Noob Q&A Thread

Mike Hoxbig

Mike Hoxbig

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I've looked but couldn't find a thread about where noobs can ask questions about various photos. This is not really a FAQ about photography in general, but rather a Q&A discussion about how some photos come out the way they did - where things like the camera settings, composites and finishing are explained in terms of obtaining the finished product. They can be pictures that our fellow members took (who would be able to explain best), or pictures we find on the net (where the more experienced among us would still be able to provide a decent explanation).

I'll get started with a picture that I'm interested in from the competition thread :)
 
Krypty said:
That was near Rustenburg. That was only 30 seconds single exposure, if you go longer then the streaks starts. If you actually zoom in on the original you can see the lines starting.

Was done on a 16-40mm lens at F4
ISO 3200
30 seconds

and then only some white balance and saturation afterwards

Here is actually a example of this photo with a before (RAW) and after.
http://twitpic.com/alr2xe
Click to expand...
A couple of questions :)

- What sort of RGB values did you use for your white balance? I assume you increased the blues and greens a bit to get the bluish/purplish tinge for the sky and the vibrant green for the grass?
- In terms of contrast, I'm guessing you increased it a bit?
- What sort of editing software did you use. Would it be doable in DPP for example?
 
This just a quick tutorial on how I did that photo.



Stars.

Here is the type of shot be will be trying to make.

Static stars is actually easy as you do not need hours and hours of shots to make Star Trails etc.

Here is what you will need.

1. Camera that will be able to do long exposures (We will not go over 30 seconds).

2. Tripod or a bean bag or something that will keep the camera very still.

3. Remote or Shutter release as to minimize vibration.

4. Flashlight

How to:

1. Setup the camera with a composition in mind. (This can be quiet difficult as it is most of time pitch black)

2. Set your lens to manual focus.

3. Use the lowest F stop you have (The above photo was at F4)

4. The highest ISO that you can use.

5. Use your flashlight on the subject and then try and manual focus to the sharpest you can get.

Because the earth turns so fast we will only need between 25-30 seconds of exposure as longer will begin to make trails.

And then it is just trial and error.

Hope this helps and let me know if you need more information
 
You Questions

Q - What sort of RGB values did you use for your white balance? I assume you increased the blues and greens a bit to get the
bluish/purplish tinge for the sky and the vibrant green for the grass?

A - I am not really a person who changes individual RGB values, I take white balance and change that to achieve the look I am after. The stars shot I was looking for something very cool so a low Kelvin was selected.

Q - In terms of contrast, I'm guessing you increased it a bit?
A- Normal as per all my shots, usually this is anywhere in the region of 15-25 nothing more.

Q - What sort of editing software did you use. Would it be doable in DPP for example?
A- DPP will be perfect.
 
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Interesting input you have Krypty, and a very nice exposure shot. However the advice you have given is more for application on DSLR cameras. With compact or bridge cameras you'll want ot have things set differently.

Consider the following exposure taken with a cheap Kodak Z1015 bridge camera :

Purple Sky by rouxenator, on Flickr

Here you want the ISO as low as possible to avoid any noise resulting from over amplification of the image captured by the tiny sensor.
For white balance it is best to leave it at auto since the cameras post processing is mostly based around shooting in auto.
Being a non-DSLR you will not be able to do an exposure of more than 16 seconds. Cheaper P&S cameras max out at 8 seconds.
Tripod is definitely a must, as is the lowest F stop possible. On that camera the lens was pretty slow and would not go lower than f/3.5. I accidentally had it zoomed in a little so the f was 3.8.
For stars you might get away with 20 to 30 seconds but in the picture above you can see things like clouds which moves faster will smear on anything about 10 seconds.
 
Wow. Those are some amazing shots. Not sure my little Canon A480 could do something like that. Nice work guys
 
Canon A-series are awesome cameras. I got my first one back in 2003, a then very advance A40 with 3x zoom and a whopping two megapixels. Currently the only "rear" camera we have in our house is a battle torn A460 and if you apply it correctly it can do some pretty nifty things. The shot below was shot with our A460 :

Raindrop on grass by rouxenator, on Flickr

Your A480 will easily be able to do a long exposure shot like that one I did with my Kodak. You have 15s long exposure and an ISO that can drop to 80. Getting that from the camera is the only trick but check the manual. A series do not offer PASM modes but you can still set most of those parameters if you know where to look.
 
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Rouxenator said:
Canon A-series are awesome cameras. I got my first one back in 2003, a then very advance A40 with 3x zoom and a whopping two megapixels. Currently the only "rear" camera we have in our house is a battle torn A460 and if you apply it correctly it can do some pretty nifty things. The shot below was shot with our A460 :
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2212/3543980766_4e047e00cf.jpg
Click to expand...

Roux that grass pic - I assume that your lens has a minimum focusing distance, so you would have had to observe that distance and zoom in instead?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Roux that grass pic - I assume that your lens has a minimum focusing distance, so you would have had to observe that distance and zoom in instead?
Click to expand...
No, super macro mode. Most non DSLR cameras have that since they have such tiny sensors. So the grass was within 1cm of the lens. Canon had that on their ultrazoom/bridge cameras too since the S3 is.
 
I think i need lessons, or if you can suggest some place i can read up on it, that would really help. I have no idea what the different settings on my camera are for and can do. I know about the Macro and super macro, but as far as ISO etc goes i'm clueless. Would love to start taking more interesting pics. at the moment its just point and click for me
 
Pretty much everything I know comes from two places :
1) Wikipedia
2) Experience

Go read up those and also on the various ways in which you use your camera's PASM modes. Even if you do not have them on your camera they still cover all the basic of photography. Most important is to try out what you read and see how it works on your camera.
 
Rouxenator said:
No, super macro mode. Most non DSLR cameras have that since they have such tiny sensors. So the grass was within 1cm of the lens. Canon had that on their ultrazoom/bridge cameras too since the S3 is.
Click to expand...
Cool thanks. I suppose P&Ss are a bit different to DSLRs in that way.
BrendanMc said:
I think i need lessons, or if you can suggest some place i can read up on it, that would really help. I have no idea what the different settings on my camera are for and can do. I know about the Macro and super macro, but as far as ISO etc goes i'm clueless. Would love to start taking more interesting pics. at the moment its just point and click for me
Click to expand...
I'm a DSLR noob, but the 3 pillars of photography (ISO, aperture and shutter speed) are applicable to almost any camera. I started here a while back:
http://photographylife.com/what-is-aperture-in-photography
http://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography
http://photographylife.com/what-is-shutter-speed-in-photography
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll play around with it and post some pics and get your comments. Feel free to be Brutal. This is on e pic my wife took. We just changed the colour around to see how it looked. But i'll have a look around and see what I can come up with.
Thanks again.
kids 3.jpg
 
Bwana

Hope u read this, I must say that was awesome photo u took on the cricket field ( short ball). I must ask do u take a photo every time there's a ball bowled, or was that the lucky photo:p Also do u snap at 10fps? for how long at every ball
 
Nice thread. Can one of the pro's maybe just give a "in a nutshell" explanation on when will you most likely select a specific P,S,A or M mode on most camera's, and what effect ur type of photo you will most likely take using each mode :)
 
Krypty said:
How to:

1. Setup the camera with a composition in mind. (This can be quiet difficult as it is most of time pitch black)

2. Set your lens to manual focus.

3. Use the lowest F stop you have (The above photo was at F4)

4. The highest ISO that you can use.

5. Use your flashlight on the subject and then try and manual focus to the sharpest you can get.

Because the earth turns so fast we will only need between 25-30 seconds of exposure as longer will begin to make trails.

And then it is just trial and error.

Hope this helps and let me know if you need more information
Click to expand...

Wow, tried this with my Sony HX100V, was amazed by the amount of light actually visible to camera.. first few shots were just white from too much exposure...and it seems almost pitch black outside.. thanks for a great tip... learnt something new :)

Manual mode allows up to max ISO3200 , 30 seconds , lowest F2.8
 
krono9 said:
Nice thread. Can one of the pro's maybe just give a "in a nutshell" explanation on when will you most likely select a specific P,S,A or M mode on most camera's, and what effect ur type of photo you will most likely take using each mode :)
Click to expand...
no expert but here let me try

S, is for shutter, here u can open the shutter for longer exposure. U can use fast shutter speed for shooting water droplets and slow ones for blurring water, Like rivers (note low shutter speeds more light more blurring, fast shutter speed less light less blurring )
A, is for aperture.This is you f stop. the smaller the number the more light comes in, the larger less light comes in. But small f stops like F/1.8 will give u a blur background. No field of depth but a larger number will
P. is program mode this is like a preset program for shutter ISO aperture and so on

Now the above modes works easily u can choose one of them and the camera will sort out the other stuff like ISO, and shutter if your on aperture mode

M is for full control over everything shutter ,Fstop , ISO etc


hope i am right:P
 
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