How to Manually Adjust a Camera more light almost always makes things better and easier since it allows

s lower ISOs, a larger depth of eld, and faster shutter speeds if you care about one parameter in particular, use a priority mode 1. walk/zoom to frame what you want to capture a wider zoom gives a greater depth of eld 2. focus automatically or manually manual focus is particularly good for fast motion, low light, and macro for high speed shots manually focus ahead of time on a point where the subject will be and then take the shot when the subject gets there macro shots have a very narrow depth of eld 3. adjust white balance with a preset, manual, or custom adjustment white balance digitally applies a lter to adjust for tinted rather than white light from whatever light source(s) you have 4. adjust the aperture to the correct f number (f-stop) to get the desired depth of eld the smaller the f number (the number dividing f in f /#), the bigger the hole and thus aperture size the bigger the f number and thus the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of eld 5. get a shutter speed fast enough to get the clarity desired faster shutter speeds make darker but clearer pictures especially important for moving subjects and high zoom combined with shaky hands 6. select the lowest ISO possible to get the necessary brightness ISO controls how sensitive the lm or sensor is to light, but higher ISOs make the image grainier Camera Basics f -number = x= fmax fmin f [Focal Length] = [Aperature Diameter] D (x zoom rating on cameras) (f -number)

the x zoom rating on cameras is just the ratio of the max and min focal lengths, not the absolute magnications, which is why point and shoots use this spec while DSLRs with a variety of interchangeable lenses use the actual focal length ranges in mm 1

 this is different from the power, which actually refers to magnication of the image in binoculars, m - n d means they have zoom an objective lens diameter of d mm
n m

and power adjustable from m to n and also

Neutral Density Filter: reduce the amount of light so longer exposure times can be used for niche artistic effects Graduated Neutral Density Filter: reduce light more in one part of the image than another to tone down dramatically lit landscapes, etc. UV Filter: help reduce haze on lm cameras but arent necessary for digital cameras except to physically protect the outer lens only circularly polarizing lters can be used with autofocusing and metering; linear polarizers cannot and nobody even uses elliptical polarizers in photography