Official DSLR Photography Thread
- Thread starter K. Legaspi
- Start date
R13
The other asshole
:lol: welcome to tennessee...
I've been threatened, Had my plates taken down and been harasses on several occasions while out shooting, Fine with me though, Nothing here to shoot but rich neighborhoods and ghetto white trailer trash *sigh*
Aussie
Zoom-Zoom
I think the best way to get really sharp shots is knowing your limitations.
-lighting plays a big role, that day was very good weather, soft light towards late afternoon.
Hard light during the day or even when facing into the lens from any angle will kill contrast and sharpness. If you have very good lens you can get away with more, my lenses are all very very old from shooting film so I am not so fortunate.
- Unless you want to create a shallow dof, using a smaller aperture will increase sharpness. Most kit lenses are very soft when shot at their largest aperture (f4-5.6), and also suffer from diffraction starting or soon after f11 So I try to shoot at f8 unless I need the extra shutter speed or am trying to create an effect with shallow dof. Between 5.6-11 is usually best for sharpness.
-Filters suck, so if you have those stupid uv or clear filters I suggest removing them. I keep the lens hoods on, that protects the front element just fine, and there's is no need to block uv with digital.
-Make sure your shutter speed is at least equal to your focal length, unless you have shaky hands, then maybe make it double the focal length
-Use the lowest ISO you have, not the lowest push ISO but the lowest real ISO. I know some camera will push to 50 or 100 but that just hurts resolution. My true lowest ISO is 200, some are 100. Again though you have to keep aperture and shutter in balance. No sense in keeping a low ISO if you're going to have too slow a shutter.
If I need the speed I'll go to ISO 400 before lowering the aperture.
-For processing I've always just used Lightroom, I sharpen what my camera can handle (for me usually 65 now with version 5), usually I'll increase the noise luminosity slider to maybe 25, and then it's good to use the masking. On Mac you hold option while increasing the masking and you'll see areas going black, these are areas that are in deep shadows or bright highlights. Usually things you don't want to sharpen because of increase in noise, like sky. But this also helps create a better edge of the things you do want sharp (If that doesn't make sense I can explain better.)
Hope that answer wasn't too long but it's not easy for me to make short. Also it seems a lot of people are getting into photography so maybe it can help them too.
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NemesisCBR
Boredest Member
That was Stan Lee's Comikaze expo. Long beach comic con is coming up though in a few weeks and something else this weekend I cant go to.
I had to use 800 and 1600 iso for pretty much everything at max/near max aperatures. It blew but still came out decently. You have to do what you must with what you have.
Heres a few more. So much noise when viewed at high res. Maybe I should keep them low res.
You can see the rest on my the fb page if you want. https://www.facebook.com/TCDarklightPhotos
I had to use 800 and 1600 iso for pretty much everything at max/near max aperatures. It blew but still came out decently. You have to do what you must with what you have.
Heres a few more. So much noise when viewed at high res. Maybe I should keep them low res.
You can see the rest on my the fb page if you want. https://www.facebook.com/TCDarklightPhotos
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Aussie
Zoom-Zoom
I've had that paged liked for sometime, I wonder why they don't show on my feed. The shots are very nice, the little grain present is even across the entire frame, hardly noticeable unless you look for it, it definitely doesn't detract from the photos. I think in lighting like that 800-1600 is ok with most newer dslrs, the only problem I ever run into is when there are huge EV differences across the frame. Excellent coverage though, love the one with all the girls, you can't go to a comic expo and leave without one of those shots
treeafodo
Austin
Thank you very much!I think the best way to get really sharp shots is knowing your limitations.
-lighting plays a big role, that day was very good weather, soft light towards late afternoon.
Hard light during the day or even when facing into the lens from any angle will kill contrast and sharpness. If you have very good lens you can get away with more, my lenses are all very very old from shooting film so I am not so fortunate.
- Unless you want to create a shallow dof, using a smaller aperture will increase sharpness. Most kit lenses are very soft when shot at their largest aperture (f4-5.6), and also suffer from diffraction starting or soon after f11 So I try to shoot at f8 unless I need the extra shutter speed or am trying to create an effect with shallow dof. Between 5.6-11 is usually best for sharpness.
-Filters suck, so if you have those stupid uv or clear filters I suggest removing them. I keep the lens hoods on, that protects the front element just fine, and there's is no need to block uv with digital.
-Make sure your shutter speed is at least equal to your focal length, unless you have shaky hands, then maybe make it double the focal length
-Use the lowest ISO you have, not the lowest push ISO but the lowest real ISO. I know some camera will push to 50 or 100 but that just hurts resolution. My true lowest ISO is 200, some are 100. Again though you have to keep aperture and shutter in balance. No sense in keeping a low ISO if you're going to have too slow a shutter.
If I need the speed I'll go to ISO 400 before lowering the aperture.
-For processing I've always just used Lightroom, I sharpen what my camera can handle (for me usually 65 now with version 5), usually I'll increase the noise luminosity slider to maybe 25, and then it's good to use the masking. On Mac you hold option while increasing the masking and you'll see areas going black, these are areas that are in deep shadows or bright highlights. Usually things you don't want to sharpen because of increase in noise, like sky. But this also helps create a better edge of the things you do want sharp (If that doesn't make sense I can explain better.)
Hope that answer wasn't too long but it's not easy for me to make short. Also it seems a lot of people are getting into photography so maybe it can help them too.
If you recommend taking the UV filter off I should be replacing it with a hood, correct?
treeafodo
Austin
OK, I'll stop by the camera store and price them out.
NemesisCBR
Boredest Member
Really? Its only been up since monday and thats the first time I've linked it. I have read that newer dslr's perform pretty well with the high iso dept and ive seen the results myself on flickr. I have a canon 20D and it was released around 2005 or so. Like you said though its not bad, granted the lighting was poor not dreadful. Still a little surprised i had to be pretty wide open and at least pump 800 iso in the convention lobby where it was pretty well lit. But I also didnt mind cus i do have shakey hands and it meant i could jump between 125 and 200 shutter speed. Also, I used a kit lens the entire weekend. I will probably break out the prime next time around for some sessions as well as test out the 28-135.
Aussie
Zoom-Zoom
Most lenses come with hoods. You should get the one proprietary to the lens you need it for so that it works correctly.
I had a TC photography page liked that I thought was yours at first, I got it now though cause the names are different. I like using primes for indoor events like that, not just for them being faster, but also lets me get rid of a lot of background clutter that's usually present.
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XjoEnX
Active Member
I am in love with this picture. The setting, background, and colors are just perfect.Trying to figure out flickr.
I haven't shot anything lately. All I have is this:
Aussie
Zoom-Zoom
Thanks man, I think it was a lucky shot for me, if I got it back between the light posts, so it wasn't right behind, it would have looked much better, but that's ok. I've never really had an eye for photos of cars, but this thread is good for ideas for sure.I am in love with this picture. The setting, background, and colors are just perfect.
I haven't shot anything lately. All I have is this:
What van is that, looks so awesome, especially being used for food service!
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