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All points well taken! Excuse my oration directa, the idea that everyone here takes instant perfect photos without processing seems a bit far fetched? The attitude here seems to be,all photos must be just like the magazine, or online site "perfect",seems to be an unusual stance on photography? wouldnt it be odd if Cartier-Bresson turned out "winners" with every try? I am in no way ever comparing myself to what Mr.Cartier-Bresson earned!
Garza
I think you would find that any great photographer got the reputation as being great, not only by the great shots he took but by not showing everyone the bad ones.
As for focus, let me give you the benefit of the doubt. I would suggest setting it up on a tripod and checking the focus. I don
@ HDNitehawk, I tank you for your time, and ideas. as far as the sharpness foes, i shot manual mode almost always,so this may be the reason why my shots are uhh,not so sharp,and even blah at most times. I try to shot whatever,when ever possible. so far i have purchased the gray card so now im off to discover how to use it! it has the zone system of photography instructions, but yikes!
Originally Posted by GarzaCapitalist
I think I wouldn't be stepping too far out of my boots to say that most everyone here (if the circumstance allows the chance), takes countless frames, even a hundred frames to come up with a single image that they believe "lives up" to their current skills and vision. It just so happens that we only see that ONE image. It can sometimes be perceived that a photographer takes only "perfect" photos, but only because there were countless "failures" preceding it that we do not see.
Vice Versa, if we were to openly see all the countless "failures", that one perfect photo would just get lost in the midst of the rest. The impact lessens, and so does others perception of your "skills".
I'm not saying that we are all here to post images so we can build a reputation. But I think it's a general acknowledgement for photographers, that behind each final single image, we know there were time and effort put into it. No need to post the progress. It's heartening to see people whom are excited about improving their photography, but it would be too much for all of us to sort through each step of the way frame by frame.
If you can post just that single best image at the time for all of us to see, this community and it's experienced photographers can give you tips to make your best even better (provided it's in C&C [])
I think it's also self beneficial, because you'll have that bin of your bests, and as time progresses you'll be able to see for yourself how your "bests" have improved over time.
Kind of off subject from what I was just rambling about, but have you tried taking photos outside? All of your images so far that I've seen in multiple posts are all indoors and out of focus/motion blur. If you are shooting with f/1.4 and slow shutter speeds, I would suggest shooting outdoors with smaller aperture. Shooting indoors without a flash was a totally different animal for me. With wide open apertures, moving half an inch forward or back will create completely out of focus images, which I think is your current dilemma at the moment.
just for clarity, if that is possible from me, the above shots were hand held fully manual @ 1.4 at night in my home. they were posted as a humorous attempt on my part. ill post the specs when i can. thanks all.
Garza
Do you use auto focus?
I just remembered that I was one of your Flickr contacts. I hope you don't mind me posting the link to your page. After all Flickr is for sharing [
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55208635@N07/
I think you take fine photos outdoors with what you currently have. And I think we did get off track from your original inquiry.
Whether to upgrade to a 1Ds mkII or III from a 5D, I wouldn't think the benefit you are looking for would outweigh the cost of the tool.
Having multiple memory card slots can be beneficial. However, trying to utilized your current hundred dollar investment in multiple SD cards really wouldn't merit spending thousands more to use it.
More AF points - I used to have the 300D (very first rebel dslr from 2003), with only 7 points. I had to focus and compose sometimes because my point of interest was in the corners. But in my opinion having more AF points only really shines when you are tracking a fast moving subject using AI Servo. I have the 7D now and I'm helped a lot by having more AF points for Soccer game assignments. But other than that, I have never had trouble with having less AF points.
Faster AF - Like I said, you take fine photos outdoors. Indoors, it seems you are using slower shutter speed to compensate for the lack of light. But that can easily be remedied by buying an external flash ($500 investment tops). Having a faster AF would be meaningless without proper lighting. You can have perfect focus, but by the time you have proper exposure your subject would have moved too much for a sharp image.
All the cameras are great choices, and if you want the biggest and the best no one will argue against it. But since you mentioned that you are tight on budget, what I'm trying to say is that you already have an excellent gear. With more experience and tweaks from additional accessories (external flash). You'll realize you can take photos that will parallel images taken with the big boys [
Hey Americo,
I think there is some pretty good advice here so far. I would also encourage you to shoot outside in good light. I also think you should read the 5D manual if you havn't done so yet, or check out the 5D tutorial videos provided by Canon. Sometimes AF doesn't work well indoors in low light and in a mirror. You should shoot outside for now, and that includes outside of your car too,and then later you could add a flash. Also be aware , that it may require 1 second for the camera to acquire focus initially.
I would strongly suggest not using Manual Mode for now. You should try Program Mode outdoors just to see if everything is working properly then you can see what settings the camera picks, and make a mental note of that. Then after shooting in Program Mode for a while you should try AV Mode, where you select the Aperture and the camera picks the shutter-speed. If you want a deep DOF, use a narrow aperture, which is a larger number, f/8 is a good starting point, then try f/4, and f/2.8. Shoot the exact same thing but with different aperture values. Then look at the results on your monitor and see how the aperture affects the DOF. You also need to learn how to rotate a vertical picture on your monitor, so that we may see it rightside up, this can also be accomplished in camera, via a setting.
You should also set your ISO to Auto for now, and your white balance to Auto. If you want to experiment later, then you can choose the appropriate White Balance settings for certain conditions, like indoors, suuny, flash or flourescent. I wouldn't worry about the gray card and custom white balance for right now.
You need to familiarize yourself with the AF settings on your Camera, like One Shot and AI Servo. You need to understand how the camera picks an AF sensor point. I would recommend that you only stick to One Shot AF for now. You need to learn how to shoot with center AF point only, and you need to learn how to half press the shutter button until focus is achieved and then reframe your subject for proper composition and then press the shutter button the rest of the way to snap the picture.
Until you can grasp these concepts, I wouldn't recommend that you buy any other equipment.
www.usa.canon.com/.../controller
I hope this will help you get started.
Rich
Right back at ya!!! [6]
I´m about to send these to Canonrumors and say that I´ve laid hands on the new 2D. I´m sure they will go nuts about it!! Between you and me, it´s actually just a 5D in a mirror, but shhhhh [:#]
Kidding aside these photos are taken with the same settings as yours, apart from the ISO. As you can see, my photos aren´t sharp either...and I havepretty steady hands. Also the f1.4 is already very shallow and focusing onto a mirror seems to be an even bigger problem for the camera so it´s out of focus as well.
That´s a hard question. Now that I have also seen some outdoor shots from you (thanks Takahiro [A]) I know that your camera and lens are capable of delivering. And judging on those indoor photos with settings that influence the result in so many ways is simple not doable. So before we can answer that question, we need somewhat more controlled shots. (Tri-pod etc...)
Yes you should. I'm convinced that you should be able to take great shots with the equipment you have right now(given that your camera is alright). Don't waste your money on buying and selling.
As others also mentioned, you might like the photos that I post, but you have to keep in mind that I only show photos that I'm really convinced off. Aka my "best". That could mean that you're only seeing 1/100 photos that I make [A] I bet that you'd be shocked on how terrible the worst shot of a famous photographer could be. I'm convinced it's just as bad as ours [
Anyway don't be intimidated too much by all the beautiful photos here. You could do the same with some practise.
About the post-processing: you got DPP with your camera? It's actually very capable of doing the things you need. I'm using Lightroom 99% of the time and I could actually do the same with DPP if I wanted.
It will improve your colors, but it will not improve the technical aspects like sharpnessof your photos.
There's a good point. If you use MF, and you use the original viewfinder glass you cannot make an accurate MF. So there might be some of your out of focus problems. When I do MF on f1.4 for example, the image is always focused bad. If I remember correctly, somebody ones said here that you can judge focus on the eye with the normal focusing glass from f2.8 and shallower. If you go wider than that, you cannot get accurate MF.
Good luck improving. Don't stress too much if it doesn't work out right away. I have had weeks where I didn't like any of the photos I took [A]
Plus: go outside and play with apertures from f2.8 and shallower and see if sharpness improves. Watch your shutter speed though! Try using AF, I'm interested to see if your camera is bad, or it is because of other factors. And yes, sometimes soft photos/imperfect technical photos can be good, but there has to be a really creative detail in a shot to make it great. 9/10 times a sharp photo is the most appealing.
I know you can! Good luck []
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