Need Expert Camera Advice! Do I Buy Photoshop?-11/13/12

[momof1princess]

okay, as promised, after over 2 1/2 hours of uploading to flickr, lol, my disney on ice photos! they're awesome! (they start at image 0131)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87891083@N07/page2/

 

[havoc315]

okay, as promised, after over 2 1/2 hours of uploading to flickr, lol, my disney on ice photos! they're awesome! (they start at image 0131)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87891083@N07/page2/

Well done, some great shots.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I think that camera's gonna suit you just fine.

 

[momof1princess]

thanks, guys!

i do have one question...

i have a few photos that are too bright, such as when the performers were standing in multiple spotlights, or when they were suspended from the ceiling, close to the lights. can i improve these photos with lightroom? i've d'l it, but never used it.

this is one of those photos:


IMG_0240 by iluvamystery89

 

[mom2rtk]

You did awesome! I love shooting Disney on Ice and hate that it's such a game to even get a camera in there in the first place. I'm curious, did you have you daugter carry it in? Did they say anything about it?

I'm guessing the overexposed photos are the result of the metering mode your camera was set on. I mentioned that at one point. If you use evaluative metering (where the camera considers the light in the entire scene) it sees all that black and tries to boost the exposure, leaving the subject of your scene overexposed.

If you use center weighted or spot metering, the camera considers a much smaller section of the scene to see what exposure to set. For spot, it's very small, for center-weighted, it's a little bigger segment. I think changing to one of those would have made the difference.

But overall, a great collection of shots!

 

[momof1princess]

You did awesome! I love shooting Disney on Ice and hate that it's such a game to even get a camera in there in the first place. I'm curious, did you have you daugter carry it in? Did they say anything about it?

I'm guessing the overexposed photos are the result of the metering mode your camera was set on. I mentioned that at one point. If you use evaluative metering (where the camera considers the light in the entire scene) it sees all that black and tries to boost the exposure, leaving the subject of your scene overexposed.

If you use center weighted or spot metering, the camera considers a much smaller section of the scene to see what exposure to set. For spot, it's very small, for center-weighted, it's a little bigger segment. I think changing to one of those would have made the difference.

But overall, a great collection of shots!

no, DD15 didn't carry the camera in-DH did, and he was standing behind me as we went in, i think he was hiding it behind my big backside, lol. the woman who scanned our tickets was too busy worrying about the large bottle of water i'd brought with me (she made me put it in my purse) to even notice the camera. there were LOTS of people with cameras, and they made an announcement before the show started that they wanted us to take lots of photos, but that they were only to be used for our personal enjoyment.

 

[mom2rtk]

no, DD15 didn't carry the camera in-DH did, and he was standing behind me as we went in, i think he was hiding it behind my big backside, lol. the woman who scanned our tickets was too busy worrying about the large bottle of water i'd brought with me (she made me put it in my purse) to even notice the camera. there were LOTS of people with cameras, and they made an announcement before the show started that they wanted us to take lots of photos, but that they were only to be used for our personal enjoyment.

Sounds like your arena didn't have the metal detectors our do. Much harder to smuggle it in that way. I remember that announcement at our old arena and really loved that they were so welcoming of me and my camera.

Glad you had fun and decided to take the camera.

 

[havoc315]

thanks, guys!

i do have one question...

i have a few photos that are too bright, such as when the performers were standing in multiple spotlights, or when they were suspended from the ceiling, close to the lights. can i improve these photos with lightroom? i've d'l it, but never used it.

this is one of those photos:

The answer is a definite maybe!! Lightroom can be very good at correcting clipping (when you lose detail in shadow or highlights). When shooting RAW, Lightroom can get pretty close to miracles. When shooting jpeg, there is less that Lightroom can do, but it can still offer some improvement.

Essentially, when shooting in RAW format, the camera is saving a lot more data with the image, including a lot of the details that aren't immediately visible without correction. It saves all the "unprocessed" data. Jpeg only saves the final processed image, so there is less for software to work with.

Anyway, Lightroom is very simple to use. You will take that overexposed image, open it in lightroom. You will see a slider called "highlights" -- You slide it to the left.

 

[bonnieappetit]

What is the Canon loyalty program?

 

[momof1princess]

What is the Canon loyalty program?

hi bonnie if you have an old canon camera, you can trade it in to canon for 20% off of a refurbished DSLR camera. i also got 50% off a zoom lens for my old camera. the old camera doesn't have to be broken, either.

this forum post explains the program REALLY well:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088761/canon-loyalty-program-faqs-originally-from-potn

 

[momof1princess]

i tried lightroom, but it didn't noticeably improve the photo.

 

[bonnieappetit]

hi bonnie if you have an old canon camera, you can trade it in to canon for 20% off of a refurbished DSLR camera. i also got 50% off a zoom lens for my old camera. the old camera doesn't have to be broken, either.

this forum post explains the program REALLY well:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088761/canon-loyalty-program-faqs-originally-from-potn

Thanks so much! I will check it out!

 

[WilsonFlyer]

i tried lightroom, but it didn't noticeably improve the photo.

Unfortunately, as noted above, results with Lightroom or Photoshop are much more pronounced when processing RAW files. You just can't do as much with JPGs which is also very well explained above.

That's why many people choose to shoot in RAW. Personally, I don't, most of the time. It's a give and take and you have to decide what works for you.

 

[bonnieappetit]

hi bonnie if you have an old canon camera, you can trade it in to canon for 20% off of a refurbished DSLR camera. i also got 50% off a zoom lens for my old camera. the old camera doesn't have to be broken, either.

this forum post explains the program REALLY well:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088761/canon-loyalty-program-faqs-originally-from-potn

Right now Canon is offering $100 rebates on refurbished DSLR cameras over $500. Would I get the 20% off of that price also? They have the T3i with lens kit for $559.99. So would that be $100 off and then 20% more off? If so, then that really is a great deal!
http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10051_283207_-1

 

[momof1princess]

hmmm...i'm not sure, bonnie, but i would think if it's a rebate, you SHOULD be eligible to get it with the CLP, but, if i were you, i'd call the number in the link i gave you and ask, to be 100% sure.

 

[photo_chick]

Right now Canon is offering $100 rebates on refurbished DSLR cameras over $500. Would I get the 20% off of that price also? They have the T3i with lens kit for $559.99. So would that be $100 off and then 20% more off? If so, then that really is a great deal!
http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10051_283207_-1

I can't see them doubling up a discount. I imagine it's probably going to be one or the other. But I'd call and find out for sure either way.

 

[photo_chick]

thanks, guys!

i do have one question...

i have a few photos that are too bright, such as when the performers were standing in multiple spotlights, or when they were suspended from the ceiling, close to the lights. can i improve these photos with lightroom? i've d'l it, but never used it.

this is one of those photos:


IMG_0240 by iluvamystery89

It's a myth that you need a RAW file to do much here. This took less than a minute in Photoshop (with the same tools that are in LR) for 2 global adjustments and with a little time much more could be done to bring out the details. When you have a jpeg it's all about knowing what order to do things in and how to push things in the direction you want. Granted, it's a LOT easier to make drastic global changes to color, contrast, exposure, etc when you do have a RAW file because jpegs will start showing artifacting really quick if you don't watch out. But these are totally "savable" as jpegs if you know how.

 

[momof1princess]

It's a myth that you need a RAW file to do much here. This took less than a minute in Photoshop (with the same tools that are in LR) for 2 global adjustments and with a little time much more could be done to bring out the details. When you have a jpeg it's all about knowing what order to do things in and how to push things in the direction you want. Granted, it's a LOT easier to make drastic global changes to color, contrast, exposure, etc when you do have a RAW file because jpegs will start showing artifacting really quick if you don't watch out. But these are totally "savable" as jpegs if you know how.

i think that's the problem, i don't know how. i really need a LR tutorial. LR did nothing for me on this photo, and i tried for a good 15 minutes. it just didn't seem to make a difference at all.

 

[2Tiggies]

i think that's the problem, i don't know how. i really need a LR tutorial. LR did nothing for me on this photo, and i tried for a good 15 minutes. it just didn't seem to make a difference at all.

It's going to take time, as it does with any new software. I downloaded the trial version of LR4.2 and found there are great tutorials on Adobe's own website. Unfortunately I picked a month when I had very little time to spend on it, but I knew within a few days that I was going to purchase a license anyway.

I hear you with the not knowing how - I'm still there, but I can see what Photo Chick means just from a bit of messing around with the program - the order in which you do things does seem to have an effect on the final result of the image and while not very productive in terms of processing my images at this stage, it has helped me begin to understand the value of learning a bit more about all the technical aspects of processing. Have a look on the Adobe site and go through some of them. They are categorized so fairly easy to find. I think your photos came out great

 

[photo_chick]

i think that's the problem, i don't know how. i really need a LR tutorial. LR did nothing for me on this photo, and i tried for a good 15 minutes. it just didn't seem to make a difference at all.

Get Adobe Classroom in a Book for Lightroom. Don't buy the ebook version, get a print copy. Do the lessons and by the end you'll have a really good handle on using Lightroom.