Exposure

Photography is a form of art. But like many other forms of artistic expression, the process of creating the photos we envision in our mind requires us to control various technical parameters. The question is: what can we do to ensure the process doesn't go in the way of taking a picture?

Here's my take, starting from exposure.

The combination of Aperture Priority and Auto ISO frees me from unnecessary choices. With these settings, the only parameter I need to actively concentrate on while shooting is depth of field. The camera takes care of the rest.

I preset the Auto ISO minimum shutter speed based on the scenario I'm going to shoot. 250ms for most everyday situations, and 2000ms to freeze faster action. For still subjects, architecture, and landscape I let the camera select the minimum shutter speed by using the "Standard" / "Slow" / "Fast" Auto ISO shutter speed settings, which results in a minimum shutter speed that's around "1 / focal length" seconds, or slightly slower / faster than that based on creative needs.

I always keep the Auto ISO range to the same settings: 100 ISO min, 256,000 ISO max. Modern cameras and processing software are excellent at dealing with noise, and I don't shy away from high ISO settings if that allows me to remove unwanted motion blur. On the other range of the spectrum, 100 ISO combined with "Standard" or "Slow" Auto ISO shutter speed settings also allow me to introduce some artistic blur when necessary, especially when paired with a wide angle lens.

Modern cameras have a plethora of metering modes, but Multi metering with face priority is what I use for the vast majority of my photos, as I find it to be the most reliable option at capturing a balanced scene. Face priority allows the camera to automatically compensate exposure when a human subject is pictured in a difficult lighting situations (e.g., backlighting) and their face is detected. Lastly, I set my camera to automatically lock exposure when the shutter button is half depressed (AEL w/ shutter).

I sometimes use the Highlight metering mode when I need ensure highlights are preserved across a rapid series of photos, but these situations are few and far between.

I used to use Spot metering with Focus Point Link, but haven't done so in a long while, as it slows me down and the results I get are not necessarily better than Multi paired with manual exposure compensation. I don't think I've used Average and Center metering, as these never gave me satisfactory results.

With mirrorless cameras, what's on the screen is for all intents and purposes the picture that will be taken after pressing the shutter button. This feature is critical to my workflow, as it enables me to make last minute visual adjustments to the exposure before taking a shot.

Most of my adjustments are done via the exposure compensation dial, as it's the fastest way to override how the camera is exposing a scene. Far quicker than changing to spot metering. I also like to set the front dial of my camera to change exposure compensation as I find the dedicated dial on my A7RIII too stiff for my liking.

Lastly, I set my camera to show zebra stripes for overblown highlights, so that I know when I'm losing detail in the brighter parts of an image. I find that custom zebra at 109+ gives me fairly accurate depiction of which highlights are not recoverable by processing a RAW file.

I use bracketing fairly regularly when shooting landscape and architecture. Either because I'm moving fast and I want to be sure that I have at least one usable exposure, or because I'm shooting a scene that exceeds the dynamic range capabilities of my camera. Either way, in most cases I bracket 3 photos at 0, -1, +1 EV. I always use continuous bracketed shooting, and never take more than 3 bracketed photos. In some extreme cases I might change the EV range to be broader (0, -2, +2 EV), but this almost never happens.

I very rarely use exposure lock. The most common scenario is when I need to take multiple shots with exactly the same exposure, as it's the case for stitched panoramas.

Do I ever use Manual exposure settings? Sometimes, but these situations are exceedingly rare. Mostly night shots on a tripod when I need low ISO settings and long exposure time.