Any photographers in the house?

Really great photos everyone. I took a few whilst back in the UK over the holidays: sorry, i don't know how to set size limits on these pictures! :/

IMAGE(http://www.deviantart.com/download/277209917/afternoon_sun_by_duoae-d4l1kjh.jpg)

IMAGE(http://www.deviantart.com/download/277211071/wispy____by_duoae-d4l1lfj.jpg)

IMAGE(http://www.deviantart.com/download/277213610/all_change____by_duoae-d4l1ne2.jpg)

http://duoae.deviantart.com/art/Lock...

http://duoae.deviantart.com/art/Wisp...

http://duoae.deviantart.com/art/Wint...

I appear to only be able to perform decent macro shots. I can't do landscapes or portraits or live captures of people. Does anyone know of any resources i could look at to improve my ability with these? I'd love to be able to pull off something even like the dynamic shots of people's lives shown in this thread.

The 1/8th of the picture I can see in my monitor looks interesting.:)

(or am I the only one for whom this is coming in poster sized?)

Double posted. Argh!

Funkenpants wrote:

The 1/8th of the picture I can see in my monitor looks interesting.:)

GWJ codebase resizes the image upon reloading the page or when it has finished downloading. I do apologize, once again, for the size of the images. :/

Bennard

So, the wife has asked me to start putting together a Christmas list (I know). One of the things I wanted to ask Santa for is a new prime lens for my Nikon D5100. I'm considering the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G and the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G.

Unsure if you got one of the lens for Christmas but I have a 5100 as well and just purchased the 50m 1.8 and have been very pleased so far. The image below was shoot using Aperture Priority with multiple exposures (pretty much held button down). I was trying to see how fast it was with low light at around F 3.3. As you can see, if I would of set my shutter speed and bumped the iso I would of been okay. I think as a "everyday lens" it's going to be fantastic. I wanted something I can use while walking around and inside without using a flash.

IMAGE(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6623887487_b653621770.jpg)

Duoae wrote:

I appear to only be able to perform decent macro shots.

Oh, but what macro shots those are! Very cool, D. I've been playing with my macro lens alot as well.

tke364 wrote:

Unsure if you got one of the lens for Christmas but I have a 5100 as well and just purchased the 50m 1.8 and have been very pleased so far. The image below was shoot using Aperture Priority with multiple exposures (pretty much held button down). I was trying to see how fast it was with low light at around F 3.3. As you can see, if I would of set my shutter speed and bumped the iso I would of been okay. I think as a "everyday lens" it's going to be fantastic. I wanted something I can use while walking around and inside without using a flash.

I did get the lens for Christmas. It takes some great photos. I'm finding that I shoot in Aperture Priority mode, so that I can keep the lens at f1.8, because it gives such great DOF. I have taken quite a few pics of my favorite subject over the past week. Here's a few samples.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Rtkrf.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/tptOF.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Y06UB.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/1L5jJ.jpg)

Also, here's one that we did Christmas Eve, this was using the 18-55mm lens, but I think it came out great.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/ROiho.jpg)

Duoae wrote:

I appear to only be able to perform decent macro shots. I can't do landscapes or portraits or live captures of people. Does anyone know of any resources i could look at to improve my ability with these? I'd love to be able to pull off something even like the dynamic shots of people's lives shown in this thread.

Very nice images. In answer to your question, other than just getting out there and shooting, there are some good podcasts including the Art of Photography Podcast. For Christmas I gave my Dad a subscription to http://kelbytraining.com/ and he's been very happy with the video training sessions he's watched there. I haven't had a chance to check it out myself but I did see there's a free trial option as well.

I also got a 50mm f1.8 lens for my Canon T2i for Christmas. Overall, I'm not blown away by it and I feel like it's something I'm doing wrong. I seem to be having a hard time getting those crystal clear shots that I expected, even when I'm at f8-f11 where depth of field is less of an issue. I'm not sure if it's a focus thing - no IS on the lens and maybe me being too quick and not steady enough - or if it's a noise/high ISO thing, or if it's something I could/should be cleaning up in post? Anyway, here are a few examples from recently of my favorite subject

IMAGE(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p8SvhmTjlQk/TwJN4J8dW3I/AAAAAAAALZU/rTv-Swregtw/s640/IMG_5900.JPG)

IMAGE(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p7okKI9O97s/TwJN4UegNSI/AAAAAAAALZY/p2l8HU6HKx8/s640/IMG_5909.JPG)

IMAGE(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-XfqLLIrDEYY/TwDMwg_6GyI/AAAAAAAALWY/kRSNvUQ8aZw/s640/IMG_5573.JPG)

IMAGE(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4zI4xZm6s_0/TwDNJhXhOpI/AAAAAAAALXc/t77ZPEoRcd8/s640/IMG_5669.JPG)

If anyone has any tips or recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

Haakon7 wrote:
Duoae wrote:

I appear to only be able to perform decent macro shots.

Oh, but what macro shots those are! Very cool, D. I've been playing with my macro lens alot as well.

Rahmen wrote:
Duoae wrote:

I appear to only be able to perform decent macro shots. I can't do landscapes or portraits or live captures of people. Does anyone know of any resources i could look at to improve my ability with these? I'd love to be able to pull off something even like the dynamic shots of people's lives shown in this thread.

Very nice images. In answer to your question, other than just getting out there and shooting, there are some good podcasts including the Art of Photography Podcast. For Christmas I gave my Dad a subscription to http://kelbytraining.com/ and he's been very happy with the video training sessions he's watched there. I haven't had a chance to check it out myself but I did see there's a free trial option as well.

Thanks to the both of you! I'll take a look at that podcast you mention.

Sheavy, the lighting on the first 2 are fantastic. I don't see any issues with sharpness but a lot can be recovered in post if you would like to bump it a few. What is your exif on those? I'm curious to see your iso.

On a whim, I picked up an 50mm 1.8f AF for my Nikon yesterday. I was playing with it yesterday and having some fun. Anyone have any advice on how to get the most out of a prime lens like it?

IMAGE(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CnjgPJ%2BjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)

It's an older lens, so no autofocus for me, but it's so much fun to use.

tke364 wrote:

Sheavy, the lighting on the first 2 are fantastic. I don't see any issues with sharpness but a lot can be recovered in post if you would like to bump it a few. What is your exif on those? I'm curious to see your iso.

Here you go, exif on the first image and second image

Thanks for the compliment I really haven't messed with adjusting sharpness in post - I'm relatively new to shooting in raw and am still trying to get comfortable with white balance and brightness. In other words, there are a lot of sliders in DPP I haven't touched. I will say that I did select some of the sharper, clear pictures I've taken recently, as I usually just delete the others. It does feel like my ratio of blurry/slightly out of focus pictures to clear pictures is higher than it should be though. Oh well, practice practice!

Sheazy wrote:
tke364 wrote:

Sheavy, the lighting on the first 2 are fantastic. I don't see any issues with sharpness but a lot can be recovered in post if you would like to bump it a few. What is your exif on those? I'm curious to see your iso.

Here you go, exif on the first image and second image

Thanks for the compliment I really haven't messed with adjusting sharpness in post - I'm relatively new to shooting in raw and am still trying to get comfortable with white balance and brightness. In other words, there are a lot of sliders in DPP I haven't touched. I will say that I did select some of the sharper, clear pictures I've taken recently, as I usually just delete the others. It does feel like my ratio of blurry/slightly out of focus pictures to clear pictures is higher than it should be though. Oh well, practice practice!

ISO 2000 and ISO 2500 respectively. There's your problem. Keep that ISO as low as possible to avoid unnecessary grain. I know the T2i has better performance at higher ISOs than my older XTi, but 2000 and 2500 still seem unnecessarily high.

I typically shoot at 200, 100 if I can get away with it (very brightly lit). I almost never go over 800 unless I absolutely, positively have to (like in this shot).

IMAGE(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6052/6287103199_242bb9f047_z.jpg)

Even there I had to clean up the grain quite a bit with noise reduction in Lightroom. Again, my older XTi only goes up to ISO 1600, and doesn't shoot well at 800/1600. But even with a newer model and better high ISO performance you'll want to keep the ISO low.

I've been letting the camera choose the ISO, and it sounds like I should stop that. I know I do use it as a bit of a handicap, so maybe I'll ease myself into lower ISO shooting by setting the max at something like 800 to start and see how that goes. Thanks for the tip!

Sheazy wrote:

I've been letting the camera choose the ISO, and it sounds like I should stop that. I know I do use it as a bit of a handicap, so maybe I'll ease myself into lower ISO shooting by setting the max at something like 800 to start and see how that goes. Thanks for the tip!

Someone else said something about letting the camera choose the ISO earlier in the thread too. Man, that's just foreign to me. The way I learned, ISO was the absolute last thing you changed. Only when your aperture/shutter speed combo left you no other options did you adjust ISO. Unless you were going for a specific grain look that is. Amazing the changes in how we approach exposure based on the improved performance of these newer cameras!

I just went and looked through a handful of the pictures I've taken recently. Only a couple were below ISO 800. Most were above 1600, and quite a few at 3200. Even in situations where I would have guessed there to be plenty of natural light, and with a fairly open aperture, the ISO was still up there. I'm guessing the camera tries to get as short an exposure time as possible. Thing is, I don't have a steady hand, and I'm often taking pictures of the baby - those two things do not lend themselves to a slower exposure time. Any tips or recommendations beyond using a tripod?

Sheazy wrote:

I just went and looked through a handful of the pictures I've taken recently. Only a couple were below ISO 800. Most were above 1600, and quite a few at 3200. Even in situations where I would have guessed there to be plenty of natural light, and with a fairly open aperture, the ISO was still up there. I'm guessing the camera tries to get as short an exposure time as possible. Thing is, I don't have a steady hand, and I'm often taking pictures of the baby - those two things do not lend themselves to a slower exposure time. Any tips or recommendations beyond using a tripod?

As a rule of thumb, unless you are really jittery you're likely to be ok with any shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the focal length. For instance with a 50mm anything 1/50th or faster is fine. For a 200mm you'd want to be at 1/200th or faster. If you have steady hands, you can handhold even slower. I can typically get down to 1/30th and even sometimes 1/15th with a 50mm.

Unless your baby is really fast, I'd imagine you'd be fine even down into the 1/50th range.

The other thing is you can open up your aperture a bit, allowing you to kick your shutter speed up a bit. That 1.8 gets nice and wide. I'm a bit biased as I really like low depth of field shots, but your second and fourth shots up there definitely wouldn't be hurt by a wider aperture in my opinion.

I'd pick the higher ISO over the slower shutter speed, because shutter speed drops quickly as the light dims. Or I would use use a flash with appropriate technique (angled head, diffusers, off-camera, whatever- I'm not up on all the ins and outs of flash use). Sometimes it's just too dark to take a good picture without a flash.

IS allows you to take blur-free pictures of static objects down to 1/30 or 1/15th with the typical kit lens, but you start getting blurring subjects even with 1/60 when the subject is moving. A kid jumping or shifting around? You're going to want to be at 1/125th or possibly higher. They're quick moving little elves. At least that's what I've experienced taking pictures of my kid.

It also depends on what you're going to do with the images. If you're planning on blowing them up and printing them at anything larger than say 8x10, grain becomes an issue fast. In that case you want that ISO low, low, low.

If on the other hand you're using them on screen or in prints 8x10 and smaller, you're not likely to notice the grain from a slightly higher ISO. Particularly with the new higher performance cameras.

Teneman wrote:

*Super Helpful Info*

The other thing is you can open up your aperture a bit, allowing you to kick your shutter speed up a bit. That 1.8 gets nice and wide. I'm a bit biased as I really like low depth of field shots, but your second and fourth shots up there definitely wouldn't be hurt by a wider aperture in my opinion.

Mostly I was trying to see if there really is a sweet spot for aperture with the lens. Everything I've read indicate it performs best from f8-f11, so I was trying that range for those pictures. I like shallow depth of field shots as well and this lens can get super shallow when fully open. I still have lots of experimenting and practice ahead of me to really get a handle on all of this.

So, as you guys are playing with Christmas glass, I'm getting ready to dive into a copy of Lightroom 3 that Santa brought.

Any tips?

Man, you all are making me want to replace my Rebel XT so much now. It's already getting pretty beat up as the grip texture is almost completely worn off and the rubber piece on the viewfinder has been gone for a year and I've been too lazy to find a replacement. Of course, I've only gotten 12,000 shots out of the body so far.

Also, Teneman, I hadn't realized you had hit your 1 year mark a while back and that's why you stopped posting and I stopped seeing new stuff in the feed. (belated) Congrats on a year of photos.

Sheazy wrote:

Mostly I was trying to see if there really is a sweet spot for aperture with the lens. Everything I've read indicate it performs best from f8-f11, so I was trying that range for those pictures. I like shallow depth of field shots as well and this lens can get super shallow when fully open. I still have lots of experimenting and practice ahead of me to really get a handle on all of this.

Sweet spot is typically only a stop or two above the widest open. So in the case of you f/1.8 you would only need to go up to f/4 or so to get into the range. That's the theory, to be honest I've never seen much degradation on most of my lenses, even shooting wide open.

Haakon7 wrote:

So, as you guys are playing with Christmas glass, I'm getting ready to dive into a copy of Lightroom 3 that Santa brought.

Any tips?

Love, love, love me some Lightroom 3. Converted over from a Picasa/Elements combination and have never looked back. As for tips: get this.

Haakon7 wrote:

So, as you guys are playing with Christmas glass, I'm getting ready to dive into a copy of Lightroom 3 that Santa brought.

Any tips?

It's pretty user friendly and intuitive. One thing I missed for a long time until I stumbled upon it were the Adjustment Brush Effects. They are the more photoshoppy things you can do if you need to fix a problem. You can burn, dodge, iris enhance, soften skin, and teeth whiten for example. Most of the rest of the tools I've been able to figure out very easily other than that one. It may have just been me. Also, be aware there are tons of plugins and presets and whatnot you can download online. I haven't tried out many, but I have looked out of curiosity.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Also, Teneman, I hadn't realized you had hit your 1 year mark a while back and that's why you stopped posting and I stopped seeing new stuff in the feed. (belated) Congrats on a year of photos.

Thanks mrtomaytohead! I had intended to keep going after the 365th day... but man that project took it out of me. I miss it sometimes, and may pick it up again in the future, but by that time I'm sure the vast majority of my readers will have moved on. In the meantime I'll just shoot when and where I want, without the obligation hanging over my head

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Man, you all are making me want to replace my Rebel XT so much now. It's already getting pretty beat up as the grip texture is almost completely worn off and the rubber piece on the viewfinder has been gone for a year and I've been too lazy to find a replacement. Of course, I've only gotten 12,000 shots out of the body so far.

Also, Teneman, I hadn't realized you had hit your 1 year mark a while back and that's why you stopped posting and I stopped seeing new stuff in the feed. (belated) Congrats on a year of photos.

I still have a t2i that I use regularly, because I am waiting for the 5dMk3, that's not to say I haven't dropped a lot of money on glass :). This was the Christmas purchase for me...

IMAGE(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/379450_10150466140529106_607049105_8421697_1459026767_n.jpg)

and a quick shot with it for the OTHER christmas purchase

IMAGE(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/400886_10150489406839106_607049105_8516340_770610136_n.jpg)

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

It's pretty user friendly and intuitive. One thing I missed for a long time until I stumbled upon it were the Adjustment Brush Effects. They are the more photoshoppy things you can do if you need to fix a problem. You can burn, dodge, iris enhance, soften skin, and teeth whiten for example. Most of the rest of the tools I've been able to figure out very easily other than that one. It may have just been me. Also, be aware there are tons of plugins and presets and whatnot you can download online. I haven't tried out many, but I have looked out of curiosity.

Cool. Sounds like I should dive in!

And thanks for the book recc, Teneman. I'll check it out. The Kelby videos mentioned earlier sound pretty cool too.

Haakon7 wrote:

Cool. Sounds like I should dive in!

And thanks for the book recc, Teneman. I'll check it out. The Kelby videos mentioned earlier sound pretty cool too.

I like Kelby's books, he's got an easy to read style and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Don't get me wrong though, you can definitely learn the vast majority of what you need just by playing around in Lightroom. There are just a metric ton of little hidden nooks and crannies that I personally never stumbled on until I read through the Kelby book, not to mention some helpful workflow ideas that he laid out.

Teneman wrote:
Haakon7 wrote:

Cool. Sounds like I should dive in!

And thanks for the book recc, Teneman. I'll check it out. The Kelby videos mentioned earlier sound pretty cool too.

I like Kelby's books, he's got an easy to read style and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Don't get me wrong though, you can definitely learn the vast majority of what you need just by playing around in Lightroom. There are just a metric ton of little hidden nooks and crannies that I personally never stumbled on until I read through the Kelby book, not to mention some helpful workflow ideas that he laid out.

I should pick up that book too. That's why it took me so long to find those adjustment brush effects. It was something I never would need except on rare occasions (mostly for fixing slide scans).