Original subtitles

We're going to go through our camera settings

in this module, so you know the baseline

with all the photos that we're going to

start deconstructing later on in the course.

And we'll go through this really quickly.

So first up, we make sure all our

cameras are set up for RAW, right?

Hopefully all of you shoot RAW, the end

files you have so much more potential with

when you shoot RAW.

So we shoot RAW to the one card

slot and we shoot high-res JPEGs to

the second card slot.

The reason that we don't shoot RAW raw

is this is just extra security for us.

We can usually back up multiple weddings in

high-res JPEGs on that second card before

we have to format it.

And we actually have had to use that

second card before, use those high-res JPEGs

when the other card has become corrupt and

the client's never known any different.

So that's first.

Second, we shoot everything in manual.

And this was a big game changer for

us when we first started out in our

photography business.

We were more comfortable or we thought it

was easier to shoot in aperture priority.

After the first workshop I took, I switched

to manual and things changed from there.

It made me respond differently to light, especially

with my muscle memory.

You know, if I was shooting this way

and I went from shooting that to this

way, which was a different lighting scenario, I

was able to adjust just with a roll

of my finger and it sort of became

intuitive as opposed to getting my camera to

make that adjustment for me.

Plus, when we're shooting flash, we have to

shoot manual anyways, so it's one less thing

we have to think about.

That being said, I know so many good

photographers that shoot aperture priority and use exposure

compensation and I wouldn't tell them to do

differently because they do a superb job.

So this one, it's really up to you.

Okay, auto white balance.

We just leave our camera in auto white

balance.

It's one less thing we have to think

about on the wedding day.

Simplifies our thinking and we're shooting raw anyways,

so it doesn't really matter.

Back button focus.

Most things I can be convinced on, you

know, one way or the other.

Back button focus, I'll get into a full

argument over because back button focus will change

your game as a photographer.

There's images that we're going to deconstruct for

you later in the course that just would

not have been possible with shutter focus.

So what back button focus does, for those

of you that don't know, is it takes

the focus off the shutter finger and moves

it to a button in the back of

the camera, hence back button focus, right?

And then this finger, it simplifies the role

of this finger.

This finger only has one job.

That's your moment finger.

That's your moment finger.

And then this finger only has one job.

That's your focus finger, right?

And the next thing I'm going to talk

about goes hand in hand with this and

that is center point focus, okay?

So we always have our camera set up

in center point focus and we recompose from

there.

So it'll look something like this.

Focus, recompose, focus, recompose, right?

And because we're back button focusing, we can

focus, recompose, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot through

the entirety of the moment without having to

regain focus again.

The other thing this allows us to do

is put our 100% attention into the

composition, right?

We used to use the toggle.

The toggle was brutal for two reasons.

One, by the time we've composed the image

and we get the toggle in the right

spot, the moment's over, right?

And then number two is that it allows

us to take focus completely out of the

equation and put all our effort into our

composition and watching the frame, right?

When we would compose and then focus, our

compositions would suffer, you know, especially the fine,

tiny little details like the edges of our

frame, right?

Whereas when we focus and then compose, our

compositions become a lot more intentional and a

lot cleaner as a result.

So back button focus, you know, it's a

bit of a learning curve for sure.

It takes probably a wedding or two to

get used to it, but it'll change your

photography game.

You will get way more moments, you'll get

way more creative compositions, and you'll have way

more opportunities.

So just trust me on this one.

Okay, so next one is eye detect focus.

And this is something I just started using

once we got the Sony a9 and it's

actually changed the way we shoot and compose

a little bit.

So I've got it set up and I'll

show you this in the following video, but

I've got it set up on a right

beside my back button focus.

So if I want a back button focus,

center, I press that.

Whereas if I've got a lot of faces

in the frame and I want it to

lock onto somebody's eye, I can just press

the eye detect focus and it locks onto

those eyes.

And if I hold it down, it tracks

those eyes if they're moving towards me or

if they're moving away from me.

It's an unbelievable system.

Um, it also works really well like for

the processional or I guess it would be

the recessional, right?

When the, when the couple are coming back

down the aisle and we're following them backwards,

we often have our flip screen up and

we're shooting from the hip, right?

And if we use that eye detect focus,

it tracks their eyes the whole way down

the aisle.

So that's a big game changer.

Okay.

ISO never auto ISO, at least not for

the way we shoot.

Okay.

So this is the first decision we make

when we walk into a room, what's the

ISO.

And we basically don't change it until we

change lighting scenarios.

And we'll usually try and set it for

the darkest area of the room.

So once we set our ISO for a

room, we don't have to adjust it.

We're not afraid at all to push our

ISO up to 6,400 and above, especially

with the Sony's.

Um, so once we've made that decision, we

don't think about it again until we change

scenarios.

Then we select our aperture, right?

And that's our storytelling device.

And as Lani mentioned, you know, we used

to default to shooting wide open probably just

because we were lazy and we didn't know

any better, but we've realized there's this whole

world, this whole beautiful, wonderful world beyond F

2.8. So I would say our default

nowadays is probably about F4.

And we'll go up from there if we're

trying to layer more stories together.

And we'll go down from there if we're

really trying to isolate something.

And then the last decision we make is

our shutter speed, right?

And the shutter speed we're adjusting on the

fly to get the exposure that we're looking

for.

And that's our camera settings.

And in the next video, I'm going to

break down exactly how we set up the

A9.