Cows - Lighting/Camera Setting Suggestions Needed

Nevermore1 · Mar 15, 2014

I spent a little bit of time at my husbands Grandparents today at took some pictures of their cows in the barn. I know the composition sucks as I was working in a very small limited space (about 3x4 ft area to move around in) with my two little ones constantly trying to feed and pet the cows. I wasn't sure what settings to use so I just set some random ones and started shooting. My question is what would have been a good setting to use for the conditions? I was in the barn where it was shaded/dark (no lights) and the cows were outside sticking their heads in. I did not want to use the flash as they are very skittish and startled easily when they heard my keys move. I would have preferred to get them outside but of course whenever I go over there they are unwilling to cooperate. I am still learning my camera since I haven't had much time to go out and use it due to time constraints and the wonderful weather we've been having (and still learning about composition, exposure, lighting, etc - been doing lots of reading but haven't been able to practice much).

Also, I edited on my crappy laptop monitor so the coloring and what not is probably off. I'm currently saving up to get an external monitor for editing purposes. I'm also not sure if I compressed them properly for here (they look a little grainy to me), the files are also on my Flickr page along with my other awful photos. Thanks in advance.
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Tony S · Mar 16, 2014

Bovine headshots.... very mooooo-ving.

Sorry, been a long day.

Rick58 · Mar 16, 2014

A couple things to get started

1. you're saving your shots huge and at a lower resolution
2. Watch your highlights. Expose for the highlights and bring up the shadows in post
3. They seem slightly over exposed

Fun shots. Something different for a change.

Nevermore1 · Mar 16, 2014

Thanks, I will try that my next trip up there. Winter had better be over soon so I can get out and practice some more. It was almost 70 yesterday and now it's in the upper 30' with a winter storm watch for tonight.

Rick58 · Mar 16, 2014

Yep, it looks like you folks might get some out of this one. It's staying just south of us where it belongs. :wink:

I was bored while waiting for my wife to get herself ready to go out, so I played with one of your photos. I did a little tweaking of exposure and contrast, cropped, resized and re-cropped. I eliminated the blown out windows which ruined the shot in my opinion. Anyway here's my take on what you captured.

Newtricks · Mar 16, 2014

I'm really big on shooting with available light and taking the photo the way I see the scene, by eye. Not to everyone's taste I know but opinions be damned I like these, they may not be perfect shots, they are real life shots.

Anthony

Newtricks · Mar 16, 2014

Rick58 said:
... played with one of your photos. I did a little tweaking of exposure and contrast, cropped, resized and re-cropped. I eliminated the blown out windows which ruined the shot in my opinion. Anyway here's my take on what you captured.
View attachment 68636

Very nice Rick, puts the shot in a better window.

Anthony

Nevermore1 · Mar 16, 2014

Thanks! I love the edit you did! I'm going to work on rhem some more in PS as well. I just wish I had a better monitor. I should have one in a few weeks, the one on my computer sucks.

Rick58 · Mar 16, 2014

I just have a older Dell that came as part of a system several PC's ago. I never touch the settings.

Nevermore1 · Mar 16, 2014

I currently use a laptop for my editing. I just don't have room for a DT. We have one in the house but it is a few years old and there are 7 different people that use it (including two young kids) so I prefer having my laptop since I can keep it "hidden" and others off of it. It's not that I don't want them to see what I am doing but every time one of them gets on a computer it ends up crashing for some unknown reason and I end up spending a few hours fixing it.

I actually saw that BestBuy has some IPS monitors on sale right now. I think I may run over there to see if there is anything that is too good to pass up.

jamesparker1250 · Mar 16, 2014

Just looked at your pictures on flickr. I think that you take some pretty good pictures.

Nevermore1 · Mar 16, 2014

jamesparker1250 said:
Just looked at your pictures on flickr. I think that you take some pretty good pictures.

Thanks! Some of those are nearly 10 years old. I've started going through several HD's of photos and picking out the ones I like and adding them to Flickr. I still have a lot to learn and have learned tons just by browsing the posts on this site.