??'s for Serious Amateur Photographers

[smchan]

Thanks for the info. I looked at your photo gallery and it was great. It gave me some new ideas. I particularly liked the family photo on deck 10 at the rear stack. That is a definite for this cruise with our DS, his wife, MIL and SIL.

The two lenses I have are the 18-55mm EFS lens that came with the Rebel and a 28-135mm with stabilization. I hope to get a faster lens in the 50 to 85 mm range someday as well as a 400mm after that.

I will try some of the settings you used as a starter.

You also mentioned spot metering. Did you use that function in your camera or do you have a spot meter? If so which one?

You won't believe how many shots I had to do to get the family photo right. Finally, I let my kids run around while I took test shots of my wife. Once I nailed the exposure settings, I got the gang together and took another half dozen pictures to make sure everyone had their eyes open, etc. The basic premise of the picture is a long exposure when a rear curtain sync flash to illuminate my crew and freeze any motion. To get the exposure down, I first figured out a regular shot with the flash (to expose the background) then dialed in the right amount of flash to expose the foreground and my crew. A tripod is a must for this sort of shot.

Night time handheld shots are possible but only with a fast lens. Here's one I shot with a 50/1.4 on ISO 400 b&w film. For this one, my wife was standing right next to a light. I don't recall the aperature settings but as you can see, my wife's face is in focus but her shoulder is not - so I suspect I shot it around f/1.4 or f/1.8.

Stabilization probably won't help with the shows since you really need a static subject. I have a 70-200/2.8 VR (vibration reduction - Nikon's version of Canon's IS lenses) and the VR didn't work so well with all the movement on the stage.

Spot metering is a function of my camera. If you don't base your exposure settings on the brightest part of the show scenes, you'll blow out the highlights and lose the details which cannot be recovered. I believe the digital Rebel is also capable of spot metering with a firmware hack. Check out the 300D threads on dpreview.com for more information.

Be sure to try some panoramas - again with a tripod. Here's one from St. Thomas.

Have fun!

Sam

 

[LindaBabe]

Boy I thought I was a serious amateur but since I saw your photos, I realize I'm nothing but amateur - no serious about it! How I would love to scrapbook those great photos!

 

[brack]

Thanks smchan for the tips. My Rebel does have the rear curtain flash sync and I love the results most of the time.

I need to check on the spot metering function but I have seen the hack for the Rebel for other functions.

I will definitely do some panoramas. My Bogen tripod is a bit heavy but I might be able to pack it in our luggage.

Again, thanks.

 

[ncherry]

Great thread! I was thinking of bringing my Canon t-90 along with a couple of lens, but was hoping someone would mention if they used any filters to correct for the 'stage lights' during the shows. Did anyone use filters or did you just shoot with "natural light"

 

[smchan]

Great thread! I was thinking of bringing my Canon t-90 along with a couple of lens, but was hoping someone would mention if they used any filters to correct for the 'stage lights' during the shows. Did anyone use filters or did you just shoot with "natural light"

The show lighting changes frequently. I think it'd be hard to stay on top of it. I recommend scanning your film and correcting digitally if you have the capability.

Sam

 

[staylor]

I have a Canon Rebel G and would love to get some more lenses. Does anyone know if you can get good deals in St. Maarten or St. Thomas or should I just get them here in the states?
Staci

 

[smchan]

I have a Canon Rebel G and would love to get some more lenses. Does anyone know if you can get good deals in St. Maarten or St. Thomas or should I just get them here in the states?
Staci

I found the prices to be anywhere from competitive to an outright ripoff. In my case, I was looking for a Nikon 10.5/2.8 DX. I was quoted anything from 569 to 775. I'm told Royal Carribean Camera in St Thomas is a good shop. Sasha, one of the servers in Palo, is a camera buff and can probably direct you to a good shop.

Sam

 

[staylor]

Sam, thanks so much for the reply. I'll look for Sasha.
Staci

 

[jenpan]

I have been reading about and looking at these great photos. I too enjoy taking photos on my trips. I'm in the market for a new camera. Partial to Canon though. Please tell me more about the SLR, should I go digital or not? Thanks!

 

[smchan]

Partial to Canon though. Please tell me more about the SLR, should I go digital or not? Thanks!

One could write a book on the differences between a digital SLR and film SLR. I strongly suggest going over to dpreview.com and doing your homework to understand what you're getting into.

Bottom line is that digital is different from film in several respects.

Sam

 

[jeffffd]

I am an amateur who is trying to get more serious and I have a couple of questions for you guys:
1. I have a Nikon D70 with several lenses, is there room in the cabin safe to store this stuff for the rare occasions when it is not with you?
2. Did you take a laptop? I have always taken a laptop on vacation for picture review and internet access. Since there is no in-room internet access on the cruise, I am trying to decide if it is worth it just for the picture review.
3. I don't have a lightweight tripod and I would like to get one before my cruise, what do you guys have?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[smchan]

I am an amateur who is trying to get more serious and I have a couple of questions for you guys:
1. I have a Nikon D70 with several lenses, is there room in the cabin safe to store this stuff for the rare occasions when it is not with you?
2. Did you take a laptop? I have always taken a laptop on vacation for picture review and internet access. Since there is no in-room internet access on the cruise, I am trying to decide if it is worth it just for the picture review.
3. I don't have a lightweight tripod and I would like to get one before my cruise, what do you guys have?

Smaller lenses will go in the safe no problem.

I did take a laptop for the purposes of image storage and for picture review in case I wanted to try the shot again.

I'm using a Gitzo 1227 carbon fiber tripod with a Arca-Swiss B1 ballhead. On top of that, I have the Really Right Stuff pano head and bar. If I had it to do over, I'd probably get the 1227 self-leveling tripod.

Sam

 

[lkohawaii]

I have a Canon EOS1 film camera and a Canon Digital Rebel. I take both on my cruises along with a tripod.

On my last cruise I got up at 3am and took still shots all over the ship with no one around. It was a full moon so I got some of it with the ship as well.

It's a lot to carry but that is what I bought them for. If I leave them at home what good are they?

I too have a new digital rebel and have the EOS film camera. I was planning on learning to use my digital enough so that I would only have to take that on my cruise. A thought came to me though. People say that you can ask the CM's to take a picture with your own camera instead of buying the 6X8's at Shutters. My digital rebel has taken me awhile to figure out. You think the CM's will be able to get a decent shot for me? I know with my EOS film it won't be a problem. I can't imagine lugging 2 cameras around everywhere I go on the ship. Anyone have any ideas?

Sam, how did you hold the camera so still on those show shots? Or is it with higher film you don't have to hold still as long? With my digital some of the pictures the flash didn't go off and it was on auto. My pictures were blured because I didn't hold still enough.

 

[smchan]

CM's will take a shot of you as will most fellow cruisers - but you will need to set your camera up before hand. I favorite "semi-automatic" mode is aperture priority which enables me to control the depth of field while allowing the camera to pick the shutter speed. After that, I use manual mode a lot using the camera's built-in spot meter and the histogram to help me determine exposure.

My night shots and most of the shots including me were taken with a tripod using the timer on the camera. Due to the wind on deck, I had to use a fairly heavy duty tripod.

During the shows, I cranked up the ISO because a tripod wouldn't have been reasonable to use in the theater. A very low percentage of my show pictures are keepers due to blown highlights and motion blur.

Sam

 

[krdisneybound]

I give you serious camera people LOADS OF CREDIT in every way.

You deserve it for lugging around those cameras.

 

[smchan]

OK, for all the photography talk here, I'm disappointed not to see results. I've been more than willing to share my pictures, so come on fellow amateurs, share yours! (Pros are welcome too.)

Sam

 

[Brisully]

You'll have to wait for mine until after the May 14th cruise!!

 

[smchan]

You'll have to wait for mine until after the May 14th cruise!!

I'm planning to be on that same one. Shall we plan a group photo shoot of the ship one day? Could be fun!

Sam

 

[American Scrapper]

Chris, What beautiful pictures! I have been toying with getting a DSLR, but am worried that I will not be able to operate it correctly to come out with such nice pictures. You mentioned changing your settings to manual in the theater, do you find that if you do not do this, they come out dark? Also, with the manual setting I am assuming that you have to have a very steady hand (since you were using a tripod in some cases). I have a basic 3.2 Fuji digital camera and 2.0 Canon and while I love the pictures they take during the day, am very disappointed in the indoor shots as well as night time shots. It seems everything turns out dark or blurry. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

Kathy

 

[smchan]

Chris, What beautiful pictures! I have been toying with getting a DSLR, but am worried that I will not be able to operate it correctly to come out with such nice pictures. You mentioned changing your settings to manual in the theater, do you find that if you do not do this, they come out dark? Also, with the manual setting I am assuming that you have to have a very steady hand (since you were using a tripod in some cases). I have a basic 3.2 Fuji digital camera and 2.0 Canon and while I love the pictures they take during the day, am very disappointed in the indoor shots as well as night time shots. It seems everything turns out dark or blurry. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

Kathy

Hmmm... not sure if you're talking to me or Chris. Chris posted some great photos, but I mentioned using manual mode and the histogram to determine exposure settings.

DSLRs are, in a sense, higher maintenance than point-n-shoot digital cameras in that the best results come through some amount of post-processing workflow using applications like Photoshop or Nikon Capture (in the case of Nikon DSLR users). Exposure, white balance, color, noise and sharpening adjustments are the sorts of things you think about. Similar adjustments are possible with a point-n-shoot but a DSLR will give you maximum flexibility. I rarely accept a shot as-is out of the camera.

If your cameras are point-n-shoots, it's unlikely you'll get agreeable results taking shots of the shows except for the most brigthly lit scenes. However, I'd still try. Boost the ISO sensitivity as high as it will go (typically 400 on a point-n-shoot) and use spot or center-weighted metering using a brightly lit part of the scene for exposure. If you still can't get good results, you can probably chalk it up to limitations of the equipment - not your skill - in this case.

Don't be scared by going manual. It's actually quiet easy to use manual mode. DSLRs have a number of automatic modes as well that'll give you a lot of new-found creative flexibility in your photography. One could do great work with a DSLR without ever venturing to use it in manual mode.

Both the Nikon D70 and Canon Digital Rebel are good, entry level DSLRs; the Nikon being the slightly more capable and the Canon being slightly less expensive. Both are less than $1,000.

Sam