Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

So what do you do when you hear giggling behind you, besides aim the camera in the right direction and press the shutter button? Little missy found her sister's chocolate pudding and enjoyed it very much, thank you!
This picture is SOOC, except for cropping it to a square to get rid of most of the green couch, and the pink stroke line.
I am actually considering cropping it further to the smaller square.
Anyone has other ideas, feel free to edit!

This whole thing did pose a question that I've never thought about before: Considering that it happens from time to time that I simply have to press the shutter without checking the settings on the camera, what are good settings to keep the camera on while it is stored?

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

If you are going to point and shoot just go with A. - Dave

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I used to keep the camera on auto, so I could just pick it up and shoot, but now I find auto just frustrating. I find I can switch setting pretty fast. With ever changing environments it is impossible to choose one setting that would work. I do keep my iso at 200 and go from there. I also tend to leave the aperture about mid way, but shutter speed and aperture are easily and quickly changed.
Now for this adorable little girl. I for sure would crop it down to your strike. That will bring your eyes to your center of interest.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

As in Automatic shooting? Can't - not with this camera (Olympus E-5).
As in Aperture priority? Sure, what f/stop?

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

If you told me that it took a dozen tries and significant pp I'd believe you since this looks perfect to me. Nice lighting and composition and great story telling. Personally, I wouldn't crop it since the shirt and hand are part of the story. Either way you have a great photo.

Nightski

There is not just one answer to your question, MorningStar. I think the answer is that the photographer should store the camera with the settings that he/she uses the most. That way you don't have to worry about it unless you are doing something different than usual.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Morning Star,
To better answer your question I downloaded a portion of the EXIF data:Artist: Esther Perry
Camera: Olympus E-5
Lens: OLYMPUS 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 II
Shot at 31 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 1/250 sec, f/11, ISO 400
Flash: On, Red-eye reduction
Approximate Focus Distance 1.53

At 1.5 feet with lens at 31mm (61mm full frame equivalent) and f/11 the depth of field (dof) is approximately .11 feet in front and .25 feet behind the focal point (not exact but close). Since you're using a flash I suggest dropping the ISO to 100. The flash will compensate for the this 2 stop change. To reduce the depth of field to achieve an out-of-focus background, you could reduce the f/stop to f/8 or even f/5.6 (which might be too much) and again the flash will compensate. Get a dof calculator on your smart phone or computer to check what setting might work best for these quick shots. Additionally, I'd keep your camera on manual and not go to A (aperture priority) since in A mode the camera might adjust the shutter speed to under 1/100 sec and with a fast moving child some photos will not be sharp. Shutter priority is a possibility with 1/150 to 1/250 sec speeds.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I will be looking and "playing with" all the information you put here - thank you for that!!!! - but the part I left quoted, left me with a question: I understand that the dof in front of and behind the focal point is a calculation, but how did you find the 1.5 feet? That is, if I read it right and you do in fact mean that I had the camera 1.5 feet away from the subject?
I was in fact about 6 feet away, making the front of the camera about 5.5 feet away from the girl.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

I put the photo in Adobe CS6 and the EXIF data indicates "approximate focus distance = 1.53". I assume that this is in feet but it could be meters. I also got the same 1.53 result using the website: http://regex.info/exif.cgi but again it doesn't indicate the unit of measurement. It's probably meters which equates to 6 feet as you indicate. The dof for this photo is then 1.4 ft in front and 2.7 ft behind the focal point. Using f/4 instead would result in dof of .6 ft in front and .76 ft behind which would help with the background while keeping your daughter (my assumption) in total focus. Sorry for my error.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Don't I wish - then I would see her every day. My granddaughter. But then again, getting together is twice as sweet as I have the privilege of, together with my other grandchildren, spoiling her ;-)

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Leave it on the mode you use most. In these situations you will be using your flash and by the time it boots up enough power to work you can make your normal adjustments.