New to photography

[Christobol]

Hi everyone, after lurking for a few weeks I thought I should introduce myself (and seeing that the point system has some purpose). I've always been interested in great photos, but have only rarely shoot anything good with point and shoot, or camera phone, or even DSLR. Granted I grabbed one of my parents DSLRs and shot in auto, and didn't really consider the shot at all. Since both of my parents have been at least mildly interested in photography since before I was born and have in fits and spurts updated their cameras I asked if I could have their oldest DSLR to see if it's something I'd enjoy pursuing. After a few weeks of using their Canon D30 walkabout lens I liked what I was doing but found that between the very low performance in low light, extreme lag between photos (around 10 seconds) and the lack of MP, that I wasn't getting close to the pictures I wanted.

So after tons of research, advice, followup research, more advice sprinkled with a bit of ridicule and more research I found a decently priced D7000 with a 50mm f/1.8D prime lens last week. I've only taken a few hundred pictures, most of which have since been deleted because they weren't interesting or after processing in LR as they had too many technical flaws.

I'm mostly interested in landscape, object, and night scenes

Anyway I look forward to participating in this forum.

Chris Robertson

 

[robbins.photo]

Hi everyone, after lurking for a few weeks I thought I should introduce myself (and seeing that the point system has some purpose).

The point system has a purpose? Which of course naturally leads to my second question, there's a point system?

I've always been interested in great photos, but have only rarely shoot anything good with point and shoot, or camera phone, or even DSLR. Granted I grabbed one of my parents DSLRs and shot in auto, and didn't really consider the shot at all. Since both of my parents have been at least mildly interested in photography since before I was born and have in fits and spurts updated their cameras I asked if I could have their oldest DSLR to see if it's something I'd enjoy pursuing. After a few weeks of using their Canon D30 walkabout lens I liked what I was doing but found that between the very low performance in low light, extreme lag between photos (around 10 seconds) and the lack of MP, that I wasn't getting close to the pictures I wanted.

So after tons of research, advice, followup research, more advice sprinkled with a bit of ridicule and more research I found a decently priced D7000 with a 50mm f/1.8D prime lens last week. I've only taken a few hundred pictures, most of which have since been deleted because they weren't interesting or after processing in LR as they had too many technical flaws.

I'm mostly interested in landscape, object, and night scenes

Anyway I look forward to participating in this forum.

Chris Robertson

Probably one of the most useful things I read when I first started:

5 Easy Composition Guidelines from Nikon

That and read about the exposure triangle, and of course remember the best part about digital is it doesn't cost you anything to take pictures - so take plenty and experiment. See for yourself how aperture, ISO and shutter speed affect various shots.

And above all of course, Welcome to the forum

 

[chuasam]

Don't worry about technical errors, don't worry about boring shots yet. Keep taking photos.

 

[Christobol]

robbins.photo I'll check out that link, thanks! As for the thirds, I know about it, but it's not something I actively do right now. It'll just take repetition like most habits.

chuasam Most of the shots I've taken have been at various ISO and shutter speeds just to learn rather than trying to capture something interesting. It just happens that a few turned out to actually be interesting.

I have a fair understanding of aperture and shutter speed and how it affects the image, I just need to learn more those two function in conjunction with ISO changes. Well just as in when you forget the billion other things that go into taking a solid photo, but I'll worry about those things later.

I am going to go through the photography classes on Lydia.com as it seems like it's a good deal, but I can't say I've seem much as far as comparisons.

 

[robbins.photo]

I have a fair understanding of aperture and shutter speed and how it affects the image, I just need to learn more those two function in conjunction with ISO changes. Well just as in when you forget the billion other things that go into taking a solid photo, but I'll worry about those things later.

I am going to go through the photography classes on Lydia.com as it seems like it's a good deal, but I can't say I've seem much as far as comparisons.

This may sound like a strange recommendation, but it's how I shoot on my D600 and the D7100 before that, find it works extremely well for me.

Go into the menus and turn auto-iso on, and set the maximum for the max ISO you think you can use to get an acceptable shot without too much noise. On a D7000 I'm guessing that will probably be ISO 3200, maybe ISO 1600 if your a little fussier about noise.

Switch the camera to manual mode. Your front control wheel will now give you control over the aperture. The rear wheel will control shutter speed. When you look through the viewfinder give the shutter button half a press, and you'll see what the camera is choosing for ISO.

If you want lower ISO, you can open the aperture or decrease the shutter speed until the ISO drops. If your in a situation where you just don't have enough light for proper exposure even by opening the aperture wider than you'd like or lowering the shutter speed as much as you can for the shot you want, you can add EC (exposure compensation) - it's the +/- button near the shutter release, press, hold, spin that dial.

I've found this to be very effective for me, allows me to shoot on the fly in most any situation and get the kind of shots I want without "fighting" with camera settings.

 

[Christobol]

Thanks for the advice! I've been using it the last few weeks and you can see some of my stuff at:

Christobol

I now think I've been playing with lightroom a bit too much and adding some extra color that isn't visible with the eye.

My reject to final picture ratio is getter better too as I shoot more from 30 to 1 now down to 15 to 1, which is great in my opinion.

I'm curious if there are any comments on the pictures about either better composition, processing etc.

 

[smoke665]

As you read through some of reference materials listed above keep your camera handy and follow along in real time. Then when you feel comfortable with your camera and how the settings work. Go practice shooting until you can make setting changes intelligently without thinking so hard about it. Then start on the compensation aspect. And I don't know about others but when I'm shooting my granddaughter I go to continuous shutter. I've been know to shoot several hundred shots in a very short period of time, because you never know when "the" one will appear. Much rather delete hundreds of shots then miss "the" one. That's what's so great about digital

 

[Christobol]

Smoke665, I've been taking classes on Lynda.com and it's been helpful, but like most things practice helps the most. I'm pretty comfortable with changing the settings and can pretty much change everything without removing my eye from the view finder. I have been using the histogram a lot to see the distribution of the data in the raw file so I know if I'm getting what I want for processing later.

I didn't post much of the night photos yet but I've been practicing with night photography with a decent tripod. Having the tripod has been pretty helpful obviously because I've been able to increase the exposure dramatically.

If I were shooting a person I'd take tons like you are, and I do when I'm shooting one of my dogs.

In the 3 weeks I've had the camera I think I've shot 2000 photos... and that will only go up.

 

[john.margetts]

2000 shots in 3 weeks! I would say that would hinder your development. Better to do 10 shots in a day and then study them. Find one thing at a time to work on. With 2000 shots you can have no idea of what is good in them and what needs work.

 

[smoke665]

I have been using the histogram a lot to see the distribution of the data in the raw file so I know if I'm getting what I want for processing later.

Camera histograms are a tool to keep an eye on, but don't necessarily tell the true story or a raw file. A wise member on here took the time to explain that the histogram you see on the camera is not the raw file, but the camera's version of the converted JPEG.

As the previous posted said, be wary of taking so many shots, that you lose track of what's working and what isn't. When I shoot continuous, I do so in burst modes, but the settings are pretty much fixed by that time. I'm just looking for the right expression in post.

I've learned a lot from the "real" photographers on this forum since I've been here. Also, another great source of reference on photography is
Folkscanomy: Photography : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
You can download the books free.

 

[Christobol]

10 shots a day? So I shoot 4-10 subjects over the course of a 2 hour hike. So between trying to find the right kind of exposure compensation I want, and trying to capture one of my dogs looking the right way I should be limiting myself to 1-2 shots per composition?

A lot of the tests are to see how much data I get from varying levels of exposure, both under and over and to learn at which point I simply am looking too much.

Really though, as pointed out above, there is very little cost in shooting extra photos. Especially for someone who is learning.

Let me give you some examples. I started taking pictures of a pile of tires, I ended up taking about 25 of four different compositions, or about 6 per composition
1) 2-3 shots to dial in exposure so I'm ETTR
2) 2-3 shots changing the frame of the composition slightly testing out what orrientation might work the best
3) 2-3 shots changing where I'm adjusting the focus, either by changing the DOF via fstop, or I'm changing the focal point of the focus to adjust what aspect of the primary subject I'm looking to show

So those 25 or so photos I ended up with 2 pictures I really liked of the 4 different compositions. 2 sets where thrown out because after looking at it full screen I just didn't feel the aesthetics were right. Artistically they just did nothing for me, while they were fine pictures otherwise; focus, DOF, exposure, FOV.

john.margetts Nearly all of the pictures I take have a very high dynamic range, and I lack the experience to view a subject and be able to nail the exposure on the first attempt. Then I reconsider different ways to frame the shot to see if there might be something that is more interesting, leading to a few more picture and often changing of the exposure. So what's your suggestion?

 

[Christobol]

Camera histograms are a tool to keep an eye on, but don't necessarily tell the true story or a raw file. A wise member on here took the time to explain that the histogram you see on the camera is not the raw file, but the camera's version of the converted JPEG.

smoke665 thanks for pointing that out, I'm sure many people don't realize that. I've actually done some calibration tests to see what level of clipping the histogram shows verses what is recoverable in RAW. I know I can usually get a full stop of additional exposure before I'm losing data in RAW.

As the previous posted said, be wary of taking so many shots, that you lose track of what's working and what isn't. When I shoot continuous, I do so in burst modes, but the settings are pretty much fixed by that time. I'm just looking for the right expression in post.

I know what you mean, my busts are 3-4 so the buffer can catch up, and to make sure I'm not drifting too far from my current settings

I'll go check out that link BTW too

 

[smoke665]

Oh and last comment, and this is really, really important, because if you don't remember it, you'll make the same mistake I did once. HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!! If you're so concerned about getting it right, you'll forget what's really important!!! Photography is a journey, take the time to enjoy the view along the way!

 

[Christobol]

Haha, yes that's very true.