, you would often see photographers talk about colour science. This extends to a point where Nikon users cannot adapt to Canon colour science and vice versa. To get the best colour output, you need to understand camera colour settings, which control how your camera interprets and reproduces colour. 

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In the case of smartphones and most modern cameras, you don’t need to worry about changing colour settings since they do an excellent job of interpreting and reproducing colour in your photographs. If you do need to make any changes, here are the settings you need to know about: 

Colour profiles or picture styles 

Your camera is likely to offer a predefined colour profile such as standard, vivid, portrait, and landscape. These profiles adjust contrast, saturation, and sharpness to meet different needs with a mode like landscape boosting greens and blues for outdoor shots while portrait mode enhances skin tone. The best way to learn camera colour settings would be to experiment with these profiles and see how colours vary. 

Saturation and contrast 

When you look beyond exposure, the two settings that every photographer should master are saturation and contrast. Saturation is all about the intensity of colours while contrast controls the difference between the darkest and brightest parts of an image. You would have heard the term highly saturated while referring to smartphone images, which essentially means photos where colours pop but overdoing it can lead to unreal tones. 

Custom colour profiles 

Professional DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras allow their users to add their custom colour profiles. This is useful for photographers looking for consistent results and working in specific lighting conditions. You will see a lot of wedding photographers use their custom colour profiles to stand out. 

DSLR white balance

Ever wondered why your photo looks too blue or too orange? Well, that’s because of the white balance. White balance ensures that the colours in your photos appear natural and consistent across different shooting environments. You can use your DSLR white balance to adjust the colour temperature of your images to match the light source. 

When it comes to DSLR white balance, they mostly offer white balance presets such as daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, and shade. These presets compensate for different lighting conditions, from adding cool tones to adding warmth to counteract the cool tones of overcast skies. 

ALSO READ: DSLR cameras: Everything you need to know before buying one 

However, you can also use custom white balance while shooting in complex situations to get accurate colour reproduction in your shooting environment. If your DSLR allows it, you can also use the Kelvin scale to adjust the white balance of your DSLR. For warm indoor lighting, you can use lower values between 2500-4000K while higher values such as 6000-7500K can be used for outdoor lights. 

If knowing ISO, aperture, and shutter speed is like a beginner’s guide to camera settings then knowing about camera colour settings and DSLR white balance is taking your knowledge a step further. Some might refer to them as basic camera settings (aren’t they all) but these settings allow you to precisely control your camera to get natural colour reproduction and master your photography.