I’ve had my DSLR for about 10-11 years. And although you’ll find me with my “big camera” glued to my face – I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t always [insert: *G A S P*] shoot in manual.

I did take a photography 101 course around the time I bought the camera, and the settings I learned about in that course are the most important and particularly the only ones I will use to this day.

So in the spirit of “sharing is caring” I’m sharing – here are the TOP TWO camera settings explained.

ISO – let there be light!

This setting is so great to create drama (less light) or to add more calm to a photo (more light). The ISO is a number, if you need more light select a higher number, when you lead less light, turn the number down.

Shutter: The thrill of speed

This is probably my favourite setting. I use it (with a tripod or steady hand) to capture motion (like water or fast lights) or even the craters of the moon. Here we are working with fractions of a number to large whole numbers (ie seconds). The higher the shutter speed (ie: a whole number) the more crisp the photo. The lower the number (ie: a small fraction) the more crisp the picture will be. You have to play around the ISO here, meaning if you want to keep the shutter open for longer, you may want to reduce the ISO to prevent overexposure.