Top Five Enhancements In-Camera For Better Looking Photos

When I first started, I had no idea where to begin.  I tried reading the camera manual to no avail.  Well, I fell asleep after a few pages!  Anyway, the issue is not laziness nor lack of interest.  But the way a camera manual is designed does not teach you how to apply those settings in real life.  Yes, it teaches you how to set it, adjust it, and tells you just a bit about what it controls.  But nothing about how you can apply it in your photography.  In fact, a lot of photography books and courses are designed that way, creating a longer learning curve for beginners.

So, I find myself shooting and mastering ISO, aperture, shutter speeds, white balance, but I still find myself producing ugly looking pictures, far from those I've seen pros do.  Well, of course, I can't compare myself to the pros, but even some friends of mine who shoot more have better looking photos directly out of their camera.  So this is what I found out, only after years of learning and trial and errors.

So you shoot in JPG or maybe you even attempt to shoot RAW with JPG.  You compare your shots with your friend's shots on his/her camera.  You find your photos much duller and you blame in on your LCD.  You download your photos to your computer, view them, and find them even worse than in your LCD.  You load your photos into Facebook anyway, and find that the color of your photo on Facebook differs from the color on your PC.  You get frustrated and you think about throwing away your DSLR ;-)

Well, here are my top 5 settings that I use to enhance my photos that come out directly from the camera.  Basically, the JPG files that you download to your PC. By the way, the terms are based on Nikon cameras.

1. Picture Control - I find my photos to be too dull.  It is a personal preference, but if you'd like your photo to look vibrant and vivid, like capturing the blue of the sky and the green of the grass, then set your Picture Control to Vivid.  Normally, for landscape, it is recommended to set to Vivid and for portraits, it is recommended to use Natural to keep the skin pinkish and natural.  I set my default to Vivid though for all my photos, including portraits and just adjust it for individual photos if needed.  I've rarely had to do it though.  So no more dull photos.
2. Noise Reduction for ISO - Set noise reduction to High.  When you shoot a high ISO ratings during the night for example, the photo gets grainier, sort of like dots or blotches that appear.  It is a normal behavior of High ISO.  So to me, I'd like to call it a "side effect."  Just like taking medication may be good for one condition, but causes side effects that are not so positive.  This is the case with ISO.  So there is  setting to use so that it auto corrects that side effect to a certain extent.
3. Noise Reduction for Long Exposure - some cameras may not have this setting, but if you have it, then you can also set noise reduction to ON.  If you shoot long exposures (shutter speed slower than a second for example), you let more light in, as a result, noise also increases.  Again, a side effect.  So this setting is also used to auto correct this side effect.
4. Active D-Lighting - this is a setting where you can set to Auto or High.  This is usual with those shots outdoor that has a very bright sky in the background then the land in front is too dark.  Setting Active D-Lighting will try to balance out the bright sky and dark land by adjusting the highlights and shadow.  Don't expect it to be a large adjustment, that will require a more complex process, but it does help in most situations.
5. Auto Distortion Control - Set this to yes.  If you notice that when you shoot a building or something with a straight edge, the photo comes out a bit distorted, meaning the straight edge or horizon for example comes out a bit rounded.  This is irritating and sometimes the distortion is too much that your photo no longer looks good.  This is a "defect" if you want to call it that, of the lens.  Because you are shooting through a glass or lens, just like a window on the bus for that matter, it will not be 100%.  This setting simply corrects this defect and you get photos that are close to perfect.

Note that these settings affect the JPG file only (not RAW) because what the camera does is capture a photo as is, save it in RAW without any adjustments then process the enhancements above and output to JPG. If you shoot in JPG only, the RAW file gets deleted by your camera.

For the most part, this is good enough for sharing with friends and family on social media or even the usual 3R, 4R or 5R prints as well as keeping memories of your travels on your personal archive.

My Cheat Sheet: ISO

This is my own cheat sheet for setting my ISO, something I created for my own use.  Generally, I'd use ISO 100-400 outdoors during the day and go ISO 1600 and above indoors or in the evenings outdoor, then fine-tune according to the actual conditions.

The biggest drawback of using high ISO ratings is noise.  Your photo turns out grainy starting at ISO 1600.  Some camera models do better than others in terms of noise reduction, but this is a general behavior.

ISO Setting	Conditions
100	Lots of Light, Sunny Day, Outdoors
	Evening – with tripod for long exposures
200	A Bit Cloudy, But Still Bright, Outdoors
400	Overcast, Outdoors
800	Bright, Indoors (Indoor places with Big Bright Lights like Chinese Restaurants, Hotel Ballroom, etc)
	Dawn or Dusk, Outdoors (after Sunrise or close to Sunset)
1600	Warm Lighting, Indoors (Well Lighted Restaurants & Rooms)
	Well Lighted, Evening, Outdoors – with no tripod
3200	Poor Light, Indoors (Restaurant Lounges)
	Poorly Lighted, Evening, Outdoors – with no tripod
6400	Very Poor Light, Indoors (Clubs, Shows)
	Poorly Lighted, Evening, Outdoors – with no tripod

 * Nikon D60 only has ISO settings to 1600 then HI is set to ISO 3200.  Some new models to day can even go ISO 12,800 or higher

During my practice, I've tried to fix my ISO first based on my guidelines then adjust my aperture and shutter speeds.  This meant that sometimes, I would reach the thresholds where I could no longer get the right exposure.  Let's say I set my ISO to 1600 because I'm in a room with poor lighting, get the aperture to go the widest my lens could do like F3.5 and then adjust my shutter speed.  To get the right exposure, I will need to push my shutter speed to open the longest therefore, the slower side, below 1 second for example.  As a result, my photo because I could not hold my hand steady or there is movement in my subject.

Basically, we just got to face it.  The conditions are sometimes just too complex for my camera equipment.  And this is one example of maximizing my equipment till the time I find it is no longer sufficient for the type of photos that I'd like to shoot.  Then, maybe I'll upgrade.  But there is always one challenge that plague us, the cost of upgrading.  In the meantime, I can still shoot comfortably as these conditions are rare for me, and on the other hand, I could try to be resourceful and find other workarounds.

It's great to learn this way as you force to practice with the limitations and you practice your problem solving by finding other ways to resolve these challenges.  For example, I could try to push my ISO to HI, 3200 in D60, and just do noise reduction in post processing.  For the issue of lack of steadiness, it could be addressed by using a tripod.  And the issue of the moving subject, I could probably add lighting to my subject among other solutions.  I could even try to capture that moment where the subject will pause for at least a second or two by practicing my anticipation skills.  There are a lot of information on the web as well so use it.