***DSLR Thread***

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Originally Posted by FlyBoeingJets

Just f'in around today:

That'd be a good stock photo. I might have to redo that one with the camera mounted on a tripod set to a lower ISO and have it on a background instead of just on the floor.

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I think the wood floor has a very "homey" feel that works well with the blocks, but I guess it never hurts to try it out :)

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I didn't realize how dirty my living room floor was. This photo is kind of strange, because it looks as if the tower tilts to the right. I swear I lined up the tower to the crop grid when I rotated it! I even tried it three times! I think the near-white highlight on the right side of the tower of blocks draws they eye and makes it appear tilted when it isn't.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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For me, it is the horizontal shelves, they look like the are sloping down on the left, which I am guessing might be due to not being perfectly parallel to the shelf unit when taking the shot. That or you have crooked shelving ;) I also really like the GCC0041, a very contemplative look. CGG0004, omg that is a cute cat, great shot, those Christmas lights really have a nice quality of light to them.

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Originally Posted by ValleyFan

I think the wood floor has a very "homey" feel that works well with the blocks, but I guess it never hurts to try it out :)

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Good point. Though I think I'll have to play with the yellow hues a bit.

That and clean the floor before I shoot it next time.

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Originally Posted by ValleyFan

For me, it is the horizontal shelves, they look like the are sloping down on the left, which I am guessing might be due to not being perfectly parallel to the shelf unit when taking the shot. That or you have crooked shelving ;)

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Another good point. Since the shelves are straight, it must be that I didn't have the camera's face parallel to the shelves. It's amazing how a relatively small oversight like that can make or break the image.

double post...sorry

Although I have not taken many pictures yet with the D300, I happened to be at TSC during a Kings practice. Unfortunately I only had my 50mm lens with me. I shot this picture though the glass. While nothing special, it gives you an idea of what the camera can do under the lights at TSC. This was shot at ISO 1000 at 1/800 sec., F2, recorded as a jpeg on "Norm" setting.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2103/...aeaa7d.jpg?v=0

Here is a full resolution crop of just the goalie's mask, to give you a better idea of the image quality.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2334/...18fd15.jpg?v=0

Wow, where you shooting custom white balance (like off a gray card) or did it white balance on its own? Looks great! Noise is fantastic as well for ISO 1000. Does this body also have some version of highlight priority? Did you get a chance to test that with the ice?

Very, very impressive image.

The white balance was set to Auto. I took about a dozen shots and some had a little bit of a pink cast due to the vapor lights. You can see it a little in the lower left corner of this one. Other areas of the ice are balanced correctly. The problem at TSC is that some lights are pink and others are not so you get spots on the ice that are pinker than others. Also the corner of the ice below the security booth is in shadow and about a half stop darker than the rest of the ice. Still this rink is way better than most. On the Olympic side they converted to fluorescent lights and the lighting seems very flat and not quite as bright. I have not tried shooting on that side yet since they changed.

When I shoot at TSC (my kid's hockey) I shoot manual and set the exposure off the gray brick wall and Stanley Cup poster. This gets me close. I also look at the histograms of my first couple shots. Sometimes I might also use a hand-held light meter if I have it with me and am close to the ice surface. The thing about hockey is there is so much white ice that auto exposure often makes everything gray.

I think the auto white balance on this camera does a great job. With my D200 it varied quite a bit. Sometimes I would balance off the ice and still get inconsistent results. I had a wedding photographer friend play with my D300 a bit and he too was very impressed with the white balance. The D300 focus accuracy on moving objects seems better too.

Last time I shot at TSC, I took a custom white balance setting off the ice itself. Worked pretty well.

Nice stuff, DF.

I need to work more so I can save faster.

So I took your advice and got the 580EXII and used it for the first time at the Derby Dolls chanpionship game. I was amazed at how much it evenly lit huge areas or even select parts of an area. Check out this page where they susd a few of the pics and look how well the flash lit things up.

http://www.losanjealous.com/2007/12/...factory-12807/

Thanks for the advice, I'm glad I got the right flash! In fact I used it for the Naked Raygun pics later in the night and it was perfect. The technology on these things has sure improved sinced back in the day.

Mike, those are some kick ass action pics, man!

Did you use a diffuser of any kind? If not, that'd be the only thing I could suggest that might make them look even better. Soften that light a little bit and cut down on the sharp shadows.

I lost the one that came with my SB800. I need to order a new one.

Hey, Rinkrat -

Without having to go through all of your DD pics, are these settings consistent with what you shot with all night?

http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=2099260679