My new G3 gallery from Hawaii

Wonderful gallery Scott. Nice to see Waimea Canyon, we were there in 2001 and visibility was down to 3 feet. It was wetter than England.

Almost to embarrassed to admit that I only had a Fuji 1.5mps on that trip.

Paul

All I can say "I want to be like Sdommin!"

Hi Veronica. Thank you very much (and welcome to the wonderful world of G3!). Hawaii is great (especially if you've never been there before - have fun!).

The vast majority of my shots are done in the AV mode, with the aperture set to f4 or f5. For me, this is the best setting for landscapes and general travel photos. Sunset shots are different, however, because it's obviously much brighter. For those I'll usually use manual. I first set my camera to f8 with a very fast shutter speed. Sometimes I'll put the built-in ND filter to "on". Then I take a picture and see if it's good. If it's too dark, use a slower shutter speed. Do this until you get a "keeper".

The hula dancers were shot in the "night scene" mode - see one of the posts above. Other than that, I rarely use any of the specialty modes like landscape or portrait. I like to keep the amount of control I have with the AV mode.

Also, I always tell everyone to use the LCD only, when taking pictures. It allows you to see your composition and exposure BEFORE you take the shot. It's the greatest advantage that cameras like the G3 have over DSLRs.

Have a great time and post some pictures when you get back!

Hi Paul. Thanks! Waimea Canyon is near the wettest place on Earth (don't remember the name of the mountain, but you can see it from there - if it's not raining!). It was raining all the time I was driving up there. It stopped for about 30 minutes as we got there - talk about luck!

HaHa! If you have a G3, you're already there!

Very nice pics Scott. Something for me to aspire to there! I'm just finding my way around my new G3 and I'd be interested in your views on RAW. Is it something you make use of?

Thanks Bascule! I like RAW and I recommend that everyone be familiar with it. It provides the most "pure" image your camera can produce. Having said that, I only use RAW every now & then, in tricky lighting or when I know I'll be working alot on a very important image.

For my vacation pictures, I always use JPG. It's easier, quicker to process, takes up less space, and the quality of hi-res JPG is really close to RAW. The G3 does a very good job of processing JPGs as far as color balance, etc., goes.

Thanks for replying so promptly! Lots of great tips! I'll use those settings on my custom C1 and C2 modes, play around a bit, and hope for the best!

I'll post pix when I return!

F4 or F5!? I never would have thought. I see SLR people shoot landscapes routinely with F32, F24, F16 and nothing much lower. I've shot some of my better pictures with the camera stopped all the way down and the shutter open longer.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong! You pictures are wonderfully sharp. I'll have to try F4 and F5.

But like I said, NOTHING beats your composition. NOTHING. It's marvelous. (I said this to my wife with the customary string of profanities in a vain effort to stress your compositional talents. I wonder what you're capable of with nude women!)

Regarding my specific picture, you are indeed right. My picture was taken around 6PM. It was very hazy, as my picture shows. No filters at all. I'm new... and broke.

Your picture makes my jaw drop.

Hi Ben. I'm still laughing about your "nude women" comment! Hmmm...

Anyway, yes, I like f4 or f5 in the AV mode (in fact the f5 was mostly when the scene was too bright and I couldn't use f4). Don't forget that this is equivalent to a much higher f-number on a 35mm camera. In any lens, the sharpest pictures are usually taken with the lens stopped down 2 or 3 stops from it's maximum aperture. With our small digital cameras, we get a lot of DOF there, too.

I work hard on my composition, and I thank you for your very kind comments about it. One "secret" that I have is that I've studied and analyzed other photographers' and artists' work (particularly Ansel Adams - my hero).

OK, now back to those nude women...

Ha!

Scott, how flattering it must be then to hear me say, three times now, that I AM studying your photography. I would like to think it's flattering, as talented people frequently don't take the time to appreciate and enjoy their own talents. I hope you do from time to time at least.

Honestly, sincerely, and not entirely straight from the male pig side, I would love to photograph women - nude. The clothes are a needless obstacle. It would be neat to see what YOU could do with a beautiful woman and your G3!

It's very flattering (and somewhat humbling) to read that you're studying my photography - I just hope I can keep producing work that's worth studying!

I'm a little out of my league concerning people photography (nude or otherwise). That's a whole different set of considerations. Lighting, posing, even composition presents new and different challenges. As you know, it's much more than pointing a camera at someone and telling them to "say cheese".

A few questions

Scott,
I guess I will also join the chorus.......your shots rock!

How do you set the white balance. Do you use AWB? From what I understand that is a big advantage when shooting RAW. You can adjust the white balance in the post processing.

Did you use digital zoom for any of the shots? Many people do not seem to like using digital zoom.

Rob

The wettest spot on earth is called Mt. Waialeale

Hi Rob. Thank you! I knew I had some shots OF rocks, but I didn't know they DID rock!

Every shot in this series was done in JPG, with AWB. I'm just amazed at how "smart" the G3 is. The white balance needed little, if any tweaking from me, even in tricky lighting situations.

I should use RAW more often, but yes, one advantage of RAW is that you can easily adjust the WB as you "develop" your picture. Having said that, it's not really that difficult to tweak WB in a JPG file, either.

I did take a few shots using the digital zoom, but none turned out well enough to show you. Like most folks, I just leave the digital zoom "off" unless i REALLY need it.