OK, I'm new...

So tell me if I am way off base... but I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their professional knowledge.

I am starting to take photos for friends and family and I am by far not a professional. BUT, I do enjoy photography and I think I am pretty good... but I wondered if anyone would be willing to share thier "settings" for natural lighting.... To make faces look bright and clothing to be bold and colorful. When I take photos they seem to be grayish and hazy.... But when I edit them I can make them bold and bright.... how can I get my camera to do this? I just bought the 60D and I want to know all there is to know about it.

I haven't taken any classes so I need all the help I can get. I hope I don't make anyone angry... I know a lot of the professional photographers don't like to share secrets... but I am begging....

Welcome to the forum.

Start by reading THISguide.

Then spend a couple of weeks practising before coming back with some specific questions.

There are no magic settings that can be written down and given to you,. its a case of learning how to set your camera up to cope with different environmental conditions and then a shed load of practice until you can do it quickly and confidently which will in turn give your subjects confidence in you.

jonwhite wrote in post #11225102
There are no magic settings that can be written down and given to you,. its a case of learning how to set your camera up to cope with different environmental conditions and then a shed load of practice until you can do it quickly and confidently which will in turn give your subjects confidence in you.

I agree 110% with this.

No magic settings, just a basic understanding of how to use your camera and use editing programs to your advantage.
On recent kid shoots I have found a shallow depth of field is preferable with tweaking in lightroom to bring out the colours-how ever its a fine line to get it right and to do it very wrong...
Practice Practice Practice, take classes or do like me and read the whole internet

Learn this first... the camera 'sees' different than you or I perceive light. The camera wants to shoot scenes with a narrower dynamic range of light than a lot of scenes that look fine to our eyes.. If you shoot a scene with too much dynamic range then something will suffer. Either shadows will contain little or no detail, or bright areas will get blown out and have little or no detail.

On the opposite side, if there is not much of a dynamic range then an image might be rendered as too 'flat' and therefore lack 'depth'.

From this we can extract that light is everything.... well almost everything.

Learn to look at a scene and know how it will translate in camera and what to do to to 'fix' less than ideal light and you have conquered a LOT toward getting better shots.

Put some examples up on the critique area so we can see what you are talking about.

Thank you all for your words of wisdom... I read Ben's post.... I have a lot to learn! If I can figure out how to post a pic here, I will do that so you all can see what I am talking about. Thank you again!

Best of luck. As others said there is no magic setting. Also it would have been tough to tell you without knowing your gear. Continue to read up. Ben's thread is great. Also look at the people section and see what folks are shooting at. Best of luck.

For a good starting point, first set the f-stop OR shutter speed you need for the effect you want. Then the other parameter: shutter speed or f-stop. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #11229271
For a good starting point, first set the f-stop OR shutter speed you need for the effect you want. Then the other parameter: shutter speed or f-stop. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch?

Thank you