My Settings

I get a TON of emails/messages about what my “basic settings” are when I shoot. I want to stress that I NEVER have a basic setting. Every shoot is different, every lighting scenario is different, it also depends on how many people are in the pose and how they are positioned. (the more people in a layered situation the more narrow the aperture needs to be (>2.8)

A few things I can recommend for getting YOUR settings CORRECT:

• get to know your equipment (my lenses can get as wide as f/1.2, f/1.4 or f/2.8 and I like to shoot wide (which allows that blurry lovely background and my focus to be on my clients), my camera can shoot on a HIGH ISO without looking horrid, and I am pretty steady when using a slow shutter speed)
• figure out YOUR shooting style and what is consistent with that (are you often shooting wide or narrow, do you like to slightly over/under/exactly expose, do you like warm images, what white balance do you use, etc.)
• use your light meter as a guide for exposure and go from there (the camera is NOT always spot on… and the camera doesn’t know your style/eye. If it’s overexposed, then fix it… if it’s underexposed, fix it)
• also fine tune your editing to reflect what you want your final images to look like. I use LR4 for basic editing (my own presets) and Photoshop CS6 (Michelle Kane Photography’s actions 90% of the time) for polishing and artistically editing my images.

I do not go into a shoot with the exact same settings as a prior shoot.. ever. I adjust my settings WHEN I ARRIVE based on the light, the location, the skin tones, and the number of people. 🙂

I always start with aperture… then adjust the ISO to the light I see (you get used to lighting situations and can pick pretty closely) and then I will adjust my shutter. If I cannot get it spot on without my meter, I use the meter as a guide then check the image on camera image and adjust from there!

I also ALWAYS put my spot meter my clients EYE or FACE…  even if I have to recompose!

(What is recompose you ask? Read this J* answer on Question 1 , I happen to do exactly what she does.)

Easy Peasy.

NOW GO SHOOT SOME PHOTOS and nail that exposure! 

Cheers.

Here are a few examples of my process of photo edits.

RAW:LR EDIT: PS EDIT

Lens: Canon 85mm 1.2

ISO: 320

Aperture:f/1.8

Shutter: 1/1600s

Lens: Canon 35mm 1.4

ISO: 400

Aperture:f/1.4

Shutter: 1/150s

Lens: Canon 85mm 1.2

ISO: 500

Aperture:f/2.0

Shutter: 1/1250s