***DSLR/Photography MegaThread***
- Thread starter nocturn
- Start date
Yeah it was set in TTL and as the master. I think that I'm just asking too much of it. In fact, the incessant beeping and the -3 EV that's displayed on the flash after I shoot is telling me that very thing.
From what I've read (and been told at Nikonians), direct illumination wouldn't have been a problem at f/8 and ISO 200, but asking it to bounce off the ceiling (and therefore asking it to illuminate the whole room rather than just the subjects I'm photographing) is just asking it for more power than it can put out.
Looking back on the images I shot last night at f/2.8, I thought I'd focused on my wife's eyes. But when I got into the picture next to her, it moved her just enough to the right so that the focus point I'd chosen in the viewfinder was now on the Christmas tree behind us. The tree is in perfect focus, of course. My wife and I are slightly soft, and my little girl is noticeably out-of-focus.
And here, when I looked last night, I thought it was a too-shallow DOF thing when instead it was an operator-error thing. Had the focus point stayed on my wife, I think we all would have been tolerably sharp in the captures.
I'm not a portrait guy to begin with, but I'm learning more every time I try it.
I really do think I need a second (and perhaps a third) SB-800 and some umbrellas. Or maybe just an inexpensive studio kit.
T
trdi
Lurker
You trying to illuminate too much with your flash was one of the first things I thought of. But somehow I thought you might get offended, if I asked you about it, since it's so trivial.
I found deciding between getting more flashguns (like the SB-800 or the 580EX) and getting studio flashes was a tough one. I think it comes down to what you imagine yourself doing with them. The nice thing about the flashgun set up is that it is more of a "oh I was walking around and I found a setup that I thought would look good with a bit more light" as you can always carry them with you and they are battery powered. They also have the advantage if you are using in the case of Nikon their wireless i-TTL of being relatively smart, in that you set you exposure, and you can set group A to be a -1 stop, group B to be -2 stops, regardless of what the exposure ends up being, the camera figures it all out. If you are willing to go manual with them, and go off brand, you can add flashguns super cheap, as in $80 a head (for a Vivitar), which makes it very accessible.
With the studio strobes, it is much more, "OK, I know I want to shoot a portrait today, and I know where it is going to be and what it is going to be." There isn't the freedom that you have with the flashguns, as you need AC power (they can be mobile however with a battery pack and inverter, and they work very well). They are also going to be full manual, and the highest sync speed you are going to be able to get with them is probably 1/120th to 1/160th (remember that the flash duration is around 1/10,000, so even though the shutter is open for a while, with such a short flash burst, there isn't much motion blur, where it is a problem is if you are trying to use it as a fill light on a bright sunny day for action shots) but their greatest advantage is MUCH more power, which is most handy when you want to use light modifiers, such as BIG umbrellas or soft boxes, light up big rooms or fill a large area. I went with the studio strobes (from Alien Bee) which I currently love, but I imagine that making this set up mobile will hurt in the future if I want to do more location shooting, but for around the house, at work, or in studio, they have been great. As long as I have power, and more importantly, am willing to tote them around, I am very happy with them.
OK, so now I have swapped the camera I use and the lens I use and got a new flash. ALL of these items are things you guys recommended and now my pics are WAY better than before in fact I would call them PRO quality since I saw a lot of guys taking Derby Dolls photos with tons of pro equipment and then compared my pics with theirs after the fact. (I can say without a doubt that mine were higher quality than the LA Weekly.) Having this kind of quality available is essential if you want to be taken seriously and now that the playing field is (almost) even then I can at least have a chance of expressing what I want and having it come out like I envisioned it. Still, I can think of a few more lenses that would fit nicely in my collection, but at least I have a start.
SO I just wanted to say THANKS to you guys for pointing me in the right direction with the D30, the 17-55 2.8 EF-S lens and the 580EXII flash. Having this ability has given me a new inspiration to go out and take more pics. In fact I'd really like to get into some concert photography and may look into doing something like that and I might be able to use some old connections to do so, hopefully.
SO I just wanted to say THANKS to you guys for pointing me in the right direction with the D30, the 17-55 2.8 EF-S lens and the 580EXII flash. Having this ability has given me a new inspiration to go out and take more pics. In fact I'd really like to get into some concert photography and may look into doing something like that and I might be able to use some old connections to do so, hopefully.
Now all you have to do, Mike, is set up a net-gallery somewhere!
I don't think I've personally gotten to the level of "pro quality" yet. I've got some pictures I'm pretty proud of, because to me they represent some small advancement somewhere on the learning curve I'm bound to. But in terms of thinking "I could sell this photograph," I don't think I've gotten there just yet. I need more equipment!
Well...practice is probably what I need more of, actually. But I find that if I leave the house with my camera and have in my mind something I want to work on technique wise, I'm better able to "see" opportunities for photo-taking that suits the skill I want to practice.I've got to say that this thread has been a HUGE help for me with overcoming some plateaus and getting my learning curve trending upward again. By wanting to be able to "hang" with the quality of the photographs that you guys post in here, I feel my images are getting more and more interesting and better overall.
So, thanks. Let's keep this thread going until it chokes the bandwidth!
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T
trdi
Lurker
What kind of concerts and what kind of concert photography?
Hey, talking gear is fun, so I'm sure collectively that part is a pleasure for all of us! But although the tools make it easier, the photographer makes the image, so really any kudos you have should go to yourself. It is always nice when you can capture the image that you are envisioning, especially when things are moving quickly, such as with the Derby Dolls, and a lot of those images are fantastic.
I think this thread has been great for gently nudging the bar for all of us, as well as providing constructive criticism, which is, in my opinion, greatly appreciated. I actually read through the whole thing again yesterday to pass the time during this snow storm the East was getting hit with.
So, thanks to all of you guys for participating and keeping this tread alive!
D
DeaderFan
Lurker
I would echo VFs comments. This has been one of my favorite threads this year. It is kind of odd to talk cameras on a hockey fan site, but I have to say its also a little frienlier and less intimidating here than other photography forums.
It's also kind of funny when I tell my pro photographer friend something he doesn't know and when he asks me, "where did you hear that?" I say Letsgokings.com
It's also kind of funny when I tell my pro photographer friend something he doesn't know and when he asks me, "where did you hear that?" I say Letsgokings.com
For the moment, just small clubs since they are the only ones who allow cameras. I'm not really looking to sell photos, I just like taking action shots of things that I like. Having this cool setup inspires me to take pics and since action is what I like then what the heck. So far I have taken pics of a few bands and emailed them and they seemed real pleased with the results, so maybe I can find something to do that is fun and useful like supply a fanzine or something.
In a dream world I would be taking hockey photos.
HeShootsNScores
the Power in Powerplay
+1
Hands down my favorite thread on LGK... weird huh?
Okay... if not my favorite thread, then the thread I check everyday for sure.
Hands down my favorite thread on LGK... weird huh?
Okay... if not my favorite thread, then the thread I check everyday for sure.
You and me, both.
I'd thought about trying my hand at concert photography as well, but I think it's going to have to wait until I get the new camera body and a faster wide-angle lens. I'd like to be able to do that without having to stun the performers with flash.
So on that note, how would you all augment your current portfolios? What kind of stuff would you like to try shooting that you haven't tried yet?
For me, I'd like to fill the portfolio out with some more sports (field or court-level stuff) like basketball and volleyball. I'd like to get an opportunity to shoot aircraft air-to-air. I'd like to do some macro and super-macro work. I'd also like to work on my portrait skills a well.
T
trdi
Lurker
That's one stressful job as a pro. We take great care of our toys, but their equipment is all bumped and half broken. As long as it focuses and the glass is not scrached, it's great, they say.
I remember when I was participating in a workshop, led by a top photographer (when you get 7 pages in National Geographic (the main edition), you know you are good). First of all, his equipment was top of the line, I mean that stuff costs a fortune. When he goes working, he carries about 140 kg of equipment (that's why he needs an assistant). He said a couple of things regarding that:
- he needs top equipment, nothing else is good enough
- the difference between top equipment and just very good equipment is not about the "more perfect" photo quality, it might be the difference between getting and not getting that photo you wanted to take. It's not just about very bad conditions, where that helps. Sometimes you have only a moment to take a photograph you've been waiting to take for more than 6 months. With top equipment, your chances to actually get a photo are higher.
That was the best photo educational stuff I've participated in so far. The guy was so friendly, he told us everything we wanted to know, including how much money different magazines are paying and even how photo stock industry is working (damn, that's tough and mean). The stories of his experiences are just priceless.
When you see a top photographer (=world class) is having anything similar near you, grab the chance, it's invaluable. When you hear how a certain photograph has been taken and that preparations for that particular photograph might have taken as long as 7 months (!) and bribing a police officer to let you when other photographers can't go, you see that damn photo from completely different perspective, I assure you that. 
Holy **** I laughed my ass off at this!!!
I'm SO making that my new avatar!
BTW, looking at your pics from Chix-Pack, I wondered what ISO you were shooting. Looks like if you'd jacked the ISO up a little bit to get some faster shutter speeds, you'd get much less motion blur (from both subject movement and camera movement) in images like those.
I forget if you've mentioned it, but do you shoot jpeg or RAW? Just curious. Either way, if you process in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you can check out an add-on called Noise Ninja to help out with the noise from higher ISOs.
HeShootsNScores
the Power in Powerplay
Still a good shot... hahaha
In reality, I need to work on everything. I think I would like to focus this year on working with lighting more. I have a limited lighting setup now, that I mostly use for work, taking very drab progress pictures, orthographic type pictures of objects to be drafted, which means very flat, uninteresting even lighting so you can clearly see the entire object, so I can't really play, but it has gotten me intrigued to try it more with portrait work (most of my portrait work is available light, or very boring lighting setups). So, I need to make a few more purchases to try it, and find a willing model (the cat doesn't count, and besides he only sits for one flash, then freaks out and takes off
)
Set up my POS tripod underneath our hummingbird feeder this morning. Put the camera on top with the 50mm and the IR shutter release on it and took an 8gb card full of captures. I got five mediocre ones out of the lot, and all of those were of the least-colorful hummingbird that showed up. That's my luck as a nature photographer.
Here's one. Rest are here.
I set the camera up in manual focus and focused on my hand that was placed where I thought the birds would be. It worked okay, but still the bird was kind of soft-focused. The background is crap, too (the undeside of the eaves on the back of my house).
Here's one. Rest are here.
I set the camera up in manual focus and focused on my hand that was placed where I thought the birds would be. It worked okay, but still the bird was kind of soft-focused. The background is crap, too (the undeside of the eaves on the back of my house).
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