Noob in need of advice.

maynaro · Sep 12, 2009

Hi,

I'm going to an oyster festival today and its very cloudy and dull out so I'm wondering what adjustments I need to make to the settings to get some good shots. Haven't shot anythnig during the day in this type of weather since buying my camera a few weeks ago. Also I bought a 70-300 mm lens last week so I take it id be best of using that instead of the kit lens(18-55). Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Derrel · Sep 12, 2009

Cloudy and dull weather or overcast days makes for EASY lighting to work with. Your shadows will be open and diffused, our exposure metering can be off a stop either ay and the results will not be too adversely affected. Becasue the cloudy weather will make the shadows open,not deep,dark and inky-black, you CAN if you like, boost your saturation and tone curve (the digital equivalent of contrast) a bit in-camera, or do that later in post-processing.

If you do not have the software to post-process,and you are going to be shooting in JPEG mode in the field, perhaps boost your tone curve (ie, contrast) a bit, perhaps 2 clicks above normal, and also add a bit of saturation as well. And perhaps notch the sharpness up a tad bit too.

Not being familiar with your camera, perhaps you could set it to a "scene mode", such as "enhanced color" of "vivid" mode, if you have such a thing. One area where there could be problems is when shooting toward a large expanse of bald,white sky that is backlighting people or subjects that are in somewhat of a shaded location--be aware that such lighting looks awful oin digital,and you'll need fill-flash is the shot has large expanses of white sky in it, or else risk silhouette effects or ugly color.

As far as the 18-55 versus 70-300 lens: it's a toss-up. Some people feel that they get better candids shooting in plain sight and from very close range, and they disparage what they call "sniping", or shooting from longer range with a telephoto or tele-zoom lens. Some of it depends on the nature of the crowd and the culture of the area. OTOH, for stage performers and people participating in events where there are LOTS of people pointing cameras at the same subject, like say a 1-on-1 oyster speed shucking contest, the 75-300 would give you a LOT better close-up shots when shooting from the crowd. Also, a 75-100mm focal length on a DX body means a VERY narrow angle of view,and to capture a lot of scenes, the FOV factor will physically limit you to shooting distances of 25 feet, or farther, and yo simply will not be able to use the tele-zoom at normal distances. My suggestion? A fanny pack or hip holster to hold the 70-300 for when you don't need it. Take both lenses if you want to cover all bases.

fiveoboy01 · Sep 12, 2009

What kind of camera do you have? Do you have a post-processing program of any sort?

As Darrel said, you can make some adjustments in-camera(on some cameras). I do know that on my D60 I could go in even after the photo was taken and make some adjustments to it, but I have an editing program so I never did do that.

Other suggestions, if the light isn't sufficient, you can bump your ISO a little bit. Are you using the 70-300VR version(assuming this is a Nikon)?

maynaro · Sep 12, 2009

Thanks for the advice. I'm using a Canon xs with a sigma lens. I have GIMP but not that great with it so i'll probably try and do as mucn with the camera beforehand.

Samanax · Sep 12, 2009

spider said:
Thanks for the advice

Is donatello back?

maynaro · Sep 16, 2009

What are you talking about? I asked a question, was given advice for which I was thankful. How does that warrant being compared to 'Donnatello' who clearly just posted nonsense.

fiveoboy01 · Sep 16, 2009

Samanax was referring to a post by spider that has been deleted. He wasn't referring to your post

The guy was running around and just cut/pasting people's replies and then reposting them.

Plato · Sep 16, 2009

fiveoboy01 said:
Samanax was referring to a post by spider that has been deleted. He wasn't referring to your post

The guy was running around and just cut/pasting people's replies and then reposting them.

I think that Spider's a 'bot.

maynaro · Sep 16, 2009

Oh ok my bad. Was unaware of this 'spider' dude. Jeez Donnatello was bad enough!! Thanks for clearing that up.

Derrel · Sep 16, 2009

So, how did things go at the oyster festival???

Did you get anything decent? Did anybody 'hurl' after one too many on the half shell? Were there any oyster babes? Did you get any good shots of the guy who won the shucking contest?

maynaro · Sep 16, 2009

It was a complete and utter wash out. When I posted it was light gray and getting darker but being new I was determined to go. The moment we parked up, the heavens opened up!!

I'm praying the weathers nice at the weekend cos I have a trip planned to New York. The inconvenience of work and the weather is seriously stumping my development at the fine art of photography grrrr.

Thanks once again tho, and I'm sure your advice will come in handy as its plenty overcast at the moment.

Error · Sep 16, 2009

Best setting are:
ISO 100-200 max of ISO 400 but as much as possible don't use ISO 400
Aperture Priority
f1.8 - f8
White Balance - Auto
EV -0.3 to -1
If night photography you need to use flash and set the EV also so that it will not give you over exposed.

Goodluck

maynaro · Sep 16, 2009

Thanks, I'll add it to my ever increasing list of notes. Sooo much to learn. I'm currently reading a book on exposure and funnily enough the author lives in the next town to me here in sunny CT. Its not the one everybody on here talks about but its still quite helpful.