How to effectively learn camera settings

It's not about knowing something about every camera setting, but about knowing everything about essential ones.

A common mistake among beginner photographers is thinking that all camera settings are equally important and that they need to understand every option to use their camera effectively. This is a misconception. To be in complete control of your camera and adjust it for various situations, you need to master no more than seven essential settings: exposure modes, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, white balance, and focus settings. However, it’s vital to understand these settings completely, not 80% or 95%, but truly 100%. 

If you must learn 5 things to be able to drive a car and you have learned only 3 of them, you will not be driving that car today, despite how well you understand these 3 things, as you miss some of the essential knowledge. Many basic photography courses often fail in this respect; they provide a little information on everything instead of focusing on what truly matters. Even though students may acquire some knowledge on various topics, the missing details on essential settings will ultimately cause the entire course to collapse.

As for other camera settings, their relevance can vary from “completely irrelevant” to “occasionally useful”. Many of these settings can be grasped just by reading the camera manual, as they are straightforward.

You don’t need to adjust every single setting every time you want to take a photograph.

If you start to photograph more often, you'll notice that for most photographers, at least 80% of the time, setting the camera involves primarily adjusting the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Once you have a solid understanding of these three aspects, you can adjust your camera settings with confidence. As an event photographer, I often face demanding assignments in challenging lighting conditions. A whole year may pass without me changing various settings on my camera, but I typically adjust the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO hundreds of times a day. This works very similarly for most photographers.

"I now know how to set my camera, but it takes a long time to do it."

I hear this a lot from my students. It is entirely normal. Nobody can learn the camera settings in the morning and use them routinely in the afternoon. Repetition is the key. Learning to hit a perfect serve in tennis would probably involve the following instructions: "Throw the ball in the air and hit it as hard as you can, aiming as close to the line as possible." All you need to do now to achieve your goal is to repeat these actions 50.000 times. Photography works the same way. By making it a habit to shoot regularly, you’ll discover that, after a few months, adjusting your camera settings will become the least of your worries. You’ll do it instinctively, without even needing to glance at your camera.