Beginning photography with model and cars

[aznsoccerstar11]

Hey everyone I have lurked on here for the longest trying to learn as much as I could about cameras and lenses and settings etc, but it is all so much more difficult when you get the camera in your hand.

I recently purchased a 30d with kit lens. It was a nice day outside and my girlfriend decided she wanted some pics of herself as she saw the random shots i have been taking and loved them.

I first started with some candid shots of her here:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2927341825_74c566c98b_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2927341821_11ded24804_o.jpg

to me the photos are a bit out of focus.

now I went out into the bright sun with little or no shadows and just took some basic shots.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2927382563_cd7d9da0a8_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/2928240674_6e6a0314aa_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2927383429_31224ae690_o.jpg

now the photos on the LCD screen actually looked really good. Then I got home and they were very dark for some odd reason. Is it the sun and the way I took pics in the lighting or simply should I get better acquainted with Manual settings?

ok basically I have a few questions.

#1 How can you really tell by looking at the LCD screen the pics are truly looking descent. I mean I was taking them and looking, and kept going because they looked great on screen

#2 What are the best simple settings for daylight. Honestly I was shooting in Portrait mode with iso of 100 on an 18-55 kit lens.

#3 What is the best lens to shoot not only a model as well as an automobile, because I am a car enthusiast as well.

Any CC would help, and I greatly appreciate it. I have recently bought my Canon 50mm 1.8 and like the outcome, I am just getting tired of pics looking so dark in lowlight or even sunlight at that.

[inthedeck]

1) Use the Histogram, to check exposure to the right.
2) Check the Sunny 16 rule. It might help, otherwise, you will need a flash to compensate.
3) What you have should be fine, for now...it's the other things you have to worry about. Once you have those down, then you can worry about lenses...and how much you want to invest. Trust me, you are 'far' from being done yet... :lol:

As for the last picture, you were using f/5.6, at 1/1000th of a second, at ISO 200. Dial down the ISO to 100, get you 50 1.8 and open up to around 2.2, focus on one of her eyes, and keep the shutter at around 1/100th or 1/200th of a second. It'll probably work a little better. Oh, and if you don't have an external flash, find the best angles where the natural light illuminates her face, without being too hard. And set the EC to 0, instead of -2.

Enjoy.

[aznsoccerstar11]

appreciate the help, i will be learning more of the camera lingo lol, but for now

1. with checking the histogram and viewing the exposure what sort of numbers should i be looking for?

2. i read up on the rule, will the flash on the camera work or is it too harsh?

3. yea i was just wondering a good lens for this type of photography. like for a car ive seen the 10-20 sigma and 10-22 canon are amazing

I just want a lens with IS that is suitable for all sorts of shots. it seems as though some lenses are designed for one or a few things only.

Lastly how can you tell my settings on the last picture? lol the shutter was on auto so you think to change it to manual. as well as what does EC stand for?

[inthedeck]

1) The histogram shows you a 'graph.' The graph, depending on the situation, should be more to the 'right' side of the histogram, without too much clipping. Clipping is where you either blow the highlights, or have too much 'black' in the picture.

2) Flash on the camera will work, but, for cars/women on cars, you will need some 'serious' light. I used 3 flashes for a car shoot (check the flickr) and I could have used more.

3) I have no experience with wide angles for crop bodies, so, I cannot help you there. Research the lens forum, and do some searches...that'll be easiest. As for a lens with IS, that is good for your cam. body, I'd suggest researching the 17-55 EF-s IS.

4) There is exif embedded into the image. This is when you 'Save As...' in your photo editor. The exif data helps determine what you did right/wrong in a shot, to some people...and thus, I provided you with some info.

HTH.

[aznsoccerstar11]

anyone else....or should i post this elsewhere

[Ook]

anyone else....or should i post this elsewhere

Well, you've asked a number of different questions. You'll get more lens response for lenses for car shoots by posting in the lens forum.

As for the pictures - there isn't anything wrong with the settings for your outdoor pictures, there is just far too large a range of brightness to capture in one image, period. The skies / backgrounds look properly exposed to me, but your subject needs more light. Options: Choose another spot or angle where more light hits the subject, wait until later on so you can get more direct sunlight on the subject and the sky is a bit darker, or use flash. Others may disagree, but I'll say that you shouldn't really use direct onboard flash. It is harsh and not up to par with the flexibility of the rest of your rig, and it will probably be frustrating to get the same sorts of results as with a basic point-and-shoot. You could try to rig up a diffuser for your pop-up flash (or something like a Gary Fong Puffer), or get a 430EX and go nuts.


As for lenses for shooting cars, 10-22, 10-20 and the tokina 11-16 should all be great choices, but it is all totally dependent on what kind of automotive shooting you're doing. If you're going to the track, for example, those will be much less useful than a 70-200 because you won't be very close to the action.

When looking at the histogram, what you're looking for is clumps near the far left and far right (which mean total black and total white). Ideally, for most scenes, you won't have any pixels that are totally white, or totally black. Then you can play around with brightness and contrast and other things in photoshop. You can't come back from pure black or pure white though, so you need to keep that in mind when shooting.

[boostedbase]

hey your from clubrsx! nice shots btw

[Stump]

I'd start out with getting a 430ex or 580ex just to use on your camera. Bouncing the flash can do wonders indoors. It will be good for fill flash outdoors too.

If you want a wide angle, I'd go with a Canon 10-22mm. Look forward to seeing more shots from you.