First Year, First Trip With DSLR - More Added

[JoeDif]

Great job with the essay and pictures!!

You know that now I'm going to have to have a starlight filter I loved those shots

 

[Villainess]

Very nice photos - I enjoyed reading your essay as well. I reallyl liked your entrance photo and the star filter ones are quite neat! More photos, please!

 

[DVC Jen]

I am very impressed. Wish my first shots at WDW with a DSLR looked this good!

 

[KarenAylwood]

Great job on the photos, and yes I read the whole essay!

I have to admit though, if I had read this before my trip in Sept of 2008 I wouldn't have brought my dSLR with me! I bought it in mid-late August and left for Disney Sept 5th. I had taken a handful of shots before the trip and read the manual (& most of Understanding Exposure). I had just started a photography class so that helped immensely in catching on a little quicker.

I now have an 18-200mm lens and am thinking of buying a 50mm prime. I'm not sure what to bring with me because I hate lugging gear around like you mentioned. I just have a small(ish) lowepro bag that holds just my camera w/ the 18-200mm on it, an extra battery and memory cards (along with my manual & phone, etc). I'm impressed you carried all those lenses with you!

I absolutely can't wait to go this coming September now that I've seen more shots on here, and I've had over a year with my camera

 

[Maude4Disney]

You have inspired me! I leave in less than 3 weeks for a solo trip, that was intended to give me time to work on my photography. Let's just say my skills/knowledge is still very limited. If I can get some shots even 1/2 as nice as what you've posted... I'll be pleased. I had almost considered leaving it all home and just taking the P&S, wondering if it would be worth the hassle. Thanks for giving me the courage to give it a try!

 

[jann1033]

great shots, i esp. like the airplane and boat star filter ones but great job in general..also enjoyed the "essay"

 

[Pea-n-Me]

OK, some more pictures are on the way!

Thanks to those who responded about their similar experiences. I think that's so important to hear when things aren't going well.

Yes, the computer piece is tough when it's not really your fortay. It dawned on me recently that one of the reasons this is all so difficult for us newbies is that there are really three things you have to conquer: the science of photograpy piece; the camera/lenses and other equipment piece; and the post processing software piece! No wonder it can be so ovewhelming! It helps when you know some of one, or tackle it slowly a little at a time.

I haven't even begun processing because honestly I don't know where to begin. There are just so many hours in a day so I have to figure out how to use the software to get it to do what I want and then I have to do all the photos too.]

I can't begin to tell you how discombobulated I felt trying to get these processed. First, I used a Netbook on the trip, so those had to be transferred onto our home computer. Then they went into OM where RAW files were converted to JPEGs. Many of those had to be run through Photoshop to straighten the horizons and then I ran through all of the ones for posting to added my watermark. I also ran some of the night shots through Noiseware, a whole other program (though I found that some of those looked better without reducing the noise so I left them as they were). I have several different files on these programs, plus my Picture files, Photobucket and Smugmug. And oh yes, I've also got my own little system for naming them (DH just shakes his head)! I've become familiar with everything but Photoshop, which I bought two years ago but wound up not using since back then it was too much. This time around it seemed better. I may end up just using Photoshop since it can do the horizon thing which OM can't (designed that way so as not to take the place of PS, don't ask). As for the watermark, that was confusing, too (not just setting it up in PS). If I put that particular one on my photos, it will come out when I print. I may end up upgrading to a pro account at Smugmug where they've got that all figured out. I don't know, really. It felt pretty schizophrenic, but amazingly, it somehow all came together! I think it will get easier if I can streamline it, but then again, you read some of the techical posts here and they still make your head spin! (When I do my "second batch" of photos this weekend, I think it will "feel" better as I kind of have a system going now, will let you know.)

Karen and Maude, I'm sure you'll enjoy having your DSLR on your trips.

Thanks, Janet, and Jen!

You know that now I'm going to have to have a starlight filter I loved those shots

I knew you would, Joe!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

A couple more from the Studios. Resort pics will probably be sprinkled throughout. Will try to post EXIF later.

Newly renovated pool, very nice!

DH napped here for a while! It's in a quiet little alcove in Caribbean Cay, part of an "island" off the bridge going to the pool.

Around the Studios...

25mm f/2.8 ISO800 1/4 sec Aperture Priority

 

[annnewjerz]

This is one shot that I'm definitely going to try for when we do in December if I can. Very interested in seeing the EXIF for this.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Well I couldn't wait to see how my Devine pictures came out, so I did our last day next.

150mm f/5.6 ISO 100 1/30 sec Manual

Overall, most of them weren't great. But there were a few I liked. Many of the were, unfortunately, blurry. I'm sure there was something I could have done differently, maybe go up on the ISO a bit? Thoughts?

This one would have been nice if it was sharper.

150mm f/5.6 ISO100 1/15 sec Manual

May add a few more later.

 

[oogieboogieman]

Wow!!! That was a long essay. I read it all. I couldn't just jump to the photos.
You have some really great photos. I'm really wanting to find out your steps in post processing. I am completely lost when it comes to RAW. I don't know what to do and where to find all of the questions that pop into my head.
When I first saw some of your pictures, I was jumping up and down from all the excitement.
I'm looking forward to more photos, again GREAT JOB!!!!!

 

[annnewjerz]

Linda,

REALLY REALLY like that first shot of Devine, I've never seen her either--let alone caught her in a photo, so I'm looking forward to the next trip. Great shots---keep em comin!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This one was quite dark, but I was able to fix it to my liking in pp.

18mm f/3.9 ISO400 1/90 sec Manual

This was initially pretty dark, too. Likin' RAW!

39mm f/5.5 ISO200 1/125sec Manual

23mm f/4.6 ISO200 1/125 sec Manual

On my first EE ride of the day, pics were blurry in manual mode, so for the second ride, I switched to sport mode and they were better (nothing really spectacular to post except for the next two that I liked of DS and DD).

14mm f/3.5 ISO100 1/500 sec Sports Mode

14mm f/4.0 1/750sec ISO100 Sports Mode (no point in trying to fix this horizon )

Last look around - two rides were enough for me!

Some birds around the park...

132mm f/5.4 1/20 sec ISO100 Manual

137mm f/5.5 ISO100 1/60sec Aperture Priority

128mm f/5.4 ISO200 1/125 sec Aperture Priority

90mm f/4.9 ISO200 1/60 sec Aperture Priority

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is one shot that I'm definitely going to try for when we do in December if I can. Very interested in seeing the EXIF for this.

I added the EXIF to the photo. Used the prime.

Glad you liked the Devine shot. I did, too. I was intrigued with seeing her and trying to get some decent shots. She actually stays pretty still and hams it up for the cameras, so there's time. The only problem is the crowds - lots of people don't know what's going on so they walk right in front of you, and the others who do are elbowing in to get their own shots! I believe she comes out once an hour in the pathway between Asia and Africa, until 3pm or so, IIR.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

A few from AKL.

We just had dinner and hung out for a short while.

DH took this one.

DD got tired and cold. It'd been a long day.

 

[oogieboogieman]

A few from AKL.

We just had dinner and hung out for a short while.

DH took this one.

DD got tired and cold. It'd been a long day.

Our home resort!!! We love it there. I wish we could go there today.

 

[Suburbanmom]

Well I couldn't wait to see how my Devine pictures came out, so I did our last day next.

150mm f/5.6 ISO 100 1/30 sec Manual

Overall, most of them weren't great. But there were a few I liked. Many of the were, unfortunately, blurry. I'm sure there was something I could have done differently, maybe go up on the ISO a bit? Thoughts?

This one would have been nice if it was sharper.

150mm f/5.6 ISO100 1/15 sec Manual

You have done a great job with these photos! I love DeVine's expression.

You asked for thoughts...You could have upped the ISO a little bit and that would have given you a fast shutter speed. I can *sometimes* hold a camera steady at 1/30, but not usually. I try to keep my shutter speed at no less than 1/60. If my photo is sharp at 1/15, it's an act of God.

Another thought is to open up your aperature if you can (I'm not sure what the max is on the lens you used). You'd give up some depth of field, but I don't think it would have negatively affected your composition.

As for composition, I don't think you could have done a nicer job on that first one. I love how the leaves frame her face.

 

[spinetnglr]

Linda .. Lovin' all the pics .. you did a great job. Keep 'em comin'.

 

[handicap18]

AWESOME job with the photos Linda!! Good for you. You should be proud of yourself. The one's you've posted are excellent. I too read all your essay.

I wish I had done more night shots on my first trip with my dSLR (really any trip, I love night shots). Too bad about the tripod, but now you have an automatic excuse to go back and that is ALWAYS good!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Great pictures and I enjoyed the long read as well! I'm looking forward to seeing more!!!

I have to say that for me the processing has been the big road block in my first year. First, just understanding it all, then finding a program I liked, now working on learning that program and determining a workflow. In most ways IMO taking the pictures is easier with a DSLR compared to a SLR but since I never developed film it was much easier to drop it off and see what came back!

Oh - and then there's been my computer. Most of these programs are big memory hogs and I go light with a laptop. It's about time for an upgrade but I'm holding out for a little while longer. It means pretty slow processing though and lots of external storage.