A review of tips and tricks from our master photographers.

[jyerxa]

We just had a lot of good information from our master photographers that I find incredibly useful that I can never recall at the moment the time arrives to need that knowledge. And I slip into my amateurish half manual and half auto mode. And sometimes fully auto mode with a flash. I’m happy with what my camera can do and the pictures I can get using half auto. But my camera can only do so much. I need to know how to use my camera in full manual mode when I see scenic pictures and move on from snapshots to photos.

In these last few weeks our experts have given me some valuable info for some of the specifics I need to know when specific ideas I have in mind come up and I can’t remember the settings. And if you don’t use it you loose it. At least I do. So I am making this a word document for myself and printing it off to put into my camera bag and if you all want something like this too. I thought I would put it up for you all.

This may be redundant with the tips and tricks thread. But it is all condensed for my usage and questions. Hope it helps you all too.


Shooting into the sunlight with a clear and colorful foreground.

You really bring out the colors. Is that that new lens you got last year?

Thank you my friend!

I was using my Canon 5D Mark II, one of my Canon 24-105 F/4 L lenses. The camera was set to Manual, The ISO was 640, lens settings were f/22 at 28 mm. and shutter speed was 1/50th. of a second. Landscape setting.

Dick

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,152554.0.html


Lots of tips for lots of situations.

I am curious if an artist might be allowed to critique?  while I am not a photographer I am pretty educated in art, emphasis in sculpture and photography and visual arts education.  I was taught to critique.  However my own predilection is not even close to what many of the photographers might choose.

PERFECT. An eye for composition, colors, and lines without getting caught up in technical photo crap.  Last thing we need is another tool bag with an overpriced camera who is overly fixated on pixels and flash sync speeds... i.e. me 

Alright guys, lets have it...

....I love that photo's composition. Very cool. If I would try to take that same photo I would want to reduce the haze and make it sharp. Is there a way to do that? I don't know. That is exactly how you took this photo right?

A circular polarizer is the way you reduce haze, reflections and enrich colors. Unfortunately, a polarizers effect is greatest 90 degrees from the sun, and almost worthless at 0 & 180 degrees from the sun. For this sunset shot, the sun was 180 to the moon--at my back. Polarization is one effect you cannot replicate in PP. The best we can do is play with colors, sharpness, and contrast.

I like this shot. It is hard to capture the pastels of the low light and not overexpose the moon. Because of the pastels, I don't even mind that it is not sharp. Excellent composition too. So my question is. Was this an actual moment in nature or did you need to phptoshop it?

I tried using Photoshop Elements and I hated it. Yes, that's really where the moon was at that time in the day. In addition to hating the interface of Photoshop, I don't like what it stands for. To me it has become more about graphic design than actual photography... cutting and pasting one object from one photo and putting it in another or making a fat person less fat or legs a bit longer than normal is just plain tacky IMHO 

I like this shot. It is hard to capture the pastels of the low light and not overexpose the moon. Because of the pastels, I don't even mind that it is not sharp. Excellent composition too. So my question is. Was this an actual moment in nature or did you need to phptoshop it?

Your comments about sharpness along with the others about noise reduction are really what I was getting at... This is what I am lacking in my PP skills. Its a tool available to me in Lightroom but I don't seem to get it right. I need to watch more YouTube tutorials. One thing I'll say: the sky looks  a lot smoother on the file on my computer, but somehow when it gets uploaded it gets more clumpy. Also, the foreground vegetation is a bit outside the depth of field because I am focused on the mountains in the distance and this is shot at F4 on a full frame. The greens were more meant to serve as framing and not be in the focal plane. I thought about stopping the lens down and cranking up the ISO to compensate but didn't want the vegetation in focus.

BC, cool photo. The moon with the sunlit peak is neat.  Was this taken at high ISO? I'd maybe try and use a bit of noise reduction with adding some black and a little saturation on it. Definitely a keeper 

EXIF Metadata: ISO 320 with 200mm focal length for 1/400 second @ F/4 (full frame). 

I wondered if I had over saturated it! 

And Night time shots.

huntnphool, if you don't mind sharing, what was your camera setup for that awesome photo?  Beautiful photo.

f/8, 1/25th, ISO400 

[Bean Counter]

.... And I slip into my amateurish half manual and half auto mode. And sometimes fully auto mode with a flash. I’m happy with what my camera can do and the pictures I can get using half auto. But my camera can only do so much. I need to know how to use my camera in full manual mode when I see scenic pictures and move on from snapshots to photos.
...

I only use fully manual mode when shooting in tricky and/or low light situations. In fact, I use manual focus more than full manual. Try using the Program Shift mode as a baby step between fully auto and aperture or shutter priority, which are the ones that the pros use the most. Program Shift will meter the light and calculate the correct combination of shutter speed and aperture that will properly expose the scene. As you're holding the camera up you can shift the dial left or right and see the various options between aperture and shutter speed, without taking the camera away from your eye, to give you an idea of the options. Pick one and slam away on that trigger 

[grandpawrichard]

Thanks for the compliment jyerxa! I'm not really a Master Photographer, I am what I consider a Rabid Photography Nut that just loves to take lots of photos to share. Sure, I get Lucky once in a while and catch a really good photo, but mostly my photos are just So - So photos.

Dick

[jyerxa]

  

[richard88]

Great tips for a starter