I am often asked: “What camera settings should I use?” Unlike phones, tablets, and most point-and-shoot cameras, there are many settings on most DSLR and mirrorless cameras. All of these settings play an important role, and none of these have one ideal setting that will always work.
We typically encounter four types of settings that need to be set on DSLR and mirrorless cameras: exposure modes, metering modes, focus modes, and exposure settings. The choices for all of these settings depend on what type of photo you are shooting, and the conditions you are working in. I can’t leave all of my settings set on my camera for long without adjusting them because scene activity and lighting conditions are constantly changing.
But I do have some preferences, some personally preferred starting points that I use to guide me, and I am happy to share those. As you gain experience, you will discover your own preferences, too, but if you are new to photography and just starting out, I will explain why I have these preferences.
Exposure Modes
One of the first decisions we need to make is selecting an exposure mode. Setting an exposure mode doesn’t set the exposure — it just sets the stage. By choosing and setting an exposure mode, you are telling your camera how you want your camera to work, including if you want to manually set your exposure settings yourself, if you want the camera to help you with the exposure settings, or if you want to give the camera complete control over setting exposure.
Beginner photographers frequently let the camera make all the decisions by using automatic or program mode because it is easy and convenient. However, your camera is only a simple computer. Photography is “all about the light,” so we have to get exposure right when we take the photo. Cameras can do a pretty good job making exposure decisions, but challenging light is challenging for both us and our camera. I usually encourage my students to avoid using automatic or program mode and instead, spend some time practicing the principles of exposure and learning the Exposure Triangle.
There are four main exposure modes in practically all cameras. Some cameras have additional sub-exposure modes for specific types of photography, such as portraits, sports, landscapes, etc., because different types of photography need other types of camera settings (portraits usually have subjects quietly sitting in place, while sports have multiple subjects moving around rapidly). The four main exposure modes are Manual Mode, Automatic Mode, Aperture Priority Mode, and Shutter Priority Mode.
Manual Mode gives photographers complete control over the camera's exposure settings. This is a mode that definitely takes some practice. In this mode, the photographer is entirely in charge and must adjust everything manually. The photographer needs to assess the scene's light and motion, and configure all the settings independently before capturing the image. Many amateur and hobbyist photographers shy away from Manual Mode because it can be intimidating, and it does take some practice before you become comfortable, but there are many photographs that I have taken in challenging lighting conditions that only worked using manual mode, so it is definitely worth learning.
Automatic Mode functions exactly as the name suggests: everything is automatic, the exact opposite of manual. The camera controls all exposure settings, flash, autofocus, and other scene analysis. This mode isn’t offered on all cameras, but there are frequently other controls that basically allow for the same function when used with Program Mode.
Program mode is an automatic mode where the camera sets the shutter speed and aperture but allows the photographer to manually override and control other settings like ISO, white balance, focus mode, and exposure compensation.
Aperture Priority Mode is a semi-automatic exposure mode that enables the photographer to set the aperture, which will remain constant while the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed. This mode is often abbreviated as "A" or "Av" on the camera's mode dial.
Shutter Priority Mode, also known as Shutter Speed Priority or Time Value (TV) Mode, is a semi-automatic exposure mode that allows the photographer to set the shutter speed, which will remain contant while the camera adjusts the aperture to ensure proper exposure.
Camera exposure modes are generally listed on a dial or cycled through using a mode button and a separate dial. The basic modes are commonly abbreviated as Auto (for Automatic Mode), P (for Program Mode), A or Av (for Aperture Priority Mode), S or Tv (for Shutter Priority Mode), and M (for Manual Mode). Refer to your camera’s manual for specific information and the capabilities of your camera model.
New photographers often initially gravitate towards the fully automatic mode because it seems like the easiest option. In this mode, you can take a brand-new camera out of the box and start capturing photographs right away. All the photographer needs to do is frame the image and press the shutter button. Unfortunately, while this may sound very tempting, cameras aren’t that intelligent — they frequently select the wrong shutter speed and aperture combinations in challenging lighting conditions, which can ruin your images.
Manual mode is often used by older photographers, and I frequently use this setting. The last film camera I used before transitioning to digital was a Hasselblad 503CX medium format film camera, which didn’t even have a place for a battery. A roll of film, which had to be manually advanced by winding a crank, offered only 12 shots, so I had to be very judicious with my exposure settings before pressing that shutter button. Everything about this camera was manual, and I loved it! I needed to carry a light meter to measure my incident lighting, manually focus my lens, and check my depth of field using a gauge on the lens. I had to calculate all my exposure settings myself. Setting up a photograph took some time to complete all these tasks, but this process made me truly think about my photograph, composition, and exposure settings. As a result, I believe I took better photographs with that camera because shots took more effort to set up.
I hear people say all the time that “Professional photographers use Manual Mode.” While I agree they sometimes do, they don’t always. I use Manual Mode occasionally, but I mostly use one of the semi-automatic modes. I paid a lot for my camera, so I’m happy to let the camera do some of the work, making my job easier.
Aperture Priority Mode is likely the exposure mode I use most often. In this mode, the photographer selects the aperture setting, letting the camera automatically select the shutter speed. My camera can also adjust the ISO based on parameters I can set, but I typically keep that turned off unless I’m shooting video. In most cases, we usually take multiple photographs of an event or scene. If you turn from your position, if a cloud moves in, or if you're capturing a sunrise or sunset photo with rapidly changing lighting conditions as the sun continues to rise or set, you don’t need to worry about re-evaluating your exposure for each shot, as the camera will adjust the shutter speed to maintain correct exposure as the light changes, while maintaining the aperture that you want.
As a landscape photographer, I typically want to control the aperture more than anything else so that I can achieve a sharp image from the front through the back of the photo. I prefer not to let my camera adjust the aperture automatically with landscape shots, as that will affect my depth-of-field, which could reduce the sharpness in close or far areas of my photograph. As lighting conditions shift during my photo shoot, I want to avoid the hassle of stepping away from the camera to measure the light. Aperture Priority mode prioritizes the aperture I set and automatically adjusts the camera’s shutter speed as lighting conditions change, to maintain proper exposure.
I typically set my aperture in Aperture Priority Mode to ƒ/8. The “sweet spot,” or the sharpest aperture of the lens I most frequently use for landscape photographs, is ƒ/5.6, but I find that ƒ/8 works best for me because of the hyperfocal distance. At a focal length of 24mm and an aperture of ƒ/8, I know that if I focus my lens at eight feet, everything from four feet to infinity will appear sharp in my photograph. For me, this is an excellent setting for my landscape photographs. Although this may vary with different lenses and cameras, it works wonderfully for my landscape photographs with my equipment, and I prefer my aperture to remain at ƒ/8. Aperture Priority Mode lets me achieve that.
I try to avoid setting my aperture smaller than ƒ/16 because, beyond that point, lenses can be affected by diffraction and images tend to become less sharp. Your lens may vary. While using the widest aperture available for your lens can be beneficial in low-light situations, it may also lessen the sharpness of your lens and darken the corners of your photograph (known as vignetting).
Shutter Priority Mode is another semi-automatic setting that I sometimes use in situations where shutter speed is more important to me than aperture, such as when photographing sports or wildlife. Most of my photographs feature landscapes, and in most landscape photography scenarios, shutter speed is not a concern, allowing me to keep the shutter open for as long as necessary to expose my image.
However, sometimes there is something moving in my landscape photographs that compels me to either blur or freeze the motion. Shutter Priority Mode allows photographers to select the ideal shutter speed for their specific scenario, enabling the camera to adjust the aperture settings to maintain proper exposure. For many photographers, this method also works effectively for capturing images of flying birds or during sporting events. Just remember that, as the camera adjusts the aperture, your depth-of-field will change.
Some cameras feature an Auto ISO Mode, where the camera selects an ISO setting while the photographer chooses both the aperture and shutter speed. This represents a slightly different approach to semi-automatic exposure modes, giving you control over two elements of the exposure triangle when you need greater control during fluctuating light conditions, such as at weddings or in bird photography.
Auto ISO allows you to set a maximum ISO that you are comfortable shooting — effectively establishing a “ceiling” for ISO to minimize camera noise. The Auto ISO mode can also be useful in preventing the camera from using a shutter speed that is too slow for handheld photography.
However, since reducing or eliminating camera noise is crucial for my landscape photographs, I still prefer not to let my camera adjust the ISO automatically. I want to manage the ISO myself.
There isn’t one mode that is best all the time. You have to make the decision of which is most important to you: setting the aperture or setting the shutter speed. If controlling aperture is most important, choose Aperture Priority Mode. If controlling shutter speed is most important, choose Shutter Priority Mode. Often, you may decide that controlling both the aperture and shutter speed are equally important, and in that case you should choose Manual Mode.
Metering Modes
Another decision you, as the photographer, will need to make when setting up your exposure is selecting a metering mode, which is how your camera will measure the amount of available light. This is necessary to calculate exposure.
Before light meters were built into cameras, photographers needed to carry and use a separate light meter with a diffuser, in addition to their camera for taking the photograph. Photographers used incident light metering to measure the light falling on the entire subject. They positioned themselves in front of their subject, aiming their meter toward the camera to obtain an incident light meter reading. Incident light metering is considered more accurate than reflective light metering.
Camera manufacturers eventually decided to build the light meter into the camera to eliminate the need for photographers to carry a separate metering device. In subsequent years, they developed cameras that could interact with the light meter to automatically adjust exposure settings. Built-in light meters, however, cannot take incident light readings and must rely on the less accurate reflected light metering. To overcome this disadvantage, cameras developed spot metering, which could be used to measure only a small portion of the scene, typically just the subject. Today, the spot can typically be manually moved around the frame and placed where it is needed, some by touching the display. While many photographers don’t believe that reflected light meter readings are as accurate as incident light meter readings, the ability to isolate and measure just a portion of your subject is considered an advantage.
A good example of using spot metering is photographing the moon. Other metering methods will measure a larger area than just the moon, attempting to average the moon with the dark sky, which results in overexposing the moon. By measuring only a small portion of the moon’s surface with spot metering, your camera can measure the moon more accurately while ignoring the rest of the scene, which is typically pitch black or much darker than the moon.
As camera technology advanced, Center-Weighted Average Metering was introduced. This metering mode focuses on the central part of the viewfinder while still considering the rest of the frame (although it does omit measuring the far edges). This mode is beneficial when you are trying to capture a well-balanced exposure, but it tends to favor whatever is in the middle of the shot.
Matrix Metering, also known as Evaluative Metering Mode, is the recommended setting for metering on most digital cameras today. This mode divides the entire frame into multiple “zones” and takes a series of readings across the frame, calculating the overall average exposure value. Some cameras may also compare the scene to a database of pre-programmed exposure scenarios or reference images to help refine that measurement.
The newer practice of measuring reflected light isn’t as accurate as the incident light measurements made with older light meters, but creating zones and consulting recommended settings in a database stored in your camera is a creative improvement. It works very well, but still isn’t perfect.
The best choice of metering modes to use in photography depends on the type of image being captured and the lighting conditions.
Matrix Evaluative Metering is currently the best option when measuring for the best overall exposure of a scene, particularly in evenly lit situations such as landscapes with a variety of tones. It is the most advanced mode available on today’s digital cameras and also functions well with automatic flash. However, this mode can miscalculate the exposure if the scene does not average out to 18% gray, or if there is a significant amount of bright sky in the frame.
Center-weighted metering evaluates the exposure from the center of the viewfinder, operating under the assumption that the subject is likely to be positioned in the center of the frame. This method is ideal for portraits, macro photography, sports, and occasions such as weddings or family sessions, but it’s not going to work well in all situations.
Spot metering allows you to choose the exact area to meter. This method is ideal when your subject is the focus, and the background is not a concern, or if your subject has a uniform tone and is easy to emphasize. You should avoid using spot metering if your subject is moving quickly.
I typically use Matrix Metering since it does a decent job, particularly with landscape photos. Occasionally, if I have a challenging scene, I use Spot Metering. Making a decision on which metering mode to use takes some practice, but it isn’t crucial so don’t let this decision distract you. I am going to show you later how to take a test shot and then how to evaluate your exposure and adjust your exposure settings accordingly. By doing this, you can achieve the proper exposure, so if you don’t use the best metering mode, it really won’t matter because you are going to still end up with the proper exposure (but it may require a bit more work). This is something that you should do for all of the images that you take, no matter how experienced you are. Don’t be concerned if your test shot needs some adjusting because reflective light meter readings just aren’t that accurate, and the best of us usually have to make adjustments. Picking the wrong metering mode won’t ruin your shot if you use this test shot method.
Focus Modes
Just as there are multiple Exposure Modes, most digital cameras also offer multiple Focusing Modes. Since our primary objective is to capture properly exposed and sharp images, understanding both modes and properly setting both of these modes up on our camera is essential for achieving this goal.
Camera focusing modes, also referred to as focus modes, determine how a camera's autofocus system operates. You have several options.
Manual Focus (MF) refers to the technique where the photographer manually adjusts the lens to achieve focus, rather than relying on the camera’s autofocus system. This adjustment is typically made by rotating the focus ring on the lens. Some people wonder why anyone would want to use manual focus, since autofocus is very accurate. I frequently want to focus somewhere other than on my subject, on the lens's hyperfocal distance, and when I am doing that I want to turn autofocus off and use manual focus.
Manual mode can usually be activated on most cameras by turning autofocus off. This can be done by switching the autofocus (AF) button to OFF, moving the focus switch to manual focus (MF), or using other similar methods. Some cameras provide two options for turning manual mode on or off: one on the lens and another on the camera body. If one of those two switches are turned off, then autofocus has been turned off. Either switch will work; refer to your camera’s instruction manual.
If your lens offers autofocus, it typically has two types: Single and Continuous.
Single autofocus, also known as single-shot autofocus, one-shot autofocus, or single-servo focus, is a camera feature that focuses the lens once when the shutter button is pressed halfway down. If you continue holding down the focus button and the subject moves after the focus has been set, the focus does not change unless the button is released and then pressed halfway down again. Canon refers to single autofocus as "one-shot" mode, while Nikon calls it “AF-S,” which stands for single-area autofocus.
This mode works well for landscape photographs and other images featuring still subjects. However, it is not well-suited for sports or wildlife photography, or when capturing images of children who tend to move around quickly.
Continuous autofocus is a camera feature that maintains the focus on a subject as long as the shutter button is held halfway down and the subject moves. This mode is useful for shooting moving subjects, such as athletes, vehicles, pedestrians, and wildlife. It helps maintain focus when capturing fast and unpredictable movements. You can hold your shutter button halfway down, and the camera will retain focus, readjusting focus whenever the subject moves. This way, you can observe your subject and wait to trigger your shutter exactly when you are ready, assured that your subject will be in focus.
Canon refers to continuous autofocus as "AI Servo," while Nikon designates its continuous autofocus (AF) mode as "Continuous Servo AF" (AF-C).
After selecting a focusing point or zone, your camera will keep focusing as long as the shutter button is halfway depressed when you are in continuous autofocus.
Some cameras also feature subject detection. With my camera, I can activate a selection box that doesn’t include any visible focus point. Once the camera identifies a subject, a focus point appears in the viewfinder and the focus point moves within that selection box, tracking the subject. I can choose auto subject detection or specify a person, animal, bird, vehicle, or aircraft. When a subject is identified, the camera will attempt to identify and locate the subject’s eye and then focus on that.
When using subject detection, if you are shooting birds, I suggest specifically selecting birds instead of using auto subject detection, as you wouldn’t want your focus point to suddenly shift to a passing aircraft if auto identification is turned on while following a bird.
When I am photographing subjects that move, I prefer to use Continuous Autofocus Mode. When you are trying to anticipate what your subject will be doing, they may surprise you with a sudden movement that you may want to capture, particularly with children and animals. With this mode, I can be prepared for that.
But when I shoot landscapes, I usually turn off autofocus and use manual focus. With landscapes, I want everything from the bottom of the frame through the background to appear in focus, so I focus my lens manually at the hyperfocal distance and leave it there, frequently taping the focus ring down with gaffers tape so that focus isn’t accidentally changed by the camera lens being bumped. Landscapes typically don’t move, but if a subject in the landscape does move, it doesn’t matter to me because my lens is set to the hyperfocal distance.
When using autofocus, you need to select the focus point or area, and various cameras provide different options. Spot focusing uses a small square within your viewfinder to select the exact spot where your camera should focus. Frequently, auto-focusing and the metering location are combined in this same small box. This is a very useful focusing mode because it allows you to choose the specific area you want to focus on, particularly when using a tripod, along with measuring the light at the same part of your photo. Most cameras allow you to move this focusing point around your frame as needed, and my camera even lets me touch my display to move and set my focus point. However, the spot you want to focus on may not be the brightest area in your photograph, so this may lead to an incorrect exposure reading, and you should keep that in mind.
Which focusing mode you choose will depend on on what type of photo you are shooting. I usually just leave mine on Continuous Autofocus, but being a landscape photographer, I frequently swith to Manual Focus so that I can make sure everything in my photo is in focus.
Exposure Settings
When I add my photographs to my web site, I always include my camera settings because some photos are just challenging, and I like to help people learn and see how I achieved a shot. But looking at other photographers' settings is not a great place for a new photographer to start. Looking at someone else’s camera settings can give you some ideas on how a photographer managed their exposure, but it can’t tell you where you need to set your camera’s exposure settings, even at the exact same location, because every photo and every hour of the day has different lighting. Even the same place will have different lighting as the day progresses.
When I teach my photography classes, one of the first things I teach is the Exposure Triangle. Exposure depends on three things: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed. You cannot just pick any combination of those three things that makes your camera's exposure meter line up for a correct exposure. While that may give you an acceptably bright photograph, each of those three elements has their own pros and cons that can either enhance or degrade your image. A good photographer must know those pros and cons and use them to make their decisions on exposure settings.
A high ISO can make your photo brighter, but grain becomes more obvious and it can also reduce your dynamic range, so most photos will work better with the lowest native ISO your camera offers. You ultimately have to pick an ISO that will make your exposure work, so when I am shooting my grandchild at a dark dance recital, I will use a much higher ISO than I might use for a landscape because I know that is the only way I am going to get my shot. But when I am shooting a landscape photo that I know I will ultimately enlarge and sell at an art show, my preference is to use the lowest native ISO that my camera offers. That’s my starting point, subject to change.
When I get my camera exposure settings set up the way I prefer them to be, if the exposure doesn’t work, I have to either find a way to make the exposure work or walk away and try again another day. ISO may be one of the things I may be able to adjust, but if that is the only way I am going to get enough light to make my exposure work, and if I think it’s going to create an image that is too noisy and not sharp enough for my standards, then the exposure just isn’t going to work for me. When you are trying to work with these three elements to create an exposure that will work for you, you have to understand the pros and cons of each element.
Aperture determines how much light you are letting into the camera through the lens, but that also affects depth of field. A wide aperture will give you more light, but it results in a narrow depth of field, which may work well with a portrait where you want to soften the foreground and background, but probably will result in a landscape photo having a foreground or background that appears out of focus. It all depends on the type of photo you are shooting. Narrow depth of fields work well with portraits, but they rarely work well with a landscape photo. And although an extremely narrow aperture will increase your depth of field, it will also increase diffraction, which will make your photo appear less sharp.
The shutter speed will also let in more or less light since it changes how long the shutter is open, but this can affect sharpness when you are hand holding a camera with a long shutter speed, or if things in your photo are moving.
I mostly shoot landscapes with my camera on a tripod, so my primary goal is to create a photo that is both sharp and properly exposed. After I set up my camera, the first thing I will set is my ISO. I normally want to use my lowest native ISO because that will reduce noise that can make a photo appear less sharp, so I will set my camera to 64 ISO. I may come back to this later if I cannot make the exposure work and increase my ISO if I think I can get away with it. You have to pick an ISO that is going to work with your photo settings, but this is where I start.
For landscape photos, after I set my ISO, I usually set my aperture. A camera lens is typically sharpest at an aperture setting that is two stops smaller than its widest opening, which is often referred to as the lens's "sweet spot." This means if a lens's widest aperture is ƒ/2.8, the sharpest results will likely be found at ƒ/5.6. While photographic wisdom tells me my sharpest aperture is ƒ/5.6, my personal preference is to use an aperture of ƒ/8 because I know that my go-to landscape lens, my Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 S lens, when used with my full-frame Nikon Z 9 camera, has a hyperfocal distance of 8 feet at an aperture of f/8 and a focal length of 24mm, meaning everything from 4 feet through infinity will appear acceptably sharp and in focus. For most landscape photos, you want everything from the foreground through the background to appear sharp and in focus, and for me I can usually fit my entire scene within the acceptably sharp depth-of-field of four feet through infinity. I will change this if my shot includes something that is closer than 4 feet, like at a mountain waterfall, but this is where I prefer to start my camera settings.
Finally, after setting my ISO and aperture, I will set my shutter speed. In most cases, with landscape photography it really doesn't matter what my shutter speed is if I am using a tripod and there is no movement being captured in the photo, so I can just pick a shutter speed that results in a properly exposed image. If I am doing another type of photography, such as sports, where multiple people are moving rapidly, then shutter speed becomes more important than aperture, and I will prefer to set my shutter speed before I set my aperture. Still, with landscapes there will be times when it is windy or objects are moving. And there are also times when I will want to blur the water in a waterfall, or blur the colorful clouds in a sunset. Deciding that you want to blur the water of a waterfall, or the colorful clouds of a sunset, are all things that will affect how you will set your exposure. These are things you have to consider while you are setting up your exposure, and they are things that Program or Auto Mode are not going to be able to help you with.
For example, when I am photographing a sunset, after setting my ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, I will probably set my camera's exposure mode to Aperture Priority Mode so that the camera maintains the aperture I have set. I will turn autofocus off and manually set my focus to the hyperfocal distance. I will select Spot Metering as my Exposure Mode and I will move my focus point (which, since auto focus has been turned off, now only functions as my metering point, which means the camera will measure the intensity of the light in the area just surrounding the metering point) just above the horizon, directly over the brightest part of the sky. This way, as the camera is maintaining the exposure as the sunset light changes by adjusting the shutter speed, the camera is measuring exposure at the brightest part of the sky.
So I don’t have a preferred routine where I set ISO, aperture, and shutter speed in a particular order because lighting conditions change and the types of photography change. But I do have a preferred approach for setting my exposure. I am prepared to place more weight on the shutter speed, or the aperture, depending on the situation. I realize that any one of those items ultimately may not work for my photo, and then I make exposure adjustments as necessary.
When I am measuring the light for my exposure, I make sure I am measuring the brightest area in my scene. All images have a dynamic range, which is the range between the darkest part of your photo and your brightest part. In most cases, we want to see some detail in all parts of your photo, both in the highlights and in the shadows.
Dynamic range is measured in stops, and a healthy human eye can see about 18 stops worth of dynamic range. A good camera may only capture 14 stops of dynamic range, but a compressed JPEG image can only display about 5 stops. So that means our photo won’t really look like what we saw in person, and will probably exceed the dynamic range, requiring us to finish up our photography by applying some photo editing.
When we are editing, we can usually brighten up our shadows a bit (and even more if we shoot Raw files instead of JPEGs), but we cannot tone down areas that are overexposed. A sky that is white in our photo because it is overexposed can be darkened to a gray sky, but you aren't going to bring back the blue sky and white clouds you saw when you were taking the photo with editing in post-production for a digital image.
Because of this, I teach my students to expose for the brightest part of their photo, which is usually the sky in landscape photos, and then take a test shot and examine the histogram. If your histogram isn't touching the right side of the histogram, or if it is bunching up on the right side, you have to adjust your exposure. If you are shooting in manual mode, you will have to adjust either your ISO, aperture, or shutter speed (or a combination of the two or three). If you are shooting in one of the automatic or semi-automatic modes, then your camera is miscalculating the exposure. You can't change any of your settings because it is the camera that is doing the miscalculation, so you have to correct the camera by adjusting your camera’s exposure compensation. Then, you will have to take another test shot and reassess until you get the histogram just barely touching the right side. (Don't forget to reset your exposure compensation when your are done photographing that scene. It wasn't a problem with your camera, but the challenging lighting causing the problem.)
Don’t worry about the left side of the histogram. If that is bunching up on the left-hand side but the right side is just touching, then the lighting exceeds the dynamic range and that is something you will have to fix with your software in post-production. In extreme light, you are going to exceed the photo’s dynamic range and we just aren’t going to get both sides of the histogram perfect. In that situation, there is nothing we can do to capture a perfect exposure. The important thing is to get the histogram just barely touching the right side, because you can’t fix the highlights, and then fix the shadows with your software later.
New photographers often avoid looking at the histogram because they don't really know how to interpret it. But all you really want is for the graph to be just touching the right side. It's simple.
And always use the histogram to assess your exposure. Your camera settings allow you to adjust the brightness of your camera's display, but that doesn't affect your exposure. Look at your histogram (and not your display) to assess exposure, and adjust exposure so that your histogram is just touching the right side of the graph.
I can appreciate why beginning photographers will ask for camera setting suggestions, but that is a question that really depends on too many variables. Take the time to learn about the Exposure Triangle if you want to understand exposure settings better. See if your library or camera store offers classes on beginning photography, where they will most likely discuss exposure in more detail.
