SLR Photography 101 - Using Canon EOS Digital

Hi Everybody!

I just found your forum complements of Google. I'm brand new to SLR photography and just purchased the Canon EOS Digital yesterday. Prior to this I spent the last few years using the Nikon 990 in automatic mode.

Today I took my first shots. The first group was of my own duck - a typical image for the newby I'm told.

Anyway the duck shots were in automatic mode and not too bad... maybe a little blown out in the highlights.

http://graphicspalmbea​ch.com …nonShots/firsts​hots1.html

Later in the day I went out again and with the sun to my back I took some shots of our oak tree and driveway. The ones shot in automatic jpg mode were terribly blown out in the sky area... I mean horrible.

So I set the camera to manual and raw. This improved the shots but still left me with some questions. If someone is interested in looking at one of them that I've cropped and marked up, it is here.

http://graphicspalmbea​ch.com …anonShots/Quest​ions3.html

Anyway, I'm sure there is a better way to go about this, but I'm starting here for now.

When you say Canon Eos Digital, do you mean the 300D Rebel?
What lens were you using? The kit lens?
If so, that would be the culprit for the blue/purple fringing around the bright areas and branches/leaves. This is common on all point and shoot cameras, and slr consumer lenses.
Basically only the L class lenses will control the fringing.

This picture has a very large dynamic range. Since the shadows are exposed nicely, the bright sky has been blown out. The Rebel is quite good when it comes to digital camera dynamic range, at about 8.5 stops, but that scene definately encompasses more than that. You have to either expose for the shadows, or the sky. There are methods where you can use 2 pictures (or 2 pics from one raw file) where you can combine and get the best of both worlds.

Drisley,

Yes, I did use the kit lens. My camera is the same as the 300D. Because I had a sales person sternly reprimand me for calling it 300D in the US I resorted to using the EOS Digital name. I prefer calling it 300D since that's what it seems to go by more often.

Glad to know that's what the problem is. I guess I need to study up on dynamic range and stops next.

I am somewhat experienced with fixing photos but totally inexperienced with using a SLR.

Thanks very much for your reply.

No problem.
Oh, we often refer to that camera as the Digital Rebel, or just "Rebel".

Have a look at this thread for info about dynamic range.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=26027

Yes........that scene will be hard to expose properly as you have to choose from one or the other (shadow vs. highlights).

The kit lens is pretty good when stopped down to around f8. With that small aperture, it would be unlikely that you will see any of those blue haloes around your branches.

Have fun shootin'!!!

Ro1

drisley wrote:
No problem.
Oh, we often refer to that camera as the Digital Rebel, or just "Rebel".

The Rebel is a Canon film camera. The Digital Rebel is a Canon digital camera.

There are still many film users with the Rebel, so let's not get them confused.

---Bob Gross---

Yes, I am aware of that, but honestly, I dont see many people using the film rebel posting here. Almost none in fact.

To make it easier I often just write "DRebel"

Drisley, I appreciate the link. I'm checking it out now.

Thanks everybody!

I still prefer to call it the Canon 300D. Sounds more professional. Besides all the reviews seem to call it that.

Oh and btw, the guy who reprimanded me did not get the sale. I went elsewhere.

Ro1 -- I'll try playing with the stops tomorrow when it's light out again. Thanks!

First off. . . . . welcome. There's one "L" of a lot of good info here. Next time you think you are out of your dynamic range, do a tripple exposure on a tripod and go here

http://studio.adobe.co​m …id=463&xml=phs7​rbrawcreat

to find out how to manage the exposures/file. Simply stated, WAY COOL. You notice the word cool ends in the letter "L"?

Ahoy Whaler! That link takes me inside Adobe (after I sign in) and to a nice pretty blank white page. Well designed with lots of white space but no info.

Welcome Pixi!

You'll find that this is one of the most helpful and civil forums on the web.

Check out the Top Tips and All The Best Links threads at the top of the EOS forum.

Here's another site specific to the 300D:

http://www.photoworksh​op.com/canon/lessons_1​-5.html

and here's another:

http://photonotes.org/​articles/

The Photonotes article on E-TTL flash is required reading for any EOS owner, digital or film.

Thanks very much Dave!

I've just pasted the Canon Learning Center as my home page until I cover all bases.

I've got a lot to learn.

I appreciate the warm welcome and responses. Normally I hang out at the Photoshop Forum, which is also a very special group of people.

Now I'm out of here for the night. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.



Thanks!

I recently ran into a very similar shooting situation when visiting some ruins in Mexico. Most of the structures were in shadows while the sky was bright. My solution was to mostly expose for the sky if I wanted the blue sky in the shot and to expose for the building when I wanted the details of the structure. I also used the following tutorial to do some blended exposures off of the same shot: http://luminous-landscape.com …ls/digital-blending.shtml

In my case I began with the same RAW image and came up with two versions during RAW conversion: A darker one (exposed for sky) and a lighter one (exposed for the structure). I then used the Mask method in the tutorial and came up with a blended image. My wife thinks this is cheating but I tell her is part of your "digital processing".

Here is the example:

First image (pretty much the way it came out of the camera, exposed for sky):

HTTP response: 404 | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | Byte size: ZERO