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Yes Another Photoshop Question


~SL~
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I am looking for some decent tutorials on Photoshop. I have photoshop Elements and I am having fun playing around but Im fairly sure there is much more I could be doing :laugh:

I have a lovely Nikon DSLR and I can take some ok shots I would just love to be able to do a bit more with them.

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Thank god, another Nikon user. :thumbsup:

Practice taking heaps of photos and you wont even need photoshop with the Nikon, unlike some other camera owners :laugh: *just kidding*

:) You know I only put that I have a Nikon just for you Ruger, since spending more time in the photo thread I've noticed you seem to get ganged up on a bit when it comes to Nikons :thumbsup:

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I really do Love my Nikon, I have a D40x, my chrissy present year before last I am going to look at new lenses today :laugh: I am VERY excited,

Seeing as you are a Nikon user what would you recommend lense wise? The majority of my photos are of the dogs and I take all the photos of our dogs (mine and our groups & random strangers now, I was approached at the last show by someone who offered to pay me to take photos of his dogs lol) at the shows so I need something with great zoom and to get that crisp shot, I have been looking at a few on the website, I havent brushed up my technical skills since I did photography at school so I know Im going to walk in there and look like a fool ***walks into store, well that one looks pretty*** :laugh:

Edited by StaffordLove
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Im pretty happy with my 18-200 VR its not THE BEST lens ever, its worth around 950-1000, enough zoom for movement shots across the ring etc. I shoot at shows too, and yea, i've had a few good ones. I use a 50mm 1.8 for portraits, if you tell me your budget, perhaps that will help. I dont think its much use getting a 70-300, the 18-200 covers heaps and its great for close in shots too. Its also light.

What do you have already?

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hmmm Im having total mind blank issues right now, I cant for the life of me remember, shit thats embarassing :laugh:

EDT: I probably cant remember because I didnt pick them out, I got two lenses with the Camera as a "pack", I will have to check when I get home,

Edited by StaffordLove
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I have a Nikon (D80) which I love, but the 55-200mm lens is just about right when in good light conditions.

However, I am saving up for the following

Tamron 28-70 2.8 (which I am going to use for a wedding shortly)

and

Tamron 70-200 2.8

Both are great lenses and very sharp. The 2.8 will be great even if the lighting isn't the best.

On top of this, I might get a 2x teleconverter to stick on the camera in front of the 70-200 2.8 so it will be 140-400 at f4... which will be great for those long distance shots!

I'm going through 2nd hand shops at the moment testing out lenses, should be around $400 for the 28-70 and quite a bit more for the 70-200!

Once I have these, I'll be selling off my 18-55 and 55-200 Nikon VR lenses, as they won't be needed anymore. If I shoot wider shots, I'll get a 18-34 lens!

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I finally got home to check my camera the larger of the two lenses is a 50-200mm, I am loading a photo now onto photobucket that I took at our last show to show where I lost the crispness.

I am looking to spend no more than say $1500 on a new lense

004-2.jpg

This is the photo, it probably doesnt help that it was night but the photos I took where I was closer were really good

Edited by StaffordLove
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I finally got home to check my camera the larger of the two lenses is a 50-200mm, I am loading a photo now onto photobucket that I took at our last show to show where I lost the crispness.

I am looking to spend no more than say $1500 on a new lense

This is the photo, it probably doesnt help that it was night but the photos I took where I was closer were really good

That's really not too bad.

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Aubrey........I did an advanced camera course at Photographic Wholesalers in Hutt St Monday night. No....I'm not advanced but there beginner one wasn't till March so I took the plunge and understood most of it.....hmmmmm..histograms I STILL don't understand - course was great anyhow - I booked it through the Diamonds site here in SA....... Anyhow there was a gentleman who had put his Sigma 70-200 2.8 on consignment in there.....u may want to check out their 2nd hand lenses!!!!!

StaffordLove I'm not sure all lenses autofocus with the D40 (I have the D80) - can't remember why but I guess the camerashop people will help you out!!!! Your staffy pic is good considering the light wasn't really good - a 2.8 lense would still be good in overcast or late noon/early evening pics - but are xpensive - don't rule out eBay for lenses as well 2nd hand!!!!!

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this is off the orig topic but it may help StaffordLove

quote from DP Review

the D40 and the D40X don't have an built-in focus drive motor which means it can auto focus only with lenses which have their own drive motor (AF-S and AF-I lenses)
. this rules out some lenses from auto focusing on the d40 range. here is a list of compatible lenses i saw on a dp review forum. as you can see there is still heaps of choice for the D40 user.

Nikon AF-S lenses:

12-24/4 DX

17-55/2.8 DX

18-55/3.5-5.6 DX I

18-55/3.5-5.6 DX II

18-70 DX

18-135 DX

18-200 DX VR

55-200 DX

17-35/2.8 AF-S

24-85/3.5-4.5 AF-S

24-120 AF-S VR

28-70/2.8

70-200/2.8 VR

70-300 VR

105/2.8 VR

200/2 VR

200-400/4 VR

300/2.8 VR

300/4 AF-S

400/2.8 AF-S

500/4 AF-S

600/4 AF-S

Sigma HSM lenses:

10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC

12-24mm F4.5-5.6

17-35mm F2.8-4 DG

50-500mm F4-6.3 DG

50-150mm F2.8 EX DC HSM

70-200mm F2.8 DG MACRO

80-400mm F4.5-5.6

100-300mm F4 DG

120-300mm F2.8 DG

300-800mm F5.6 DG

14mm F2.8 EX

30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM

150mm F2.8 EX DG

180mm F3.5 EX DG

300mm EX DG

500mm EX DG

800mm f5.6 EX DG

Edited by Chloes Dad
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Thanks Chloesdad for the list, I did realise that I had to buy a certain type of lense but that list is awesome :laugh:

I will look forward to which one your talking about Ruger

Thanks LukeW, its not that I thought it was a horrible shot, more that with a better lense I could possible get a bit more crisper shot?

Thanks for the tips to Polomum.

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1/60 and ISO 1600 and at 200mm - was this hand held?

The slow shutter speed and high ISO might be contributing to the lack of "crispness". There's a bit of noise.

Some noise reduction and sharpening would help.

A good f/2.8 lens would have allowed you to shoot at ISO 800 and 1/125 - it would have improved the image quality marginally.

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Yes it was hand held, havent bought my tripod yet.

Thanks for the tips, I did have it on all auto function :laugh: I really need to start using the settings properly, I will make sure I take better care of the settings now

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