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Author Topic: Technical Critique  (Read 2841 times)

MR.FEESH

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Technical Critique
« on: May 23, 2009, 07:42:05 pm »

So as many people have advised, I have been shooting in the M setting to get an idea of how to use an actual camera.
I thought I'd post these pictures from earlier this evening, not necessarily for composition or cropping critique, but rather for suggestions on the exposure or DOF-- the technical aspects I have yet to master.  And go easy please, it's only my 2nd day with the camera...


1)
 
Any technical suggestions are greatly appreciated.
(I can provide the fstop and shutter speed for these pics if need be)


Elby
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dalethorn

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Technical Critique
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2009, 11:29:21 pm »

Difficult to control DOF when the foreground flowers are so close to what's immediately behind them.  I don't know if you tried shooting from further away with more zoom - that should make the DOF shallower.  When it comes to flowers and other plants, though, I don't mind cheating and moving things out of the way if I have the ability to do that.
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MR.FEESH

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« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2009, 10:15:36 am »

Hmm, for most of those shots, I was fairly close to the subject.  I chose those apertures in shots like 1,3 and 5 because the blurred flowers in the background reminded me of watercolor.  As for 2 and 4, I aimed more to get proper exposure, and had less regard for subject v background.
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situgrrl

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Technical Critique
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2009, 08:22:04 pm »

You need to think of DOF as an aesthetic rather than technical aspect with shots like these.  By adjusting the shutter speed/ISO you can select the aperture according to your aesthetic requirements.  If you can't, you live somewhere bright and need an ND filter or two.  

There should be a fairly simple way around the time it's taking you to get the shot right.   The camera should have a meter giving you suggested values in several modes.  Pull up the live histogram with the meter, dial in what the camera suggests and check the histogram.  Now twiddle the settings until the histogram is stacked as far to the right as possible without falling off that edge.  When you look at this picture on the lcd, it may well look over exposed but don't sweat that (as long as the histogram is not blow at the right) pull it back to where you want it in LR.  This way, you minimise noise and maximise shadow detail.  The good news is that what you've posted look fine exposure wise.

I don't like the colours though.  They are really muddy.  I can't see an obvious colour cast (you'd adjust it out using the WB sliders or the pipette in LR - in camera WB settings are for jpg shooters and masochists shooting under sodium or stage lighting) but I would have a play to make them more pleasing and I'd ramp the saturation up too.

Again, these pics could use some more sharpening too.

"Fixing it in post" is more often than not an excuse for sloppy field technique.  That said, post work is also of essential importance to making quality pictures (unless you are Ken Rockwell!)

MR.FEESH

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« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2009, 09:00:20 pm »

I actually ended up reading an 'expose to the right' article soon after submitting my original post.  Still working or applying the technique, but at least now I'm aware of it.
I'm not sure what you mean by muddy, in this context at least... like drab? or dull?
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dalethorn

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« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2009, 11:31:15 pm »

Quote from: MR.FEESH
I actually ended up reading an 'expose to the right' article soon after submitting my original post.  Still working or applying the technique, but at least now I'm aware of it.
I'm not sure what you mean by muddy, in this context at least... like drab? or dull?

You might get these less muddy (clearer, sharper) if you really perfect your RAW developing techniques. But even so, these are already better than any I've shot. That last critique let you know just how far you are from "fine art perfection."
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MR.FEESH

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« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2009, 01:33:24 pm »

Thanks Dale!
I'm most familiar with Lightroom for editing-- are there standard procedures for editing RAW files?  I've just been retouching them the way I had been doing jpegs from my previous setup...
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dalethorn

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Technical Critique
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2009, 02:43:41 pm »

Quote from: MR.FEESH
Thanks Dale!
I'm most familiar with Lightroom for editing-- are there standard procedures for editing RAW files?  I've just been retouching them the way I had been doing jpegs from my previous setup...

I'm not the expert on RAW. Mostly it seems the challenge is getting a set of settings that will do 90-plus percent of the work automatically, so you don't have to do all of it manually. With RAW you can change contrast and other color balances without suffering the unfixable color shifts or clipping you get sometimes in JPEG.
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MR.FEESH

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« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2009, 09:58:29 pm »

Quote from: dalethorn
I'm not the expert on RAW. Mostly it seems the challenge is getting a set of settings that will do 90-plus percent of the work automatically, so you don't have to do all of it manually. With RAW you can change contrast and other color balances without suffering the unfixable color shifts or clipping you get sometimes in JPEG.


Hmm- I've just been doing it all manually.  I don't mind that much, it makes for a greater payoff if/when you succeed.
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