Parade pictures C&C

Neiby · Aug 17, 2011

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped at a small town parade immediately after getting my 60D on Saturday. I was (and still am) learning to use it. It's quite a beast! I learned very quickly to use the center AF point and then recompose. There was just way too much going on to focus well otherwise. I was really trying for sharp subjects and soft, blurred backgrounds. Other than some sharpening, contrast and cropping, I haven't done any editing to these.

#1

Magenta shirt by jneiberger2002, on Flickr

#2

White Car and Flag by jneiberger2002, on Flickr

#3

Green by jneiberger2002, on Flickr

I used the Canon 18-200mm lens with UV filter. I have no lens hood yet. White balance was set to Daylight. I tried to keep the aperture as open as I could get it to help get a shallower depth of field, but the zoom lens really made that easy anyway.

Any and all comments are welcome.

Robin Usagani · Aug 17, 2011

Ditch the UV filter, shoot with RAW and adjust the WB later in post processing.

Neiby · Aug 17, 2011

Thanks. I do have the RAW versions of these. I should re-work them in Lightroom and see if I can improve them a bit. I got the UV filter to protect the lens. No one in my area has the lens hoods for my lenses right now. I heard it was because of the tsunami in Japan. Someone else in another thread recommended getting rid of it, too, so I did, but not on these shots. This is my first DSLR, so I'm really paranoid about protecting the lens even though it's not like I've got some L glass going here. lol

powasky · Aug 17, 2011

Neiby said:
Thanks. I do have the RAW versions of these. I should re-work them in Lightroom and see if I can improve them a bit. I got the UV filter to protect the lens. No one in my area has the lens hoods for my lenses right now. I heard it was because of the tsunami in Japan. Someone else in another thread recommended getting rid of it, too, so I did, but not on these shots. This is my first DSLR, so I'm really paranoid about protecting the lens even though it's not like I've got some L glass going here. lol

Don't ditch the UV filters. I have them on every single one of my lenses, and they've saved my ass (or my lens's front element's ass) many times. You never know when something is going to try to attack your lens.

In regards to C+C...the third image is my favorite. I love the woman blowing a bubble in the background.

stevenelson · Aug 17, 2011

I too just bought my first DSLR, whats this about damaging your lense, my 55-200 came with hood, should I be using it? What do UV filters do?

powasky · Aug 17, 2011

stevenelson said:
I too just bought my first DSLR, whats this about damaging your lense, my 55-200 came with hood, should I be using it? What do UV filters do?

I would use the hood if you're shooting in brighter light.

There's a big hubbub about UV filters. I personally don't think they do anything for IQ, however, I buy quality filters (B+W) and count on them to protect my front lens element.

clanthar · Aug 17, 2011

stevenelson said:
I too just bought my first DSLR, whats this about damaging your lense, my 55-200 came with hood, should I be using it? What do UV filters do?

A lens without a hood isn't a complete lens. A lens should never be used unless it's hood is attached.

Lens hoods can be used to date the moment the camera industry lost it's integrity. No optical engineer could imagine the possibility of designing a lens without designing it's hood at the same time. Back in the day when you bought a lens the hood was there in the box with the lens. How could it not be?! Then one day a marketing exec. visited the factory. He picked up the lens hood and asked, "what's this?" The engineer explained it was the lens hood which was an essential component of the lens. The marketing exec. said, "but it comes off." The engineer explained that was to make it easier to store. The marketing exec. then asked, "Can't we sell it separately and put it in it's own box?" The engineer looked at the marketing exec. with a startled expression of disbelief and said, "Well it's part of the lens, the lens can't be used without it!" And that's the moment the camera industry lost it's integrity.

UV filters do nothing except protect the lens from damage which can be very valuable in the event...

Joe

Neiby · Aug 17, 2011

Clanthar, I didn't realize that the lens hood was so important, but now I want to get some even more. I wish I could find some for my lenses!

Neiby · Aug 18, 2011

Since no place in town seems to have the Canon hoods, I found some non-Canon hoods at B&H that are compatible with my lenses. Even B&H doesn't have the Canon hoods right now. They are very difficult to find at the moment.

SabrinaO · Aug 18, 2011

Something is strange about these pics. It really looks like you blurred the backgrounds in post. What aperture did you shoot at?

Neiby · Aug 18, 2011

I generally shot at the lowest aperture I could get to depending on my zoom level. That lens doesn't have a wide range of aperture, though. I just tried to zoom in close on subjects that were much closer to me than the background. It really worked well in these shots, not so well in some other shots. At those zoom levels, I was probably running around f/4 to f/5 most of the day.

SabrinaO · Aug 18, 2011

You shot these at f4 too? wow.
Anyway the blurring isn't gradual. Its just a sharp subject.. then BOOM!... blurry background. Maybe its because of the distance the subjects were from the backgrounds. It could be your sharpening too. Did you just sharpen the subject or the whole picture? The subjects just look pasted on to me. Anyway.. shooting with the center point and recomposing is the way to go!

Neiby · Aug 18, 2011

I would say that most of the time I was fairly zoomed in, so f/5 or so was probably the most common. I discovered that if I zoom in on a subject that has a bit of distance from the background, that nice blur is very easy to get on that lens.

Here are the rest of the photos that I kept, if you're interested. You can see that quite a few of them have virtually no blur. I would guess that in those instances, I zoomed back out and forgot to widen the aperture before recomposing and shooting. But this was a parade and everyone was moving, so I just had to do the best that I could. lol

https://picasaweb.google.com/111135877829919203501/StrasburgHometownDays2011

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I did my sharpening to the entire image and it's very likely that I overdid it in some cases.