Who here is into Photography?

[Cats Critters]

Quote:
Beautiful picture!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks for the help Two Creeks! I'm currently reading some information online for my camera. Some of it I knew already, but some of it I wasn't sure how to use while taking pictures. My camera offers four different metering options. Evaluative, partial, spot, and center weighted. I am pretty sure I can also compensate for more or less light, but I will have to play around with that option more when I get home.

Do you shoot all your photos in RAW?

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

As much as I can is shot in RAW. When I am shooting races, I have to jpeg most stuff because i can fill my buffer in 3 or 4 seconds and have to wait for it to clear...possibly missing shots.

Just develope a routine...

Look at the scene, and set the white balance
Decide what is important in it that you want to capture
Decide what settings are needed to capture what you want (high shutter speed, wide or narrow depth of field etc)
Check your histogram and adjust as needed

I use spot or center-weighted most often

With digital, the lower ISO setting the more dynamic range you can capture, so I always shoot as low as I can for what
I am shooting.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:
Thanks for this! This is all wonderful information!

When you say check the histogram, what should I be looking for and how do you fix it? I think I've heard that you want the histogram to be balanced, but I've never really tried to fix it while shooting pictures. Do you adjust exposure/shutter speed/aperture/white balance to adjust the histogram?

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

Easier to link it then try and repeat it LOL. they have a pretty good section (tutorial style) that gets referenced alot



http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techniques/

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:
Awesome! Thank you so much! I'm going to read over this and play around with my camera next time I am home from my internship.

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

Here is an example of watching the highlights, which were on his back. In full rez I can see every feather.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

So now where did you meter the exposure for that photo? I feel like if I pointed the meter at the white my picture would have come out too dark. I definitely have to practice metering in one spot and focusing on another! That's one thing I don't do much of!

Edited: You use full manual mode on your camera? Do you automatically know where to set your shutter speed and aperture after following that list you posted? I'm a bit intimidated by setting the aperture and shutter speed individually, but from reading it seems like I'd be able to do it ok and there is apparently a little indicator which tells me if it is scaled or not.

 

[Chicken Girl]

I dont take pics often but here are some that i like. You guys have awesome pics!!!!

Chicken Girl

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

Quote:
I metered his back, added 1 stop and that was that

I just start by thinking what I want out of the shot. I selected a pretty fast shutter speed (1/1000th) so that I could get a crisp handheld image, and there was plenty of light for that fast of a speed at ISO400. I then just moved the aperature up until my meter showed me 1 stop over exposure to compensate for the bright white...and click I could have used a much lower ISO, slower shutter speed and wider aperature to get a bit more color but for a grab shot this will do.

The hash marks in the view finder have a center mark and then smaller and larger marks to each side that denote 1/3..1/4 and half stops (depending on your camera) Start by baselining the exposure on what ever you feel will give you the result youre after...again, keeping in mind to expose towards the brightest part of the scene, take a shot and adjust to suit what youre aiming to capture.

I remember when I started out, we were told to pick a shutter speed and worry with just the aperature to set our manual exposures. Then after awhile you start picking up on doing it without a great deal of initial thought, and then can use both settings to actual "make" a photograph instead of merely taking a picture. Ofcourse back then, we had to wait a few days for the film to be developed...now its instant education when you look at the LCD. Exposure is the base...composition and creativity come down the road IMO. Learn the basics and then you can tackle just about anything.

My favorite line about photography...."Learn all the rules, then break them!". I know photogs that still cant take a solid image but rely soley on impressive design and edit work to create stunning images.....welcome to digital manipulation! Im to old to learn all that junk so I do everything in my power to get it as close to right in camera.

My nemisis is landscapes. Eventually I will get to a point where I feel like I am getting somewhere LOL! Funny part is, my highest grossing image came from a wide angle haha! Go figure LOL!