Nine situations, nine starting points. Every recipe gives you a mode, an aperture, a shutter floor, an ISO ceiling, an autofocus setup and a film simulation — then a table of what to do when the photograph comes out wrong.
Treat every number here as a starting point, not a guarantee. Light changes; check the histogram.
The one-page summary
| Situation | Focal | Aperture | Shutter floor | ISO max | Focus | Look |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor portrait | 45 mm | f/5.6 | 1/250 s | 3200 | AF-S single + eye | ASTIA |
| Indoor portrait | 33-45 mm | wide open | 1/125 s | 6400 | AF-S single + eye | PRO Neg. Std |
| Children, pets | 23-45 mm | wide open | 1/500 s | 6400 | AF-C zone + face | ASTIA |
| Street | 23 mm | f/8 | 1/250 s | 3200 | AF-S single | CLASSIC CHROME |
| Travel day | 23 mm | f/8 | 1/250 s | 3200 | AF-S single | CLASSIC CHROME |
| Night, blue hour | 15-23 mm | wide open | 1/60 s | 6400 | AF-S single | CLASSIC Neg. |
| Landscape, sunset | 15-23 mm | f/8 | 1/125 s | 160 fixed | AF-S single | Velvia |
| Food, close detail | 27-33 mm | f/5.6 | 1/60 s | 3200 | AF-S single | REALA ACE |
| Action | 45 mm | wide open | 1/1000 s | 12800 | AF-C zone | PROVIA |
People
- Outdoor portraits — open shade, 45 mm at 1.2 m, five metres of nothing behind them.
- Indoor portraits — one window, room lights off, 1/125 s floor, ISO up to 6400 without flinching.
- Children and pets — AF-C zone, 1/500 s floor, and get down to their eye level.
Street and travel
- Street photography — f/8 for insurance, chest height with the screen tilted, find the light and wait.
- A travel day, one lens — one bank recalled in the morning, then attention on what you point it at.
- Night streets and blue hour — DR100, minus one stop so it still looks like night.
Places, things and light
- Landscapes and sunsets — f/8, something within a metre of the lens, and expose for the sky.
- Food and close-up detail — window to the side, never behind you; 13 cm minimum focus at the wide end.
- Freezing and blurring motion — 1/1000 s to stop it, 1/30 s and a smooth pan to show it.
- Backlight, silhouettes and black and white — the same scene, three deliberate photographs.
If none of these fit
Work it out from first principles in three questions. Is anything moving? That sets the shutter. How much do you want sharp? That sets the aperture. How dark is it? That sets the ISO. Everything in the field recipes above is just those three answers, written down in advance.