After more than a decade of taking pictures with a digital SLR, I am exploring the menus and sub-menus of my camera. All this time I knew there were many useful tools hidden in those menus, but I have been using the ones I knew. And using them very well. But less than a month ago I decided to explore my camera and mine its depths and kick my photography skills up a notch.
The features of my camera that I have used most often and used effectively over these years involved "the triangle of exposure"--aperture, shutter speed and ISO (light sensitivity). By manipulating these three things a photographer controls exposure, depth of field and a number of other things. Any photographer can go a long way by understanding and using this triangle. At this point I am compelled to restate the sentence in my 35mm film manual that opened up this world to me in 1982--"If you open the aperture one stop and increase the shutter speed one stop, the exposure is the same." If you have always wanted to take your expensive DSLR off automatic toward manual, then understand that sentence. If you understand that, then you really don't need to explore the menus to take really good pictures.
But I have found exploring the minutia of my Canon camera to be not only very useful, but a whole lot of fun. A few weeks ago I did something significant. I swallowed my pride and purchased Canon EOS Rebel T7i/800D for Dummies. Thanks to this book, and my experimentation and exploration, I now have a working knowledge of Picture Styles, Focal Points, Meter Modes, Scene Modes and other features. The most important step I have taken is finally moving from Av (Aperture Priority) and Tv (Shutter Priority) to Manual. In Av, my favorite camera setting, I choose the aperture and the camera chooses the proper shutter speed. In Tv, I choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the aperture. Obviously, there are reasons for choosing either one. But in either mode the result is "proper exposure". In Manual, I choose both the aperture and the shutter speed. Low and behold, there is an indicator to show me if those choices are in the range of useful exposure. The primary benefit of the manual setting is in situations where I want to intentionally overexpose or underexpose the image. I can never do that in Av or Tv because the camera dutifully makes necessary adjustments for "proper exposure".
In the fourth page of the Setup Menu is one of the most useful tools in my camera. For that matter, it is the most important feature. The link simply reads, "Clear Settings." With Clear Settings, no matter how many buttons, dials and menu items I have manipulated, no matter how far I have wandered from Automatic, I can, in an instant, reset the camera to its factory settings. While exploring the vast capabilities of my camera to enable me to be a creative photographer, I find great comfort in knowing "Clear Settings" is only a few clicks away. It's the way I felt in the seventh grade between fourth and fifth periods when I got to Ms. Mills' homeroom. I made it. I'm safe. I can start over.
Much more important than finding and using "Clear Settings" in your camera, you need to find "Clear Settings" in yourself. Some people "clear settings" through prayer, meditation and mindfulness. Other people "clear settings" with a trip to the beach or a walk in the woods. I find clear settings by listening to music, by holding newborn babies and some of all of the above. But no matter what you do or how often you do it, you need to find "clear settings"; you need to find "reset." If you continue to accumulate clutter and dissonance, you will eventually begin to falter and fail.
In the book More Than a Rock, Guy Tal says that a photographer doesn't just record images but s/he creates images. S/he makes something where an instant before there was nothing. The photographer primarily harvests light. The results of my recent exploration are a myriad of new ways to harvest light. But now it's time for me to put down my book, "Clear Settings" and take some pictures.
