Help me take good pictures

[Yeager]

I am using the Av mode on the 10D. I shot these couple of pictures. I dont have a problem with the depth of field but with the was the camera reacted. The forest shot looks like it has no color and the railroad shot looks blown out with light. I have the AF set to the center point. Should I leave it set to all 7 points or what am I doing wrong.

http://members.aol.com/drakenman/Pictures/forest.jpg

http://members.aol.com/drakenman/Pictures/railroadcar.jpg

I dont claim to be a pro so please be gentle and help me learn.

[Jesper]

I think the problem with the first image is the white balance. What white balance setting did you use, auto? With auto white balance, the camera will try to make the average color of the image neutral. That works for many subjects, but not for subjects where there is mainly one color, such as the green in the forest. Try using another white balance setting, for example Daylight or Cloudy, and see how it looks, or tweak the colors with an image editing program.

What metering mode did you use in the bottom image - matrix metering, partial metering or center-weighted metering? It looks like the camera exposed for the dark part (the wheels), so that the light parts became too light.

[Yeager]

I do use auto for the white balance. I will check that setting. I do have Photoshop CS but dont know the ins and outs yet. Tips would be really appreciated.

Where can you check the metering mode?

[cmM]

I do use auto for the white balance. I will check that setting. I do have Photoshop CS but dont know the ins and outs yet. Tips would be really appreciated.

Where can you check the metering mode?

10D... it's one of the custom functions (metering modes). If you don't want to worry about white balance, shoot RAW... you can always change the white balance in your raw converter.
For shots like these I tend to use Manual mode (well I use manual almost all the time); you have more control over things, you can over/under expose to your taste. The histogram will show you what you got. In the second image, I think the difference in brightness is too much for your camera. You can expose twice in cases like that (once for shaddows, once for highlites), or wait until the light is better.

I hope I helped :)

[sGu]

when i was using 10D, this is a common problem with Av, especially when light changes, i find that camera has difficulty to adjust to the change, in many cases, it'll cause under/over expose, just like in the second picture.

i would suggest you use manual mode, and according to histogram on the screen to change aperture or shutter speed.

also shoot RAW, so you have control over white balance if you wanna shoot AWB

[DaveG]

I am using the Av mode on the 10D. I shot these couple of pictures. I dont have a problem with the depth of field but with the was the camera reacted. The forest shot looks like it has no color and the railroad shot looks blown out with light. I have the AF set to the center point. Should I leave it set to all 7 points or what am I doing wrong.

http://members.aol.com/drakenman/Pictures/forest.jpg

http://members.aol.com/drakenman/Pictures/railroadcar.jpg

I dont claim to be a pro so please be gentle and help me learn.

A forest setting such as the one you shown tends to be a monochromatic green. And with all of those green leaves you'll get green in the shadows, and green in the mid tones.

If you own PS CS then by all means shoot using RAW. At ISO 100 you'll be making files that are about 6meg each smaller than I thought before I switched. In that RAW program you'll be able to adjust the white balance at your own convenience in the computer, rather than having the camera make that decision for you in the field.

Warming up this shot might make it more pleasing to you, but frankly I think it looks pretty much the way it's supposed too.

The second shot is just over exposed.

Use M, and centre the "needle" with your shutterspeed/aperture. Check the histogram on your review screen. This should give you the correct exposure with the "mountain" nicely placed in the centre. But if the mountain, or a big chunk of it, is way over on the right side (as it should be on your sample shot of the train wheeels) then that's showing an over exposure and clipped highlights.

Do another shot and let less light in with the shutter or aperture. The needle will no longer be centered. Review it again, and make exposure adjutments as you need too.

[Mikesht]

At risk to be in minority here- technical characteristics of your photographs can be corrected (RAW, filter, tripod, etc), I think what should be worked on first is creativity, composition, different more intersting angles and most importantly - subject matter, why the heck did you actually press the button and took that photograph. Why? Get over the fact that 10D is a great camera and CAN take fantastic pictures and ask yourself: what do I want to show people NOW?

I dont mean to go hard on you, I just see it over and over and over. Great lens, great chip, great tripod, buffer of 9 pictures, but what next???

[Yeager]

At risk to be in minority here- technical characteristics of your photographs can be corrected (RAW, filter, tripod, etc), I think what should be worked on first is creativity, composition, different more intersting angles and most importantly - subject matter, why the heck did you actually press the button and took that photograph. Why? Get over the fact that 10D is a great camera and CAN take fantastic pictures and ask yourself: what do I want to show people NOW?

I understand that is always the question. I wasnt showing these pictures to say, " These are my best photographs ever!" I posted them because I didnt think they looked right. I just need to be sure when I do take that awsome shot that I take it right.

Everyone seems to think taking pictures in raw is the best way to correct the techinical factors. In order to use PS though, dont you need a canon plug-in? Where can I get that file?

[DaveG]

At risk to be in minority here- technical characteristics of your photographs can be corrected (RAW, filter, tripod, etc), I think what should be worked on first is creativity, composition, different more intersting angles and most importantly - subject matter, why the heck did you actually press the button and took that photograph. Why? Get over the fact that 10D is a great camera and CAN take fantastic pictures and ask yourself: what do I want to show people NOW?

I understand that is always the question. I wasnt showing these pictures to say, " These are my best photographs ever!" I posted them because I didnt think they looked right. I just need to be sure when I do take that awsome shot that I take it right.

Everyone seems to think taking pictures in raw is the best way to correct the techinical factors. In order to use PS though, dont you need a canon plug-in? Where can I get that file?

If you have Photoshop CS as you indicated, the RAW conversion program is built in. Shoot some stuff with your camera set on RAW and then download it to a directory in Photoshop. Use the File Browser and select one of those shots. When you try to open a RAW file like this it will automatically open the Camera RAW sub-program.

If you have Photoshop 7 or earlier then you're out of luck since the older Camera RAW add on for PS7 has been discontinued, and the RAW program won't work with PS6 or earlier anyway.

[Yeager]

So i need to install the canon software as well, correct?

[DaveG]

So i need to install the canon software as well, correct?

You need some way of getting the files from the CF card to your computer. I use Zoom Browser, the program that came with the 10D. I suppose that you could just use My Computer and move files from the CF card to the operative directory just like they were any other type of file. But Zoom Browser is easy to use and pretty straightforward.

So this is a Canon Program that I do use. But after the card is downloaded to the computer, it's all Photoshop CS.

[robertwgross]

I think the green forest shot is an excellent background in search of a subject.

Now, if you had a nice orange or white flower sticking up there, that's my kind of shot.

---Bob Gross---