Frank Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 After reading all of this try a few my self.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMiller Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Just skimmed through for a minute and took a quick shot of the top of my water. I think it turned out pretty neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Great work guys, looking good! Don't forget composition, too! It's more important than technique. After all, a technically imperfect photo can still be interesting, but a boring-but-technically-perfect shot is still just boring. http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/golden_rectangle.html http://photoinf.com/General/KODAK/guidelines_for_better_photographic_composition.html http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/Eugene_Ilchenko/GoldenSection.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algae Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I might even humbly suggest taking an college level art class . Photography composition taught by photographers without an art background can be very limiting IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Looking good guys. Frank, are you doing any post processing? Try bumping up the contrast and saturation one or two notches and perhaps the sharpness a little. See if that will make the colors pop out a little more. Another suggestion is to read a few Photography books. 2 of them that I've found to be beneficial are actually older (pre-digital) books however almost all of the principals are still the same. Even the information on darkroom and developing can be applied to some extent to digital post processing. One of the books is called "Michael Langford's 35mm Handbook" and the other is "John Hedgecoe's Complete Photography Course". I've had these two books for about 20 years and I still pull them out from time to time to review them. I actually spent a couple of hours down at Powell's Books downtown a couple of weeks ago looking over the photography books currently available and while they have changed a little to be geared more towards digital photography the principals haven't really changed much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Hedgecoe's book is top notch. Peterson's Understanding Exposure is good, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Hedgecoe's book is top notch. Peterson's Understanding Exposure is good' date=' too.[/quote'] I see three versions. Do you suggest one over the other? Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera Revised Edition Looks like I'm going to make another trip downtown. Any other book suggestions? In particular I'm trying to work on portraits and candids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Yea I shot them in raw and then change the Kalvin to 10k that is the highest the canon software will go. I have up the sharpness a little and add noise reduction. All of my family on my moms side are photographs so the composition on the ones I have been shooting I have just been trying to get the pics to look better and then work on the composition. I wold love to offer up to something up. Maybe we can all meet and talk over shooting and share and help others... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Yea I shot them in raw and then change the Kalvin to 10k that is the highest the canon software will go. I have up the sharpness a little and add noise reduction. All of my family on my moms side are photographs so the composition on the ones I have been shooting I have just been trying to get the pics to look better and then work on the composition. I wold love to offer up to something up. Maybe we can all meet and talk over shooting and share and help others... Go into the picture styles on the camera and create a User Defined style. (I think your camera has the same setting as mine) Start with Landscape as a base and then bump up the contrast and saturation 2 notches each. Since your using DPP it will apply this style automatically when you post process it. Here is an edit I made on one of your pics above in photoshop to show the approx. difference it should make. On the left side of this pic I bumped up the contast and saturation a little and then used unsharp mask. In DPP it should be equivelant (or close) to the above settings I mentioned. The right side is the original posted above for comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I see three versions. Do you suggest one over the other? Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera Revised Edition Looks like I'm going to make another trip downtown. Any other book suggestions? In particular I'm trying to work on portraits and candids. I've got the third one in the list -- I think the others are out of print. John Shaw's Closeups in Nature is another good book with a few pages on aquarium photography, even. As far as portrait and candid photography, I don't have any recommendations. I was looking at buying some studio lights while back and getting more serious about shooting, but I ended up buying a stupid plastic box full of saltwater instead Every once in a while I think about diving back in but then I see a pretty coral or fish (whistle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Rick would love to have you come out and show me what you are doing. I know I could find and nice frag for your time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Rick would love to have you come out and show me what you are doing. I know I could find and nice frag for your time... It's worth the trip, Rick -- Frank is a generous fellow (rock2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Same to you Andy.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 I've got the third one in the list -- I think the others are out of print. John Shaw's Closeups in Nature is another good book with a few pages on aquarium photography, even. As far as portrait and candid photography, I don't have any recommendations. I was looking at buying some studio lights while back and getting more serious about shooting, but I ended up buying a stupid plastic box full of saltwater instead Every once in a while I think about diving back in but then I see a pretty coral or fish (whistle) I'll take a look at that one also. Powell's shows all 3 of the ones I mentioned but a lot of their books are used so they could be out of print. I have a couple of umbrellas and 3 E-TTL flash units I've had for years plus I'm working on some DIY studio lighting. (We'll see how that turns out) Fortunately both hobbies go well together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Rick would love to have you come out and show me what you are doing. I know I could find and nice frag for your time... I could do that. When is a good time for you? Andy, If you can get that Powerpoint Presentation to me I can upload it to one of my websites for people here to download. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algae Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Andy or Rick, Either or both of you guys interested in putting on a little demo for the next meeting in Springfield? I know that Douglas was looking for some kind of mini photo presentation? Should be a great meeting. Check out what Douglas has planned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Andy' date=' If you can get that Powerpoint Presentation to me I can upload it to one of my websites for people here to download.[/quote'] I put a PDF up onto my Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7-vue6-hJyJNzA5NjE3MjUtMGIwMC00ZWM3LWIzNWEtYWViNWUyYzAzNDNk&hl=en I'll leave it up there -- if you want to host it from your site, that's fine too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Andy or Rick, Either or both of you guys interested in putting on a little demo for the next meeting in Springfield? I know that Douglas was looking for some kind of mini photo presentation? Should be a great meeting. Check out what Douglas has planned! I did one not too long ago, think we're ready for another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Andy or Rick, Either or both of you guys interested in putting on a little demo for the next meeting in Springfield? I know that Douglas was looking for some kind of mini photo presentation? Should be a great meeting. Check out what Douglas has planned! I'm willing if I can swing it. My wife is scheduled to work that day but I think she's going to see if she can get it off. (I mentioned it to her this morning on the way out the door) If so then I think I would like to try to do a hands on workshop of some sort where people bring their cameras and maybe even their laptops if they have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 High ISO, No Light (Almost). This shot was lit with nothing more than the light coming through the outside windows with the blinds closed. It was dark enough that auto focus would not work at all and I had to take the pictures first to even see if the Cinnamon Clown was in the anemone. I used a Tripod and turned an overhead light on just long enough to manually focus it. (The focus is actually slightly forward of where I would have liked) Then I used the 2 second timer on the camera to help prevent camera shake. Camera Model Canon EOS REBEL T1i Firmware Firmware Version 1.1.0 Shooting Date/Time 4/29/2010 11:25:39 AM Shooting Mode Manual Exposure Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/15 Av( Aperture Value ) 2.0 Metering Mode Spot Metering ISO Speed 3200 Auto ISO Speed OFF Lens EF50mm f/1.8 II Focal Length 50.0mm Image Size 4752x3168 Image Quality RAW Flash Off FE lock OFF White Balance Mode Auto AF Mode Manual focusing Picture Style User Defined 1(Landscape) Sharpness 4 Contrast 2 Saturation 2 Color tone 0 Long exposure noise reduction 0 Off High ISO speed noise reduction 3 Disable Highlight tone priority 0 Disable Auto Lighting Optimizer 3 Disable Peripheral illumination correction Enable File Size 21388KB Dust Delete Data No Drive Mode Self-Timer Operation Live View Shooting OFF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 So I haven't had time to mess around with the White Balance and stuff but did snap a shot of this guy....I am still at 80 and 8 and Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 I'll take a look at that one also. Powell's shows all 3 of the ones I mentioned but a lot of their books are used so they could be out of print. I have a couple of umbrellas and 3 E-TTL flash units I've had for years plus I'm working on some DIY studio lighting. (We'll see how that turns out) Fortunately both hobbies go well together. Most ETTL units can be used off camera on a manual setting with the proper hot shoe adapter. If you need help in the studio sphere let me know. I have been doing studio photography professionally for the last 12 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Most ETTL units can be used off camera on a manual setting with the proper hot shoe adapter. I can get them to work with the ETTL if I'm creative with which flash I use for the master. The 420 EX doesn't work as a master so I actually need to use one of the Sigma 500's on the camera. (Which is how I set up the flash shot's on page 2 of this thread) If you need help in the studio sphere let me know. I have been doing studio photography professionally for the last 12 years. Thanks, I very well may do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Thanks, I very well may do that. Count me in too (icon) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Just remembered another rule of thumb for hand held shutter speed. The rule of thumb is 1/focal length. I.E. If you have a 60mm focal length then the minimum shutter speed to be considered safe is going to be 1/60 of a second, 200mm would be 1/200s, etc. This just gives you a ball park starting point though as some people have a steadier hand and some are more shaky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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