I Have Great Gear, But My Pics Still Suck!

[ruthless]

I took these at Centennial Park this morning [pretty overcast] with my Canon 30D, 70-300 lens on the P setting. It's only my second outing with it, but I'm really not happy with the results. I had to brighten them all massively in Photoshop and nearly all of them are out of focus. What am I doing wrong

I also have a 17-85 lens, should I have been using it instead? I was hoping to get a nice pic of my friends GSD to give them for Christmas, but they're all pants.

Tess32 told me to do this, but I only remembered the P bit when I was out today, woops. Would changing the ISO have made a big difference?

Put it on P mode instead, and increase the ISO. Or be brave, put it on AV mode, put it on the maximum aperature and the camera will set the shutter speed for you.

[ruthless]

[ruthless]

[persephone]

sorry, can't help.

does it have an auto mode? Maybe see how it does on that, and practise ,practise ,practise, before you attempt a shot you REALLy want to work I have been caught , too... have had my camera for 2 years, and only now that I am not working, and have a bit more time..have I worked out how to do stuff manually!

Not very crisp..but maybe that is because you had to brighten them

just go out in the backyard.. for an hour or a few dozen pics...photograph your dog, or car, or a flower..on all sorts of settings...write down what you did for each group ( I use 3) of pics..one group in Auto..One group on Xspeed , one group on X speed, Y ISO...etc.

Have a look at them, and decide which worked best!

[Ripley]

Try shutter priority mode? Or if you want the background blurred, use the AV setting but the general rule I learned is you cannot hand hold a lens with a shutter speed less than that lens' focal length.

I'd buy myself a tripod and set it up if you can, ruthless. In a park, that shouldn't be too hard. Yeah, I know, it's a real pain. I've only used tripods for landscapes and shooting at dusk and even then, only a couple of times.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Ripley

[ruthless]

I've got one, yay, will try that too. Thanks!

[Ripley]

There is something on digital cameras called shutter lag too.

On this 2 day course I did, they showed us how to 'pan' in action shots to show movement. So, your dog would remain sharp but the background would be blurry, emphasising movement - not that frozen look. I think I have instructions on it somewhere. I haven't tried it but if I can dig out those instructions, I will send them to you. With a lens such as your's, it will be a better result as it has IS. Apparently it's not that easy though and takes a lot of practise!

Here is what I mean - it's a different look and you either like it or not. I think it looks amazing.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog...oving-subjects/

Edited December 16, 2007 by Ripley

[ruthless]

I love that effect, thanks for the info

[Ripley]

What is your ISO setting on? Try it on 400 for action shots on overcast days. If the light was low and you were shooting P mode, maybe the camera chose a slower shutter speed because of the lower light levels. I'm not an expert so I'm only guessing.

With a Canon, I've found IS 400 ok and no noise that I can see either. Also try AI Servo mode.

[ruthless]

I just checked the image info, the ISO was on 100, the shutter speeds were between 1/250 and 1/400 and the aperture was around 8 or 9.

[chezzyr]

Trying to think of other explanations. You said you had to brighten the shots alot.

If you have accidently knocked the camera the exposure compensation might be out

so that it might be underexposing the shots by a stop or more?? I have known these

kinds of things to happen.

[Bilbo_Baggins_Junior]

Hi, I am a photography student and I have a Canon aswell, a couple of models higher than yours, The easiest way to get to know your camera is to put it on the full auto settings first and slowly work your way up to the full manual settings. When I first went from film SLR to Digttal SLR I only used auto settings even though I was used to having to control and set everything first I found the transition a lot easier. Even now when I am taking action shots of dogs I use auto settings alot. If you end up missing alot otherwise. See how you go.

When you were lightening the shots did you adjust the levels, contrast and colour correction. If you didn't this may be another reason the images are a little dull and lacklustre.

Hope this helps.

[rubiton]

For a sunny day put it on F8 Speed at least 1000 and ISO of 400.

Overcast put it on ISO 800 leave speed on 1000 and movement the aperture control until the indicator in the viewfinder is in the middle (point at the grass if need be anything with sky will give an inccorect reading). For focus put it on AI Servo.

Then pan with dog (sit down or be down at dog eye level).

ETA put it in M (for manual mode then change the settings).

Auto will go for the middle point with exposure of the whole image not necessarily the subject.

Edited December 18, 2007 by rubiton

[kja]

Looks like you've gotten some good replies! The 30D is a capable camera and it's just a matter of practicing. Surprisingly, reading the manual is actually beneficial, unlike so many manuals we get with stuff - it's worth your time.

As others have said, if you are getting images that are too dark in P mode, up your ISO - the 30D is happy at really high ISOs so you should be good to go. You can up that ISO in P, M, Av and Tv modes so you can choose how much other stuff you want to fiddle around with.

I hate P mode myself as I feel it can be tricked too often. I'd rather suggest to start in aperture or shutter priority - use aperture if you want to control depth of field (how much of the image looks crisp) or shutter if you want to freeze action. It looks like your shutter is way too high...especially with the laying down dogs! For the running dogs, the suggestion on learning how to pan is a great one. And when you read your manual you'll come across the different focus modes - there's one in there for shooting "sports" etc and it's worth checking out.

In bright sunlight I bump my shutter way up (1/1000 and more) with my ISO at 100 and my aperture usually no smaller than F6.3 - I will go smaller if there's not really anything to worry about in the background (see my Doggie shot below which was at f9). No sense upping your ISO if you are using that high of a shutter speed imho. Again, fill flash is a great thing if your subject is in range! For overcast, you are most likely going to want to bump up the ISO and drop the shutter. You'll likely not need anything faster than 1/640 or so on the shutter, even for a moving dog, once you get the hang of focusing on a moving object!

Learn how to read your meter - it's the little bars going from -2 on the left to +2 on the right. A zero value is going to work well in most instances, but sometimes you will want to head to the - or + ... experiment, it's digital!

Set your review screen to have the histogram showing. Expose to the right (mostly) but don't blow the highlights.

In post, if you have a dark dog, duplicating the layer and setting the dupe to screen mode works wonder on slightly underexposed pooches.

If you want a shot for a card and have some control of the dog, have it sit stand or stretch out and you yourself get lower than the dog. Try getting sky in your shot. If you have a flash, use it for fill and expose for the sky to keep the blues (your meter will likely tell you things are underexposed (-) but that's ok coz your flash is going to add a bit of light to your subject. It's a bit of trial and error but totally worth the results.

I would also open my aperture - you're trying to get the dog, not the background. An open aperture will let you get sharp doggie eyes but blur out the distracting background stuff. I love anything under F4 but not sure what your glass has...keep it as close to that as possible and see what you think of the results. This also lets in more light.

I'm a big fan of using a wider lens and getting closer. Your long lens is probably a great choice for the more action type shots.

Watch your focus point. Don't be afraid to move it off the centre square and always try to keep it on an eye for maximum effect. I'm not sure on the 30D but on my 20D and 40D I can move the focus lock to the * button on the back of the camera. This has tremendously improved my ability to grab quick focus on the move so might be something else to try.

I'll try to get out with my dog tomorrow and take some shots - sometimes showing is easier than explaining! Here's one from the beach a few months ago - keeping the sky blue meant nudging the meter to the (-) side, something P or auto modes won't be able to do for you:

ISO 100, 1/400, F9, Canon 20D with Canon 10-22 @ 10mm

There is something on digital cameras called shutter lag too.

Not on dslrs, shutter lag isn't an issue. It is a huge issue on compact cameras, though.

Someone above said practice, practice, practice - that's the absolute best first step...just add the suggestions you've received and what you learn from looking online and in your manual a bit at a time and it'll all come together!

HTH

[Vickie]

Great advice everyone . This is a very informative thread.

Further to what kja said about reading your manual, I'd like to add that reading it multiple times as your skills develop is a great idea too. I remember looking at my manual blankly when I first got my camera. None of it seemed to make any sense. Then, as I started to understand concepts, suddenly a chapter of gibberish would make sense...and then the another chapter etc. I still read it once a month & each time learn something new.

LOL, I got a speedlight recently. Now that manual makes no sense Hopefully one day it will.

[kja]

I'd like to add that reading it multiple times as your skills develop is a great idea too. I remember looking at my manual blankly when I first got my camera. None of it seemed to make any sense. Then, as I started to understand concepts, suddenly a chapter of gibberish would make sense...and then the another chapter etc. I still read it once a month & each time learn something new.

LOL, I got a speedlight recently. Now that manual makes no sense Hopefully one day it will.

This is so true! I find that with my manuals (some of which I still have not read all the way through even once) and books - repeated readings are really helpful as you learn more and more.

I never used to use an external flash for images and it is one manual I kinda skim, coz I am with you on the gibberish. Happily I have found some resources that are more clear for me and I also love to just get out and play to see what will happen!

Play and practice and have fun!!

[ruthless]

Wow, thanks everyone, it seems I've A LOT of practicing and learning to do! Watch this space

[rubiton]

First ruthless you have to decide what sort of photo you are after - you've had two methods described - mine is for close up action photos of the dog where you dont want to see the background much only whereas the other method (Im shocking at names but with the blue sky at beach with dog on page 1) will give you a nice overall image.

Both methods are equally correct but different type of image needs a different technique (never be worried about using a ISO setting like 400 or high shutter speed in a SLR it is what makes the images so much clearer than a point and shoot - years ago I use to take racehorse pics on at most 1/250th til the other photographers told me to try the higher speeds and instantly I got better results).

I was at the horse trials a couple of years ago and a bloke asked me what I was taking the photos on (I said F8 1/1000th) and he said oh no that is wrong you should go no higher than 1/250th (claimed he was a photography teacher and his mate had had calendars or books out). For him he thought a good photo was a nice wide all the image nice and clear for me I needed the horse nice and sharp and the background blurry so the horse stands out. Different results were wanted so different techniques are used (no the bloke wouldn't see my side yet Im the one sitting there in the flouro jacket thing).

[RottnBullies]

Wow, thanks everyone, it seems I've A LOT of practicing and learning to do! Watch this space

How's It all going You should be getting close to a pro with all this great advice ;)

Your title Is describing me to a T

Does anyone know whether an Olympus SP-550UZ 18X optical zoom is any good??

It may not be me afterall, or Is that my wishfull thinking

[RottnBullies]

Ooops, I've KILLED the thread :rolleyes: