Photography Tips & Tricks.

[shoes]

Oh and one last thing - read the manual!!! An often overlooked thing to do but there are lots of useful pieces of information in it.

Surprisingly good advice this (not surprising because it came from BBW, more surprising because manuals rarely offer anything useful other than 'operator' instructions). My D40 came with some great advice in the manual.

I have a few books on the subject aimed at beginners (I used them when I was a beginner) and found them most useful. Happy to lend some reading material should you want it.

 

[shoes]

Oh and one last thing - read the manual!!! An often overlooked thing to do but there are lots of useful pieces of information in it.

Surprisingly good advice this (not surprising because it came from BBW, more surprising because manuals rarely offer anything useful other than 'operator' instructions). My D40 came with some great advice in the manual.

I have a few books on the subject aimed at beginners (I used them when I was a beginner) and found them most useful. Happy to lend some reading material should you want it.

Edit: Also, take advantage of the digital age - get Opanda Exif and analyse your shots from a technical perspective. If they're too dark, or not enough DOF or the shutter speed allowed too much blur then you can see the settings you used. Saves you recording them all with a pen and some paper like the good old days!

 

[My Name is URL]

Thanks Shoes and BBW, appreciated. I definately need to take time (the hardest part of all) to go on a walk at the weekend and just play with my camera.

I may well take you up on that offer of some tuition in exchange for a few beers at some point.

 

[Trapnest]

I have a couple of books. I shoot in full auto. :> Though my lovely is starting to play up nowadays. It doesn't like shooting at 400 iso. I have to go up to 800 and then get lesser quality images :/ However it just gets used for my blog nowadays so it's no biggy, probably also with shooting indoors doesn't help..

 

[shoes]

can you shoot in RAW? if so then cameraraw with photoshop cs5 is a godsend

 

[Mikinton]

can you shoot in RAW? if so then cameraraw with photoshop cs5 is a godsend

I don't usually, unless it's difficult lighting conditions or the photo needs to be a bit special for some reason.

Quality editing software is a must as well - it's rescued many a photo of mine (I'm often taking sport photos in less-than-ideal conditions). I use Lightroom 3.4.1, but used Picasa before that, as it was free.

 

[Jonah]

I always shoot in RAW, would never consider shooting in JPG format ever again.

 

[Trapnest]

can you shoot in RAW? if so then cameraraw with photoshop cs5 is a godsend

I can, but I need a new SD card. Otherwise I can shoot 3, maybe 4 photos in RAW.
I have Photoshop. Have done since I was about 14. Lol. I started doing forum and website graphics, then photomanipulation, then got in to illustrating and web design and stuff, so very useful. I did have Lightroom at one point but just easier with photoshop really. I don't particularly edit my photos except for on my blog for colour accuracy if need be. Un-natural light tends to throw off my make up swatches. You know the drill *wafts hand*

For the record, I have a Canon 1000D, Kit lens only :<

 

[shoes]

I did have Lightroom at one point but just easier with photoshop really.

Holy flashbulbs batman!

I cannot possibly imagine my world without lightroom

I only fire up photoshop for the nitty-gritty fine detail for photos I'm being paid to take, otherwise lightroom is fine.

 

[Trapnest]

Haha, well I only had a trial of lightroom. Go figure. My photoshoops is legit 5.1. Can't afford to get lightroom when Photoshop does what I need. Like I said, don't really edit my stuff unless it's obvious photoshoops manips or something. Have a handy action to resize & watermark my photos for my blog too.

 

[shoes]

Oh yeah, all of my software is completely legit too.....err...yeah.

Moving on.... I agree photoshop does everything I need too, and more, but I'm a lazy arse (borderline student lazy) and lightroom offers me unparalleled levels of convenience

When it comes to editing, I'm an habitual raw shooter and my photographs rarely (read: never) look good straight off the camera in raw. I'm sure one day I'll get enough practice and learn how to take photos, but in the meantime it's nice to be able to play with the curves, levels and lens correction settings. Lens correction is particularly great for the 10.5mm, it warps everything like a hall of mirrors!

 

[Trapnest]

Shhh :r Aha.

I see. I probably would shoot in RAW if I had the space to. (Anyone want to buy me a new memory card?! Nobody? Okay :< ) I'm not sure how mine would turn out in RAW! Normal .jpg though, they look... decent. Anything wrong with them was down to my poor skills really. I don't like the idea of fixing them too much in PS either because I don't want to seem to do things I can't... can get quite troublesome that can!

 

[shoes]

I don't like the idea of fixing them too much in PS either because I don't want to seem to do things I can't... can get quite troublesome that can!

Ahh but this is what makes the world go round!

It's a very subjective thing - I've taken some crap photos which people have been really excited about, and then take one I'm genuinely proud of and received the 'meh' response.

I have loads of different memory cards of all kinds lying around, I'll have a dig and see if I can find something of use to you - not promising anything though. Does your camera accept SD?

Edit: Meet mr bee.

 

[Gramaisc]

Does your camera accept SD?

For the record, I have a Canon 1000D, Kit lens only :<

1000D has an SD slot, I believe.

 

[My Name is URL]

SD memory is cheap as chips these days, how big a card do you currently rock Trapnest?

On a differnt note, can't wait for the clocks to change so I can get out at night and get some photos... stupid dark nights.

 

[Trapnest]

Yeah. SD slot. Only 2gb. Had a 16gb card but it keeps going corrupt so I can't really use it now, reformatting doesn't fix it, it's generally faulty.
Thanks, shoes, that's really nice of you! <3
Meet my Mr Bee :p http://talei.deviantart.com/art/Bumble-bee-Eddy-101061776

Just thought I've not shared a photo with you guys.
I took this with my compact SLR years ago when I was first getting in to it. Very much a fluke but to this day is my most popular photo

This is one of my more recent photos.. April.. not so recent. It's been that long.

 

[Glam]

Yeah. SD slot. Only 2gb. Had a 16gb card but it keeps going corrupt so I can't really use it now, reformatting doesn't fix it, it's generally faulty.
Thanks, shoes, that's really nice of you! <3
Meet my Mr Bee :p http://talei.deviantart.com/art/Bumble-bee-Eddy-101061776

Just thought I've not shared a photo with you guys.
I took this with my compact SLR years ago when I was first getting in to it. Very much a fluke but to this day is my most popular photo
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs27/i/2008/126/0/e/Scruffy_3_by_Talei.jpg

This is one of my more recent photos.. April.. not so recent. It's been that long.
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/111/3/7/img_5836_by_talei-d3ejvyc.jpg

Looks like the cat's spotted the ducks and is thinkin of his/her next meal!

 

[Trapnest]

Didn't live in Stafford then. Haha, Scruffy on top of my dads shed when I lived with my parents. Haha. It was all skinny So we fed it, he porked up. He'd just filled up. Turned out a woman down the road had an insane amount of cats and had them taken from her and rehomed and was banned from having animals cus she couldn't care for them. :<

 

[Mikinton]

A couple of my favourites from today's crop ....

 

[My Name is URL]

^^ Wow what happened to the defence in that bottom photo Mikinton...?