Shooting Settings (Geeks only)
What are the settings I use for my photography? The general answer is "it depends." but for those photography geeks who want to know, I've provided some general information about what I use for different types of photography. Also, please note that the settings below align to what my Sony camera offers.
General settings - Thanks to a confidence in the dynamic range of the camera I have, I have gotten in the habit of shooting Manual most of the time with the f-stop and Shutter speed I want/need but with the auto ISO set to go up to 3200 normally or 6400 if lower light. I can probably go even higher but I'm good with that most of the time. There are times I change these settings (noted below) but this is my starting position.
Fast moving subjects (e.g. birds in flight) - I will usually set the shutter speed to 1/2000 or more or 2500 or more for things like hummingbirds. I usually like to have the f-stop be 7.1 or 8.0 if I have enough light but sometimes will go down. If the light is not great, I may set the shutter speed and set the camera to Shutter Priority. Focus type is usually continuous and may be wide for panning while shooting birds, zone for larger subjects (e.g. foxes) or flexible spot (s,m.l) for smaller subjects.
Stationary, or semi-stationary subjects- I have a wider range of what I do here depending on the effect I want and the lens I have. Usually I will stay within the f-stop range of 7.1 to 9.0 with most of my shots but if I want greater bokeh or more depth of field, I will adjust that. Shutter speed will be the slowest I can go to get a stable shot and avoid movement of the subjects so I generally apply the rule of 2 times the length of the lens (e.g. 100mm means 1/200th). Focus type will usually be flexible spot (s,m,l) which allows me to move it around easily. All of this will change depending on the particular situation of course.
Close up photography - Again, the subject (e.g. flower vs. animal) and conditions (e.g. wind) will drive what I do here but generally, the closer I am, the higher my f-stop usually goes in order to get most of the subject in focus. Unless I purposely want to blur parts of the subject, of course. If doing a subject that is close and I want it to fill most of the frame and all of it being in focus (e.g. a blooming flower), I tend to shoot around f11 and then set the shutter speed as needed considering how much shake might happen from me or from wind. If I'm using a tripod, I just worry about the wind. Focus type will usually be flexible spot (s,m, l) which allows me to move it around easily.
Focus Stacked Images - I have minimal experience with this but when I've done these types of images, I try to always use a tripod since not using it and trying to align the images can cause temporary insanity. I set the f-stop between f11 and f14 and then use the flexible spot focusing to move the focus point between shots. Depending on the subject, I can shoot anywhere from 3 to over a dozen shots. Everything is then combined using Photoshop.
Panoramas - While I don't always use it, I get better results with a tripod. When I shoot these, I shoot everything portrait since that allows space at top and bottom for cropping later. Depending on the subject, I can shoot between 3 & 8 images to make up a pano. Since these are usually landscape images with significant depth, I usually have the f-stop at f14 or higher but I need to worry about Lens Diffraction and I am still learning about that. I usually stitch the final image in Lightroom and then make adjustments in Photoshop.