The Learning Curve

[EasyGoing*]

I been playing around with my DSLR for like 6 months now. Its hard to learn how to use it at first, but reading books and these fourms have helped me slowly learn the basics. Here are a few pics I took at the zoo.

Exposure Time-1/60sec
F-Stop-f/8
Iso-400
Focal Length-77mm

Exposure Time-1/30sec
F-Stop-f/8
Iso-400
Focal Length-18mm

Exposure Time-1/250sec
F-Stop-f/6.3
Iso-200
Focal Length-180mm

Exposure Time-1/250sec
F-Stop-f/6.3
Iso-100
Focal Length-180mm

Exposure Time-1/250sec
F-Stop-f/6.3
Iso-100
Focal Length-180mm

 

[greggoda]

I got my new lens yesterday and had just a few minutes to play with it this afternoon. Just got my Rebel XSI about a month ago after replacing my old Rebel 2000. We've been using P&S digitals for quite some time but was waiting to jump in on the DSLR. I love this camera and being able to get immediate feedback of what you are doing is the only way to go.

Here are a few shots I took with the new lens. The one of my daughter is after a night at Granny's, a day on the farm and a fudgesickle. LOL

The other two are pretty much the same shot with f/1.8 and f/14 to show the difference in the depth of field. I love the lens so far and can't wait to try some fireworks shots with it. The more I use the XSI the more I love it as well.

I'm still a relative beginner so any comments, suggestions or critiques would be great!

50 mm f/1.8 1/4000 ISO 200

50 mm f/1.4 1/4000 ISO 100

50 mm f/14 1/80 ISO 200

 

[wen-tom]

I like the 70-210 zoom and would even like a little more sometimes I want to be able to get shots from the balcony or up to the bell tower or the face from across the room. I dont like staged pictures of people much I prefer to see them more natural and relaxed and I tell them that before hand just ignore me Im not here .

QUOTE]

Thanks again Dr Zero. i'm looking at the Nikon 55-200 VR. I have seen this on ebay (uk) for £109 which seems a reasonable price for the UK... just got to make a decision now

 

[Pea-n-Me]

They are like a womens tube of lipstick they even kinda look like it you twist up the bottom and the brush comes out. Its very soft and is for dusting of the end of the lens. I have one I use not for the lens but for the nooks and crannies of the lens body and the camera itself.

If you read the thread I started about what is in your gadget bag you might see some other neat stuff also
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1850125

I really needed one of these yesterday, dr zero, being behind the fence on a majorly dusty ballfield. I looked through the links, and maybe I missed it - where do you buy something like this? (I also added the gadget category to the index.)

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Easy Going and greggoda, so glad you posted your pictures.

EG, love the polar bear shots, which I imagine were a bit of a challenge to get, and the building colors are nice on the first two (very overcast). Do you use the vivid color setting at all? (Look at my pics a couple of pages back, I believe I had it on then and thought they were good also - never got any feedback.) Taking the picture of the building vertically would have been visually interesting, also, and cut down on some of the distractions.


greggoda, love the DOF examples - helped my son understand, he's learning. I bet if you tried the same picture of the little girl in different light (eg sunset), you might see better highlights (something I'm trying to learn myself). You will have a lot of fun with the lens, surely. I'm waiting to get my pancake (24mm f/2.8) which will hopefully be here this week, and I'd like to try some portraits with it too.

I'm no expert, just wanted to get you some feedback in case nobody else says anything. Bright, daytime sunlight, I'm learning myself, seems to be very challenging to shoot (was discussed a bit a few pages back). A tip I read that I've been trying to fool around with: find great light, and then find your subject. Kind of hard when you're shooting something specific, like at a zoo, or in my case, a baseball game. But if you have time to experiment, it might be great learning. I still don't fully understand filters yet, but they're on my radar, for times when you have to shoot in bright sun. The one thing I do know is that any filter has to be really great quality. Be sure to post more later.

 

[EasyGoing*]

Yes I agree the distractions did make the pitcure less interesting.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I couldn't find where this had been discussed yet. I've been doing some reading on digital photography and ran across a recommendation that pics be stored as Tiff files instead of jpg's since they won't degrade with editing etc, like jpg's will. This was after he recommended always shooting raw - Tiff's were for storage. Anyone know more about this and if it's correct?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have no practical experience with TIFF, Kat, but I'm bumping in the hopes that someone knowledgeable will answer your question.

 

[dr_zero]

I really needed one of these yesterday, dr zero, being behind the fence on a majorly dusty ballfield. I looked through the links, and maybe I missed it - where do you buy something like this? (I also added the gadget category to the index.)

Sorry for the delay I have not been getting the messages about threads.

I go my last one from porters but you can find them at most camera shops and wal mart has a pen type that is ok but a little small.

Amazon to the rescue
http://www.amazon.com/Orion-Ultra-B...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1214353616&sr=1-10


or ebay!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lipstick-Lens-B...ryZ79000QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Believe it or not dr zero, I found an unopened kit the other day that apparently came with our video camera, and what was in it but a nice brush/blower and some other cleaning products which I will now add to my camera bag.

 

[boBQuincy]

I couldn't find where this had been discussed yet. I've been doing some reading on digital photography and ran across a recommendation that pics be stored as Tiff files instead of jpg's since they won't degrade with editing etc, like jpg's will. This was after he recommended always shooting raw - Tiff's were for storage. Anyone know more about this and if it's correct?

TIFF is one of the file formats that does not perform lossy compression on the file when it is saved. JPG loses some quality each time it is saved, after a few rounds the loss may be easily visible. Saving the file in TIFF, PSD or some other lossless format is the best way to preserve the image quality after editing.

 

[wen-tom]

well guys, i'll be off to the world in 3 days - hopefully i can put some of your excellent tips in to practice and might have some shots to share with you when we get home

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We'll be looking forward to it, wen-tom. Have a great time!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

TIFF is one of the file formats that does not perform lossy compression on the file when it is saved. JPG loses some quality each time it is saved, after a few rounds the loss may be easily visible. Saving the file in TIFF, PSD or some other lossless format is the best way to preserve the image quality after editing.

I just want to emphasize that JPGs don't degrade just by sitting there or copying them from place to place. If that is all you ever do, your JPG will look the exact same 20 years from now as it does today. The issue is only when you open the JPG, make a change (however trivial), and then resave it. Each time you do so, you lose quality. So there is nothing inherently wrong with JPG as an archival format, but it is horrible as an editing file format.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I just want to emphasize that JPGs don't degrade just by sitting there or copying them from place to place. If that is all you ever do, your JPG will look the exact same 20 years from now as it does today. The issue is only when you open the JPG, make a change (however trivial), and then resave it. Each time you do so, you lose quality. So there is nothing inherently wrong with JPG as an archival format, but it is horrible as an editing file format.

Thanks! That's good to know. I'll have to remember that, because I still haven't figured out a way to make myself like Raw.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

I'm only about halfway through reading this thread and I love it. Just what I need!

I've had my D40 since January.
My motivation in buying at DSLR? Well the major motivator was that my Kodak point and shoot finally passed out and said "No More!" I had staked out a spot at the Studios waiting eagerly to snap a pic of Giselle and when she rounded the corner nothing appeared on my screen when I turned on the camera. I took a few photos before giving up. Looked like my 4 year old, well loved camera would now only take pictures with the shutter closed, or something like that. What a very merry Christmas Eve that was
Luckily my parents had already said my present would be a DSLR, I just needed to pick one out.

I have to say that after doing a bit of research I was this close to buying a Canon, and then I took the advice of going over to Best Buy and holding the suckers in my hands. Immediately I knew I wanted the Nikon instead.

I took a brief adult education class in photography three years ago, learning how to use my moms film SLR that is older than I am. Other than that I'm pretty clueless on how my camera works. Before heading off on my recent cruise on the Wonder I read a quick tutorial on my camera and switched out of auto and into P mode. I'm inching my way forward from there.

As 99% of my photos are of WDW (I'm local) this forum thrills me!

Back to reading I go ....

 

[wen-tom]

I'm only about halfway through reading this thread and I love it. Just what I need!

I've had my D40 since January.
My motivation in buying at DSLR? Well the major motivator was that my Kodak point and shoot finally passed out and said "No More!" I had staked out a spot at the Studios waiting eagerly to snap a pic of Giselle and when she rounded the corner nothing appeared on my screen when I turned on the camera. I took a few photos before giving up. Looked like my 4 year old, well loved camera would now only take pictures with the shutter closed, or something like that. What a very merry Christmas Eve that was
Luckily my parents had already said my present would be a DSLR, I just needed to pick one out.

I have to say that after doing a bit of research I was this close to buying a Canon, and then I took the advice of going over to Best Buy and holding the suckers in my hands. Immediately I knew I wanted the Nikon instead.

I took a brief adult education class in photography three years ago, learning how to use my moms film SLR that is older than I am. Other than that I'm pretty clueless on how my camera works. Before heading off on my recent cruise on the Wonder I read a quick tutorial on my camera and switched out of auto and into P mode. I'm inching my way forward from there.

As 99% of my photos are of WDW (I'm local) this forum thrills me!

Back to reading I go ....

Looks like we're learning the same thing together then

I got my D40x after returning from Disney last October and unfortunately hadn't had a lot of time to get into it until just recently. This thread is fantastic

be sure to post some of your pics...

 

[spacerangerqueen]

yey! It's nice to have people to learn with.

Here's the first decent shot I got in small world last weekend:

All I have is the kit lens and I know I need to play around and learn about white balance.

 

[Groucho]

I couldn't find where this had been discussed yet. I've been doing some reading on digital photography and ran across a recommendation that pics be stored as Tiff files instead of jpg's since they won't degrade with editing etc, like jpg's will. This was after he recommended always shooting raw - Tiff's were for storage. Anyone know more about this and if it's correct?

(Sorry for such a late response on this, I missed it last time I was here and have been too busy to be around so much lately!) I find this a rather... well, I'll be frank here, I find it a rather silly recommendation.

The big reason? Most cameras can only shoot in JPG format. That original JPG is the closest to an "original" that you're going to get. Saving it as a TIFF will not gain any quality or help prevent damage. If you're going to do Photoshop editing, etc, it makes more sense to use a Photoshop-friendly format like PSD, which will also be lossless and support layers, etc.

If your camera supports it, it's a good idea to save your photos as RAWs. Once you're there, it makes sense to keep the RAWs as is, I can't imagine why you'd want to store TIFF versions in addition (or instead of) RAWs. Some RAW formats are slightly modified version of TIFF files anyways, just with extra information stored.

If you do want to save it lossless format, I still wouldn't bother with TIFF - as a format, it's completely primitive (yet it mysteriously hasn't died off yet.) It would be like saving your audio files as WAV files instead of MP3s or other more modern formats like FLAC. PNG is my favorite for lossless image storage, it is newer and as far as I know, has no disadvantages compared to TIFF, and produces much smaller files. TIFFs theoretically can offer compression and this is rarely done and not universally supported, so you end up with enormous files.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

still[/i] wouldn't bother with TIFF - as a format, it's completely primitive (yet it mysteriously hasn't died off yet.) It would be like saving your audio files as WAV files instead of MP3s or other more modern formats like FLAC.

Hey Groucho, you probably know this, but for those who don't, mp3s are compressed audio files. My DH and I own a commercial recording facility and we still use WAV or AIFF. It (AIFF) is the industry standard (For now). There is a huge difference in the audio quality and volume from an uncompressed WAV or AIFF file and mp3s. Just thought I'd toss that out there for those who may not know... Of course the true Audio aficionados out there probably still prefer Vinyl. There is also a huge difference in the stuff we record/mix/master digitally and the stuff we record/mix/master using our old analog console and outboard gear. Most people can't really hear it until you play them side by side and then you realize whoa! Huge difference...Sorry didn't mean to hijack, back to TIFF vs RAW vs JPEG...