setting suggestions for puppy pictures

[pawspics]

I am a beginner and a volunteer who helps take pictures of puppies at an organization. What specific settings would you recommend for taking pictures of 4 week old puppies? They will probably be held, but still moving some. Can get them pretty still with a squeaker toy. Natural lighting will be used. Puppy portraits are taken at milestones and kept for future families. ~Thank you

[kvbarkley]

I would put on P and concentrate on the puppies.

[Tintype_18]

Would it be possible to see some puppy photos? One of our favorite TV shows is on Animal Planet, Too Cute.

[wq9nsc]

As kvbarkley stated, P mode (basically fully automatic selection of exposure parameters) will probably work well for this since the puppies will be relatively still.

If you let us know the exact camera model and lens you are using, it would be easier to suggest possible settings.

In natural light, you want the lens aperture open as far as possible while still having enough depth of field (everything important from the front to back of scene is in focus).  Depending upon the lens, if the puppies are pretty still and you hold the camera very steady then maybe 1/100 shutter speed will work.  I would be more comfortable with higher shutter speed since pets rarely hold as still as we would like and if your camera produces OK results at increased ISO then you could bump the shutter speed up.

Basically you want the exposure parameters chosen so that there is no significant motion blur, the important part of the scene is in sharp focus, and the ISO is low enough that noise and loss of detail don't detract from the quality.  Motion blur can ruin an otherwise good photo and a lot of noise can be cleaned up in post (particularly if you shoot RAW instead of JPG which I strongly suggest) so if you have to compromise on noise or blur, I would always be biased towards minimizing blur via higher shutter speed if needed.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

"I would put on P and concentrate on the puppies."

This is the correct advice. Sometimes the camera is smarter than we might think. If you are doing snapshot type photos, always try P mode first, Then apply any adjustmesnts that may be needed, if none, you are good to go.

[ebiggs1]

"...increased ISO then you could bump the shutter speed up."

I would guess, since I have no clue as to your shooting conditions, you will want a higher rather than lower ISO number. Perhaps starting with ISO 400 and gong to ISO 800 if needed. Most of the time these numbers will not introduce objectionable noise in the shot.

Of coure outdoors is best. ISO will not need to be as high.

[Tronhard]

Since this is a technique issue, I hope I can use this: Go to the site, cambridgeincolour.com - it's an excellent photographic community based in the UK. It's free to join and they don't spam you or do any other nasty things.
Look for a contributor called RPCROWE (you can PM him or post this inquiry on the site and he will likely find you) - he is an expert on photographing dogs. He does it for dog rescue sites and is a wealth of talent and information in this area.