A new camera is always exciting, yet the size of the instruction book is daunting, so most never look at it. Here are some important tips for getting the most out of your new camera.

1. Set your time and date, because this information is recorded permanently on hidden data with every photo you take. In future, you can look up the photo data for each picture and know when the photo was taken. Don’t set the camera to print this information onto the image, unless you want it to appear there.
2. Format your media card as soon as you put the new card into your new camera. Format it every time you are finished downloading your images to your computer or when you change the card from one camera to another, as it will function better and be more reliable. However, it will erase all your images, so do this only after you have copied your images for storage.
3. You can recover erased images as long as you do not take another photo on top of the erased ones. If you do not have the software to recover your photos, take it to a camera store such as Cathy Church’s.
4. Set your camera for the highest quality. Many cameras are pre-set for a medium quality setting. This allows you to take more photos on your memory card, but it would be a better investment to get a card that is large enough to take the number of photos you need while set on the best (Fine, Super fine, etc.) quality.
5. Learn how to use your EV control. When using your camera on program mode, find the control marked with a +/-. This will allow you to make your photos lighter or darker than the camera wants to take it. For example, when photographing the moon, the camera wants to make the entire sky average. You want it dark, so set your EV to –2 or more to see more details in the moon.
6. Do not expose your camera to water or salt spray, unless your camera is waterproof. During a Nor’wester, the salt spray is everywhere and it will penetrate around the lens and other controls and cause expensive damage. Purchase a rain cover for your camera if you intend to do storm and outdoor rain photos.
7. Do not get sand near any camera! Even the waterproof cameras are easily ruined when sand gets into the lens movement, under the shutter release levers or into the automatic lens covers.
8. Use the proper scene mode. All cameras want to make an image with average exposure and average white balance. Cameras do not know when you want a scene to be bright white (such as in snow) or predominately red/orange/yellow when capturing a sunset. Scene modes adjust the picture away from the average for each special circumstance. Try the various scene modes and experiment to see which ones work the best for you.

Learn about photography. When you find that the photos taken on programme mode are not producing the image the way that you visualise it, you are ready to learn more about photography. When you learn how images are affected by lens choice, how exposures are controlled with aperture settings (f-stops), shutter speeds and ISO, and how colours are controlled with white balance, you will be able to produce any type of image imaginable. The easiest way to learn that is with a photo course. At my photo centre, we teach evening classes and private classes for all types and levels of photography and videography, plus studio lighting and underwater photography.