Dione Learning Path Pics 1.
Nov 21, 2018 18:05:22 #
Posted in response to requests under D7200 Learning Path topic in main discussion. All ideas to improve (bearing in mind super-limited PP ability right now (see above thread) much appreciated.
Thanks to all, Dione.
Thanks to all, Dione.
1. Kyushu, Japan. Love shooting flowers.
(Download)
2. Kitoi Bay, Shuyak Island, Alaska. Love shooting reflections.
(Download)
3. Iki Shima, Japan. Love shooting wildlife.
(Download)
4. Unalaska Island, Aleutians. Love shooting birds, dang hard though.
(Download)
5. Kodiak Island, Alaska. Love shooting mum & kids!
(Download)
6. Shodoshima, wild, Japan. Did I mention love shooting mum & the kids?!
(Download)
7. Kenai Peninsular, AK
(Download)
8. Back Street Boys! Shuyak Is, Alaska
(Download)
(Download)
10. July 4th Parade 2018, Unalaska. LOVE shooting people!
(Download)
Nov 21, 2018 18:24:33 #
dione961 wrote:
Posted in response to requests under D7200 Learning Path topic in main discussion. All ideas to improve (bearing in mind super-limited PP ability right now (see above thread) much appreciated.
Thanks to all, Dione.
Thanks to all, Dione.
Very nice series, Dione
Nov 21, 2018 22:01:43 #
Nov 22, 2018 09:00:49 #
These are terrific, Dione! You have a great eye for interesting and engaging subjects and compositions. With the exception of #1, all seem to have spot-on exposure to me.
UHH's download option isn't working at the moment. From the thumbnails it appears the eagle and bears may be slightly out of focus or there was motion blur from slow shutter speed. For moving subjects, I would use shutter priority or manual mode with auto ISO. The reason for auto ISO is in case the critters move into different lighting faster than I can change the settings. See this note by pro Steve Perry: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-517754-2.html#8771285
Photo #1: harsh, bright and direct light make it challenging to capture details in a white subject. Under-exposing from what the camera's meter suggested is the most direct and easy way to deal with. For any extreme lighting situation, and particularly when shooting jpg and doing minimal to no processing, always try to take more than one exposure.
If you are in aperture or shutter priority, use EC (exposure compensation) to make the image darker. In those modes you need to be familiar with what setting is being automatically adjusted. In aperture priority, you wouldn't want your shutter speed to drop to where you can't hand hold without movement. And in shutter priority, you may want more depth of field than occurs with an adjusted aperture.
What I suggest for shots where you have time is to use manual and prioritize your settings. For flowers, my most important selection would be aperture to control depth of field. So I set that first. Then, if there is no breeze and back in the day when I was "steadier" and if I was using a fairly short lens, I could probably get away with a shutter speed of 1/125 second. However, since there is plenty of light for this scene, I instead would set my ISO as step #2 - probably at ISO 100 or 200, depending on my lens.
Now that I have the two most important settings dialed in, I just need to choose a shutter speed that achieves the overall exposure I want. I might meter the entire scene to get an average exposure, and take one shot with that. Then, I would try to meter on just the brightest white and take another shot with the shutter speed set appropriately (it will be faster, producing a darker image). And I would probably take one more even-darker exposure since digital film is cheap
Note that I am only changing shutter speed. And I am only doing that to make the image darker. If I wanted to do a series with varying depth of field, then I would do a sequence with different apertures while keeping shutter speed and ISO unchanged. In all cases, I change only one setting per "series" and I do it methodically. There are reasons behind the decisions; nothing is random.
Please be sure to let me know if I've confused rather than aided!
UHH's download option isn't working at the moment. From the thumbnails it appears the eagle and bears may be slightly out of focus or there was motion blur from slow shutter speed. For moving subjects, I would use shutter priority or manual mode with auto ISO. The reason for auto ISO is in case the critters move into different lighting faster than I can change the settings. See this note by pro Steve Perry: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-517754-2.html#8771285
Photo #1: harsh, bright and direct light make it challenging to capture details in a white subject. Under-exposing from what the camera's meter suggested is the most direct and easy way to deal with. For any extreme lighting situation, and particularly when shooting jpg and doing minimal to no processing, always try to take more than one exposure.
If you are in aperture or shutter priority, use EC (exposure compensation) to make the image darker. In those modes you need to be familiar with what setting is being automatically adjusted. In aperture priority, you wouldn't want your shutter speed to drop to where you can't hand hold without movement. And in shutter priority, you may want more depth of field than occurs with an adjusted aperture.
What I suggest for shots where you have time is to use manual and prioritize your settings. For flowers, my most important selection would be aperture to control depth of field. So I set that first. Then, if there is no breeze and back in the day when I was "steadier" and if I was using a fairly short lens, I could probably get away with a shutter speed of 1/125 second. However, since there is plenty of light for this scene, I instead would set my ISO as step #2 - probably at ISO 100 or 200, depending on my lens.
Now that I have the two most important settings dialed in, I just need to choose a shutter speed that achieves the overall exposure I want. I might meter the entire scene to get an average exposure, and take one shot with that. Then, I would try to meter on just the brightest white and take another shot with the shutter speed set appropriately (it will be faster, producing a darker image). And I would probably take one more even-darker exposure since digital film is cheap
Note that I am only changing shutter speed. And I am only doing that to make the image darker. If I wanted to do a series with varying depth of field, then I would do a sequence with different apertures while keeping shutter speed and ISO unchanged. In all cases, I change only one setting per "series" and I do it methodically. There are reasons behind the decisions; nothing is random.
Please be sure to let me know if I've confused rather than aided!
Nov 22, 2018 11:34:20 #
WARNING! Brain cramp! When I said, "If I wanted to do a series with varying depth of field, then I would do a sequence with different apertures while keeping shutter speed and ISO unchanged..." I didn't mean it 
If I change aperture without changing anything else, my exposures will vary.
With your white flower I was addressing a tricky exposure issue: a wide difference between brightest and darkest areas of the frame. In flat light, with no requirement for exposure compensation, if I want to experiment with varying depths of field, I would just use aperture priority.
As I increase or decrease the f/stop, the camera will maintain the optimal* exposure by changing the shutter speed (some cameras will change both shutter speed and ISO). As always, you just have to keep an eye on what the camera is doing so that your shutter speed doesn't go too low - which might cause motion blur if you're hand holding or the conditions are windy - or your ISO goes so high that image quality suffers.**
*Optimal in this case means not too dark and not too light. Creative exposure requires taking full control of your camera.
**When the camera can't achieve what you want with a single exposure, there are other means: bracketing for HDR, focus-stacking, neutral density and graduated neutral density filters, etc.
If I change aperture without changing anything else, my exposures will vary.With your white flower I was addressing a tricky exposure issue: a wide difference between brightest and darkest areas of the frame. In flat light, with no requirement for exposure compensation, if I want to experiment with varying depths of field, I would just use aperture priority.
As I increase or decrease the f/stop, the camera will maintain the optimal* exposure by changing the shutter speed (some cameras will change both shutter speed and ISO). As always, you just have to keep an eye on what the camera is doing so that your shutter speed doesn't go too low - which might cause motion blur if you're hand holding or the conditions are windy - or your ISO goes so high that image quality suffers.**
*Optimal in this case means not too dark and not too light. Creative exposure requires taking full control of your camera.
**When the camera can't achieve what you want with a single exposure, there are other means: bracketing for HDR, focus-stacking, neutral density and graduated neutral density filters, etc.
Nov 22, 2018 14:43:40 #
Hey Linda- I understand your DOF comment and the correction. You brain is working just fine! Your pedagogical (teaching) skill are way up there! Beleive me- I sometimes do things instinctively from long experience or old habits but when it comes to writing stuff down, I think I need a refresher course in technical writing!
Dione- Your images are great and have good potential- you are moving in the right direction. Sometimes we all get so hung up in technique that we don't talk enough about STORY TELLING with out pictures. You have selected interesting subjects and each one of your images tells a story. Sometimes we should all take out some time to think about why we make photographs and why folks like to look at photographs. When we make images we are communicating aspects of ourselves, our interests and things we care about. The viewers of our images relate to those things.I have sad this many times- like the proverbial broken record (scratched CD)- I can teach technique, nuts and bolts and methodology but I can't TEACH imagination, creativity, hard work ethic and sticktoitiveness- I can only encourage those attributes.
So...keep doing what you are doing and incrementally work on your technical savvy. As you go along you will begin to digest more knowledge and know-how. While you are mastering your camera you shoud begin to research the editing and post-processing aspects of digital work. I am not talking about massive reconstruction of you images- just tweaking the information that may be hidden in your original files- just to give you a few suggestions.. With you permission, I will do a few of my "quick and dirty" edits on some of you images- there is data there that you may not be aware of and there are a few tweaks that will bring up the composition. Let me know!
Are we having fun yet!
Dione- Your images are great and have good potential- you are moving in the right direction. Sometimes we all get so hung up in technique that we don't talk enough about STORY TELLING with out pictures. You have selected interesting subjects and each one of your images tells a story. Sometimes we should all take out some time to think about why we make photographs and why folks like to look at photographs. When we make images we are communicating aspects of ourselves, our interests and things we care about. The viewers of our images relate to those things.I have sad this many times- like the proverbial broken record (scratched CD)- I can teach technique, nuts and bolts and methodology but I can't TEACH imagination, creativity, hard work ethic and sticktoitiveness- I can only encourage those attributes.
So...keep doing what you are doing and incrementally work on your technical savvy. As you go along you will begin to digest more knowledge and know-how. While you are mastering your camera you shoud begin to research the editing and post-processing aspects of digital work. I am not talking about massive reconstruction of you images- just tweaking the information that may be hidden in your original files- just to give you a few suggestions.. With you permission, I will do a few of my "quick and dirty" edits on some of you images- there is data there that you may not be aware of and there are a few tweaks that will bring up the composition. Let me know!
Are we having fun yet!
Nov 22, 2018 17:13:10 #
Wow = you guys are whizzes! Thank you so much for your wonderful input. These are all taken on Auto so I can't take any credit for the exposure. My quest I guess, no, definitely, is to be able to set the camera myself & shoot these & other things I love with great exposure. I posted these pics because they don't look as clear as I expected, especially the bears (though, taken at long way off on full zoom as well, and no tripod on any shot). Wildlife is not usually posing for you, so like you said Linda, faster shutter speed. Other things I love to shoot, that I didn't post, seem better focussed or clearer (maybe because they don't move!) - bridges (I love the adventure and mystery of bridges); shrines & temples, again, full of mystery and meaning; interesting structures or parts of structures (like intricate iron fixings on an ancient temple gate - just wonderful); or things at unusual angles; and the reflections you can often see in a water droplet, boy are they ever hard to capture. There is a lot to work through here. SO much to do!! My mantra right now though is "getting the settings" - one stop, one function at a time. I'm happy for you to tweak the pics, but I probably won't understand anything you'll do to then other than appreciate the improvements, as I have no PP set up yet. Thanks again and have a wonderful thanksgiving.
Nov 22, 2018 19:42:48 #
Nov 22, 2018 19:52:06 #
E.L.. Shapiro wrote:
Your first full page spread in a magazine!
Nov 23, 2018 14:36:49 #
I am thankful during this season to be on a forum with such giving people, Dione, aren't you?
Nov 23, 2018 17:41:58 #
I'm more than thankful - blessed really - like my whole life. I don't know what to say about that collage - images that were just OK enough to not be deleted outright (98% of all I shoot goes in the bin) now look incredible. I have no clue a. how you do that; and b. how you know WHAT to do. The colours are so intense & I love the arrangement. Many thanks! I guess I'll have to factor in PP now as well learning photography & the camera. Maybe I should start shooting in RAW + JPEG so I can at least keep NEF originals & make copies to learn on. Cannot afford Photoshop though, and cannot do online things - limited internet now & none on the boat once we head off again. I'm guessing licensing prevents purchasing someone's older version of Photoshop. Any other options?
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