Ready for anything

What’s the best way to set up and customise your camera so you can get great shots quickly? Tracy Calder gets some expert advice from a range of photographers

A range of photographers share their tips on setting up and customising your camera, so you are ready at a moment’s notice

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as saying ‘ by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail’, and his advice certainly holds true when it comes to photography. Cameras are incredibly sophisticated tools, but when you have just seconds to get your picture, it’s easy to become flustered, switch everything to auto and just hope for the best. Creating a successful image begins before the shutter is even released. First you need to choose the right tools for the job, then you need to have some idea about what it is you are trying to communicate, and then you need to ensure your camera is set in a way that will deliver the best results and share what you had in your mind’s eye.

Many things can be left up to the camera, but by taking control over settings such as image quality, metering, exposure, focusing and drive modes, you can increase your hit rate, save time, and even develop a style that is unique to you. What’s more, by customising your camera you can be sure that it’s primed and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Over the next few pages a select band of professional and award-winning photographers reveal which camera settings they use to shoot wildlife, weddings, aerial views, landscape, sport, architecture and street portraits. (While many of the photographers here use DSLRs from the same manufacturer, the settings they describe are pretty universal.)