Rebel Xti in Philly.

Hi there.

I am new to DSLR, but had been pushing my old Canon A75 to the limit that I knew I needed an upgrade. I got the XTI with Canon 17-85 IS lens (yes, was a little pricier.)

All cameras have learning curves, and I am learning as I use my camera more. I now shoot RAW and use DPP to process images. I have many questions that I would like to ask. But lets start with those 2 pictures.

As you can see, the sky! Blown highlights. It has been a common occurrence with my shots. Other pictures that I took also show blown highlights/sky that has an edge destroying effect on images.

I would appreciate your thoughts comments on that issue. I shoot RAW Program AE mostly and sometimes aperture or shutter speed priority to experiment. I rarely use tripods in daylight, but with high apertures today (attmepting to catch dop), I got a lot of blur.

Thanks again.

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Quick thing for a beginner can do is meter on the sky, or in your first picture, you could meter the greenest "green" in the trees..

Learned the technique out of my friends book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. Would be a VERY good book for you...

The second pic looks very....dull. People will get picky about the powerlines and the edge of the building on the right...all which are distracting from the picture...

Thanks Seed,

The second picture (the RC) was processed with Nostalgia picture style to give it the dull effect, but yes, the lines and buidling are distracting.

I will consider the book since I've seen it recmmended a few times here on these forums.

Another few questions for the pictures attached below.

1) The first cigarette pictures has some out of focus areas but I wanted to exagerate the OOF a bit more. I zoomed all the way and used the widest aperture. Anyhting else can be done for that purpose?

2) Exposure problem again. Object may be a bit far for fill in flash and background has many colors and exposures. How do you shoot something like that.

3) Would you recommend a Lensbaby (2.0 or 3g) for a beginner?

I appreciate your input.

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The cigarette picture below is interesting to me because it has a unique angle. When I look at it I feel as if I am falling over. However, many people may say that it is not pleasing to the eye.

I like the first picture a lot. I guess you could have metered on something else for a different feel but I like the way the trees, walls, path frame the shot and guide my eye. I'm new at this too so I don't know if this breaks the 'rule of thirds' or if that just doesn't apply in a case like this. Keep it up!

fall in philly i love it.. if you are from that area. and would like more pretty photo ops.. try howell farm in NJ off of rt 29. its about 30 mins or so from philly, but worth it.. very beautiful through the back roads there.

great shots.

shannon

I love philly----cool shots. FWIW Robert Morris...helped to finance the war but was never repaid and died broke, if I remember correctly.

Thank you all for your comments.

Seed, I ordered Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson as recommended.

Aaron, thanks! I liked how the cigarette photo came out, I just wish I had a wider aperture. Had I known better, I would sacrifice 2x zoom for a 2.8 or so aperture. (I have IS 17-85 but now would rather have something like the new 17-5? canon.

The Conkiller: Help me out here. Since the Rebel has no spot metering, how do I go about light metering and how do you know the sky won't be this overexposed? Do you typically use the exposure lock for shots like that?

Shanny, funny you say that! 2 weeks ago I was on rt 29 and was thinking to myself that I should come back in a month when all those trees are "autumny".

Stathunter, thanks for the info! How do you take a good picture of him in that scenario?

Thanks again.

Good start, good eye. Keep at it!

Your littered cigarette butts shot really got my blood boiling. Good job!

loony33 wrote in post #4065090
Thank you all for your comments.

Seed, I ordered Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson as recommended.

Aaron, thanks! I liked how the cigarette photo came out, I just wish I had a wider aperture. Had I known better, I would sacrifice 2x zoom for a 2.8 or so aperture. (I have IS 17-85 but now would rather have something like the new 17-5? canon.

The Conkiller: Help me out here. Since the Rebel has no spot metering, how do I go about light metering and how do you know the sky won't be this overexposed? Do you typically use the exposure lock for shots like that?

Shanny, funny you say that! 2 weeks ago I was on rt 29 and was thinking to myself that I should come back in a month when all those trees are "autumny".

Stathunter, thanks for the info! How do you take a good picture of him in that scenario?

Thanks again.

you will not be disappointed with the back roads..if you take the back roads and turn onto valley road.. very beautiful. and pleasant valley road has a creek that is just stunning, and looks beautiful this time of year. all orange, and just awesome.

loony33 wrote in post #4065090
The Conkiller: Help me out here. Since the Rebel has no spot metering, how do I go about light metering and how do you know the sky won't be this overexposed? Do you typically use the exposure lock for shots like that?

I'm way too new to offer much help with this. But, 'partial metering' is as close as you can get with the Rebel to 'spot metering'. I think it uses something like 9% of the center rather than the entire area.

I've heard a lot of people say to meter on the sky, lock exposure then recompose. I use the custom function 4 in setting 3 that separates the focus lock from the exposure lock. Search for that here at POTN as there are many threads that talk about the benefits of this. If I can find the thread I'm thinking about I'll post it here.

Good luck!

When you figure out how to keep from blowing out the sky and keep the proper exposure on the rest of the image, let me know.

I bracket and chimp a lot of my images, it helps me.

I've found love in Graduated Neutral Density Cokin filters. Bought them for some nature pics out in that big hole in Arizona and they worked very well. Adorama has a set with the holder and three Grad ND filters for something around $30, don't forget a ring to fit it to your lens and the slide in cover. The Filter wallet was also a good investment.

Wow!

Here I am about 6 months after getting my DSLR!
I have been good and practicing.

I read a few books including:

2. Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital by Bryan Peterson
   
3. The A-Z of Creative Photography: Over 70 Techniques Explained in Full by Lee Frost

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cat from dirty window - and streets of philly

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