Digital SLR / DSLR Camera Question / DSLR Thread 2

[wannabe]

Depends on who is using the camera. If the wife uses it, it stays in P, if I am using it I will use it in either P, Tv, or Av. I've been playing around with it quite a bit, but it's hard for me to see what the actual image looks like when I'm actually out in the sun taking them.

See, that's the thing about taking pictures outside. It's really hard to make pictures look good in the harsh mid-day sun. There are just way too many variables to work with to give you proper advice on how to set your camera for it. The sun is rarely evenly lighting everything in your picture. So, you can easily get to the point where some things are set up right and the rest is totally blown out.

That's why they typically recommend shooting in the shade if at all possible if you're going to shoot outside.

But, since you say that EVERYTHING is blown out, try just bringing the exposure down a stop or two to see if that will help. You could add a flash or two to fill in shadows or do a cool cross-lighting thing (if you want to start with the off-camera flash.)

For now, I recommend finding a shady spot under a tree or something if you want to take pics in the middle of the day.

 

[Baptistro]

Well, I do sorta need to stop motion, as little kids never stay still. I am looking to "capture" moments, and I much prefer taking candid shots. I'm probably going to be attending a lot of summer BBQ's in the next couple of months, and I'm not going to be able to really control my shooting environment. What are some things I should keep in mind?

Some of the things you have recommended:

If possible, shoot in the shade.
Use flash to fill shadows if able.
Stop the exposure down a little and play with a smaller aperture if it is getting washed out.
The brighter it is the lower the ISO (100-200), may need to change ISO depending on the amount of sunlight in the composition.
Shoot in Av between 4.0-11 and let the camera set the shutter speed.

For capturing moving people, isn't it better to shoot more open with a faster shutter speed to catch motion better?

 

[wannabe]

Well, I do sorta need to stop motion, as little kids never stay still. I am looking to "capture" moments, and I much prefer taking candid shots. I'm probably going to be attending a lot of summer BBQ's in the next couple of months, and I'm not going to be able to really control my shooting environment. What are some things I should keep in mind?

If possible, shoot in the shade.
Use flash to fill shadows if able.
Stop the exposure down a little and play with a smaller aperture if it is getting washed out.
The brighter it is the lower the ISO (100-200), may need to change ISO depending on the amount of sunlight in the composition.
Shoot in Av between 4.0-11 and let the camera set the shutter speed.

No, I always shoot in the lowest possible ISO. I have rarely needed more than 100 ISO on a sunny day. You don't change the ISO to adjust for the sun. You change the ISO to help get the shutter setting that you want.

Let's say for instance that you are shooting action shots, and you want to stop the motion. So, you may eventually find that you need at least a 1/200th exposure to stop the motion properly. If you shoot in AV mode, the camera may give you a slower shutter speed for the given light conditions at ISO100. That would be when you bump it up to ISO200.

I hope this helps.

 

[DOMS]

Well, I do sorta need to stop motion, as little kids never stay still. I am looking to "capture" moments, and I much prefer taking candid shots. I'm probably going to be attending a lot of summer BBQ's in the next couple of months, and I'm not going to be able to really control my shooting environment. What are some things I should keep in mind?

Some of the things you have recommended:

If possible, shoot in the shade.
Use flash to fill shadows if able.
Stop the exposure down a little and play with a smaller aperture if it is getting washed out.
The brighter it is the lower the ISO (100-200), may need to change ISO depending on the amount of sunlight in the composition.
Shoot in Av between 4.0-11 and let the camera set the shutter speed.

For capturing moving people, isn't it better to shoot more open with a faster shutter speed to catch motion better?

I've noticed that with my Xti, changing the contrast and saturation levels for the picture styles make a decent difference. But it sounds like exposure might be the issue too. Samples of said problem?

 

[Baptistro]

I've noticed that with my Xti, changing the contrast and saturation levels for the picture styles make a decent difference. But it sounds like exposure might be the issue too. Samples of said problem?

A lot came out like this:

Others were better and were more like this:

Here's a situation where some flash would have come in handy:

 

[wannabe]

A lot came out like this:

Others were better and were more like this:

How do you have your metering set on your camera? In other words, how are you telling the camera to set up the exposure? Spot, evaluative, etc?

In the first one, you have the sun above and a bit behind your subject. This will usually result in him being underexposed if your camera set up the lighting for the ambient. Based on this, I'm guessing that your camera is set up for spot metering. So, it sets up the lighting for whatever is in the spot in the middle of the camera. It did that. The guy is roughly exposed correctly, but the ambient is blown out.

To fix that, you would have to either turned him around and put the sun in front of him or expose for the ambient and use the flash to fill in the big shadow that the guy would have been.

 

[Baptistro]

You may be right, I have been playing with that as well, but admittedly, my experiments have not been very scientific. I'll check when I get home and get back to you. Would evaluative metering produce better results in a situation where I may be moving around quite a bit and not have the ability to set up shots?

 

[wannabe]

by the way, even for experienced photographers, it's tough to get good pictures in the middle of the day (like you had it) without using a flash. I usually try not to take pics in the middle of the day, but if I'm forced to, I ALWAYS bring at least one flash with me.

I took this pic in the middle of the day at my friend's party a couple weeks ago. The sun was behind them and I was able to do a little bit of cross lighting. I got to use the sun as some rim lighting and I used the flash as the main light to fill in shadows.

Everyone was looking at me funny wondering why I was taking pics with the sun behind the subjects.

 

[BrassPremier]

if you want to really get a handle on how your camera works, try shooting in manual mode. if you shoot in manual, you'll get consistent exposures as long as you stay in the same lighting. overexposed? make the shutter a little faster, lower iso, or use smaller aperture. do the opposite if the picture is underexposed. if the exposure is correct, but you want a faster shutter to stop motion, widen your aperture to, say, 2.8 if you're using that new lens of yours. that will let you be able to increase your shutter speed without raising your iso (iso is the last thing you want to raise if you can help it, higher iso creates noise in the image which makes it look cruddy)

 

[wannabe]

You may be right, I have been playing with that as well, but admittedly, my experiments have not been very scientific. I'll check when I get home and get back to you. Would evaluative metering produce better results in a situation where I may be moving around quite a bit and not have the ability to set up shots?

Sorry, I forgot to answer this one. Evaluative metering would still just be the camera's best guess at the exposure settings. There's nothing that the camera could have done to fix the first picture. In that position with the sun where it is, the only way to get a good shot is to use a flash.

I have this discussion all the time with my buddy who says that he is a 'natural light' photographer. I'm on the other end. I believe that if you want to most flexibility to get good shots, you need to use a flash otherwise you are stuck waiting for the light to be perfect in order to get your shot. I call myself an 'available light' photographer. If the flash is in my bag, it's available, and I'll use it.

But, just like the rest of the camera, there is another learning curve that you have to go through to learn how to properly use the flash.


edit: sorry if this was long. Being in your situation where I kept missing good shots of friends is the main reason why I bought my EX430 in the first place. From there, I just dove in and started using it more and more as I realized how much I was limiting myself by not using flash. Nowadays, I spend more on lights and light modifiers than I do on lenses and camera bodies.

 

[Cycle61]

Anyone have any tips on shooting in extremely bright sunlight? My pics keep coming out washed out. I have no hoods on any of my lenses right now, would those help? Filters? Lower the ISO? Increase shutter speed way way up? Use a flash?

Everybody else has given you very good answers here, but I'll add one thing.

USE YOUR LENS HOOD. ALWAYS.

And if you're using a UV filter, take it off and put it away. All it's doing is adding glare and a layer of cheap glass in front of your expensive lens.

 

[DOMS]

I agree with wannabe and cycle61 (even though i dont have a lens hood, i stopped using UF filters )

In regards to takings pics in the middle of a sunny day, i've done it several times, and took a while to get them right, specially since i dont have a flash and very limited gear. I guess im in the camp that tries to maximize what i have and adapt the settings to help. I like taking pics during events, and due to the randomness on people i try to average out the light and darkness in my exposures rather than miss the shot

 

[Ritz]

Everybody else has given you very good answers here, but I'll add one thing.

USE YOUR LENS HOOD. ALWAYS.

And if you're using a UV filter, take it off and put it away. All it's doing is adding glare and a layer of cheap glass in front of your expensive lens.

I believe it depends on the quality and brand of a UV filter that will add glare to your photos. Personally, I wouldn't risk any of my lenses unprotected while I'm exploring the good 'ol out doors(of course there are exceptions). UV filters(B+W) are a relatively cheap investment on a $1,000+ lens. Having a UV filter should be the least of your worries. I'm sure there are more dirty sensors that are causing eye sores than guys with cheap UVs with severely reduce image quality.


As for the hood, it never comes off.

 

[BrassPremier]

using cheap UV filters definitely can hinder your pictures, found that out pretty quickly when i got my first. would make ghosts when there were light sources in the picture. i bet if you bought some nicer UV filters you wouldnt have the same problem... i usually keep my hoods on though to protect lens from bumping into stuff

 

[Baptistro]

Well, the lens that is on its way will be the first that came with a hood, so I plan on using that.

I have the following other lenses:

EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
EF 50mm f/1.8 II

Which lenses should I have hoods on? All of them?

 

[BrassPremier]

I have a hood for my 50mm 1.8, but i never use it. I use the hoods on all my other lenses though. I really only use my hoods to help protect the lens in case it bumps something, but it also does help with reducing glare from light sources outside of the frame.

So, which of your lenses do you want to protect and reduce glare with?

 

[Baptistro]

I have a hood for my 50mm 1.8, but i never use it. I use the hoods on all my other lenses though. I really only use my hoods to help protect the lens in case it bumps something, but it also does help with reducing glare from light sources outside of the frame.

So, which of your lenses do you want to protect and reduce glare with?

I guess I'll just get one for my 28-135

 

[Cycle61]

Sad, but necessary.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pho/1239333864.html

I'm still allowed to post here, right?

 

[Baptistro]

Sorry to see that Nick. Best of luck to you, and of course, you are more than welcome to post here.

 

[BrassPremier]

damn dude, didn't realize the circumstances as to why you have to sell... sorry man. good luck with the sale. i'd love to get a d700 someday, cant afford it at the moment though