How To Change Your ISO, Aperture

and Shutter Speed When Shooting

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
How To Change Your ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed When Shooting in
Manual Mode 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
Putting Your Camera in Manual Mode 3
Changing The ISO 3
Changing The Aperture 7
Changing The Shutter Speed 9
Conclusion 11

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 Putting Your Camera in Manual Mode

Before you can change any of your ISO setting, you’ve got to make sure your camera is in
Manual mode. So, if you haven’t already, change your mode dial on your camera so that the
“M” (for Manual) is your selected mode.

Changing The ISO

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Typically the button is either on the top right side of the camera near the shutter button. If it
isn’t there, then it’s likely on the back side, often on one of the directional pad buttons.

However, if you have a Nikon D7000 series camera, it’s on the back of the camera on the left
side. If you have a Nikon D3000 or D5000 series camera, there is a function button on the left
front side of the camera that accesses the ISO setting.

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Once you’ve found your button, changing the ISO is going to work in one of two ways.

The first way it might work is that you press the button and the ISO option becomes active.

Then, depending on your camera, you either change the ISO using the directional buttons on
the back of your camera or you spin a control dial to change it. (On many cameras, you can
use both.)

If you have a camera with one control dial like the Canon Rebel series and the Nikon D3000
and D5000 series, that control dial will change the ISO.

If your camera has two control dials like the 60D, Nikon D7000 series, or any Pentax DSLR,
one of the two control dials will change the ISO for you. You may have to try both dials.

The second way that it might work is that you have to press and hold the ISO button. This is
how changing the ISO works on all Nikon DSLRs. Most other cameras don’t require you to
hold the button down, but if you press the button and then release it and find the ISO option
isn’t available, then you may need to hold the button while spinning the control dial.

Now that you know how to access the ISO function, you’ll want to know what you’re looking at
when you change it. Depending on your camera, you’ll be able to see your ISO setting in a few
different places.

On pretty much every camera, the screen on the back should activate and show you your ISO
options. If your camera has a screen on the top, you may also see it there.

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Finally, when you look in the viewfinder, you should see your ISO somewhere along the bottom
of the display. It is usually on the right hand side.

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 Changing The Aperture
If you have two control dials on your camera, then one of those two control dials will change
the Aperture for you. It’s commonly the rear control dial but it could be the front/top dial.

Start by spinning the front/top dial. When you spin the dial, you should see a number changing
on the back screen. (And just like with the ISO, you can also see the number on the top LCD (if
you have one), or at the bottom of the viewfinder.)

The number that’s changing will likely be between 3.5 and 22, and it may have an “f” in front of
it. If you see some other number changing that is in the hundreds or is a fraction, then the
other dial changes your Aperture.

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If your camera only has one control dial, you need to press and hold a button on your camera
while spinning your control dial in order to change your Aperture. The button will be marked
with a symbol that looks like this:

Depending on your camera, the button will be either on the back or the top.

Wherever it is, press and hold that button while spinning your control dial. When you do that,
you should see the Aperture number changing. (If nothing is changing as you’re spinning the
dial, then your camera has gone into sleep/powersave mode. Just half press the shutter button
to wake up the camera. and then try to change the Aperture again.)

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 Changing The Shutter Speed
Changing the Shutter Speed is pretty easy.

If your camera only has one control dial like the Canon Rebel series and the Nikon D3000 or
D5000 series cameras, that dial changes the Shutter Speed by default.

If your camera has two control dials, then one of those two dials will change the Shutter
Speed.

In that case, if you use the rear control dial to change your Aperture, then the front dial will
control the Shutter Speed. If the front dial controls the Aperture, then the rear controls the
Shutter Speed.

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As with the ISO and the Aperture, you should be able to see the Shutter Speed changing on
the back LCD of your camera, on the top LCD (if you have one), or at the bottom of the
viewfinder.)

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 Conclusion

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this guide. Changing your ISO, Aperture and
Shutter Speed is the first step in taking control of your camera and learning how to use it to
create the image you want to create, and I’m happy to have the opportunity to help you learn
how to do that. If you’d like to learn more about how to use your camera so that you can
reliably take photos that look exactly the way you want them to, check out my Guide to
Shooting in Manual Mode video course.

And then…

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