Getting used to my first DSLR - C&C please.

iolair · Dec 11, 2009

I just got my Canon 20D (wahoo!) at the weekend and am concentrating on getting used to the 50mm/1.8. Loving it so far!

1.

f/2, 1/60s (deliberately overexposed by a stop), ISO-800, natural light only. Post-processing just to remove signs of a cold (snotty nose etc...).

2.

f/2.8, 1/1500s, ISO-100. Natural light only. No post-processing.

3.

f/2, 1/1500s, ISO-100. Natural light. No post-processing.

Pugs · Dec 11, 2009

All three are a bit over-exposed, the first one I understand was intentional, the other two are as well. Are you shooting in aperture priority mode? How do you have the camera set to meter?

Focus is sharp, and compositionally, I like them a lot. Nice use aperture to blur out the background!

Rommeo · Dec 11, 2009

I think they would be better if they were not overexposed.
I suggest you to use 5.6 / 500 / iso 100 for the second and third one.. not sure about the amount of light for the first one.

I m sure you ll have great photos,

Regards,

iolair · Dec 11, 2009

Pugs said:
All three are a bit over-exposed, the first one I understand was intentional, the other two are as well. Are you shooting in aperture priority mode? How do you have the camera set to meter?

Focus is sharp, and compositionally, I like them a lot. Nice use aperture to blur out the background!

Thanks

The first one was in manual mode, the second and third in aperture priority. I'm set to centre-meter.

I've just tried darkening the second using the brightness and on the third, I tried using gamma correction (is this the best way here?) to darken it a little, and I preferred the darkened result for both, so good call there

iolair · Dec 11, 2009

Hmm, I *guess* that when I centred on the subject to focus on the second and third photos, the centre-metering took the exposure based on that dark-coloured jumper?

Would a good method be to spot meter on skin, then set manual exposure based on that metering?

iolair · Dec 11, 2009

Rommeo said:
I think they would be better if they were not overexposed.
I suggest you to use 5.6 / 500 / iso 100 for the second and third one.. not sure about the amount of light for the first one.

I m sure you ll have great photos,

Regards,

5.6 on the second one wouldn't have blurred out the background so nicely... I intended to have the stones & sand fade away like that - it may have been alright on the third where the background was much more distant though.

jbylake · Dec 11, 2009

Thank you for cloning out the snot :lol:

Jest jesting, have fun with the new camera!

J.:mrgreen:

Pugs · Dec 11, 2009

iolair said:
Hmm, I *guess* that when I centred on the subject to focus on the second and third photos, the centre-metering took the exposure based on that dark-coloured jumper?

Would a good method be to spot meter on skin, then set manual exposure based on that metering?

Yes, spot meter the face. My D300 does, and I'd be shocked if you Canon doesn't, have a Auto-Exposure lock. Spot meter the face, lock the exposure and then compose and fire the shutter.

As for compensating for the over-exposure in post-processing, I use Lightroom for this. In Photoshop, I'd use curves to do it. I'm not a guru at either, though, so there are probably better methods.

Derrel · Dec 11, 2009

As a longtime 20D user myself, I think you will find that the 20D has a slight tendency toward a bit too much red in flesh tones. Just a little, but it's there.

Also, please try setting the 20D to the Black and White mode, using Sepia Tone effect, and the Yellow Filter effect, with the saturation turned up one notch, and the sharpening set to +1 in-camera, and shoot in RAW + JPEG Medium-Fine quality; the 20D will produce absolutely stunning, straight out of camera monochrome images, in medium-sized JPEGs with Fine compression. The RAW data will of course, be all in color.

If you have the Canon DPP raw converter software, please make sure and try the "Faithful" development option for RAW Files--I am not sure why they call it Faithful--I like to think of it as better-than-reality mode; Faithful it is NOT--it is much better!

Enjoy the 20D!