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925 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2004 : 6:12 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by cdanes
Is there a way to increase exposure? By playing with the shutter speed and ISO? I really know nothing about this... 
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If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.
My rule of thumb for photography is take lots of pictures, lots of different ways. If you maxed out the ISO and then maxed out the exposure, you may have had different results - but photography has everything to do with quality of light and capturing the light effectively.
Were you trying to capture the glow of the tent? It may have been better acheived at dusk when there was more ambient light available. A long exposure at that time would have captured a warmer glow and given a bit of mood. As it is there, I don't think you would have been able to capture the shot with your equipment.
A professional photographer once told me that you don't take photos, you make them. http://edbookphoto.com/
Next time you are out with your camera, notice the quality of light - how it makes the colours around you look. Get close and experiment with different compositions. Once you know how the light translates to digital, play with it.
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"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her."
-- William Wordsworth |
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925 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2004 : 6:20 PM
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I played with a Nikon D70 today. It is heavier than my F80, but still fits nicely in my hands. The bundled lens is quite nice. It's very quiet. I guess I am used to the noise of my lens and shutter and motor drive.
Oh, how I want one ....
*drool*
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"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her."
-- William Wordsworth |
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 double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2004 : 6:49 PM
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Anyone here have a Canon 10D?
If so, I would like to hear from you...
cheers - C Wall |
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Castlegar, B.C.
Canada
1249 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2004 : 7:55 PM
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| Anyone have the Cannon Powershot S40, as I would like some tips on taking better picture's as well. |
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Ladner, BC
Canada
1176 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2004 : 11:13 PM
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ahh a place to discuss photography.
My Canon AE1 (28-200) is now sitting idle, and the canon A60 is getting it's workout. Practicing the stops and such is great on a digi. cuz ur not wasting film and the results are quick.
One drawback I had was trying to adjust settings on a very bright day (glare off snow) on the LED. I couldn't see squat. In time I suppose i'd start to "memorize" how many times to press which buttons hehe.
In that case the 'ol gear settings woulda been much faster.
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The tougher the climb, the better the food tastes. -Lupin- |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
679 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2004 : 12:56 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Anyone here have a Canon 10D?
If so, I would like to hear from you...
cheers - C Wall
I do, see my post a bit further up.. Fire whatever question you have (here or via private email) |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2004 : 11:20 AM
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Lupin - I've had the same problem with my Canon S400
I would point it to a snowy landscape, hoping to capture a snowfield against a blue sky, and I would get (in manual mode) a washed-out, all-white photo. Automatic setting on the other hand, would capture the image well.
Was this limited to snow? No! A few weeks ago, on a bright sunny day, I tried to take macros of colorful flowers near my home. Automatic settings worked well, yet manual setting of my camera gave me washed out, overly exposed colours.
Clearly an operator error...
I futzed and futzed with the settings, talked to the folks at Canon tech support. They are very nice people, btw, fast response to my questions - they recommended that I reset my camera. I did that, and then I hit the reference books and I figured out what was wrong.
Some things to look at Lupin:
Check your White balance. and if you don't want to set it yourself, rely on Canon's AWB (automatic white balance)
Check the 'speed' of your 'film'. I had mine set at 50 that time, for whatever reason (likely the night time city shots of the evening before). The 'faster' the 'film', the better the image on a clear day.
So for outdoors, snowy pictures, 400 works better than 50 (your number range may vary).
Today's a good day to check all this out for yourself, the sun is very bright and the pictures that you take, at various speeds may shed a light (sorry) on the problem that you are experiencing.
Any other thoughts from our other photographers here re Lupin's and my exposure issues?
cheers ! C Wall |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
386 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2004 : 11:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Lupin - I've had the same problem with my Canon S400
I would point it to a snowy landscape, hoping to capture a snowfield against a blue sky, and I would get (in manual mode) a washed-out, all-white photo. Automatic setting on the other hand, would capture the image well.
Was this limited to snow? No! A few weeks ago, on a bright sunny day, I tried to take macros of colorful flowers near my home. Automatic settings worked well, yet manual setting of my camera gave me washed out, overly exposed colours.
Clearly an operator error...
I futzed and futzed with the settings, talked to the folks at Canon tech support. They are very nice people, btw, fast response to my questions - they recommended that I reset my camera. I did that, and then I hit the reference books and I figured out what was wrong.
Some things to look at Lupin:
Check your White balance. and if you don't want to set it yourself, rely on Canon's AWB (automatic white balance)
Check the 'speed' of your 'film'. I had mine set at 50 that time, for whatever reason (likely the night time city shots of the evening before). The 'faster' the 'film', the better the image on a clear day.
So for outdoors, snowy pictures, 400 works better than 50 (your number range may vary).
Today's a good day to check all this out for yourself, the sun is very bright and the pictures that you take, at various speeds may shed a light (sorry) on the problem that you are experiencing.
Any other thoughts from our other photographers here re Lupin's and my exposure issues?
cheers ! C Wall
In tricky lighting situations exposure bracketing (i.e. taking a picture at what you or camera consider optimal exposure, and then one stop (this amount may vary) above and below that) works well.
I completely disagree that the higher ISO speed in bright light, the better. On digital cameras with small sensors high ISO produces noisy results, in fact, on my G2 ISO50 was the best, and anything near or above 200 - completely unuseable. The situation gets worse when you have large areas of plain colour, without fine detail that can sometimes hide the noise. The only times you need high ISO setting are in low light (to prevent blur caused by camera shake and allow stopping down aperture for greater DOF) and when shooting fast moving objects (to allow higher shutter speed). This is if the camera works correctly, I can't explain your observations though. When shooting snow I usually dial in +0.7...1.0EV compensation, but watch very carefully for the highlights to prevent clipping. Also, be aware that the three colour channels (R,G,B) do not saturate (clip) at the same time, so overexposure often creates colour shift as well.
Again, I suggest reading the Adams' book and learning his 'zone' system. Until that is mastered, auto setting will always work better;)
Eugene |
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Ladner, BC
Canada
1176 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2004 : 6:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Lupin - I've had the same problem with my Canon S400
hehe, that's a bit different from my posted problem.
My pics are coming out "ok", and, like EugeneK suggested, I frame the shots (onestop higher and lower thing) (costly when using film..great when doing digital)
The problem I had is glare on the led screen, I had to use my hands and jacket to try and see what was on the screen. I kept changing picture size instead of turning on the selftimer. Now, if I had a big black hood to cover my head and camera like in the olden days...does tyvek come in black? 
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The tougher the climb, the better the food tastes. -Lupin- |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
386 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2004 : 8:44 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Lupin
quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Lupin - I've had the same problem with my Canon S400
hehe, that's a bit different from my posted problem.
My pics are coming out "ok", and, like EugeneK suggested, I frame the shots (onestop higher and lower thing) (costly when using film..great when doing digital)
The problem I had is glare on the led screen, I had to use my hands and jacket to try and see what was on the screen. I kept changing picture size instead of turning on the selftimer. Now, if I had a big black hood to cover my head and camera like in the olden days...does tyvek come in black?
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The tougher the climb, the better the food tastes. -Lupin-
The LCD in bright daylight is a problem, all right. But then, the review function is only marginally useable anyway: the gamma of LCD is very different from the PC monitor; focus can be judged only very approximately (despite zoom and all); colours are usually not quite right.
This leaves highlights (if your camera has this feature, overexposed areas will start blinking, and you can see how badly you missed the exposure), and histogram - serves ~the same purpose. To see these two I usually just duck down and shield the screen with hands. Film school helps here too - there was no review at all, and we managed somehow ;)
Regards,
Eugene |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
679 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2004 : 01:58 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Any other thoughts from our other photographers here re Lupin's and my exposure issues?
cheers ! C Wall
I agree with EugeneK.. Always go for the lowest ISO setting possible.
Some usefull tricks:
Always use a shutter speed of at least 1 / <focal length>. So for a 300mm lens this would be at least 1/300th of a second. If your lens is not light sensitive enough (small aperture, eg. f1.8) you might need to set a higher ISO to be able to do this.
Use a small aperture if you want a blurry background, or a large aperture if you want a large Depth of Field (DOF, things are sharp from close by to far away)
The DOF is larger for wide angle lenses then for zoom lenses. So my 15mm wide angle will give a far larger DOF then my 200mm tele at the same aperture setting
The automatic exposure computer will get confused if there are large white or black areas in the scene. It turns out that most scenes on this planet are 18% gray if averaged out. The computer uses this value to calculate the needed lighting. If there is a lot of white in the picture the camera will think (assuming it's 18% gray), WOWW, so much light here....lets reduced the shutter time, causing an underexposed image. You can guess what happens with a black area.
To get an correct exposure there are several tricks:
- Use an external light meter to measure incoming light on your subject. But the meters are expensive, and if you want to photograph a mountain on the other side of the lake, a bit difficult :)
- Use a gray card (that one is exactly 18% gray) to set your exposure. again, this will only work if the lighting on the gray card is the same as the lighting on your subject (so don't try this if you are in the shade, while your subject is in the sun)
- If no gray card is available, it turn out that either your hand, or nice green grass can be used just as good
- A trick for complex scenes, not so much for completely while/black scenes. Use the SPOT measurement option in your camera (if available) to measure the subject that you want lighted correctly. This would help you if you want to photograph a black mouse in a snow field. The normal measurement would tend to underexpose this mouse heavily. Ofcourse the snow would be blown out (when using spot measurement)
- To prevent the background from being blown out, use a fill flash. Set the exposure for the background (beuatiful clear sky for example) and the flash will make sure your subject in front is lighted OK as well. This is normally used for portraits
A trick for D-SLR's to get the whilebalance right, use a Pringles cap. Use google to find exact recipes on how to use it :-) |
Edited by - ge-an_bas on 07/17/2004 03:16 AM |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2004 : 08:08 AM
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Wow, thank you guys for your excellent advice!
Ge-an_bas thank you for the useful tricks, I'll try this tonight.
Eugene and I have talked offline about The Negative, and I've placed an order this morning on Amazon.
Remember, this is the trusty camera I've been using so far:
 
Its advantage is its small size - it's as big as a disposable camera.
It has its limitations - a very small lens to start, and very very few manual functions (can't control aperture, for example). I am also learning as I go and am looking for a fuller-function camera to learn with.
cheers - C Wall |
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Victoria, BC
Canada
270 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2004 : 1:29 PM
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| I like the idea of a separate zone here where we can talk cameras. I need some advice on cameras on long trips. I used to use a cuban hitch with my SLR to keep my camera ready for use when hiking with a heavy pack. Recently I went digital-Canon GS 2. I'm concerned about how tough it will hold up on the trails. Any advice from you guys ? |
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925 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2004 : 3:05 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Wolverine
I like the idea of a separate zone here where we can talk cameras. I need some advice on cameras on long trips. I used to use a cuban hitch with my SLR to keep my camera ready for use when hiking with a heavy pack. Recently I went digital-Canon GS 2. I'm concerned about how tough it will hold up on the trails. Any advice from you guys ?
Hey, what's a cuban hitch? I have never heard that term before. I assume it's some sort of rigging for hanging the camera from the shoulder harness of your pack? Do you have a picture? I need to rig something up for my SLR.
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"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her."
-- William Wordsworth |
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Vancouver
65 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2004 : 1:47 PM
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Um, just a quick note on ISO settings. The higher the number (eg. 400) the more sensitive the film (or "film" if we're talking digital) is to light. Meaning, of course, that it takes less light to create an image. Under bright light conditions, you want a low number - 50 or 100 - not a high number.
As for white balance, that's only relevant to your light source. Outside, on a clear day, the light will likely be a bit "blue" in photos. This will show up especially strongly in shadow areas in snow. Early or late in the day, the light gets more reddish, giving those terrifically warm sunrise/sunset colours. So, playing with the white balance shouldn't have an effect on your exposure, just the overall hue of the image.quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
Lupin - I've had the same problem with my Canon S400
I would point it to a snowy landscape, hoping to capture a snowfield against a blue sky, and I would get (in manual mode) a washed-out, all-white photo. Automatic setting on the other hand, would capture the image well.
Was this limited to snow? No! A few weeks ago, on a bright sunny day, I tried to take macros of colorful flowers near my home. Automatic settings worked well, yet manual setting of my camera gave me washed out, overly exposed colours.
Clearly an operator error...
I futzed and futzed with the settings, talked to the folks at Canon tech support. They are very nice people, btw, fast response to my questions - they recommended that I reset my camera. I did that, and then I hit the reference books and I figured out what was wrong.
Some things to look at Lupin:
Check your White balance. and if you don't want to set it yourself, rely on Canon's AWB (automatic white balance)
Check the 'speed' of your 'film'. I had mine set at 50 that time, for whatever reason (likely the night time city shots of the evening before). The 'faster' the 'film', the better the image on a clear day.
So for outdoors, snowy pictures, 400 works better than 50 (your number range may vary).
Today's a good day to check all this out for yourself, the sun is very bright and the pictures that you take, at various speeds may shed a light (sorry) on the problem that you are experiencing.
Any other thoughts from our other photographers here re Lupin's and my exposure issues?
cheers ! C Wall
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Vancouver
65 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2004 : 2:05 PM
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Hiya. On your first shot, it looks like you tried to use the flash to illuminate the bird in the foreground. If your camera has a fill-flash setting (usually shown as a person's silhouette with the sun in the corner) try that next time. That setting attempts to hit a balance between just enough light being put out by the flash to illuminate the foreground subject, while allowing for the background's requirements.
On your next shot, you're faced with a couple of problems. First, you mention in a later post that you had the camera sitting on a table. If anyone was sitting at that table (i.e. it's one of those picnic tables with built-in benches), the small vibrations they'd create probably helped blur your photo. A tripod's your best bet here. Secondly, if your camera has it, you might want to try out the spot-metering setting. That will allow you to concentrate the meter reading on the moon, which will give you actual detail in it, rather than making it a bright, white spot.
As for your tent shot, well, there are two solutions. For the first, you need a tripod, a cable release, and a "B" setting on your camera. "B" is a setting that lets you open the shutter, and keep it open for as long as you like. Which is why you need the cable release and tripod. Without these, the picture will be a hopeless blur. The second solution requires either those things plus a separate flash, or a separate flash and a cooperative helper. In all those nifty night shots of warmly-glowing tents beneath a beautiful night sky the photographer had a flash inside the tent. That's what created that nice, warm glow. So, you need to either get your cooperative helper to go into the tent, and trip the flash for you, or you need to set up your camera on a tripod, open the shutter on the "B" setting and lock it there with your cable release, get into the tent yourself, and trip the flash. Don't worry about the time this might take, or about showing up in the photo as you're going to/from the tent. You won't show up. On the other hand, you could, before or after setting off the flash inside the tent, point it at yourself while you're outside the tent, and trip it. Then you'd be in the picture, too. This last bit can be fun, since you can do this multiple times, thus cloning yourself photographically!
Hope all that helps. quote:
Originally posted by cdanes
I have an olympus C-3000 ZOOM 3.34 megapixels. It's about 4 years old but I'm still quite happy with it. It takes great shots on the automatic settings...but after I've been using it for so many years and so many times I'm starting to feel the need to upgrade to something that can do more. This camera has a manual setting where I can adjust the ISO, Aperature, shutter speed as well as a few other options. I can also take pictures in uncompressed TIFF formats. Only problems are that I could never take a decent low light picture at night. I don't think I can keep the shutter open long enough to absorb enough light. ( of course I don't really know how to do all those manual adjustments... )
Here are some of the failures:
 The glacier is barely visible...didn't know how to make it show the bird in the dark and the glacier in the light well enough.
 The picture is too blurry and unfocused.
 The tent is barely visible. Didn't know how to make it absorb more light, even though there was still tons of light from the stars and the dissapearing sunset.
Other than that daylight pictures and indoor pictures look great just by using the automatic settings. You can see some examples in my trip reports.
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If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
433 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2004 : 4:27 PM
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Thanks for the info upndown. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure my camera doesn't have any of those options... 
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If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. |
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Vancouver
65 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2004 : 9:39 PM
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Actually, you do. Or, close enough. I checked the specs on your camera, and, on manual, you can set a shutter speed as long as 16 seconds. Your camera also comes with a remote shutter release, right? So, you could do the "flash in the tent" shot by setting the shutter speed to 16 seconds, going over to the tent, and tripping the shutter with your remote control. Then, duck into the tent to trip a flash (the flash, by the way, can be any flash at all - preferably something cheap). You might have to experiment with your aperture setting in order to get a good exposure, but - it can be done!
And, you also have spot-metering. This is something good to play around with as it can give you much better exposures (once you get used to it) than the camera's automatic system.
Click at will! |
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24 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2004 : 10:29 PM
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for all those people trying to figure out how to take good pictures, READ the instruction manual! its much more usefull than most people think!most chuck it in a box the day they get the camera and never manage any shots worth mentioning...then they ask questions that are answered blatantly in the manual!i'm not trying to cut anyone down here,but it really does help to read the manual.
heres a tip for people taking shots at SLOW shutter speeds,but who don't have a cable release: if you have a timer function,use it!set the camera on tripod,sandbag,rock etc etc,compose the shot then trigger the timer.keep your hands away from the camera,that way there is no way you can get camera shake! |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
433 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2004 : 7:45 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by upndown
Actually, you do. Or, close enough. I checked the specs on your camera, and, on manual, you can set a shutter speed as long as 16 seconds. Your camera also comes with a remote shutter release, right?
Cool, thanks upndown! Someone just showed me how to set that 16 second shutter speed on my last trip...managed to catch some shots of the northern lights. Check out my trip report:
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7071
I had to run the picture through some filters in photoshop to show them better but still that's better than catching total blackness like I did the previous time I saw the lights.
quote:
Originally posted by upndown
And, you also have spot-metering. This is something good to play around with as it can give you much better exposures (once you get used to it) than the camera's automatic system.
No clue what spot-metering is...but I'll look it up. Time for me to finally learn these things...I've only had my camera for 4 years...
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If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. |
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How about a CT area to discuss photography?
