Photographing weddings and animals

gluc0se

I recently bought a Canon 1200D and I like to photograph animals. Can someone recommend settings I should use to photograph animals? I'm also photographing at a wedding soon, so could someone recommend settings for that too please? Any tips and tricks would be appreciated.

KylaMoules

Hopefully someone will have some suggestions on this topic! I could use some recommendations as well!

PBked

Hi @GLUCOSE,
Treat animals as you would young children. They rarely stay in one place for long and move without warning.
Set your AF to AI focus mode. In this mode the camera will automatically switch from one shot to AI if your subject starts to move and will continue to focus as you track it. Exposure is only achieved at the point you take the picture.
Another method is to use continuous shooting mode and AI Servo. With these modes you track the subject manually and rattle off a series of shots. The servo mode helps keep things in focus when the distance between animal and camera keeps changing. Be aware that if you shoot in RAW you will only get about half dozen shots and with JPG considerably more.
Now for camera settings. You don't say what lens you will be using which will have an effect on how you make the right exposure. So let us assume you will be using the standard 18-55mm. We are going to hope your animal is nicely behaved and is going to stand perfectly still for you. We are still going to use AI focus just in case.
We are going to use shutter priority and set quite a high speed, ie 1/500th. Leave the camera set to Auto ISO and Auto white balance. Now check the aperture that the camera has chosen. We are looking for an aperture that will give us some depth of field ie something between f/4 and f/8. If the aperture is less than f/4, change the shutter speed down a little.
With the above settings you should get some decent shots even if the critter decides to move before you have taken the 'perfectly posed shot'.
Now as for weddings, the last time someone asked that question, I upset them with my reply. There are so many variables in wedding photography eg. church, garden or home to mention 3. I spent 5 years in a semi-professional role doing wedding photography and I can honestly say that in my nearly 60 years involvement in photography, they were the most stressful.
The only advice I would give is to choose P mode and take lots and lots of shots.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but hope there is some help here.
Regards,
PBked