Quick and Dirty Exposure Tips (Weekend Trip)

[LiftAndShoot]

Hey guys,

Me and my lady are going on a trip this weekend where I'll have a LOT of good photography opportunities for wildlife/outdoors. Odds are I'll be shooting in partially sunny and occasionally rainy conditions. I've got my 55 and 75-300mm lenses (canon t5) with me. I'm using this trip as a warm up to my wedding trip in June.

I've got the third edition of Understanding Exposure, but I haven't managed to get all the way through it. So, I was wondering if I could just source a few quick tips so I don't miss all my opportunities fat-fingering my camera.

Thoughts?

-LaS.

[Bonesplitter]

Do you have programmable modes? I keep my U1 mode (nikon) programmed with shutter priority and keep it around 1250, auto iso, 400-1600 max, af- continuous, matrix metering and use the center focus point for birds in flight.
Just about everything else I shoot in manual mode and over or under expose slightly depending on the situation or how I see it. I'm by no means an expert but those programmable modes help me when changing. All I need to do is rotate the dial and set my shutter speed.

[LiftAndShoot]

That's...actually a good question. I'm not sure. I know it has a ton of presets.

[WyoBull]

95% of the time my camera body (Nikon D700) is on Aperture Priority mode. Most of the time I want to control my depth of field more than the shutter speed, especially if I am shooting wildlife and general landscapes.
If it is a bright day, lower your ISO to 100, or as low as your camera will allow and then let the camera determine the shutter speed, which will be fairly high on the bright day. I know my camera well and it likes -1/3 exposure compensation so that is where I leave it most of the time.
Play around with your camera and keep a close eye on your histograms. That will drive you to the correct settings most of the time.

If I am shooting sports and fast moving action, I may switch over to Shutter Speed Priority depending on how I want to see the action, either frozen, blurred, or somewhere in between.