(Translated from the original post on March 7, 2024)

Hello, this is Asakura.
Spring is coming soon.

I usually return to Osaka, where my family lives, once a month, and when I do, I inevitably take more family photos than street snapshots. This time, I would like to introduce my settings along with the photos I took during the holiday season.

When I take street snapshots, I usually use my customized Negative Film Image Control that I introduced in my previous blog post, but as I mentioned in that article, it has a characteristic of fading red, so when I take family photos, I use my customized Positive Film as a base.

　
Positive Film Image Control “Customized for People” is as follows.

Saturation: -1 (default: ±0)
Hue: ±0 (default: ±0)
Key: ±0 (default: -1)
Contrast: +2 (default +3)
Contrast (highlight): -1 (default -1)
Contrast (shadow): -4 (default -2)
Sharpness and below remain defaults

The "Customized for People" is not intended to accurately reproduce human skin tones, but rather to create a color tone that would not look inconsistent when juxtaposed with snapshots taken with my main Negative Film custom tone, while at the same time bringing out the skin tone beautifully.

　
When I take street snapshots, I set the AWB white balance to +5 toward blue in addition to my customized Negative Film Image Control so that there is a slight bluish cast, but when I take pictures of people with the above settings, I return to the default values and use the AWB so that the skin colors do not become bluish.

　
I also set the Program Auto's program line setting to “Max Aperture Priority” because I want to shoot with the lens wide open as much as possible. I could just set it to f/2.8 in Av mode, but when I go out with my family, I want to take pictures without thinking, without spending too much time taking pictures, so Program Auto + Max Aperture Priority works best for me.

　
I set the autofocus to “Auto-area AF (Center),” place the person in the center of the frame, and just take the picture without thinking. When there are two people in a row, the focus may be off, but I think it's OK.

　
I register these settings in user mode U1 so that I can switch between P for street snapshots and U1 for family shots.

I want both to take street snapshots even when I am with my family, and to capture them beautifully when I am with my family. I may be too demanding, but both are important to me. I will continue to take many more family photos and street snapshots.

(Asakura)