Canon eos 40D Settings

The canon eos 40D is a good camera and I thought I would share with you a few tips for setting it up. I use RAW setting all the time with the PICTURE STYLE set to NEUTRAL 0.0.0.0. I have also been using the HIGHLIGHT TONE PRIORITY which works well if it is a very bright day. You can use the 40D from ISO 100 to ISO 1600 with good results (not as good as the Canon eos 5D at high ISO 3200). For 99% of the time I use one shot auto focus as I find for even the fastest moving bride and groom the camera can keep up. I do use AI SERVO MODE outdoors when they are walking towards me. The AI SERVO tracks very well and is very accurate. I only use one focus point and thats the center one. I use AUTO WHITE BALANCE on the camera and because I use RAW I can change this in ADOBE LIGHTROOM during post production.

Intermediate: Raw Vs Jpeg

I am asked this question allot and I thought I would give you my opinion. I have used Raw from day one and have never made a single jpeg file in a camera. The reason for this is simple. I like to over expose images by about 1 third of a stop then drag the highlights back with the recovery tool in adobe lightroom. I never under expose to retain highlight detail. Try photographing a subject with a wide tonal range e.g a bride and groom on a sunny day. Use jpeg for the first image and raw for the second image. Import both images into adobe lightroom. Now try to recover highlight detail with the recovery slider for the jpeg file and the raw file.

Canon 580EX Mk2 Vs Natural Light

I seem to never use flashguns anymore. I have been through times when I have used flash at weddings quite allot, but I seem to have slowly stopped using them. I think having a flash gun is a good idea, but I would advise everyone to learn photography with available light first. Flash can make you lazy. I have just photographed a wedding at Cripps Barn in the cotswolds. The day was overcast with showers and the barn had only a few windows. I could not use bounce flash and never use direct flash from a small on camera flash gun. The wedding had to be reportage - documentary and at first I thought this was going to be a problem. I looked around the room and saw three windows 2mx3m and another window 1mx3m. It was overcast and the direct sun light was being diffused before entering the room through the clear glass windows. I thought to myself "natural softboxes" and decided not to use flash at all that day. The windows gave me great light and the images had the depth I love in an image.......I will be showing you off camera flash that looks like natural light in future posts.

IMAGE INFO:

Canon eos 5D + 24-105 F4 IS Lens


SHUTTER SPEED-1/80th
APERTURE- F4
ISO-1600
LENS-90mm
PROGRAM-Manual



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