Amateur Photographer Thread
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think positive
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White balance was on auto which sets the tone, Canon’s are pretty accurate with it, I only really change it when doing sunsets, on really crap days, or inside when the lighting is shit. These only have a light edit in Lightroom, though I did slide the highlight slider all the way back! There are heaps of these ducks around here, and they come in a very wide range or browns, this one was really deep in colour, but I was shocked when I downloaded the pics as the green blue under the wing was almost iridescent. Looking at it I’d say the brown looks a little redder, warmer than I remember the duck but the water is a cool colour, so I don’t think I adjusted it. It was taken at midday, bright sunlight blowing half a gale, absolutely the worst lighting time to shoot outdoors. I’ll post another later. I’m glad you pointed that out, cc (constructive criticism) means learning and improving. Funny normally I step down to a tad underexposed so I don’t blow the highlights, but I’ve been going too dark, then you get grain when you edit, so I’m trying harder to perfectly expose in camera. with this camera I seem to be getting perfect exposure quite often, but not with the ducks when they were in the water. This camera is really making me work for it, I’m learning heaps, so I’m actually glad I bought the 2nd hand one first. And hey now I’m allowed to walk around with it again, plenty of time to practice! I’ve delivered 4 USBs of pics to mums, some have 2-300 pics on them, (multiple shoots not just 1!) so all caught up with edits for other people! Except for my best friend down the beach last week in the rain, we took heaps, so that’s next!
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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Tannin
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Yes, Stui. That's what I said too, only you said it in English instead of Photographynerdish.
Call me old fashioned, Jo, but I have never liked auto-ISO - probably because there was no such thing back in 20D days and I haven't changed my spots. Also, early implementations of it were poor, so I probably tried it once on something like a 5D II or a 50D, said "ptui", and never went back to it.
I'm not quite sure what your method is from the above, but I'll outline my standard method for wildlife work. (This or something very like it is the way about 50% of all the wildlife togs I know work. The other ones use a stack of different methods, including full manual (that would he the second-most common way) and manual aperture and shutter speed control with auto-ISO.)
EDIT: this was before your second post. No matter, I'll let it stand as-is.
OK. Use aperture priority and set your starting ISO to 400. Vary the aperture as desired, but typically you'll be close to wide open. (Depends a bit on your lens: with mediocre quality lenses (e.g., Tamron and Sigma zooms) aim to be a whole stop down from wide-open. With the very best lenses, do as you like.)
Keep an eye on the light and what it's doing to your shutter speed. With a 400mm lens, aim for 1/1000th or better and make 1/500th your lower limit. Adjust ISO and/or aperture as needed to maintain that speed. On a 7D Mark II, 800 is just OK, 1600 only if pushed to it - try to stay at 400 or 500 if you can. On a 5D IV, 800 is just fine (though 400 still better) and you can go quite readily to 1600 if you need to, and past that where you really have to. On a 5D II, don't do wildlife. It's horrible. Save that camera for landscapes, which it's good at.
Chimp early and chimp often! Mostly, look at the histogram. Use that exposure compensation wheel as often as needed. (That's pretty often. If in doubt, 1/3rd down or flat are the two most common settings, but change as needed.)
When the composition keeps changing but the light stays the same - suppose it's a fine day and you are shooting a dark brown duck and a light grey duck - you will find that you are constantly having to fiddle with the exposure compensation as the light bird makes your auto-exposure too dark, and the dark bird makes everything over-exposed. This is when it is faster and easier to go full manual. You'll soon discover that correct exposure for the light bird and the dark bird is the same, so just set it to (say) 1/1000th at f/8 and ISO 400 and leave it there. (This is why the pros at (e.g.) the MCG doing the football shoot manual. Light jumper, dark jumper, doesn't matter: they have the exposure right and don't have to change it.)
When the subject stays the same but the light keeps changing (e.g., spring weather where it goes sunny cloudy sunny cloudy sunny cloudy all damn day), switch back to automatic exposure. (Aperture priority or other method as you prefer.)
Shoot short bursts of three or four shots - this helps both with picking the perfect moment, and with picking the sharpest one of the set where your shutter speed is a bit low and you are relying on your IS system.
For all nature photography between sunrise and sunset, set your white balance to DAYLIGHT and leave it there. We are not doing weddings or human faces here, we are not working with artificial light of uncertain colour, we are trying to capture nature as it really is. Most photographers leave it on AUTO and spend endless hours later mucking about in their raw converter software trying to figure out what looks about right and - typically - getting it fairly wrong. Set it to DAYLIGHT and don't change it. Perfect white balance every time.
Of course, if you are doing portraits or working under artificial light, that is a very different matter. I'm talking natural landscapes and wildlife. Note that fill flash is OK. No need to alter anything. The light from your flash is near enough to the same colour as natural sunlight as makes no difference. This is why, in your raw converter, you'll notice that the FLASH setting and the DAYLIGHT setting produce very similar results.
Call me old fashioned, Jo, but I have never liked auto-ISO - probably because there was no such thing back in 20D days and I haven't changed my spots. Also, early implementations of it were poor, so I probably tried it once on something like a 5D II or a 50D, said "ptui", and never went back to it.
I'm not quite sure what your method is from the above, but I'll outline my standard method for wildlife work. (This or something very like it is the way about 50% of all the wildlife togs I know work. The other ones use a stack of different methods, including full manual (that would he the second-most common way) and manual aperture and shutter speed control with auto-ISO.)
EDIT: this was before your second post. No matter, I'll let it stand as-is.
OK. Use aperture priority and set your starting ISO to 400. Vary the aperture as desired, but typically you'll be close to wide open. (Depends a bit on your lens: with mediocre quality lenses (e.g., Tamron and Sigma zooms) aim to be a whole stop down from wide-open. With the very best lenses, do as you like.)
Keep an eye on the light and what it's doing to your shutter speed. With a 400mm lens, aim for 1/1000th or better and make 1/500th your lower limit. Adjust ISO and/or aperture as needed to maintain that speed. On a 7D Mark II, 800 is just OK, 1600 only if pushed to it - try to stay at 400 or 500 if you can. On a 5D IV, 800 is just fine (though 400 still better) and you can go quite readily to 1600 if you need to, and past that where you really have to. On a 5D II, don't do wildlife. It's horrible. Save that camera for landscapes, which it's good at.
Chimp early and chimp often! Mostly, look at the histogram. Use that exposure compensation wheel as often as needed. (That's pretty often. If in doubt, 1/3rd down or flat are the two most common settings, but change as needed.)
When the composition keeps changing but the light stays the same - suppose it's a fine day and you are shooting a dark brown duck and a light grey duck - you will find that you are constantly having to fiddle with the exposure compensation as the light bird makes your auto-exposure too dark, and the dark bird makes everything over-exposed. This is when it is faster and easier to go full manual. You'll soon discover that correct exposure for the light bird and the dark bird is the same, so just set it to (say) 1/1000th at f/8 and ISO 400 and leave it there. (This is why the pros at (e.g.) the MCG doing the football shoot manual. Light jumper, dark jumper, doesn't matter: they have the exposure right and don't have to change it.)
When the subject stays the same but the light keeps changing (e.g., spring weather where it goes sunny cloudy sunny cloudy sunny cloudy all damn day), switch back to automatic exposure. (Aperture priority or other method as you prefer.)
Shoot short bursts of three or four shots - this helps both with picking the perfect moment, and with picking the sharpest one of the set where your shutter speed is a bit low and you are relying on your IS system.
For all nature photography between sunrise and sunset, set your white balance to DAYLIGHT and leave it there. We are not doing weddings or human faces here, we are not working with artificial light of uncertain colour, we are trying to capture nature as it really is. Most photographers leave it on AUTO and spend endless hours later mucking about in their raw converter software trying to figure out what looks about right and - typically - getting it fairly wrong. Set it to DAYLIGHT and don't change it. Perfect white balance every time.
Of course, if you are doing portraits or working under artificial light, that is a very different matter. I'm talking natural landscapes and wildlife. Note that fill flash is OK. No need to alter anything. The light from your flash is near enough to the same colour as natural sunlight as makes no difference. This is why, in your raw converter, you'll notice that the FLASH setting and the DAYLIGHT setting produce very similar results.
�Let's eat Grandma.� Commas save lives!
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think positive
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Interesting thankyou, ill have a better read later with my camera on my lap. I dont get the whole AP thing, i always shoot Manual, ive tried it but im never happy with it, I really like to choose my shutter speed, and for birds I always go at least 1/1600 unless the light is crap, ill go a lot higher for bees! I find the 70-200mm L F2.8 excellent for bugs, especially dragonflies, in fact all the good dragonfly shots ive taken are with that lens, the macro doesnt give you enough scope, they dont sit still for long enough. In fact i reckon that lens is just perfection for anything! I tend to go shutter, around F7.1 -11 for wildlife, and then let the camera choose iso, the 7D seems to do it well but that could also be the better auto focus system. i wish my 100-400mmL was 2.8 but its F4!
with the 5Dmk2 auto iso just doesnt work! I did realise its not going to be any good for birds etc, my plan is to keep the 7Dmk2 for that, as I said they are cheap enough if I kill it ill buy another one, I love it at the MCG. I wanted to try a full frame so I bought the 2nd hand one, it has literally sat in the cupboard since January, i pulled it out last Thursday! I love taking pics of anything, Birds, animals, bugs especially, down the beach surfers, all which need the 7D I reckon.
Then I love to shoot people, I cant wait to set up the 5DmkIV with my studio lighting. When i shot (!) the ducks and the rat i had the camera set up for twin 8 year old girls just playing at the park, the light was really patchy and going on and off like a switch! i had the 70-200mmlL F2.8 on at 200mm and 2.8 because i love the bokeh it gives and i wanted to keep to social distancing restrictions in case the cops walked passed! I had my shutter at 1/640- 1/1000 F2.8 and at first I had it on auto ISO but because I was moving a lot in different directions, i was blowing the highlights, so I switched to manual iso and tried to keep up with the flickering light, im still getting used to the button layout too, and a broken finger on my dominant left hand is not helping!
I just had a look and for the rat my settings were: 1/4000 (!!hmm clearly i needed to go to a higher Fstop to stop the light) 2.8 and iso 100, the thing was fast and only there for a minute, so I just fired off shots, If id had the time to think i would have upped to F8 at least! for the duck which was also a quick shot as the ducks suddenly came right up to the kids, the settings were 1/1250 F2.8 and iso 100 at 200mm. so yeah making it hard for myself with the F stop so wide.
The shots of the kids turned out pretty good, except they had the weirdest colour combos on, one has olive skin, she had a bright orange jacket on, and the cast from it was awful. the other has snow white skin, no clashing here, so her shots are much nicer to me. I took some pics of my friend in front of a pink flowering tree, im going to go back when the light and time is the same because they were godsmackingly good! The light was so perfectly placed (accidental!!) that i did not need to go into photoshop to smooth her 51 year old skin! its all good practice. Full sun is not my favourite time, overcast is so much easier, but I really want to be able to shoot anywhere anytime anything. I guess the thing to do is as you do, have both cameras with the correct lens and settings, but bloody hell, that gets heavy!!
So im thinking for portraits and park shots the 5D, for sport shots such footy the 7D, for the increased zoom factor too. wildlife 7D, landscape i could use either, my wide angle is EF-s but I often use the super sharp sigma 17-50mm F2.8 portrait lens for it, i wouldnt mind getting that one in a full frame format. I have 3 small sigma zooms that arnt that great, im going to keep the 18-200 for the MCG, and sell the other 2, I want to get a decent walk around lens so im thinking something like 24-whatever preferably F2.8 but ill go 3.5 if I have to. The sigma ART 24-105 is F4, but amazing, also heavy and expensive, but ill use that for now, no point having it if i dont use it, its insured! i use the 18-35mm F1.8 Art with the studio lights as the space i use is quite small. fits both cameras. Any suggestions for a walk around for the full frame? I really need to sort my lenses, I have an odd collection!
with the 5Dmk2 auto iso just doesnt work! I did realise its not going to be any good for birds etc, my plan is to keep the 7Dmk2 for that, as I said they are cheap enough if I kill it ill buy another one, I love it at the MCG. I wanted to try a full frame so I bought the 2nd hand one, it has literally sat in the cupboard since January, i pulled it out last Thursday! I love taking pics of anything, Birds, animals, bugs especially, down the beach surfers, all which need the 7D I reckon.
Then I love to shoot people, I cant wait to set up the 5DmkIV with my studio lighting. When i shot (!) the ducks and the rat i had the camera set up for twin 8 year old girls just playing at the park, the light was really patchy and going on and off like a switch! i had the 70-200mmlL F2.8 on at 200mm and 2.8 because i love the bokeh it gives and i wanted to keep to social distancing restrictions in case the cops walked passed! I had my shutter at 1/640- 1/1000 F2.8 and at first I had it on auto ISO but because I was moving a lot in different directions, i was blowing the highlights, so I switched to manual iso and tried to keep up with the flickering light, im still getting used to the button layout too, and a broken finger on my dominant left hand is not helping!
I just had a look and for the rat my settings were: 1/4000 (!!hmm clearly i needed to go to a higher Fstop to stop the light) 2.8 and iso 100, the thing was fast and only there for a minute, so I just fired off shots, If id had the time to think i would have upped to F8 at least! for the duck which was also a quick shot as the ducks suddenly came right up to the kids, the settings were 1/1250 F2.8 and iso 100 at 200mm. so yeah making it hard for myself with the F stop so wide.
The shots of the kids turned out pretty good, except they had the weirdest colour combos on, one has olive skin, she had a bright orange jacket on, and the cast from it was awful. the other has snow white skin, no clashing here, so her shots are much nicer to me. I took some pics of my friend in front of a pink flowering tree, im going to go back when the light and time is the same because they were godsmackingly good! The light was so perfectly placed (accidental!!) that i did not need to go into photoshop to smooth her 51 year old skin! its all good practice. Full sun is not my favourite time, overcast is so much easier, but I really want to be able to shoot anywhere anytime anything. I guess the thing to do is as you do, have both cameras with the correct lens and settings, but bloody hell, that gets heavy!!
So im thinking for portraits and park shots the 5D, for sport shots such footy the 7D, for the increased zoom factor too. wildlife 7D, landscape i could use either, my wide angle is EF-s but I often use the super sharp sigma 17-50mm F2.8 portrait lens for it, i wouldnt mind getting that one in a full frame format. I have 3 small sigma zooms that arnt that great, im going to keep the 18-200 for the MCG, and sell the other 2, I want to get a decent walk around lens so im thinking something like 24-whatever preferably F2.8 but ill go 3.5 if I have to. The sigma ART 24-105 is F4, but amazing, also heavy and expensive, but ill use that for now, no point having it if i dont use it, its insured! i use the 18-35mm F1.8 Art with the studio lights as the space i use is quite small. fits both cameras. Any suggestions for a walk around for the full frame? I really need to sort my lenses, I have an odd collection!
Last edited by think positive on Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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think positive
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think positive
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ok so i had another look at that pic, went back to the raw, i dont know what i was thinking, i posted it for the sharpness, but yeah the colour suxs! (i edited at night, should always check the lighting, but no excuses) this is uncropped, then the cropped, and another i edited yesterday that i like a lot better! i think i like the dehaze slider a little too much. thankyou Stu, for pointing it out!! ima gunna delete that one of my facebook page!!
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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stui magpie
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^
Yeah, now that looks like a Black duck.
Yeah, now that looks like a Black duck.
Look, I've never tried it. Rats, Roos, Foxes, Rabbits, Crows, yes, people no. But the longer we stay locked down the more open I am to the idea.think positive wrote: Then I love to shoot people,
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
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think positive
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hey, this little black duck is open to anything right now!!stui magpie wrote:^
Yeah, now that looks like a Black duck.
Look, I've never tried it. Rats, Roos, Foxes, Rabbits, Crows, yes, people no. But the longer we stay locked down the more open I am to the idea.think positive wrote: Then I love to shoot people,
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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think positive
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think positive
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think positive
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think positive
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some randoms! i only just got back to editing. 
tenby point is usually under water and serene! not when i was there so i went full on Apocalypse now!
this guy hovered over my pool for ages! so fun!!
this morning the clouds were amazing, so i went for a stroll - through a paddock, over a fence, and a creek, and another Klm down the road!!
cheers!
tenby point is usually under water and serene! not when i was there so i went full on Apocalypse now!
this guy hovered over my pool for ages! so fun!!
this morning the clouds were amazing, so i went for a stroll - through a paddock, over a fence, and a creek, and another Klm down the road!!
cheers!
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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think positive
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long long day, my father in laws funeral was really well done but so exhausting, plus i did an end of life shoot for a friends sister yesterday, with all her family and grandkids, she will be lucky to see christmas, only 66, riddled with it, so to cheer me up here are some shots taken last weekend with my beautiful new 100-400mmL series 2 lens and 1.4 extender mk3!
this guy followed me for about 10-15 min, it was amazing!
this butterfly was about 10mm so tiny and vibrant
shallow depth of field!
damselfly
i took some very clear sharp pics, but i love the art of this!
even saw a koala!
good night from Beau!!
this guy followed me for about 10-15 min, it was amazing!
this butterfly was about 10mm so tiny and vibrant
shallow depth of field!
damselfly
i took some very clear sharp pics, but i love the art of this!
even saw a koala!
good night from Beau!!
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
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Dave The Man
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think positive
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