Two things that continually amaze me when teaching photography is how badly clients have their cameras set up. So I am wondering how many here are taking advantage of some simple camera settings to help them shoot photos. First, I have no idea why this is so, but it seems all the cameras I look at require the user to active the cameras highlight alert to show blinkies in an image that is shot during playback. Why would you not want to have the highlight alert active? It seems to me the factory default should have the highlight alert on, and not have to be turned on by the user. I have been using the highlight alert exclusively for about four years now - more than a million shots - and I don't have any exposure problems. It is quick and easy and I can actually see the "blinkies" a lot easier than a little bit of rightmost data on the histogram. Second, for some reason cameras are set up to require the user to turn the shutter or aperture dial to the left (if using the top of the dial) to add light and move the histogram data to the right. It doesn't seem logical to have to turn dials left to move histogram data right. A client physicist pointed out this to me about 15 years ago and then I knew why I would use one of the custom settings on my cameras called "Reverse dial direction TV/AV." But it also works on manual. On all of my cameras, turning the exposure dials to the right adds light and moves the histogram data more right too. It is so logical to do it that way. I do have clients who insist they have learned to turn their dials left, to add light and move the histogram data right. But, when I observe them, I notice they are just as likely to turn the dial the wrong way as the right way, so I would point out that perhaps they should switch because it is not as intuitive as they assume it is for them.

Two things that continually amaze me when teaching photography is how badly clients have their cameras set up. So I am wondering how many here are taking advantage of some simple camera settings to help them shoot photos. First, I have no idea why this is so, but it seems all the cameras I look at require the user to active the cameras highlight alert to show blinkies in an image that is shot during playback. Why would you not want to have the highlight alert active? It seems to me the factory default should have the highlight alert on, and not have to be turned on by the user. I have been using the highlight alert exclusively for about four years now - more than a million shots - and I don't have any exposure problems. It is quick and easy and I can actually see the "blinkies" a lot easier than a little bit of rightmost data on the histogram. Second, for some reason cameras are set up to require the user to turn the shutter or aperture dial to the left (if using the top of the dial) to add light and move the histogram data to the right. It doesn't seem logical to have to turn dials left to move histogram data right. A client physicist pointed out this to me about 15 years ago and then I knew why I would use one of the custom settings on my cameras called "Reverse dial direction TV/AV." But it also works on manual. On all of my cameras, turning the exposure dials to the right adds light and moves the histogram data more right too. It is so logical to do it that way. I do have clients who insist they have learned to turn their dials left, to add light and move the histogram data right. But, when I observe them, I notice they are just as likely to turn the dial the wrong way as the right way, so I would point out that perhaps they should switch because it is not as intuitive as they assume it is for them.

Two things that continually amaze me when teaching photography is how badly clients have their cameras set up. So I am wondering how many here are taking advantage of some simple camera settings to help them shoot photos. First, I have no idea why this is so, but it seems all the cameras I look at require the user to active the cameras highlight alert to show blinkies in an image that is shot during playback. Why would you not want to have the highlight alert active? It seems to me the factory default should have the highlight alert on, and not have to be turned on by the user. I have been using the highlight alert exclusively for about four years now - more than a million shots - and I don't have any exposure problems. It is quick and easy and I can actually see the "blinkies" a lot easier than a little bit of rightmost data on the histogram. Second, for some reason cameras are set up to require the user to turn the shutter or aperture dial to the left (if using the top of the dial) to add light and move the histogram data to the right. It doesn't seem logical to have to turn dials left to move histogram data right. A client physicist pointed out this to me about 15 years ago and then I knew why I would use one of the custom settings on my cameras called "Reverse dial direction TV/AV." But it also works on manual. On all of my cameras, turning the exposure dials to the right adds light and moves the histogram data more right too. It is so logical to do it that way. I do have clients who insist they have learned to turn their dials left, to add light and move the histogram data right. But, when I observe them, I notice they are just as likely to turn the dial the wrong way as the right way, so I would point out that perhaps they should switch because it is not as intuitive as they assume it is for them.