TAKING PHOTOS OF WHAT YOU REALLY SEE

Capturing the
Moment
Volume 1: Observe, Aim & Capture.

CHAPTER 3

Camera settings

Getting used to your camera is vital.

I will give ideas on how to set up the camera with reference (among other things) to user settings,
bracketing and back-button focusing.
As they say Keep it simple, stupid
1

FOCUSING

The camera has a huge number of settings, put

there to confuse the unwary. With twenty or thirty
knobs and buttons, long menus, lenses to adjust
and a couple of seconds to get it right, there is
simply too much to change and will inevitably
lead to missed shots. The aim of this chapter is to
simplify things as much as is possible.

The ability of the eye to focus is amazing, unless of course you

suffer with one of the thousands of things that can go wrong with
it.
I have recently undergone a series of four operations to correct
problems in my eyes (its an age thing) and now appreciate even
more the power of our vision.
Critical in focusing is the lens of the eye. This often changes shape
to control focus (thats called accommodation). Not all lenses are
equal.

Our own eyes have even more things to control than a camera
does, (lens, iris, multiple muscles going in all directions) but this is
all done behind the scenes, with zero conscious effort. If we can do
it with our eyes, can we do it with our cameras?

If you have ever been close to a horse and wondered why it looks
down its nose at you, it is not because of a feeling of superiority
(that appears to be a particularly human thing). No, it is because its
lenses are varifocal! The focal distance is long at the top and short
at the bottom of the lens. As most things at eye-level for a horse
are distant, it has to move its head up to see us clearly when close.
What it makes of us is anyones guess, but they do sometimes use
that opportunity to take a chunk out of us.

Well, no, but we can approach this with practice.

Most settings on the camera are set once and can then (thankfully)
be forgotten.
To set your specific camera up with its basic settings, check online;
there are numerous sources out there that will help you, although
most settings will simply stay at their default, so dont worry.

Zebras have the same type of lenses, and are even more likely to
take a chunk out of us. Zebras, along with horses and their ilk,
attack first with their teeth. This has led them to evolve enormous
jaw muscles, similar to those of carnivores, with confusing skull
features to go with them.

I will mention three or four settings that I believe will save you
much time and many shots.

This makes both ends of a zebra equally dangerous, something I

discovered while attempting a rectal palpation on one as a student
in the United States.

Ill start with the most difficult, focusing, then briefly mention
three or four others before talking about the User Settings...

An unforgettable experience. Dont try this one at home.

Camera lenses, on the other hand, are not flexible. They control
focus by moving in and out. Fish have a similar system but in
mammals this occurs only with dire consequences. I have seen this
happen many times in dogs; it sadly results in the lens dislocating
and leaving the poor animal blind and in pain.
Cameras too have evolved imperfectly. The automatic focusing
systems found in modern camera are far better than the old system
of manual focusing.
They are not, however, perfect.
Many DSLRs have a choice of three types of focusing;
Fully Automatic (AF-A in Nikons, AI focus in Canons)
This is where you let the camera figure out the focusing all by
itself. This is a relatively new feature and not all cameras have it.
They are probably better off without it anyway. It is far from
perfect, because, once again, the manufacturer of your camera
isnt there with you to work out what you want. Naughty
people.

Raptor
eyes
have
exceptional capabilities
for
accommodation.
Thus, as a potential prey
moves closer or further
from
them,
the
predator's eyes remain
focused
by
rapidly
changing the shape of
the lens.

Single Shot - (locked) Focus (AF-S Nikon, AF Single or Oneshot

in
Canon
cameras).
This is where the object of your photo is not moving. Focus is
set, picture is taken. Simple.
Continuous Focus (AF-C Nikon, AF Servo Canon)
This is where the subject is moving. Focus is locked onto your
subject and, as the subject moves, focus stays on it. Very clever.
Changing between these settings is fraught with problems. It
usually means fiddling with the camera using a knob and a button

at the same time. Then the subject, which was static, now moves!
You then have to re-fiddle with your camera and well, its too
late. Then when you pick the camera up later for a different shot,
how did you leave your camera set up?

This button may be called AF-ON or maybe called AE-L AF-L as

in my Nikon. Either way, this button can be set up to focus the
camera instead of the normal half-press of the shutter button.
The big disadvantage of this technique is that it must be learnt.
This puts some people off. If you have read this far it shows that
you have the perseverance needed to find this an easy thing to do.
After a day it becomes natural. Please do it!

Forget it, there is a much simpler way, but it is a way that requires
some practice. Please stick with it, this technique will pay
dividends. Trust me, Im a doctor. (Animal doctor actually, but
what the hell)

To set up back-button focusing, you will need to refer to your

manual or watch a video on the internet. On my Nikon it means
setting the AE-L AF-L button to AF-ON and setting the focusing
mode to AF-C. Simple to do, and once set you can then forget it.

Back-Button Focusing
Please use this technique. It is amazing and will give you many
more keepers.

So what does back-button focusing do?

This technique is based around the way you hold the camera.
There is a button that naturally falls under your thumb.

This technique is oh-so-useful with animal photography. Pick your

everyday static object. Heres a cute one - she is marginally bigger
now but moves rather less slowly, until food is involved...

Touch the back button once to focus, take the photo.

Its a brilliant system, I strongly advise you to use it.

Job done, only then the little chap starts to move! (This happens
when retrievers are young, not so much when older.)ing
Memorying

Quickly onto other settings:

If there are 2 Memory Card slots, set slot 2 to Backup (more on
this in chapter 8)
Image Quality: As mentioned in Chapter 1 - set this to RAW (Type:
Lossless compressed, 14-bit)
White Balance - Set to Auto
Color space - Set to Adobe RGB
ISO sensitivity settings - Set to Auto
Leave the rest alone for now unless you have specific need, but
also search the internet for more info on your particular camera.

USER SETTINGS
User Settings are the other camera feature designed to save you
time and save your photos.

Instead of fiddling with all the focus settings, simply keep the
back-button pressed down; focus remains locked on. Magic!

The setup of your camera needs to be altered for different kinds of

shot. You need to think of depth of focus and the exposure settings
depending on whether it is a wildlife shot or a landscape. I love
taking pictures of all kinds of different things, each requiring a
different setting in theory, but in practice this can be simplified.

If you need more persuading, heres a list of the advantages:

No need to switch between stationary and continuous
movement focusing mode
No need to refocus when you let go of the shutter

Here are some examples of different kinds of shot you may wish to
take:

No need to switch the lens to manual mode

No need to refocus when something moves in the way
5

A sunrise landscape with detail in foreground.

A daylight landscape:

This needed both foreground and distant background in focus at

the
same
time.

Note that the exposure is different for the foreground than for the
sky. We will revisit this later.
A sunrise with no foreground detail:

This was exposed just for the sky. No detail is left in the
foreground leaving an attractive silhouette. Two photos were taken
to merge into a panorama.

A landscape with foreground only in focus:

Buildings:

An animal in daylight:

Moving fast and in the distance.

An animal photo in poor lighting:

All these vastly different scenes are dealt with superbly by the
human eye, but a camera cannot cope without help from you.
Therefore I make good use of the User Settings. Once you have
your camera set up as described above, you then need to make a
couple of changes and save these to the User Settings via the
menu options.
It is easy to do, the rational behind it will become clear over the
following chapters as I go through the examples above and more.

User Setting 1:

Well, now we need to

further discuss the
many and varied
types of photo that
you can take.

Set the command dial to A for aperture. Set the aperture to the
widest possible opening.
Save to User Setting 1

We will start with my

personal
favorite,
animals.

User Setting 2:
Set up bracketing, usually just by pressing the bracketing button
and using the dials at the same time (see user manual). Set the
number of exposures to 3. Set the exposure difference to 2 stops
between each shot. Set the command dial to A for aperture and
set the widest possible aperture as above.

Remember the teeth?

Save to User Setting 2

User Setting 3 (if this exists):
Set command dial to S for speed. Set the speed to 1/640th of a
second.
Save to User Setting 3.
As there is no such setting on Nikons, I switch between User
Setting 1, User Setting 2 and S on the command dial.

CONCLUSION:
Each time I take a photo, I use one of three settings (User 1, User 2
or S) then I only need to alter the aperture (on the front dial on the
Nikon) and press the back-button and shutter.
Simple.

Who needs teeth...