C & C Please! not 56k friendly!

[wasabean]

Hello guys and gals, my name is Dean from Los angeles and im a new member to this forum. first of all, this forum has helped me a lot! and i mean A-LOT! it is extremely informational and has persuaded me to start taking all my pictures in RAW+manual exposure mode to really gain control over my camera and post processing flexibility.

so would you all be so kind and critiqe my recent photo outting? the event was lobsterfest 2007 in san pedro. and advice would help alot or examples. thank you!

ps. post processing was done to these, such as noise reduction, some color and level correction. And all images were taken with the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM (GREAT lens might i add!)

Exposure: Manual
AV: 3.5
TV: 1/100
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: Eval
AF Mode: One-Shot AF
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9788.jpg

Exposure: manual
AV: 3.2
TV: 1/25
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: Eval
AF Mode: On-shot AF
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9796.jpg

Exposure: manual
AV: 3.2
TV: 1/25
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: eval
AF Mode: one-shot af
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9797.jpg


Exposure: manual
AV: 2.8
TV: 1/15
ISO: 400
Metering Mode: eval
AF Mode: one-shot af
http://www.wasabean.com/POTN/IMG_9827.jpghttp://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9827.jpg



Exposure: manual
AV: 4.0
TV: 1/40
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: eval
AF Mode: one-shot af
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9724.jpg

Exposure: manual
AV: 4.0
TV: 1/15
ISO: 400
Metering Mode: eval
AF Mode: one-shot af
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9732.jpg


Exposure: manual
AV: 2.8
TV: 1/40
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: eval
AF Mode: one-shot af
http://www.wasabean.com/misc/POTN/IMG_9785.jpg

[SilverOnemi]

well the main critic is to have used F 4 ... that gave you a shuter speed of 40, i'm your IS helped you alot, but you could have gotten alot better results with your canon 50 1.4.

IS is useless on subjects becouse they move.

meetering mode doesn't really matter here since you are working in manual, and yes always use one shot... althought on my L IS ai servo always worked fine with my 350D

EDIT: i just noticed you own 17 55 and not 17 85... dude that's an amaizing lens why didnt you use 2.8 all the way ?

[wasabean]

i actually sold my 50mm f/1.4 recently! it wasn't giving the flexibility that i wanted. 50mm on my rebel xt was giving 80mm and it hardly using it as a walk around lens. the range was just too far. i do however plan on buying the lens again once i get a full frame body. but as of now, it's not really meeting my need for range right now. =( that was indeed a great lens.

i didn't go 2.8 all the way because i didn't want too much bokah on all of my shots. i wanted some clarity behind the subject as well as the subject itself (performer).

thanks for your input!

[SilverOnemi]

i think out of focus blur would look awesome on some of your shots really .

nr 1 is a good example of them.

http://silverphotos.deviantart.com/art/Academic-week-62942280
since i've cc your shots you can also cc mine ! :P

i find the back ground quite disctracting.

also you can get sigma 30 1.4 if that's the case.

[wasabean]

thanks! your shots are incredible! i think i will stick with canon brand lens. i also have the tamron 28-35, and i got that lens because of wide angle capabilities, but since i got my 17-55mm it's able to cover the entire range that i want. my next lens will probably be the 70-200 L, like yours, to cover the longer ranges.

[SilverOnemi]

yeah i'd go for the 15 55 if it wasn't EFS, i'm planing 5D mkII.

you can also check the sigma 70 200 EX 2.8 ... it's 2.8 for concerts and covers your range.

you can check a review of both of these on photozone.de

[mcmadkat]

BTW in pic #1 you have focussed on the mic stand, be careful what you let the camera choose.

Also, get that lens open! your SS are too slow, you have f2.8, so use it! Also bump that ISO to 1600 then you freeze it all a bit better.

[wasabean]

gotcha! =)
how do i fix the noise in PS? sometimes the noise is just terrible where there is a lot of blacks involved. thats why i tried to keep the ISO as low as possible

[Road2Show]

As others have said, get your SS up and open up that lens. You need all the light you can get. As for high ISO, noise is better than blurry any day.

In your first 2 shots, your focus is on the mic-stand. The second shot would get tossed for comp in most cases too. I know there is a right time and place, but the heavy tilt doesn't seem to be working for me.

In the end, you are heading the right direction. Work on technique as you have been. Going full manual is the best thing you can do IMHO, but you do need to stay on top of it. Work on isolating your subjects. Where do you want the views attention drawn?

Mike

[CanonXTuser]

Examples of Canon XT and Tamron f2.8 zoom lenses and no flash mostly for those wondering what can be done with Tamron lenses.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/staceyeah/Inhale%20Exhale/IMG_2780.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Stacieann/decyfer%20down/photos112copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Stacieann/project%2086/IMG_4532.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/staceyeah/The%20Chariot/IMG_3151.jpg

[narlus]

meetering mode doesn't really matter here since you are working in manual


how do you figure? even shooting manual, you've got to meter using something to set the exposure, and different metering modes will give your camera different readings.

btw, i agree w/ shooting wide open and 1600...you can see the 1st one w/ the high kick is all blurry because 1/100th isn't fast enough to freeze the action. also, beware of mic stands when pressing the shutter...they should not be blocking the performer's face at all, and ideally not blocking the guitar either (though that is less important imo).

[Valerie S]

I shot that first band about 6 weeks ago and posted a few here (http://www.babymonster.com/thebinges/) from that. Awesome band. The Binges.

I just echo what everyone else says about SS. I've also heard from a few people who use Servo mode too.

[wasabean]

those shots are incredible Valerie!! ok..looks like its f/2.8 from now on! =P
some shots were in servo, since they were moving around quite a bit, but most were done with one-shot.

thanks everyone for your input! i will learn from this and take all of your advice.

[Gamut]

I can't figure out how AV 4.0 got you almost all the shot in focus on that shot of the crowd. Looks more like AV 11 to me.

[wasabean]

I can't figure out how AV 4.0 got you almost all the shot in focus on that shot of the crowd. Looks more like AV 11 to me.

yup, believe it or not, av/4.0 got me a pretty good DOF focus

attached is a screenprint of my zoombrowser showing you the shooting information for that picture.

[DanC922]

Examples of Canon XT and Tamron f2.8 zoom lenses and no flash mostly for those wondering what can be done with Tamron lenses.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/staceyeah/Inhale%20Exhale/IMG_2780.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Stacieann/decyfer%20down/photos112copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Stacieann/project%2086/IMG_4532.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/staceyeah/The%20Chariot/IMG_3151.jpg

Are you Stacie Ann? I recognize the name from some Disciple photos on their Myspace. I love that picture of Decyfer Down's guitarist!

[Gamut]

I believe you. Just surprised me. Ya know?

yup, believe it or not, av/4.0 got me a pretty good DOF focus

attached is a screenprint of my zoombrowser showing you the shooting information for that picture.

[wasabean]

I believe you. Just surprised me. Ya know?

yeah, but i too wonder how it was done. =P it was my first time shooting in M-mode.. :lol: