Photography

steve@thaib · #1 16-03-2006, 04:52

I'm just trying to learn about this camera so I went out and tried a couple of different things. The night time shots have really surprised me, I love the demonic glow around this factory, and the panorama shot I like a lot too.

We have a full moon at the minute and I'm keen to get some river shots with good light at night ( I know, I'm becoming a geek) but am wondering if there is anything I can do to improve these sorts of pictures or should I just let the camera get on with it, because it really does seem to know what it is doing.

The close up shot of the snow and red things really kind of convinces me to let the camera get on with it, because one side has bright light and the other is in shadow and yet the focus looks pretty good to me.

stevem · #2 16-03-2006, 04:53

They look good to my untrained eye.

steve@thaib · #3 16-03-2006, 04:53

Here is the panaroma shot that would not fit into the post above.

steve@thaib · #4 16-03-2006, 04:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevem

They look good to my untrained eye.

Me too, though due to quite a bit of cropping and a half decent camera I suspect.

dawsey · #5 16-03-2006, 04:58

The fire ones look pretty good to me Steve,but are they taken at such high resolution that to get the pic up here you have to resize them down so small.

I'm sure in full size they are v impressive pics for someone still finding out about the camera

steve@thaib · #6 16-03-2006, 05:01

You have to really rip them to bits to get them down to this size, but screens can't display high res pics anyway, so thats not really an issue. I could have made them a lot bigger for here as it goes, but I think you get the impression of them quite well as they are.

steve@thaib · #7 16-03-2006, 05:20

Here is a bigger pic. This one is (obviously) taken through glass and is also cropped to hell, and yet it still looks like a good picture to me.

steve@thaib · #8 16-03-2006, 05:23

One more and I'll stop boring you. Again, the resolution for here could have been higher but I think the colours are great. I have a suspicion that I got a setting on the camera wrong here, because the focus on the foot that is moving is a little blurry, but I do like the picture.

LivinLOS · #9 16-03-2006, 09:08

Not boring at all..

I just got a new cam and last night we started to have an electrical storm... I was hopeing for one of those really electric tropic ones and got the cam out and tripod thing to see if I could get any long exposures to capture patong bay with lightning.. No sooner was I set up than the heavens opened and the lightning finished !!!

Got some underwater ones from my secret spot.. will upload later

steve@thaib · #10 16-03-2006, 16:09

Ha ha, you've got to be right-place-right-time for that sort of shot I think. You should get some at this time of year though I guess?

We have a big tide, fullish moon and a clearish night tonight, so I will try and get some good river pics. I love that night time stuff.

syeatman · #11 17-03-2006, 19:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

One more and I'll stop boring you. Again, the resolution for here could have been higher but I think the colours are great. I have a suspicion that I got a setting on the camera wrong here, because the focus on the foot that is moving is a little blurry, but I do like the picture.

The blur on the foot is due to motion not out of focus. What was the shutter speed when the pic was taken? If it was something like 1/30s then you will get this effect. you need to use a bigger aperture (smaller number) to let more light in, then the camera will give you a faster shutter speed and the pics will be so much sharper, and you can "stop" moving subjects

I like your night time shots, they have a good atmosphere to them. What would improve them would be using a tripod and using a long shutter speed. The pic I've attached had a 6 sec exposure, when I was there it was almost completely dark, but you can still get great pics if you have a tripod

Heywood · #12 17-03-2006, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by syeatman

The blur on the foot is due to motion not out of focus. What was the shutter speed when the pic was taken? If it was something like 1/30s then you will get this effect. you need to use a bigger aperture (smaller number) to let more light in, then the camera will give you a faster shutter speed and the pics will be so much sharper, and you can "stop" moving subjects

I like your night time shots, they have a good atmosphere to them. What would improve them would be using a tripod and using a long shutter speed. The pic I've attached had a 6 sec exposure, when I was there it was almost completely dark, but you can still get great pics if you have a tripod

I'll second that...another thing that I would suggest steve is taking the same shot multiple times with different settings, then when you sit down at the computer do a review of what setting were used..its a great way to get your feedback on what settings did what...using a tripod is great when doing this as you can keep the shot locked up.

As someone told me a long time ago when I started out wanting to take photos for a living, film is cheap...shoot shoot shoot...practice makes perfect.

Now of coarse memory is cheap and doing reviews is a snap...keep up the work...I'll start posting some stuff soon.

steve@thaib · #13 17-03-2006, 22:30

This is the info from the one with the blur that I was particularly interested in.

The night time shots were taken with a tripod and the exposure was 6 and 8 seconds for the different pics. I can see myself getting really interested in night pics, I like the atmosphere in them.

Nikon D70
2005/12/26 15:03:46.7
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: 878 x 1113
Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G
Focal Length: 60mm
Digital Vari-Program: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/100 sec - F/5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200

steve@thaib · #14 18-03-2006, 03:53

On the same subject, here are a couple more night shots. I like this one but could not really figure how to get rid of the 'camera shake'. Maybe you can adjust the self-timer down to like 1 or 2 seconds?

steve@thaib · #15 18-03-2006, 03:56

And one more with sharper focus because I could use the tripod and self-timer.

steve@thaib · #16 18-03-2006, 04:00

I did try multiple shots here, but the same effect happened in the moving ones each time. Of course, lurking around with a camera at night makes a bloke feel a bit conspicous so my time was limited too..

faultytowers · #17 18-03-2006, 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

Of course, lurking around with a camera at night makes a bloke feel a bit conspicous so my time was limited too..

Gives a whole new slant to the title of this thread................EXPOSURE !!!!

syeatman · #18 18-03-2006, 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

This is the info from the one with the blur that I was particularly interested in.

Nikon D70
2005/12/26 15:03:46.7
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: 878 x 1113
Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G
Focal Length: 60mm
Digital Vari-Program: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/100 sec - F/5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200

So you did have a large aperture for that shot. You could go lower but then you risk losing sharpness in your pic as lenses are not so sharp at the extremes of their apertures.

One other way to get a faster shutter speed would be to ramp up the ISO to say 400, this would effectively double the shutter speed giving you 1/200s for that particular pic and at that speed I think the motion would not be seen.

and of course you can use the flash, also giving you a faster shutter speed, although personally I've never quite got used to firing the flash in the middle of the day. It's one thing you see most semi/pro's always have even i nthe daytime.

I've just noticed that you are using the Auto mode too. I'd suggest using Aperture mode so you can control the aperture to get the required shutter speed.

syeatman · #19 18-03-2006, 16:13

Another way to improve your shots would be to do some post processing. Just by applying some sharpening to your original pic I think you get a considerable improvement. what do you think?

steve@thaib · #20 18-03-2006, 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by syeatman

Another way to improve your shots would be to do some post processing. Just by applying some sharpening to your original pic I think you get a considerable improvement. what do you think?

I'll try that, because I should still have the original.

The ISO number is something that I thought about so will give that a whirl. If I'm understanding this correctly, the higher the number the faster the 'film'? So if I'm shooting a moving subject I bump up the ISO?

I think my next thing to try will be the M A S & P modes, just to see if I can see the difference.

syeatman · #21 18-03-2006, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

I'll try that, because I should still have the original.

The ISO number is something that I thought about so will give that a whirl. If I'm understanding this correctly, the higher the number the faster the 'film'? So if I'm shooting a moving subject I bump up the ISO?

Basically yes, but you would normally adjust the aperture first, which is why I suggested to use A mode over Auto. Adjusting the aperture also has the effect of changing the depth of field in your shot, but that's something you'll notice more and more with experience.

The only issue you will have in ramping up the ISO is noise, which unfortunately the D70 is prone to more than say the equivalent Canon DSLR's. In daytime it is fairly safe to up the ISO but I wouldn't be going to far up from 400.

steve@thaib · #22 18-03-2006, 16:49

There are so many buttons and dials on this camera I fear it will be a long learning process, and some cok-ups along the way.

syeatman · #23 18-03-2006, 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

There are so many buttons and dials on this camera I fear it will be a long learning process, and some cok-ups along the way.

All part of the fun

It's surprising how quickly you'll be adjusting settings without having to look at the dials, and most of the time you only adjust one parameter at a time.