Tell me about your first months with a dSLR

[Master Mason]

This was the angle I was talking about by getting lower, but if you had shot it a little more to the right and brought the side of the pier into it like the first one, you would have had the edge of the peir and the dock wrapping around it.

Your doing very very well for your first few weeks btw. Keep up the good shoots.

Ok, a dumb question (can you tell you've got me thinking about a dSLR ): you CAN shoot in jpeg, can't you? I see all the folks on this board talking about shooting in RAW, but I'm afraid that if (when) I make the leap, I'll have enough to learn about the camera that I'll be too overwhelmed if I have to learn about converting RAW, too.

Yes you can shoot jpeg. My suggestion though would be to shoot Jpeg and Raw most cameras allow you to do so, then you can simply save the RAW's incase you ever want to go back and post process them after you gain the confidence.

 

[AndrewWG]

STOP IT, LINDA AND ANDY!! Why do you have to post such great photos? A dSLR is not in our budget any time soon, and you're making me really hungry to get one NOW! I just can't tell DS18 and DS16 to forget about college because Mom wants a new camera.

Linda, I absolutely love that first picture of the seagull! Birds and flowers are my favorite subjects. Glad you didn't fall in the cold water getting those dinghy shots; Master Mason's suggestion was right on.

Andy, that shot of the female eider flapping her wings - great timing! You're just a fountain of information - you know that names of the diff. types of ducks/water fowl, and I think you're the one who knew about that moon rainbow I posted a couple of months ago. How do you know (and remember) all this stuff? Or am I showing my age because *I* can't remember??

Question about the Mayflower (nice perspective on the photos, BTW): I assume this is a replica of the original. When it's docked, is it open for tours? I've never been to the Boston area, but it's on my list of places to visit once our boys are both in college and DH and I can travel where we want to go. Just wondering if I have to remember to check the Mayflower schedule when we finally get a chance to visit to be sure it's in town and not off somewhere.

Amy,

Ok, here are my answers. I didn't know the ducks (other than the merganser) before I got back to work and looked them up in my bird book, so that I can't take credit for and I think I just guessed on the moon rainbow thing!

Anyways, my timing of the duck flapping its wings was not an accident. In this one case, I ACTUALLY knew what I was looking at and was waiting for. This is unusual for me. When the ducks come up out of the water, they tend to prune their feathers a bit. When they do that, you can almost always expect a flapping of the wings to happen at some time. I just watched that one until she did it.

Just as proof that my timing isn't great, and to prove that I CAN'T seem to escape the whole water drops in my photos thing, here is a shot of a duck after it dove out of sight.

As for the Mayflower, it is actually the Mayflower II. I don't know if the original still exists, but I HIGHLY doubt it. It was probably used to make a nice house or keep someone warm in the first winters here. The Mayflower II is docked in Plymouth harbor for the whole summer and you can get tours of it, I believe. Leave the kids at home and get up here this summer. We can all go on a major photo shoot. You should have a DSLR by then, right?

 

[WillCAD]

I just can't tell DS18 and DS16 to forget about college because Mom wants a new camera.

Not forget, just postpone. A nice DSLR with one or two lenses will only cost you about what one kid's books and materials will cost the first year of college. Make 'em get jobs! Mom needs a new camera!

Ok, a dumb question (can you tell you've got me thinking about a dSLR ): you CAN shoot in jpeg, can't you? I see all the folks on this board talking about shooting in RAW, but I'm afraid that if (when) I make the leap, I'll have enough to learn about the camera that I'll be too overwhelmed if I have to learn about converting RAW, too.

I shoot nothing nbut JPG. I know I could manipulate my pics better if I shot raw, but I don't have the need. I run Noise Ninja and Photoshop Auto-Levels on my pics, and seldom do anything more. I guess I'm still stuck in the film era, but I prefer to capture the images the way I want them rather than spending hours post-processing them all.

To me, photography has always been 90% camera, 10% processing.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll eventually get the dinghys right. And when I do, I'm framing it.

if I had a 5000mm lens, I could have seen you taking those pictures. Those "pilgrims" sure did move fast that day.

Too funny! There is some info on the Plymouth Plantation website about Mayflower II, her trip from Plymouth, England in 1952, and even photos and a podcast of Tuesday's trip through the canal.

Nice to know there's a name to that black and white bird. On the pier we were calling them Cow Gulls. You know, I've never noticed them before, and got a few shots myself (yours is better).

Amy, I haven't ventured into RAW yet. The lenses were what was worrying me. (And as you can see above, with good reason. ) I should have thought it through more when it didn't feel right. Gotta love that learning curve.

Plymouth is a really great town with lots to do. The Mayflower II exhibit is part of Plymouth Plantation, open seasonally March to November/Thanksgiving. If you go, think about staying at The John Carver Inn and Spa, a beautiful, friendly place near everything, up in the NorthWest area of this downtown map, across from Jenny Pond (lots of flowers and birds there). Mayflower II is South along the waterfront where the star says You Are Here. The whole area is walkable with funky stores, restaurants, beaches and activities. Visit Plymouth

 

[Kimberly Hill]

Ok, here goes:

My first month: "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah" with a little bit of "huh, really?" added in.

All the months since then have subtracted one "blah", added a couple "huh?"s and possibly one or two "A-HA!"s.

Now, once in awhile I even have a "Eureka!" but those have been a bit rare.

Good Luck.

That's hysterical! ... and all too true

 

[Master Mason]

Pea,

I was looking at your shots again. I think that your WB was off a bit in the shots of the Mayflower. I did a quick correction and got this. Yours had a lot of blue in it.

Vs your original

 

[WillCAD]

And, hey, if I had a 5000mm lens...

If you had a 5,000mm, you could probably see the footprints Neil Armstrong left on the moon!

BTW, 5,000mm comes out to 16.4 feet. Not exactly what I'd call a "walkaround" lens, but I'd like to see it if anyone ever builds one.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Pea,

I was looking at your shots again. I think that your WB was off a bit in the shots of the Mayflower. I did a quick correction and got this. Yours had a lot of blue in it.

Vs your original

Not surprising. That looks a lot better, thanks!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I haven't made it back down to the marina yet, but I will.

I'm still kind of fascinated with how Gregg changed the color in my Mayflower picture. Which begs a couple of questions for me: the books I'm reading talk a lot about "getting the right color". How does one know what the right color is? I mean, sure, it's fairly easy to tell when color is really off. But when you have several pictures where they color's just a little different, how do you know which one is "right"? I'm trying to learn about this, along with exposure compensation, white balance, etc. Thanks, Gregg, for tuning me in to it. I suppose it will bring me into shooting RAW and learning more about post processing at some point...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Also, I had a tip from Andy which I tried out the other night on my way to work, having exactly seven minutes to shoot. Thought I would share the photos here because I was, again, pretty fascinated with the results. (Can you tell I'm having a lot of fun with my new camera? )

He suggested shooting one scene in different modes to learn about settings. So I did. What I realized later was that I inadvertently wound up with pictures of varying depths of field, just like I'd read about here and planned to try out at some point. The funny part is that if I'd actually tried to do this, I'm not sure it would have turned out as well.

I used my 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 lens and did vary the aperture manually. I guess I was just surprised (and pleased) at how dramatic the results were. This is probably old hat to most of you, but to me, it's fairly new to be able to get results like these, so thanks for bearing with me and sharing my excitement! (Wish I could pull up EXIF but right now, don't have it.) Feedback welcomed.

Boston skyline from an unusual view:

 

[Master Mason]

I haven't made it back down to the marina yet, but I will.

I'm still kind of fascinated with how Gregg changed the color in my Mayflower picture. Which begs a couple of questions for me: the books I'm reading talk a lot about "getting the right color". How does one know what the right color is? I mean, sure, it's fairly easy to tell when color is really off. But when you have several pictures where they color's just a little different, how do you know which one is "right"? I'm trying to learn about this, along with exposure compensation, white balance, etc. Thanks, Gregg, for tuning me in to it. I suppose it will bring me into shooting RAW and learning more about post processing at some point...

One quick and dirty check I always make is do you actually see any white in the picture most but not all pics will have something in them that is actually white, if it isn't then that's a good starting place.

What really turned my eye on this particular pic though was the blue hue it had, which is very typical of a mis adjusted WB.

 

[handicap18]

Boston skyline from an unusual view:

Looks like that view is from Roxbury or in that area. Maybe a bit closer though. I haven't been in that area in a while.

Excellent way to learn with your camera. Cool. I like 1 and 3.

 

[Dcanoli]

The biggest issue I had at first was with getting the focus correct. I had the camera set so the camera would choose which focus point was what need to be focused. I had a lot of missed focus shots in the first few months. They weren't out of focus, but rather the part I wanted focus was not in focus.

I STILL have this problem all the time. I tried posting about it on the board, but I never really got any good answers.

I've tried changing the settings, but maybe I just need to keep trying.

It is so frustrating to be focused on something other that what you want!!

Like your two-people picture...why can't both people be in focus? That's the question I want answered....

 

[handicap18]

I STILL have this problem all the time. I tried posting about it on the board, but I never really got any good answers.

I've tried changing the settings, but maybe I just need to keep trying.

It is so frustrating to be focused on something other that what you want!!

Like your two-people picture...why can't both people be in focus? That's the question I want answered....

What camera are you using again.. ?


As for why can't both people be in focus... there are 2 things at play here. 1 is the focus points. Though more often than not this is not the issue.

The other, and probably the biggest thing to remember is your aperture (f/stop). When you are taking a picture of more than 1 person you have to pay close attention to your f/stop. If you use a wide aperture because of light issues and the people are not in exact line next to each other, only the person you focused on will be in focus. Wider aperture's mean shallow depth of field. I generally try to use at least f/5.6, sometimes you need smaller (f/8, maybe down to f/11)

 

[Dcanoli]

What camera are you using again.. ?


As for why can't both people be in focus... there are 2 things at play here. 1 is the focus points. Though more often than not this is not the issue.

The other, and probably the biggest thing to remember is your aperture (f/stop). When you are taking a picture of more than 1 person you have to pay close attention to your f/stop. If you use a wide aperture because of light issues and the people are not in exact line next to each other, only the person you focused on will be in focus. Wider aperture's mean shallow depth of field. I generally try to use at least f/5.6, sometimes you need smaller (f/8, maybe down to f/11)

I am using a Pentax K100D. I'm sure I've played around w/the different focus point settings, but not 100% on that....

As for the aperature, now that might be my lightbulb moment. I try to shoot almost everything in Av mode because I love the depth of field control.

Normally, I have to pick and choose who I want to be in focus and then take the picture....which means I sometimes have to take two pictures! (So that each kid can be in a picture focused! LOL...)

Maybe I need to switch to P mode for these types of shots....

Any other good ideas or pointers??? Deb

 

[Groucho]

Kyle, I believe she's using a K100D, FWIW.

Dcanoli, Kyle pretty much hit it on the head... if the two people are not the same distance from the camera, then you need to have a depth of field that's large enough to encompass both of them. Otherwise, at least one will be blurry. (Unless you use a tilt lens, but that's getting a bit exotic. ) Point-n-shoot cameras have a much larger depth of field (due to the smaller sensor), so you may not see this happen as much on a cheapie pocket camera. This helps with this type of shot, but not when you want a shallow depth of field (which is pretty often, if you're trying to isolate your subject.)

The easiest thing to do is just try to get both people at the same distance.

 

[Groucho]

I am using a Pentax K100D. I'm sure I've played around w/the different focus point settings, but not 100% on that....just that's I've played around with some of my different menu settings.

As for the aperature, now that might be my lightbulb moment. I try to shoot almost everything in Av mode because I love the depth of field control.

Normally, I have to pick and choose who I want to be in focus and then take the picture....which means I sometimes have to take two pictures! (So that each kid can be in a picture focused! LOL...)

Maybe I need to switch to P mode for these types of shots....

Any other good ideas or pointers??? Deb

Well, you don't need to switch to P mode, just spin the dial to bring the aperture up to a higher number and see if that's enough to get them in focus. You can do a depth of field preview, either optically (which closes the aperture blades so you see in the viewfinder what the photo should look like, but it will be dimmer) or digitally (it basically takes a temporary photo and shows it on the LCD).

As for the focus point... try switching to center point focus. Then put what you want to focus on in the middle of the frame, half-press the shutter, then compose the shot as necessary. I always do this from years of using a manual-focus SLR where you had to center it to get really accurate focus (thanks to the focusing screen's microprism.)

 

[Dcanoli]

Well, you don't need to switch to P mode, just spin the dial to bring the aperture up to a higher number and see if that's enough to get them in focus. You can do a depth of field preview, either optically (which closes the aperture blades so you see in the viewfinder what the photo should look like, but it will be dimmer) or digitally (it basically takes a temporary photo and shows it on the LCD).

As for the focus point... try switching to center point focus. Then put what you want to focus on in the middle of the frame, half-press the shutter, then compose the shot as necessary. I always do this from years of using a manual-focus SLR where you had to center it to get really accurate focus (thanks to the focusing screen's microprism.)

Well, that was my other thought..."remember to dial up to a higher number," and FWIW, I am already doing the half-press deal.

I use that feature all the time. I pick the person (or subject) I want in focus and then I move the camera (i.e., myself, etc.) to get what I want in the picture. That way, I know at least one person is in focus.

My other thought, right before you posted, was about the center point focus. I've got to go in and look at my menu settings again.

I can never seem to remember what symbol is for what. I think I've got it set where all (is it??) 11 red points are lit up...but maybe I've got my symbols mixed up...time for the manual to come out again....

But, let me ask you this--putting it on Center Focus...will that help get all people in a shot in focus once I bump up my Av numbers?

 

[handicap18]

I mostly use Center Point focus on my D50. If there are 2 people in the picture, I'll focus on one persons eye's then half press the shutter to lock the focus then recompose and snap.

I've used P a few times with candid shots of people indoor's with a flash and sometimes it will give me an aperture of f/4 when in reality I should have had at least f/5.6. P mode doesn't know how many people are in the frame.

More times than not I also like to use ISO400 to help gather more light indoors to be able to use f/5.6. I use a bounced diffused flash so this helps my settings. YMMV.

As for focus points I would definately use Center Point and AF-S. Once your comfortable with Center Point, then you can switch to Select mode. This allows you to choose which of the 11 points in the view finder you want to use to get your focus.

The K100D isn't on Pentax's web site any longer, but with the K200D you go in Rec. Mode (tiny camera icon) in the menu, then choose "Select AF point". The 3 options are AUTO (camera selects), Select (you can choose which of the 11 points YOU want to use), Center (only the Center Point is used). I would think the K100D would be similar.

 

[Dcanoli]

Okay, Kyle.

That sounds right. I'll check it out tomorrow when I have some free time.

Thanks for the tip!!!