What do ya think.C&C please

Hi Jenny,

I think Mr Lay means something like this. And just picture a beautiful sunset there too. So you just have to find a good lookin' surfer to pose for you (should be no probs there) and shoot away.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

Use Aperature priority mode (Av) so you can set the aperature (f stop) you want. Use a smaller aperature (higher f stop) to get more depth of field (DOF) and have more of the image in focus. For example a shot like yours at f16 will have more in focus than at f8.

How I use Av mode:

First, some rules of thumb: 1) without care and experience, your shutter speed should be faster than 1/80 of a second and 2) your shutter speed should be faster than 1 / lens in mm.

Meaning, if you are shooting with a 100mm lens then your shutter speed needs to be faster than 1/100 of a second to avoid blur due to camera shake. A 200mm lens requires 1/200 or a second or faster. However, a 24mm lens (or any lens below 80mm) should not be used hand held slower than 1/80 of a second in order to avoid camera shake.

Caveats: this does not hold true for IS (image stabilized) lenses, this does not hold true if you are experienced in hand holding a camera and take great care doing it. They are, however, very good rules of thumb to go by though.

Back to Av mode...Set your ISO to 100 to get the least noise in your photo. Go to Av mode and dial the f stop to around f22. Compose your shot and press the shutter button halfway so the camera focuses and meters the scene. You will see the camera selected shutter speed in the view finder to the left of the f stop. If the shutter speed is too slow and breaks the above rules, then turn the aperature selection knob down to f20 then f18 then f16 etc etc etc and in the viewfinder you will see the shutter speed get faster as you make the f stop number smaller. When the shutter speed is fast enough to hand hold the camera according to the above rules, then that is the maximum depth of field that you can get hand held. If you end up with a small f stop number like f6.3 and you want more depth of field in your photo then you can do one of two things (or both): 1) use a tripod or 2) increase the ISO setting. Remember that increasing the ISO setting increases the noise in the photo.


Hope that help. Let me know if you have any questions.

- d

Hi VFTT, here is the info on this pic. 1/500 sec. F/16 ISO 400 focal length 24mm. Just to help it sink in my math challenged brain, what should these numbers be for this pic? I also printed out your reply And here is a newbie question, are fstop and apeture the same thing???? Thanks for being so nice.
Jenny

Meaty0 wrote:
Hi Jenny,

I think Mr Lay means something like this. And just picture a beautiful sunset there too. So you just have to find a good lookin' surfer to pose for you (should be no probs there) and shoot away.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

Hey meatyo, who is the hunk:p thanks for the improvement on the pic.LOL
I totally got what Bob was meaning and will definately look for some hot surfer dudes on my next trip. OK seriously, every time I post a picture I get many great ideas from you nice folks. I can't wait for another beautiful day to get out. peace & love
Jenny

I think it is an excellent shot, and I love the blues. I can't see the dust spot. I know I have dust spots on my 20D and they are pretty noticable. I m not sure how to clean them properly

beachgirl wrote:
VFTT .... you said to use a tripod, is that all i can do to get it real sharp.(besides the obvious)Settings maybe? I us P mode but i get nervous to use unfamiliar settings. Newbie Alert

A tripod on that sunny day? Was the ISO set to -100?

beachgirl wrote:
Hi VFTT, here is the info on this pic. 1/500 sec. F/16 ISO 400 focal length 24mm. Just to help it sink in my math challenged brain, what should these numbers be for this pic? I also printed out your reply And here is a newbie question, are fstop and apeture the same thing???? Thanks for being so nice.
Jenny

F stop and aperature is the same thing. Aperature is how big the hole gets when the shutter opens (how much light it lets though). It is a bit confusing because to get a smaller aperature (small hole) you use a "big" f stop. However, f stop numbers are actually a fraction meaning 1 / the number. So "f8" is actually f 1/8 and "f16" is actually f 1/16. It is not entirely true, but an easy way to understand this is that a really "big" f number like f64 is actually really small f 1/64 and it means that the hole when the the shutter opens is really small, like 1/64 the size of it being fully open. Along those lines, f1 would be f 1/1 which is 1 which means the hole is completely open and it lets as much light through as possible. Any hole smaller than that lets in fractions of the amount of light. f2 is really f 1/2 and it lets in half as much light. and f4 is really f 1/4 and that lets in half as much light as f 1/2. These examples are not entirely true, but I am just trying to get across the concept of aperature size / f stop and what it means. You do not need to understand how the camera works to take good pictures, but it certainly helps.

As for your numbers, If you drop your ISO to 100, you will have less noise in your pictures. f16 should give a pretty good depth of field at 24mm. 1/500 of a sec is certainly fast enough to prevent any camera shake. I am starting to think that you might be losing detail when you resize etc in whatever software tool you are using.

Hope this helps.

- d

ps: as for the surfer, what the heck is wrong with that guy's right knee??? He needs to see a doc!

It was a "bad" resize job thats all, it seem that there is lot of JPG mud on a original picture(loooooooow resolution)...sharpen a photoshop skills


P.S. That surfer have a shadow on a wrong side.

It was his vest hanging down. I could have said nothing's wrong with his knee, it's something else, but that would be rude.

I wondered if anybody would notice that. I couldn't find a surfer lit from the left

sasa007 wrote:
It was a "bad" resize job thats all, it seem that there is lot of JPG mud on a original picture(loooooooow resolution)...sharpen a photoshop skills

P.S. That surfer have a shadow on a wrong side.

OK here is another question, I shot in RAW and used the software that came with the camera to convert it to Jpeg. The only other thing I did to it was increase the saturation a tiny bit , and then shrunk it to post. How do I work with it? Is there better software? Or was it my inexperience?
Jenny

Hi VFTT, Thanks for explaining so well, I played w/my camera last night and busted out a book (national geographic guide secrets to taking great pictures) I just want to get a bascic grip on what those # mean. Now I wonder if I need different software or more experience with photoshop elements3.
Best Regards.
Jenny

islandphoto wrote:
I think it is an excellent shot, and I love the blues. I can't see the dust spot. I know I have dust spots on my 20D and they are pretty noticable. I m not sure how to clean them properly

Hi islandphoto, Thanks for your nice words. As for your dust spots check your owners manuel for the sensor cleaning section. Thats what I did. But BE CAREFUL WITH IT. And WELCOME to the forum. I LOVE hawaii so much .You are so lucky to live there. I have friends in Maui that we go visit. Some day I want to live in Maui. I look forward to seeing your pics. You have so many beautiful places to shoot.
Aloha
Jenny

Always do all your work and then convert to .jpg last. jpeg is a lossy compression meaning that you lose data every time you resave as a .jpg.

If you have to, convert to .tiff , do your digital work, resize, sharpen (unsharp mask), then save as .jpg

Read the image processing forum and get a good book on photoshop. The topic is beyond this forum and beyond my ability to type.

- d

Hi llaamaboy, That day was sunny but freezing cold and SUPER WINDY. I was so cold. The blur is probly from shivering. ( apparently something I did in PS also)And no the ISO 400. Which i wasn't paying attention to. And that makes sense too.
Jenny

VFTT wrote:
Always do all your work and then convert to .jpg last. jpeg is a lossy compression meaning that you lose data every time you resave as a .jpg.

If you have to, convert to .tiff , do your digital work, resize, sharpen (unsharp mask), then save as .jpg

Read the image processing forum and get a good book on photoshop. The topic is beyond this forum and beyond my ability to type.

- d

OOOHHHHH!!! OK got it. No seriously This I actually understood. I read about tiff. files and this makes total sense. BIG THANKS!!!
Jenny