BEST Camera Settings for Travel Photography

I'm often asked, "What are the best settings to make travel photos?" Is there even such a thing? Here are some answers.
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𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:
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0:00 - What are the best settings?
1:15 - Aperture priority
2:17 - Shutter speed
2:59 - How you communicate visually
3:28 - Exposure compensation
4:26 - The ISO
5:28 - My approach to ISO and shutter speed
6:21 - This might surprise you (my settings)
8:22 - When should you use fully manual settings?
9:53 - A common case to use manual settings
10:15 - White balance
10:40 - Focus
11:05 - Some final words

[mitchellkphotos]

What are your go to settings? Please share and tell me what you think about the video!

[dannykhen]

I shoot almost exclusively in aperture priority. I choose shutter priority mainly to get intentional motion blur, like with waterfalls (1/8 sec is my golden setting for that). And I switch to manual for panoramas, since I want to keep the settings fixed throughout the series.
I use auto-ISO and I programmed the lens's programmable ring to change ISO on the fly when I need to. Auto-ISO on my camera keeps ISO to the lowest possible in the range, so in general it does what I want.
I don't mess much with exposure compensation. I simply move the camera around to darker/brighter areas while setting exposure, find the sweet spot, then half-press to fix the setting, re-frame, and shoot. Much easier for me than changing a setting. Besides, in a high-contrast scene, some area in the photo is going to be too dark or too bright (or both) no matter what I do, and I can usually fix that in editing.

[TravelinginMiniature]

One of the best videos on travel settings ever

[HaiTomVlog]

I use aperture priority about 75% of the time, usually with auto ISO. I’ll switch to manual ISO occasionally if my shutter speed begins to dip too low, and of course if I’m photographing wildlife, I’m either using shutter speed or manual

[henriktv]

Mitchell, yet another great video from you. I pretty much do the same thing, using mainly aperture priority, combined with exposure compensation to control the light. While I do enjoy you diving into the technical aspects of your photography, I still always end up being the most mesmerized by just how incredible beautiful your images look, and in his video you even shows images I´ve never seen before so thank you very much. I wish more people would watch your content as I find your videos far more inspiring than most of the "influencer-gear-focused" content you find on YouTube these days. I do watch them once occasionally, but they just all look the same and they almost never inspire me to actually go out and take pictures, all they do is making me want to buy a new camera. Your approach is what photography is all about, not endlessly discussing camera brands, specs all based on the latest trends. I hope you keep up the good work, and I will keep supporting your channel. Regards from Norway

[deniseracine]

Thank you for this excellent video. It is very liberating to know that we don’t have to be bogged down by the technical options. I have taken 2 of you classes in the past and always learn something new from your content. Thank you once again. You make photography fun.

[Indrikmyneur]

Well phrased. Despite I'm not confused with this, I still appreciate to learn how others see it. Great you illustrate your videos with so many photos. It helps to get the point.

[cmichaelhaugh]

Love looking at your photos. They give me so many creative ideas!

[henriontour]

Amazing short and clear explanation!! Thanks!!

[tjsinva]

Excellent discussion. Generally shoot Aperture, only wide open when called for, generally 5.6 or 8 for quick reaction and adjust as time permits. Need to work on using exposure compensation more. 🙄
Tend to bracket more. Glad to see you're getting a change of scenery. You were in Peru for a long time. Carry on. 👍🥂

[iainmacdonald]

Enjoyable and informative as usual, Mitchell- thank you! Which metering mode do you use, and when? I find spot or centre work best for me.

[paullafleur]

Awesome. These videos are so helpful and inspirational. Thank you

[wendybirnbaum]

This video was helpful. I just replaced my Nikon 24-70 F4 to 24-70 f2.8. I have the Z7. I photograph mostly environmental portraits, and sell my photos

[ИльяЩукин-оы]

Привет :), как обычно, топ контент - всё чётко и по делу) Сам давно снимаю в P режиме, 2.8, 3.2, 5.6, 7.1 любимые числа, экспозицию кручу всё время (обычно тоже ухожу в минус), с короткими выдержками на размытие не экспериментировал, но надо, надо когда-то начинать)) А по поводу баланса белого всё верно - всё равно все настройки так и так прикрутятся на посте, так что смысла тоже не вижу всё это крутить прямо из камеры :) Единственная сложность для меня - попасть с экспозицией, потому что перешёл на зеркалку :(

[michalkubecek]

Most of the time, apperture priority, sometimes manual with auto ISO when I need specific time (short or long) for some reason. Often also apperture priority with shutter speed limit and auto ISO, I have two such custom modes prepared, one for "normal" candid shots of people (1/125s, sometimes switched to 1/250s, unfortunately the camera does not offer 1/160s for shutter speed limit), one for sport or other fast action (1/1000s or 1/2000s). Exposure compensation as needed, mostly to avoid clipping on either end of the range; common fine tuning of exposure within 1EV (or even 2EV when things go wrong) can be usually left for postprocess. Fully manual mode is quite rare, mostly for wild light conditions (night sky, extreme brightness range, ...) or when I need a series of images with the same parameters, e.g. for a panorama or timelapse. I never use time priority or full auto, no control over apperture just doesn't seem right. :-)

What I liked most in the video is how you point out that for this kind of photography, the top priority is always getting the image and catching the best moment, perfect technical quality is secondary. If there is something really interesting, better get an imperfect image than chase perfect settings for so long that you miss the moment.

[seanb]

I use auto ISO in conjunction with the custom modes. So one custom mode will be set to aperture priority, auto ISO, minimum shutter speed of 1/250th, which is enough to freeze motion for most shots of people. Then I have another mode with the minimum shutter set to auto, which generally picks the lowest ISO that I can reasonably hand hold at the selected focal length and which I use for shots where there is less movement. If the camera has three control dials or wheels, I also use manual mode with auto ISO, so I can set shutter speed and aperture for the needs of the shot and let ISO vary, while still having a dial for exposure compensation. That's mainly in low light, where I have to make more decisions about how I want to balance a reasonable shutter speed with the lowest ISO possible.

Having these on custom modes means I can switch quickly as the situation demands.

[HwL]

i shoot Aperture priority, usually as wide an aperture as i can with manual ISO. Adjust accordingly depending on how much is the shutter speed. Exposure comp only if lighting situation gets challenging..

[alechurch]

Aperture priority, auto iso with min SS of 1/250 and I'm good for about 80% of the daylight photos. If I stop for a landscape I then switch to the lower iso setting. In the night or low light situations I then move to aperture priority, auto iso with a minum shutter speed of 1/30 or 1/50 of a sec

[avasigabor]

There is a hidden learning point for me in this video. You don't mention explicitly, but you don't seem to bother too much about the "sweet spot" of your lens. I mean corner sharpness, chromatic aberration, distortion, etc. If you shoot wide open, for most lenses you sacrifice on quality. It is interesting how much it does not matter for a good image.
The bottom line of this video is that photography is not something like instrument flying an Airbus on a dark windy night. In a cockpit you'd better have all the numbers in place, and there is no room for being 'artistic'. But good photography is still more an art than a computing exercise to calculate the amount and shape of light hitting the sensor. And that's why it is so difficult!

[Veptis]

I am using A mode with auto iso... which is sorta like a P mode tbh. Since your metering is the same goal and the camera is keeping the ISO as low as possible untill about 1/60 exposure time. And the EV dial/auto exposure and hold... This is 98% of my photos. Even on analog lenses... it just means I set the aperture on the lens, not the camera.

There is some S mode use - but usually to force the exposure time to be like 1/10s or slower in combination with a flash and some camera motion. This forces the camera to be wide open anyway. I haven't had had a use for force a really short exposure time. Flash on the 2nd curtain/rear to freeze close by subjects but have the background with a lot of motion.