Suggestions Needed For Beginner For Better Photos

[lcnewkirk]

Lewis, what do you mean? I don't see movement in her pictures so in my opinion the shuttertimes are good. Perhaps the 2nd one is motionblurred. The rest is tacksharp.

Well, Denise mentioned that she doesn't like the sharpness of the photos. The first one is just a bit soft, and the second and fourth are softer. I'm not experienced enough to know if the issue is motion or focus, but I think that those three lack sharpness.

Rule of thumb with film was 1/focal length if I'm not mistaken


So minimum would be around 1/640th?

Yes, but a lot of people recommend 1/2xfocal length, especially with a 1.6 crop. I kind of averaged the two. Guess I should have mentioned that. I was also thinking the 300/4 had a 3 stop IS... but I didn't look it up.


Without EXIF data, and knowing that Denise is new to SLR photography and therefore also probably new to telephoto lenses, I assumed that shutter speeds and photographer motion were a cause of her not liking the photos, because those are the reasons my first telephoto photos were no good.


Lewis

[Sheiky]

Alright I understand what you mean Lewis, thanks []





As far as I can see the first picture looks like a pretty high iso picture, maybe that explains the softness. Second picture I'm not sure about. Fourth picture looks out of focus to me. But yes some info on those pictures would help out Denise [:P]


Anyway as everyone notices and agrees upon: the cause of your "stinky" photos is definitely not you! Hope that cheers you up a little!

[Jordan]

Your shots certainly aren't bad for starting out. Just try and get the focus better (focus is everything) and get creative with your compositions. Also, the comment about waiting for the right time of day is a good tip! That will improve your lighting, perhaps the birds will be more active.... and making a perch is a good idea too! bburns knows all about that!


That first image I really quite like... only problem is it's a bit noisy. I don't know about others, but I use Imagenomic's NoiseWare plug-in for Photoshop (it's about $45) and it comes in PS plug-in or stand-alone app, for both Mac & PC. Keep it up, you're doing well! I have a long ways to go myself, but I think my photos aren't too bad and I knew practically NOTHING when I bought my first camera (XSi & kit lens with zoom kit) in Sept 2008. That's not that long ago!





- Jordan


www.freshphotohawaii.com

[Sheiky]

Jordan a quick question of the record: does your noise software work in PS 64bit? I use noiseninja, but it only works in 32 bit. I would love to have one in 64bit.

[ddt0725]

Thank you to everyone for your very encouaging words []! All of your recommendations and advice are greatly appreciated! I will definitely try to set out earlier in the morning or later in the day ...if we can ever get a day of some sunshine on the weekend and I am starting to see a tripod in my very near future...once I figure out which one and what attachments I need to go along with it!

Spring is NOT going to come quick enough for me, that's for sure! In the meantime I will continue to practice, practice and practice some more!


I think more than anything my post processing hurt the squirrel pic more than it helped. I took all of the pictures in the AV mode at 5.6 and my ISO was at 200. I know I have a great deal to learn still about what settings to use when and I am thinking of purchasing the book Exposure - Digital Field Guide by Alan Hess from Amazon. Hopefully, that will help also.


Again thank you soooo much for taking out the time to help me out on this!

Denise

[Sheiky]

Hihi I can't wait till spring either. Am focussing on my gear at the moment, so I'm prepared for spring, summer and autumn [] Reading books never hurt anyone, so yes give it a try. You'll probably learn from it. Until then good luck and we'll hope to see some amazing picture from you later on this year []

[blypix]

Just FYI, IS will not stop motion. So if you need at least 1/640th shutter speed but your subject is moving, you cannot use IS to go lower than that and expect it to stop the motion blur. The IS is only useful for stationary subjects but even then you need to get 2-3 shots just to make sure you get at least 1 sharp frame.

[BuddyO]

Just out of curiosity Daniel, how does using the AF-ON button differ from half depressing the shutter button?

It prevents the camera from autofocusing when you didn't want it to. I find that the increased flexibility makes it easier for me to achieve the critical timing necessary for fast paced wildlife photography. For example, I can take a shot, wait a half second, then take another shot, all without performing any autofocus (which might focus on the wrong thing or take too long). When the autofocus is integrated with shutter release, there is no way to snap the shot without engaging autofocus. (Which is fine if you want to autofocus every time, but many times I don't, and autofocusing again would slow me down.)
<p style="CLEAR: both"]

So just to be clear, do you press and release the AF-ON button, then the shutter button or do you have to hold the AF-ON while pressing the shutter button, since pressing the shutter activates the auto-focus.

[Daniel Browning]

So just to be clear, do you press and release the AF-ON button, then the shutter button

Press and release, though you can hold it down if you want to (e.g. for continuous AI servo). Either way you can snap the shutter at any time, with or without autofocus.

or do you have to hold the AF-ON while pressing the shutter button,
since pressing the shutter activates the auto-focus.

I transfer autofocus to the AF-ON button so the shutter button does not activate auto-focus.

[BuddyO]

So just to be clear, do you press and release the AF-ON button, then the shutter button

Press and release, though you can hold it down if you want to (e.g. for continuous AI servo). Either way you can snap the shutter at any time, with or without autofocus.

or do you have to hold the AF-ON while pressing the shutter button, since pressing the shutter activates the auto-focus.

I transfer autofocus to the AF-ON button so the shutter button does not activate auto-focus.
<div style="CLEAR: both"]</div>

I see, thanks for the explanation, Daniel.


The Canon site has a good explanation of the custom function settings for this button as the in camera setting descriptions can be a bit confusing.


http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&amp;articleID=2286