Use aperture prority. If you want the pix sharp make sure you have a good enough shutter speed with an aperture of at least F:8 especially if youre using a long lens as depth of field is shallow. If youre using your 300 shoot at no less than 300th. If you want the background totally out of focus then use the long lens. If you want background detail use a wider lens. Darker shinned people can be tricky depending on the light. At least if you get the skin colour exposed right at least you can do something in photoshop if you have it to work on other parts of the photo. Depending on lighting situations but use a bit of fill in in flash to give a hint of light to the eyes etc. You dont need the 85mm or even the 20-200 2.8 which is great and I have this lens but youre not gonna shoot at wide open. You need depth of field with portraits especially with a long lens. use the 75-300 at F8

Unfortunetely I dont think you will get a consumer compact that doesnt have a certain amount of lag. I have dslr cameras plus a canon G10 which does have lag and yeah you miss the shot unless its a stationary shot. Manufacturers need to work on this...

The shadows on the sides of your nose in the middle are not flattering you could dodge these areas in photoshop or what have you. But nice shot all the same.

The shadows on the sides of your nose in the middle are not flattering you could dodge these areas in photoshop or what have you. But nice shot all the same.

Lucky person to be living so near a photographers paradise.

It dont make no never mind if you shoot raw or Jpeg it depends on what you want to do with the image. If you want complete control over the manipulation of the photo then shoot in raw but if you just want to be able to do a bit of basic manipulation then jpeg is fine

Even though the camera was on a tripod with a shutter speed of 20th will render camera shake with the release of the shutter button. generally speaking if you want sharp as shots with a lens this size you need a shutter speed of 500th unless you have a remote shutter release and the subject is stationary not a moving subject like the bird and of course if there is no breeze. Turn up the iso it's better to have a bit of noise than soft images

Take the lens back and get the canon. And then give the salesman a headbut..

Hi if youre shooting sporting events or any moving subjects a compact type camera is no good as the shutter release is not instant but has a lag in its release resulting in loosing the moment of the shot. A DSLR is really the only way to go. Even if its one of the cheaper models of Canon or Nikon etc but the most important thing is get a good lens. If you have a tight budget then something like a 55-200 or even 28-200 lens which covers most shooting moments without having to put on another lens.. But spend as much as you can on the lens because an inferior lens leads to inferior photos. A good lens on an inferior camera is better than an inferior lens on a good camera..

Perhaps a hair light would have helped from the left side with a snoot and some fill in flash on the left side of the face its a little dark. What lighting are you using? natural or strobe? the light source could have been more like 45 degrees so it wouldnt cast too much shadow and if youre scared of throwing light on the background and lighting it too much you can make it black again by burning it in if youve got a reasonable manipulating software. Sharpening can also give it a bit of punch. If you only have one light source a sheet of something white can be used for fill.

Looks like I wont need to with all the gurus that have already manipulated it..

If you want to send it to me i will do my best to fix it for you. The low lights need to be adjusted without adjusting the rest of the pic my e-mail is gregkingston@ihug.co.nz

I was travelling with a friend up a mountain pass somewhere in California {Im from New Zealand} I think it was heading up to lake silver, when I spotted a deer basking in the sun down a narrow track and the snow was all around with trees either side and it was the most amazing shot I had ever seen and my friend wouldnt stop as he said he cant stop here or someone could crash into him I said just drop me off and pick me up later pleeeeease!! I thought about that shot I missed and how much money I could have made from it.. Oh well