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Sunset, class, and new lens

Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
348
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Location
Rogers, AR
I attended a great class on my specific camera this morning and Precision Camera. The course made a lot more sense after reading some of the threads here, looking at settings, and because Scott helped me with some of the basics. I think I would have been lost in all of the menu items without having some prior knowledge, vocabulary, etc.

Thanks to the input from the instructor and Scott, I bought a new farkle for my camera (laugh Mark :trust:) ... a 45mm prime lens with an aperture of 1.8.

Here are a few samples. Remember, I am still such a novice at this whole thing ...

Jennifer
 

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That's some nice shallow DOF you've got going on there. :clap:

And the color rendition on that sunset is awesome.
 
That's some nice shallow DOF you've got going on there. :clap:

And the color rendition on that sunset is awesome.

Thanks! Took the truck and put the tripod in the back for the sunset pics. Some minor adjustments and sizing using PhotoScapeX. I will have to invest in LightRoom later. Studying the settings so I can get similar pictures next time I want to capture a sunset.

The focal point of the guitar shot is the very tip of the guitar out in front of Emily ... just to see what it would look like.
 
Uh oh, Mark watch out. We seem to have created a monster. Blame Scott, but the rest of us are encouraging her. :rofl:

Jennifer, I love the way you are experimenting to learn all the concepts. And the fact that you are spending time upfront to do that. Many people wait until they are frustrated to try and figure out why the pictures aren't the way the want them. You have got an excellent start.
 
Uh oh, Mark watch out. We seem to have created a monster. Blame Scott, but the rest of us are encouraging her. :rofl:

Jennifer, I love the way you are experimenting to learn all the concepts. And the fact that you are spending time upfront to do that. Many people wait until they are frustrated to try and figure out why the pictures aren't the way the want them. You have got an excellent start.

Yup....dern heathens! ;-)
 
Uh oh, Mark watch out. We seem to have created a monster. Blame Scott, but the rest of us are encouraging her. :rofl:

Jennifer, I love the way you are experimenting to learn all the concepts. And the fact that you are spending time upfront to do that. Many people wait until they are frustrated to try and figure out why the pictures aren't the way the want them. You have got an excellent start.

Yep, monster created! :sun: I was almost late to work this morning because there was this full moon over the trees that I needed to try to get a picture of. Will have to see my results tonight and will post if any turn out decent.

I am having fun playing and want to get to a point where I can predict what the camera might need to take the picture I want.
 
He's doing the sensor section right now which is really good. I think the ISO section is next and that section is excellent!
 
No editing or cropping other than resizing ... manual mode ;-)

both images:
focal length: 67
f22
shutter speed 1

When I went out the clouds were just starting to roll in over the moon.
 

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On the moon pics, try stopping down further if you can, like f/32. The moon is blown out to some extent. If you have maxed out on f/stops, try lowering your ISO which will do the same and darken up the sky around the moon but get the moon closer to proper. Flip side is, you most probably will lose the details in the trees. Moon shots with a foreground element are tough to shoot.

Well, I take that back..... You can always get the moon part right, then take a bright flashlight (like a Q-Beam) and as the shutter is open on the scene, go hit the trees with the light and bring them up. It's a hit or miss several times to get it right. Bill (DFW_Warrior) is the expert in the light-painting department here. :photo:
 
On the moon pics, try stopping down further if you can, like f/32. The moon is blown out to some extent. If you have maxed out on f/stops, try lowering your ISO which will do the same and darken up the sky around the moon but get the moon closer to proper. Flip side is, you most probably will lose the details in the trees. Moon shots with a foreground element are tough to shoot.

Well, I take that back..... You can always get the moon part right, then take a bright flashlight (like a Q-Beam) and as the shutter is open on the scene, go hit the trees with the light and bring them up. It's a hit or miss several times to get it right. Bill (DFW_Warrior) is the expert in the light-painting department here. :photo:

Thanks for the tips, had the aperture all the way open and played with the shutter speed some. Should have adjusted the ISO again, but needed to not play for too long as I was pushing my luck with leaving for work on time. I took several shots at different points on the driveway and don't like the ones where I was closer to the trees, too much tree and not enough sky / moon.

Jennifer
 
Spent some time outside chasing kids, cats, dogs, etc. Used the 45mm prime lens. The photo of Mason pulling a wheelie isn't in great focus. I tried using continuous focus, but think it hit on the tree behind him instead.
 
Spent some time outside chasing kids, cats, dogs, etc. Used the 45mm prime lens. The photo of Mason pulling a wheelie isn't in great focus. I tried using continuous focus, but think it hit on the tree behind him instead.

Pictures didn't upload the first time :eek2:
 

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Some cameras let you pick single, continuous, or auto (it tries to decide which to use based on the scene). If you are going to do the tracking focus (continuous), it usually works best to have the focus set to center focus or at least a small group of focus points in the center. This assumes your camera allows you to do that.

I really like the dog shot.
 
Some cameras let you pick single, continuous, or auto (it tries to decide which to use based on the scene). If you are going to do the tracking focus (continuous), it usually works best to have the focus set to center focus or at least a small group of focus points in the center. This assumes your camera allows you to do that.

I really like the dog shot.

Thanks, I had it set to continuous focus, but may not have had the focal point set correctly. I also just need to learn how to follow a moving target. I had him until the bike went up and probably didn't track well. Practice, practice ...
 
Thanks, I had it set to continuous focus, but may not have had the focal point set correctly. I also just need to learn how to follow a moving target. I had him until the bike went up and probably didn't track well. Practice, practice ...

So, watching Fundamentals of photography and looking through sections of the camera manual and realize I had the focus mode set wrong to get Mason on the bicycle. I had it in continuous focus and should have had it in tracking mode as well as continuous focus. Learn, practice, learn, practice ;-)
 
light settings and cookies

So, was reading a blog post about not using auto white balance for some types of photographs. Here are few test shots using incandescent and fluorescent settings to see what difference it makes in the color outcome of the images. I am still shooting in JPEG and the only editor I am using is PhotoScape X. Will invest in Lightroom at some point.

The first shot of the poinsettia was using auto WB, then incandescent. The first shot of the cookies was incandescent and the second was fluorescent. I think with the cookies a mix of the two would be nice ...

Had to make cookies for Mason to take to school ... :eat:

And finally, I learned how to use the zoom during focus to really get to the desired focal point in the image. I cropped the second poinsettia picture to get the third image.

Jennifer
 

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....and what was the most 'accurate' for the actual lighting you had? Was it on AUTO WB or on the user specified setting?
 
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