Rich Posted May 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 I thought the flower pics were very good. Thanks - Considering it was my first time with full manual mode I impressed myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phipck Posted May 21, 2010 Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 your right to be impressed with yourself, tackling full manual mode can be very rewarding when you get results the likes of which you have. i rarely take pictures of plants or flowers because the macro on my 2 lenses are limited, most of mine tend to be animals, people, cars or unusual angles of things, i havent many examples as i dont have much on my work pc but will have a look when i get home. ive only ever posted snap shots for DIY guides on the mr2 forums, ive never posted any of my creative shots online, strangely they have always been just for me, i feel a little peculiar about showing people my pictures, possibly some kind of inferiority complex about my work, but heres a few bits that i do have to hand on image shack for the sake of joining in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 Some nice photos there mate, I like the peacock through the bin and the wheel It was easy yesterday as I could take as many shots as I wanted until I had taken the right one, although tricky to judge on the camera. When I've sussed all the features out I suppose I need to focus on getting the right image with minimum shots. I'm sure there will be times when I only get the one chance to photo something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phipck Posted May 21, 2010 Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 the peacock was one of those moment shots, he walked from about 40 foot away straight towards the bench i was sat on then carried on behind the bin and past the bench on my left. i snapped about 20 shots in total as he did his walk by, i put the camera on manual focus just before he reached the bin as the camera kept tripping between the bin and the peacock, lucky moment of forethought as that was the only pic i took through the bin hole and if i hadnt of changed to manual focus i would have posted a lovely picture of a black plastic bin! you are absolutely right about viewing on the camera being difficult, i now only use the camera screen to check how well i have "framed" the subject, i ignore whether i think it looks in focus or correct untill i pop them on the pc. just make use of the american aproach when taking photographs. there is one area of discussion i almost put up, but now we have a nice shiney new photography forum, i will pop up in another thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 the peacock was one of those moment shots, he walked from about 40 foot away straight towards the bench i was sat on then carried on behind the bin and past the bench on my left. i snapped about 20 shots in total as he did his walk by, i put the camera on manual focus just before he reached the bin as the camera kept tripping between the bin and the peacock, lucky moment of forethought as that was the only pic i took through the bin hole and if i hadnt of changed to manual focus i would have posted a lovely picture of a black plastic bin! you are absolutely right about viewing on the camera being difficult, i now only use the camera screen to check how well i have "framed" the subject, i ignore whether i think it looks in focus or correct untill i pop them on the pc. just make use of the american aproach when taking photographs. there is one area of discussion i almost put up, but now we have a nice shiney new photography forum, i will pop up in another thread Manual focus...is that where you half press the shutter? I can tell on the screen which photos are out of focus, over/under exposed (I think it's more difficult on a DSLR?) but you can't tell properly until viewed on the PC. Info for the second of the 2 Ferrari photos, taken in auto mode: Shutter speed - 1/294 sec Aperture - F/4.9 Focal length - 5mm Exposure - 1/300 sec ISO - 64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 21, 2010 Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 This one was brilliant in my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2010 Have to agree, your eyes are instantly drawn to the peacock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phipck Posted May 22, 2010 Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 thanks guys! As i said. im always a little cautious about posting things online, i take photos for my satisfaction, but if other people like them i may put a select few up as and when i take them. manual focus on a dslr is when you physicaly rotate the lense dials to focus the lense, half pressing the trigger on a dslr only functions in auto focus mode where it focuses on what your aiming at. I suppose you can cheat and prepair the auto focus by half pressing while aiming at something thats the correct distance away then keep the button half pressed and wait for your subject. Manual focus realy helps with subjects that move on a pre-established path, you can set the focal length, trace the subject and take the picture at the correct moment where it will be in focus. tricky but rewarding, i dont know if your camera will have a manual focus, normally a switch on the front of the camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2010 thanks guys! As i said. im always a little cautious about posting things online, i take photos for my satisfaction, but if other people like them i may put a select few up as and when i take them. manual focus on a dslr is when you physicaly rotate the lense dials to focus the lense, half pressing the trigger on a dslr only functions in auto focus mode where it focuses on what your aiming at. I suppose you can cheat and prepair the auto focus by half pressing while aiming at something thats the correct distance away then keep the button half pressed and wait for your subject. Manual focus realy helps with subjects that move on a pre-established path, you can set the focal length, trace the subject and take the picture at the correct moment where it will be in focus. tricky but rewarding, i dont know if your camera will have a manual focus, normally a switch on the front of the camera. Why aren't you sure about posting photos online...are you scared of criticisms or that we may not like them? Everyone has their own style so I think it's more interesting to see how others portray a subject. On mine I don't think I have manual focus, just switch between single and multi focus. Can anyone explain how to use ISO. From what I've read the norm is 100 but if you're photographing in low light or moving subjects you may want to increase it. My camera goes from 64 to 1600 and I'm not 100% sure of when I should be changing it. I took some shots tonight but I was getting rushed by the others as they wanted to go so none came out how I wanted. I did take this one of the moon later on though, in auto mode would you believe to compare with the others I took in manual, which frankly looked crap! Included a crop of it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2010 Another 300 photos taken today, here's a small selection that I was happy with...I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phipck Posted May 24, 2010 Report Share Posted May 24, 2010 nice few examples. i assume you had drunk the pint come the time you took the wine glass photo im not too keen zoomed in copies of the photos, theres something about a subject breaking the edges of the frame, the last flowers petals cut through the frame, the mushroom does the same at its base and it grates on me for some reason. its strange because theyre really good photos so it must be my peculiarity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2010 The wine was the missus Yeah I have to agree with you on cutting the subject off. With the closer shots I was trying to photograph the centre to capture more detail...notice the keyword, trying! TBH I don't think I could get much closer without getting a dedicated macro lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark H. Posted May 24, 2010 Report Share Posted May 24, 2010 They look sharper than the others and with more vibrant colours, getting better. You probably won't manage much better with your current camera. As mentioned above, unless its so close its macro or abstract then its nice to see a bit of the surroundings as i think it helps you to imagine more of a story behind the image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2010 They look sharper than the others and with more vibrant colours, getting better. Cheers...do you think the fact it was very sunny and bright played apart in them looking sharper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Just stumbled onto this thread, didn't realise this forum existed until it was mentioned in another thread Some stunning pics and great advice in here, please keep it coming! How do you take photos with the blurry backgrounds? Is it just a case of getting close to your subject? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Just stumbled onto this thread, didn't realise this forum existed until it was mentioned in another thread Some stunning pics and great advice in here, please keep it coming! How do you take photos with the blurry backgrounds? Is it just a case of getting close to your subject? It's only been here 3 weeks mate so it's pretty new To get the blurred background you need to set the camera to aperture mode and change the 'f' number to the smaller ones. This will restrict the amount of light that gets into the camera creating a smaller depth of field (DOF)...I think anyway, I'm still new to this myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parthiban Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Hmmm just the aperture will create that effect? I'm definitely having a go at that this evening! Btw, I thought smaller f number meant larger aperture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Hmmm just the aperture will create that effect? I'm definitely having a go at that this evening! Btw, I thought smaller f number meant larger aperture? Yes I think you're right actually, told you I was still learning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 2, 2010 Report Share Posted June 2, 2010 Hmmm just the aperture will create that effect? I'm definitely having a go at that this evening! Btw, I thought smaller f number meant larger aperture? Yes I think you're right actually, told you I was still learning If you Google on "Depth of field" you will find a lot of tutoring material. The things that affect depth of field are: 1) distance to the subject - the closer you are, the shallower the depth of field. 2) lens aperture - the bigger it is the shallower the depth of field. F numbers are inverted so f2.8 lets in more light than f5.6. 3) the physical size of the film or the digital sensor. The bigger it is, the greater the depth of field, but this is also affected by: 4) the angle of view of the lens - the wider the angle of view and the greater the depth of field. You cannot really look at all four factors separately. In particular, 3) and 4) impinge on each other. One follows a square law and the other a linear law and in consequence a camera with a small sensor normally gives greater depth of field because of the effect of the angle of view of the lens chosen to cover the sensor. This is why compact cameras normally have great depth of field and why it is easier to get shallow depth of field with a full-frame camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2010 Nice explanation Sagitar, I will have to do some more reading to make sure I understand it. I guess like anything it will sink in after a while if you keep persevering with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 I took a few photos again today and still getting pink issues with red...I was using Aperture priority. If this is happening cos they're over exposed what setting do I need to change, the shutter? Another issue is I just can't get the background to blur when photographing cars...small subjects are fine but cars are a no. Is this me or could it just be my camera isn't capable of doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 I took a few photos again today and still getting pink issues with red...I was using Aperture priority. If this is happening cos they're over exposed what setting do I need to change, the shutter? Another issue is I just can't get the background to blur when photographing cars...small subjects are fine but cars are a no. Is this me or could it just be my camera isn't capable of doing this? If you are using Aperture priority, then the shutter speed is set by the camera meter. If you leave the camera in Aperture priority mode (or shutter priority mode) it doesn't matter what aperture (or shutter) change you make, the camera will just compensate to bring you back to whatever level of exposure the meter reading indicates. If you want to reduce the exposure you need to go into manual mode and then you can either reduce the aperture size (i.e. set a bigger f/No) or use a faster shutter speed, or reduce the ISO setting. A simpler way, is to use the exposure compensation function. The exposure compensation function usually allows changes of plus or minus 2 exposure values. What you are doing in effect is to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the camera meter. Background blur when photographing cars will depend upon the functions that I have already set out in an earlier post. If you google for "depth of field" you should be able to find a table or a calculator that will tell you the nearest and furthest distance that will be acceptably sharp for various lens settings and subject distances. Given the size of a car you will need a fairly large depth of field to cover it (unless you are photographing it in profile) and it will have to be well separated in distance from the background for the background to be out of focus. I am assuming that you are talking about vehicles that are static. A blurred background for moving cars, giving an impression of speed, is achieved by setting a relatively low shutter speed then "panning" the camera to keep the car in the viewfinder and continuing to "pan" at the same rate while pressing the shutter button. P.S. I should have said that your "pink" problem may be related to the way the camera is set up. Does it have any facility for adjusting "hue" and or "saturation". If it does then experiment with the settings. If not, you can still adjust these values in post-processing using photo editing software. If you are trying to make adjustments for a camera giving poor colour rendition try to experiment with some pictures that include flesh tones or take pictures of a test chart and compare your pics with the chart. Colour management and the calibration of cameras, monitors and printers is a deep subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 Thanks for the reply...looks like I will have to leave the camera in manual mode when photographing red subjects. I'm not sure if it has settings for hue and/or saturation, I will take a look when I get home. For the cars yes they are static, I just want the background blurred. So you're saying the there has to be alot of distance between it and the background? For instance a car right in front of a building won't blur but if it was 100 yards in front then it should? I will google for a DOF table/calculator then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 18, 2010 Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 I will google for a DOF table/calculator then I use one called MyDOF that works on Windows Mobile. There are lots of them out there. Some list cameras and you need to make sure your camera is supported; others ask you to input the size of the circle of confusion for your camera, so you need to know what that is. Some of them let you print off tables. You can also buy circular calculators. You may also find stuff under "hyperfocal distance". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted July 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I had real problems with over exposed shots today due to the sun, the glare I was getting was terrible in some of the photos. I only had to move the camera slightly and I could see the effect on the LCD. Is this why some photographers use those covers that sit on the end of the lenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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