Help Help You'll Love this one!!!

[ianssln]

I need to take some outdoor photos under bright sunny to sunny conditions tomorrow. I'll also be taking a few indoors with good natural and overhead lighting.

I want to use a more manual setting so I can shoot RAW. I've got the gear, but havn't got much action yet. Any suggestions or sample photos with this lens and settings would be terrific.

Set Stats
20D
24-70 F2.8 L
550EX
Feisol 1401 Monopod
2GB Sandisk II
1GB Lexar 80X
Wired Remote (Not Canon, kinda Cheeply made)

Thanks,
Ianssln

[MCB]

You should be able to shoot RAW in P, Av, or Tv modes. Then you don't need to fully specify the settings manually. Just check your metering to make sure you're in the ballpark, and check your histogram after a few test shots.

If you have a lot of light, use a low ISO setting, like 100. If you want some bokeh, keep your lens aperature large with a short exposure (use Av mode to set the aperature and the camera will pick the exposure based on the metering). If you want to catch some fast action, use a fast shutter speed (use Tv to set the exposure time, and the camera will pick the aperature value for you) Watch your histograms to make sure you aren't blowing out your highlights. Depending on where you're pointing when you measure the light levels, you could still get some really poorly exposed areas.

I really don't mean this to sound too harsh, but if you can spend as much money as you did on that equipment, can't you spend a few minutes to read your manual and do a few test shots? You urgently need perfect pictures from your $5,000 equipment, but don't have time to practice a few test shots? Good equipment sure helps, but nothing substitutes for lots of practice.

I hope it goes well. Post some if you can so we can see how they turn out. :)