BE PREPARED
Charged up, enough memory, settings set?
Making sure you have charged your batteries and have enough free memory on your memory cards is the first step to being prepared for a day’s shoot. I transfer all my photos to an external hard drive at the end of the day, and clear my memory card the morning before going out.
When out, I make sure to have my settings prepared depending on my location and the amount of light available. A good habit to get into is to check your shutter speed and depth of field every so often or when you’re entering a location where the light differs greatly.
If I’m waiting at a point of interest, the first thing I do after studying the scene is to get my exposure correct. I do this using spot metering. This allows me to be very selective with the available light, and a little creative too.
If it’s a dark shadow/high-contrast shot, I’ll expose from the brightest point. If it’s a bright, clean location, I will take a meter reading from a darker spot to overexpose the white walls.
That way, anyone with a bright item of clothing or accessory will pop out and give the image a minimalistic feel if composed correctly. I do all this visually, rather than using the in-camera histogram. Once I’m happy with that, I’ll lock it in by pressing the AEL button. This allows me to compose the scene exactly how I wish.
Not having to worry about my exposure changing if the light remains the same is one less thing to think about when the time comes to get the shot.