Rookie; How Can I Improve These Safari Pics Please?

[noobs]

OK, I am a pure rookie looking to learn and get better. I bought an Rebel XT years ago, but never had time to learn how to use it very well (young kids, work, you know).

I bought a EF-S 55-250 IS to take on a safari to South Africa. I thought these weren't that bad, but my colleague's shots were way better. Is there anything I should have done differently? It was getting towards dusk and it was cloudy, so light was low and flat

Man or machine? He was using a 5DmkII with a 300mm f2.8L :)

[seaside]

Not bad shots but the 300mm is bound to produce better image quality.

[noobs]

Oh I should add they were shot in full auto. Any suggestions as to different shooting modes or settings?

[seaside]

I would have tried to increase the dof (depth of field) on the first shot. Getting the elephant in focus from front to rear - tip of the tusk to tail. Its a large animal facing you at an angle which would require more than the f5.6 that was used. f8.0 maybe. You had limited light which would make that difficult so increasing the iso from 400 to maybe 800 may have helped. Setting up on the ground with a tripod wouldn't be an option here :) so using a support of some kind in the vehicle would be needed. A bean bag type of support on a railing or roof and careful technique to eliminate camera shake.

Sometimes we're faced with limitations imposed on us by our camera/lens. Higher iso would have increased noise but some of that could be resolved in post processing. The zebra had some motion in its mane which could be rendered sharp with a faster shutter speed but the same rules apply here.

Just don't be discouraged comparing your images to the 300mm. You did well with the lens/camera combo you were using. Hope this helps.

[BigStig]

I like your composition.
I would have shot in AV mode at around F8 or so for both pics. Would have upped the ISO to keep a shutter seed of around 400 or so and shot in raw so I could adjust the white balance and add some contrast in photoshop later.
I think you did great to say you shot in auto mode. and you can not really compare your shots to that of the 5DmkII and 300
But having that better equipment is not going to help untill you learn to control the basics with the equipment you have.
Great start and keep up the learning curve.
Cheers SteveP

[noobs]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm shooting more in P, Av and M mode to see what the shots look like when I adjust the aperture and speed and ISO.

Can I get some feedback on this picture? This is one of the most disappointing shots. The hyena headed straight for the jeep and walked about 15 feet away. I thought it was going to be a great shot, but it didn't pop and did not have the sharpness to it.

This is full shot, no cropping, so I probably should not have zoomed in so tight? I'm guessing I should have kept a high shutter speed 1/400 since it was moving. As to DOF, I'm not sure. Could I have made it more shallow to try blur the droppings and grass in the background? I'm guessing bump up the ISO a bit too? I also should have focused on the face, but the hyena wouldn't stop and pose properly ;)

I understand the feedback for the other shots, but this one I'm puzzled :confused:

Any help appreciated

[BigStig]

The photo Seem pretty good except for the droppings. Not much you could do there except take the picture when the Hyena was in another spot with a clear background.
Hope you don't mind I just did a quick curves adjustment and it seems to make it pop a bit more.

[noobs]

The photo Seem pretty good except for the droppings. Not much you could do there except take the picture when the Hyena was in another spot with a clear background.
Hope you don't mind I just did a quick curves adjustment and it seems to make it pop a bit more.

Hey, how did you do that?! I just bought a copy of Photoshop Elements 8. Can you point me to a tutorial on here on how to find the curves and adjust them.

BTW I messed up framing the shots as it was walking towards us and if had waited for it to clear the droppings, I would have got the rear end :(

I have been doing some reading here on the forum. I went to BB a day before leaving and picked up a cheap Sunpak UV filter. I realize now that was not such a good thing to do...

[seaside]

It looks like to me that BigStig may also have added a bit of sharpening as well. FYI sharpening should normally be the last step in your post processing. If shooting jpg there will certainly be some processing in camera but usually the need for PP is still required after downloading the images.

Your shutter speed of 1/500 should have been enough to stop motion here. One important thing to keep in mind is the auto focus mode. AI Servo can be used for subjects that are moving. When a subject is moving this mode will continuously adjust the focusing to obtain a sharp image. Using One-Shot AF on a moving subject can lead to OOF images.

If you search on filters here on POTN you'll find a host of pro's and con's about using them. But I usually recommend if you feel the need to use them purchase the best you can afford. I never have one on the lens unless there is a very good reason. A quality clear filter if shooting in the wind at the beach to protect from sand. A polarizer and neutral density if there aren't any alternatives.

[BigStig]

Man Chris has a good eye I forgot to mention I sharpen'd a bit too.
I do not have Elements 8 so I do not know if it has curve adjustment in it.
You could achieve a similar result by adding a levels adjustment layer then a contrast adjustment layer then a Unsharp Mask

Cheepest and quickest place to learn elements is YouTube just do a search on elements tutorials.

Good luck.

[noobs]

Thanks guys for the tips and help! I found the color curves on PS and the sharpening tool. I really got the Zebra pick to pop. I think that's my overall favorite. I did get some wild dog pics which are very hard to get as wild dogs are hard to see on safari. But, the subject would not cooperate and the shots are blah. It would have been fabulous as they had just come back from a kill and there was blood on it's face and neck