Noob Q&A Thread

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 :)
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S is shutter priority. You set the shutter speed and the camera automatically sets the aperture. It's nice to use for freezing action shots.

A is aperture priority. You set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. This mode would be useful for things like macro shots where you want a shallow depth field.

M is for manual. Here you have the freedom to control everything on your camera. This is also the mode that I use on my camera.
 
krono9 said:
@nanonyous Please give us a short step by step how you got your final result from the original:

View attachment 22104
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uuum, my guess would be the following:
- Increased contrast (greater difference between light and dark areas)
- Decrease blacks (Darken blacks - The road in the original image is grey, instead of black)
- Increase brightness slightly (may not have been needed after the above adjustments)
- Possibly some saturation increase (deeper, richer colors)
 
Saturation is actually dropped quite significantly. The reason the original came out so gray is because the 'scene' mode I use on my 500D gives me the most accurate representation of the raw data I'm going to have to work with when I get the image onto a computer. Another part of why it's that gray in general is because I was taking this through the dusty front windscreen of a car.

Anyway, as for the processing, I don't have a physical GND so I applied one over the clouds to darken them a bit over the rest of the scene - this difference was less than 1 stop. I did increase the contrast, and boosted the highlights slightly so that they would stand out more to better represent the kind of 'bloom' we saw.

I used a light GND along the bottom to darken the foreground's road slightly since I didn't want it to draw focus away too much. There's a light brightening GND from the left to better portray the light that was spilling over the hills behind us.

Once I'm satisfied with everything I apply a very light vignetting effect since no lens in the world at its designed-for imaging plane size is 100% devoid of vignetting, and most people growing up seeing photos are used to vignetting and consider it a 'natural' visual element to photos. The vignetting that was caused by my lens was correct for since I had to crop and rotate the image.

Vignetting, or selectively brightening and darkening in the photo (aka dodging and burning), can have a great impact on how the viewer's attention is drawn through a photo, and is often a crucial step of processing/printmaking to ensure things come out how you wanted them to. Especially in landscape photos, having absolute control over the cloud cover, sun's position and where you're able to apply or remove light simply isn't practical, and so it becomes a crucial step to getting what you wanted out of your image.

Ansel Adams' work is a great example of this.

Here's another version of the processing with all the GNDs and two dodging pins visible, and lines drawn to show where they're located and going. The circled pins are the dodging pins, the arrows are all GNDs.processing.jpg

And here's what the settings look like. The original processing I had of this didn't involve nearly as many changes. I revisit the image frequently to try different processing on it.

Untitled-4.jpg
 
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6YyWu.jpg

I dont really know what I am doing but gave it a shot:erm:
 
nanonyous said:
Considering you were working with a jpeg, congrats, you got more out of it than I expected would be possible. :D
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haha thank u but I had a look at what lightroom cost :erm:
 
dtba said:
haha thank u but I had a look at what lightroom cost :erm:
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Get RawTherapee then. Its UI is very similar (in fact, either lightroom was modeled after it or it was modeled after lightroom), it just has a whole bunch of UI crap that doesn't really belong there that does nothing short of confuse. The results one gets from 'the same' settings are also a bit different.

Still boils down to learning to use one's available tools, though :P
 
dtba said:
For macro how good is kits well the filter like this http://www.sacamera.co.za/product/1...nel_HRC_280_Remote_Shutter_Release_for_Canon/

rather then buying a macro lens
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At that price, get a Phottix electronic extension tube set instead. You're not limited to using only lenses with a 58mm thread diameter that way and the results are far more predictable when using different lenses (and customizable) than the close-up filter. You can even use the extension tubes in conjunction with a reversal adapter at a later stage, which in some cases can give drastically sharper results (particularly when used with some old prime lenses).

http://www.camerastuff.co.za/shop/c...-af-macro-extension-tube-for-canon-metal.html

The reason you'd want to get the electronic set over the non-electronic set isn't so much about the AF as it is about electronic aperture control. For old MF primes the aperture is controlled by a ring on the lens and a lever that gets bumped to close down the aperture, so that's a non-issue since you can find a way to keep that arm pushed into place.

*edit* Also, if only I had the money :P
http://www.camerastuff.co.za/shop/c...ristmas-special-macro-photography-bundle.html
 
nanonyous said:
At that price, get a Phottix electronic extension tube set instead. You're not limited to using only lenses with a 58mm thread diameter that way and the results are far more predictable when using different lenses (and customizable) than the close-up filter. You can even use the extension tubes in conjunction with a reversal adapter at a later stage, which in some cases can give drastically sharper results (particularly when used with some old prime lenses).

http://www.camerastuff.co.za/shop/c...-af-macro-extension-tube-for-canon-metal.html

The reason you'd want to get the electronic set over the non-electronic set isn't so much about the AF as it is about electronic aperture control. For old MF primes the aperture is controlled by a ring on the lens and a lever that gets bumped to close down the aperture, so that's a non-issue since you can find a way to keep that arm pushed into place.

*edit* Also, if only I had the money :P
http://www.camerastuff.co.za/shop/c...ristmas-special-macro-photography-bundle.html
Click to expand...
after reading up about how they work. I may just get them.
 
attachment.php


Hi.
After great advice here i played some with my Canon Powershot 720IS
I loaded CHDK and downloaded Lightroom and this is my first try

Opinions please
 
kimbo said:
Opinions please
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The processing is clean, though your shadows could do with being made a bit darker - right now you've got odd contrast distribution that I don't think is specifically your lighting. That light area in the background is also kind of distracting as far as the photo's composition is concerned, though the light on the spoon is nice.

Also, narrow down your aperture a bit to get the tip of the spoon in focus as well.
 
nanonyous said:
The processing is clean, though your shadows could do with being made a bit darker - right now you've got odd contrast distribution that I don't think is specifically your lighting. That light area in the background is also kind of distracting as far as the photo's composition is concerned, though the light on the spoon is nice.

Also, narrow down your aperture a bit to get the tip of the spoon in focus as well.
Click to expand...

Thx :)
 
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