Get it right in the camera!

[fmw]

We have some amazing photographic editors that provide the ability fix an image to look like we want it to. The point I'm going to make here is that you need to get it right in the camera if you want make the most of your post production effort with your editor. I gathered up some inexpensive amateur equipment and made some shots of the outdoor thermometer in my back yard to drive the point home. So that you know, the shots were made with a very inexpensive Nikon 55-200 f3.5-5.6 zoom lens and a Nikon D7000 camera. To start here is a shot of the thermometer taken at the 55mm setting on the lens.

What you see is what the camera produced without any editing. The subject (you can see it hanging from the tree) is well focused and well exposed. So let's crop down the image to include just the thermometer. Here is result with the image enlarged to around the size of the original photograph.

We were able to make an accurate shot of the overall image but there isn't much resolution in the thermometer itself. There is nothing we can do in post process to fix this. It is just short of pixels.
The next shot zooms the lens out to its maximum focal length of 200mm and even adds a cheap 1.4X teleconverter behind the lens.

The shot was made from the same location from the same tripod but you can see we have enlarged the thermometer quite a bit.

Now the thermometer cropped just like the image above is easy to see and can go to post production for final editing.

You can't put lipstick on a pig as they say or garbage in, garbage out. We want to envision how we want our final image to look before we fire the shutter. Use the equipment and technique you need to use to get as close to that as you can with your original composition and then fire the shutter. Get it right in the camera in the first place.

 

[sscarmack]

Photos aren't showing...

 

[jcdeboever]

images broken

 

[fmw]

Sorry my images didn't appear and I can't find a way to delete the text.

 

[JacaRanda]

I wish I was that perfect to get it right in the camera in the first place all the time.
I guess the percentage would be much much better if I was staging things.

 

[dennybeall]

Very good point for the Beginners thread Fred but for many of us here you're preaching to the choir. I don't think there are many that just take bad photos for the fun of Photoshop, although I have searched out some old damaged ones just for the fun of fixing them up in Photoshop.
The trick (technique, workflow, whatever) is to be able to balance the trouble needed to get the shot right in the first place against the amount of work required in post processing. That assumes of course that the photographer in question knows what to do to get it right and what would be required in Photoshop to fix it.
Many fun subjects involved in this.

 

[DarkShadow]

I try my best to get in right In camera but doesn't always work out.Especially being a wildlife shooter with uncontrolled lighting and weather conditions I do make the adjustments on the fly but not all work out.

 

[fmw]

It isn't always possible to get it right in the camera but the point is you will get better images if you can and do. I moved the images to another website and fixed the permissions. The problem was completely mine.

 

[fmw]

I try my best to get in right In camera but doesn't always work out.Especially being a wildlife shooter with uncontrolled lighting and weather conditions I do make the adjustments on the fly but not all work out.

I think you do quite a bit to get it right in the camera without even thinking about it. You have an idea of what you are after, you mount the right lens and put yourself in the right position to get what you want and set the camera to get the results you want. You do this without even thinking about it. If the subject fails to cooperate then you don't get what you wanted but you might have. Without the preparation you probably wouldn't have achieved anything. None of us get them all but we improve our success ratio because we think things through. That is really all I wanted to convey to beginners.

 

[chuasam]

I wish I was that perfect to get it right in the camera in the first place all the time.
I guess the percentage would be much much better if I was staging things.

Unless you're a journalist, there's nothing wrong with staging a shot.

 

[fmw]

Very good point for the Beginners thread Fred but for many of us here you're preaching to the choir. I don't think there are many that just take bad photos for the fun of Photoshop, although I have searched out some old damaged ones just for the fun of fixing them up in Photoshop.
The trick (technique, workflow, whatever) is to be able to balance the trouble needed to get the shot right in the first place against the amount of work required in post processing. That assumes of course that the photographer in question knows what to do to get it right and what would be required in Photoshop to fix it.
Many fun subjects involved in this.

Yes it was aimed at beginners, not the choir. I always take the time to get it right in the camera. I want to do as little editing as I can. I can always wreck a good photo in Photoshop but I can't fix a bad one from the camera. My example above was extreme but I hope it made the point.

 

[jcdeboever]

I wish I knew what was right in camera to begin with...[emoji31]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[JacaRanda]

I wish I was that perfect to get it right in the camera in the first place all the time.
I guess the percentage would be much much better if I was staging things.

Unless you're a journalist, there's nothing wrong with staging a shot.

I shoot mostly wildlife/birds but I understand what the op is getting at.

 

[chuasam]

I wish I was that perfect to get it right in the camera in the first place all the time.
I guess the percentage would be much much better if I was staging things.

Unless you're a journalist, there's nothing wrong with staging a shot.

I shoot mostly wildlife/birds but I understand what the op is getting at.

Most insect photos are staged.

 

[DarkShadow]

I love to stage some snowy owl shots ones that are still breathing.Does anyone no where to find one that listens to direction while I get my focus and exposure set just right in camera.No flight required but most be willing to stay still.Live Mice Rewards offered In exchange.