C&C please

[Hawley2009]

Newbie here, second time posting photos. I know to watch my background, try to keep the distractions to a minimum. Unfortunately it's winter here and I'm out shooting alone, no shows to go to and nobody to help keep the horses herded more towards the 'clean background' parts of the pasture. My focus was a little more on exposure this time, hopefully doing a better job. No adjustments made, shot in JPEG and uploaded directly to Photobucket.

I kept adjusting my settings to try to get a feel for what was right. Shutter speed was never below 1/1250 and aperture stayed around f11, ISO set to 6400.

1

2

3

4

5

 

[texkam]

3 is your best. Don't chop the feet off. Sounds like you know how to use your camera. You may be able to get away with f/8 and improve your iso.

 

[Hawley2009]

Thank you, I was having an issue getting them to move. I was using my 55-200 mm lens because they usually run and play in the back, not up front. I'm hoping these are improved over my last set, I had searched the forum to understand exposure better. I bought myself a copy of understanding exposure 3rd edition and got halfway through before I had to go try.

 

[texkam]

Yea for learning how/why your camera works. As you get more comfortable you'll see your subject matter better.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

I like 1 and 4 best, your exposure looks good. Can't you get away with a slower shutter speed and lower the ISO? Great pics!

 

[SCraig]

I don't know what camera body you were using (that's why it can be important to show that in your signature) but ISO 6400 is pretty high, and it shows in the images. They aren't as sharp as they could be because of the high ISO. I seriously doubt that you needed 1/1250 second shutter speed or f/11. Going down to f/8 would have allowed you to lower the ISO to 3200 and lowering the shutter speed would have allowed you to lower the ISO even further. I think I would have tried to get around 1/500 second. It might not have been fast enough but I'd have tried it anyway. The shots are slightly underexposed and need a little more light on them, but no more than 1/2 stop.

I don't know what mode you were shooting in since there is no EXIF data in the images, but situations like this are a good candidate for manual mode. The light isn't going to change and that expanse of snow can easily cause a meter to read wrong causing variations from shot to shot.

 

[Hawley2009]

Sorry, I haven't quite figured out the forum signature thing yet. I'm shooting with a Nikon D3200, I've been shooting in Manual.

 

[SCraig]

They look good for ISO 6400 on a D3200, but the detail just isn't there that I'd expect from a camera with that resolution. Perhaps it's because they are just 1024 pixels wide and look better at full resolution. Photo #5, for example. I should be able to see the horses' eyes better than I can. Granted brown eyes on a brown face are hard to see but they are normally visible because the eyes themselves are normally shiny on a dull background. That's why I feel like they are slightly underexposed and/or using ISO 6400 has hurt them some.

 

[Hawley2009]

Viewing at 100% they are noisy and seem really 'soft'. I'll have to get out and try some more. A lot of the photos I've taken from 1/100 to 1/320 at f4 to f5.6 with the ISO set somewhere between 200 to 1600 and they've come out either underexposed, overexposed, or blurry. That was before reading the book and getting a grip on how each affects the exposure.

I've been shooting with a DSLR since July, and have only owned one since late November.

This is the first photo I thought turned out halfway decent with the D3200 after I bought it. My main focus will be/has been horse shows and rodeo events.

 

[SCraig]

That shot is soft on the horse's face but look at his shoulder to the right of center. It's sharp enough to see individual hairs, and that overall is what you are looking to get.

That could be caused by one of several things. There is no EXIF data in the shot so I don't know the aperture, but if it was shot wide open and rather close it could have been caused by the depth of field being too narrow. Also, lenses are never at their sharpest when wide open. All lenses have a particular aperture range where they will give the sharpest results.

Another distinct possibility is that you used single-servo autofocus which focuses once, and only once, when you push the shutter release halfway down. If the horse moved his head even slightly after the focus was set it would cause it to be slightly out of focus. Additionally you might have used 3D autofocus mode where the camera picks the focus spot and decides what to focus on for you. I shoot a lot of birds and wildlife and always, always, ALWAYS use AF-C autofocus mode for that very reason. If my subject moves even slightly my camera will refocus as necessary. I also NEVER let my camera decide on the focus point to use or what to focus on. I will tell it which focus point to use and what *I* want it to focus on.


You're doing well for someone who has only been shooting a few months. Keep at it, at some point it will all come together for you. It did for all of us.