SLR Photography 101 - Using Canon EOS Digital

[Pixi]

Hi Everybody!

I just found your forum complements of Google. I'm brand new to SLR photography and just purchased the Canon EOS Digital yesterday. Prior to this I spent the last few years using the Nikon 990 in automatic mode.

Today I took my first shots. The first group was of my own duck - a typical image for the newby I'm told. :shock:

Anyway the duck shots were in automatic mode and not too bad... maybe a little blown out in the highlights.

http://graphicspalmbeach.com/forum/CanonShots/firstshots1.html

Later in the day I went out again and with the sun to my back I took some shots of our oak tree and driveway. The ones shot in automatic jpg mode were terribly blown out in the sky area... I mean horrible.

So I set the camera to manual and raw. This improved the shots but still left me with some questions. If someone is interested in looking at one of them that I've cropped and marked up, it is here.

http://graphicspalmbeach.com/forum/CanonShots/Questions3.html

Anyway, I'm sure there is a better way to go about this, but I'm starting here for now.

[drisley]

When you say Canon Eos Digital, do you mean the 300D Rebel?
What lens were you using? The kit lens?
If so, that would be the culprit for the blue/purple fringing around the bright areas and branches/leaves. This is common on all point and shoot cameras, and slr consumer lenses.
Basically only the L class lenses will control the fringing.

This picture has a very large dynamic range. Since the shadows are exposed nicely, the bright sky has been blown out. The Rebel is quite good when it comes to digital camera dynamic range, at about 8.5 stops, but that scene definately encompasses more than that. You have to either expose for the shadows, or the sky. There are methods where you can use 2 pictures (or 2 pics from one raw file) where you can combine and get the best of both worlds.

[Pixi]

Drisley,

Yes, I did use the kit lens. My camera is the same as the 300D. Because I had a sales person sternly reprimand me for calling it 300D in the US I resorted to using the EOS Digital name. I prefer calling it 300D since that's what it seems to go by more often.

Glad to know that's what the problem is. I guess I need to study up on dynamic range and stops next.

I am somewhat experienced with fixing photos but totally inexperienced with using a SLR.

Thanks very much for your reply.

[drisley]

No problem. :)
Oh, we often refer to that camera as the Digital Rebel, or just "Rebel".

Have a look at this thread for info about dynamic range.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26027

[roanjohn]

Yes........that scene will be hard to expose properly as you have to choose from one or the other (shadow vs. highlights).

The kit lens is pretty good when stopped down to around f8. With that small aperture, it would be unlikely that you will see any of those blue haloes around your branches.

Have fun shootin'!!!

Ro1

[robertwgross]

No problem. :)
Oh, we often refer to that camera as the Digital Rebel, or just "Rebel".


The Rebel is a Canon film camera. The Digital Rebel is a Canon digital camera.

There are still many film users with the Rebel, so let's not get them confused.

---Bob Gross---

[drisley]

Yes, I am aware of that, but honestly, I dont see many people using the film rebel posting here. Almost none in fact.

To make it easier I often just write "DRebel" :)

[Pixi]

Drisley, I appreciate the link. I'm checking it out now.

Thanks everybody!

[Pixi]

I still prefer to call it the Canon 300D. Sounds more professional. Besides all the reviews seem to call it that. :D

Oh and btw, the guy who reprimanded me did not get the sale. I went elsewhere. :wink:

[Pixi]

Ro1 -- I'll try playing with the stops tomorrow when it's light out again. Thanks!

[Whaler]

First off. . . . . welcome. There's one "L" of a lot of good info here. Next time you think you are out of your dynamic range, do a tripple exposure on a tripod and go here

http://studio.adobe.com/tips/tip.jsp?p=1&id=463&xml=phs7rbrawcreat#

to find out how to manage the exposures/file. Simply stated, WAY COOL. You notice the word cool ends in the letter "L"? :lol: :lol:

[Pixi]

Ahoy Whaler! That link takes me inside Adobe (after I sign in) and to a nice pretty blank white page. Well designed with lots of white space but no info. :wink:

[dtrayers]

Welcome Pixi!

You'll find that this is one of the most helpful and civil forums on the web.

Check out the Top Tips (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18857) and All The Best Links (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22081) threads at the top of the EOS forum.

Here's another site specific to the 300D:

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/lessons_1-5.html

and here's another:

http://photonotes.org/articles/

The Photonotes article on E-TTL flash is required reading for any EOS owner, digital or film.

[Pixi]

Thanks very much Dave!

I've just pasted the Canon Learning Center as my home page until I cover all bases.

I've got a lot to learn.

I appreciate the warm welcome and responses. Normally I hang out at the Photoshop Forum, which is also a very special group of people.

Now I'm out of here for the night. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

:wink:

Thanks!

[OviV]

I recently ran into a very similar shooting situation when visiting some ruins in Mexico. Most of the structures were in shadows while the sky was bright. My solution was to mostly expose for the sky if I wanted the blue sky in the shot and to expose for the building when I wanted the details of the structure. I also used the following tutorial to do some blended exposures off of the same shot: http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

In my case I began with the same RAW image and came up with two versions during RAW conversion: A darker one (exposed for sky) and a lighter one (exposed for the structure). I then used the Mask method in the tutorial and came up with a blended image. My wife thinks this is cheating but I tell her is part of your "digital processing".

Here is the example:

First image (pretty much the way it came out of the camera, exposed for sky):
http://www.shareapicture.com/vsalbum/getpic.aspx?fld=\OviV\PS%20Work\Blended%20Exposure &pic=135_3515_D_640.jpg&OV=0

Second image, +2 stops adjustment in PS RAW converter:
http://www.shareapicture.com/vsalbum/getpic.aspx?fld=\OviV\PS%20Work\Blended%20Exposure &pic=135_3515_L_640.jpg&OV=0

Third image, the resulting blended exposure:
http://www.shareapicture.com/vsalbum/getpic.aspx?fld=\OviV\PS%20Work\Blended%20Exposure &pic=135_3515_C_640.jpg&OV=0

Hope this helps,
Ovi

[Motorsports Photo]

Pixi-

My experience with my D30 and 10D is that the Canon metering works poorly. They worked GREAT on my old film cameras, so I dont understand how they dropped the ball.

I always shoot with a 1/2 to 1 compensation. It varies slightly with overcast and sunny days, but its always correctable by checking the histogram.

The white ducks using automatic would always have an overexposure problem. When you have subjects that are predominantly white or black, with any camera you have to compensate.

On the second URL you referenced, you inidcated it was manual, so you should have gotten it right, since you did the settings right? :) Just because its raw doesnt mean the camera does anyhting different, it just means you can make more adjustments after the fact.

Hope this helps.

-Pete

[robertwgross]

Yes, I am aware of that, but honestly, I dont see many people using the film rebel posting here. Almost none in fact.


Since our subject here is Canon EOS digital cameras, there isn't much said about Canon EOS film cameras. However, hidden in our gear you may find the film Rebel or one of its brothers. It is nice to be able to swap lenses between digital and film cameras.

In contrast to your observation, each one of my nearby Canon shooters has a film Rebel, and I do too.

---Bob Gross---

[cmM]

For the second URL you provided, you could have used multiple exposures (as mentioned before), or get a neutral density filter (graduated), put it in fron of the lens so that the grayer part covers the bright sky, and expose like that. You can get pretty nice pics like that.

[robekert]

Try this link:

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/index.html

Rob

[Pixi]

Hi Everybody!

Gosh, I'm sorry I didn't respond to the last posts. I never was notified that there were more since the first day. I just came by to check today and there they were.

I'll be reading what you wrote since my last visit on the 20th and will respond in a little while.

Thanks for all your responses!!!

[Pixi]

Good job of blending the two photos Ovi!

Pete: Thanks for your comments. Glad to know your results are somewhat consistent with mine. I'm going to have to work a little harder but the results should be worth it... I hope. :)

Chris: The neutral density filter sounds like something I might like to look into. Thanks!

Rob: I've been reading from that site all week, thanks to an earlier poster who sent me there. It's very good, although to a SLR newbie like myself I would have like a little more extra breakdown on the how-tos. Anyway, I'm still studying that site and have a few pages left to read that I've not gotten to yet. Thanks!

[Pixi]

Here's a link to a few of today's shots. The first one is not corrected at all and has image info at the bottom of the page.

http://graphicspalmbeach.com/forum/CanonShots/sunday042504/0441.html

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