First pics with the 300mm f/4. C&C so I can improve.

[pixmedic30 1]

went outside to take a few test shots with the nikkor 300mm f/4.
i know flower shots are boring as hell to a lot of people, but I needed something quick and easy to shoot. need to take this badboy down
to the Zoo.
I was mildly impressed with this lens. the focus is fast.
tried a manual focus shot as well, which wasn't quite as difficult as I thought it would be.
did some minor processing in LR4, but i don't really know my way around LR yet. guess im going to have to practice.
Tried a few different crops just to see what they were. not super impressed, so I guess that's the first thing to work on.

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[mjhoward]

Tried a few different crops just to see what they were. not super impressed, so I guess that's the first thing to work on.

I would work on White Balance first.

 

[pixmedic30 1]

you just might be right.. bear with me. I need a bit of a learning curve. i have no idea exactly what you wanted me to do to fix these, but ill see if i cant figure something out. let me try again.


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I hope this is an improvement. I actually think it is, they look better to me. maybe I can get this right.

 

[amolitor]

I don't care about white balance for flowers. As long as the leaves look pretty green and the flowers are some color or another, it's fine. It's not like shooting people.

The main thing going on here for me is that they're a little flat. Push some more contrast in there while you're monkeying around with the white balance. My 300mm MF Nikkor also tends to flatten things out a bit, I think.

 

[Derrel]

Second batch appears too light, but the WB is more-accurate. There is NOT a lot of DOF with a 300mm lens at these distances, so subject matter has to be chosen carefully. As can be seen in these shots, at these distances with a 300mm lens at the aperture range used, DOF drops off rapidly behind the actual,specific,exact focused distance. Lens appears to be okay. On more-distant subjects I think you will be more pleased; these types of floral isolation shots are not always that easy to make interesting.

 

[sm4him]

The wb on the second set is much better, imo. The first set was way too blue.
I can't quite tell where your focus is on these, but I think that's as much due to my vision problems as anything.

When you figure Lightroom out, you can tutor me in it, too. I tried the trial version and was kinda lost. But, I didn't have much time to work on it. When I can afford it, I'm going to have to just buy it AND a book to tell me how to use it.

 

[pixmedic30 1]

thanks Derrel, the flowers were terribly boring. I was mostly making sure the lens was good since i only have a 14 day return policy on used stuff. I can totally see what you mean now with the 300mm that close to something. I might mess around with the contrast a little more too, but this was actually my first time using LR. I guess what I REALLY need to do is get the lens OUT somewhere where I can get some distance between me and the subject and see if it doesn't go a little better.

 

[Rwsphotos]

I'm usually the light room user and love it. Just not great at teaching it lol.

 

[amolitor]

I love my 300mm MF Nikkor, with great love. You can do things with it other than reach out and touch wildlife, too:

300mm - The Photo Forum Photo Gallery

(That's on a crop sensor, too. Shot from.. quite a ways back.)

 

[pixmedic30 1]

I love my 300mm MF Nikkor, with great love. You can do things with it other than reach out and touch wildlife, too:

300mm - The Photo Forum Photo Gallery

(That's on a crop sensor, too. Shot from.. quite a ways back.)

very impressive! I cant wait to get the hang of that lens..and the camera..aaaaand LightRoom.
not really sure why, but I actually feel a little more motivated to get out what the 300mm than I do with our other lenses.