What next? Hopefully you’ve read my post on the first 10 things to do when you open the brand new box containing your camera. If not, go and give it a scan and make sure that you’ve done those starter tasks. But what next? There are some other things you can do to make your camera work better for you and to customise it to your personal tastes. These are in no particular order but will hopefully help.
Attach The Camera Strap
I got myself a lovely cotton one from Amazon and it didn’t cost the earth but there are loads out there if you don’t want to use the one that comes out of the box. Some clip on, some are on all the time, some have a quick release to a belt holder…there are loads and you can end up spending quite a bit of money on them. They are down to personal preference BUT I would recommend having some sort of strap on your camera. Remember that first time when you dropped your phone and the screen shattered? The same applies to a camera and when you factor in the cost of replacing the camera AND the lens if you should drop it, you will regret not having one from the start.
Change The Image Review Settings
Personally I don’t have this switched on at all but my camera allows me to see every image I take on the LCD screen on the rear of the camera automatically as I take them – by default it will show for 5 seconds before it switches back off again. I have it switched off as I find it an irritant and I would rather decide myself when to preview images. If you do want preview switched on there are usually other things you can have displayed at the same time as the image – focus points, highlights, the histogram, shooting data, etc.
Set The Image Size And Quality
There will be another post into the infinite debate about RAW vs. JPG (type that into Google and see what others think!) but for now make a decision as to how your camera will record images onto your memory card(s). You can pick (obviously) RAW or JPG and the basic difference is that RAW will store the image and a lot of extra information about it (metadata) to give the most control should you edit the image in post processing. JPG doesn’t store as much and takes less space. Or if you’re camera takes 2 memory cards (my Nikon D7200 does) you could have RAW stored on the card in slot 1 and the JPG equivalent stored on the card in slot 2. Also, with JPG you can decide what quality to store / resolution to store (high, medium or low) and this will dictate how much space on your memory card is taken with each image and as a result the total number of images you can take without downloading them to your computer / storage system.
Set The Diopter
Set the what? When you look through the viewfinder and you are framing the image, does it look sharp and clear after you have done a half press on the shutter button? At the side of the viewfinder window there should be a little dial that turns rather tightly. This is the diopter. While you are looking through the viewfinder turn that dial and the image you are looking at will blur / soften and then come back into sharpness as you turn it. All this affects is the image you are looking at and NOT the image that the camera takes – that’s down to the camera and the lens focus. Think of this like twisting the view piece on binoculars. It might make a difference for you – especially if you wear glasses.
So, you’ve done all that, what should you do next?
Learn about exposure and how the exposure triangle affects the finished image. There’s webpage after webpage and book after book on this single subject alone so getting it right in your mind from the start is really important. The exposure triangle links three key things together – aperture, shutter speed and ISO – that are the absolute foundation of a great image. Learn this early on and you will be off to the best start. Check out my introductory post here.
What about finding some resources out on the internet? There are some great websites packed with ideas for knowledge, pictures and creativity; tutorials and countless videos. Whenever you are stuck or want to know more, remember that Google is your friend and you will soon find some great websites you can trust and can keep going back to. Most will also allow you to subscribe to their mailing list and will send regular eMails with even more great content to keep the creative juices flowing. There are also some amazing courses online and there will be some in your local area too, either at college or perhaps run by a local camera club. Some courses will have a formal qualification at the end (for example a diploma) but others might just be totally educational without assessment. Watch out for special offers around the normal sale times as many educational and training websites will have their own courses too.