tips and techniques

I thought of you guys before. I was at the skatepark talking to a photog i know and I asked him what speed his D70 syncs a flash to, and he told 1/500 (which kicks my 1/250 sec ass) but then he mentioned that he knows to trick it out to sync at any speed. Something with one of the flash's contacts, if you wiggle the flash around on the shoe and back it off a bit so one of the contacts doesnt connect to the shoe, you can sync to 1/8000 (which he did).

So I stand extremely corrected lol.

SkipD wrote in post #5685678
I disagree with recommendations to shoot tons of images in order to learn photography. To me, it's sort of like telling one to learn to shoot a rifle accurately by merely blasting away with several boxes of ammunition.

Instead, I recommend that a photographer who is trying to learn the basics concentrate on making essentially one image (or possibly a few in a common series) at a time. This would allow for analysis of the image(s), reshooting if necessary, and correcting any errors before progressing to the next image. This is even easier to do with the advent of digital photography than it used to be in the "olden days" when we had to process our film and print the images in a darkroom (or wait days for prints to be returned from a processing service).

The new photographer has so many things to learn (exposure control, focus control, composition, etc.) that shooting lots of images would, at least in the beginning, drown the learning process.

I strongly recommend that the beginning photographer turn OFF as much of a modern camera's automation as possible. Use manual exposure control for sure, and manual focus if it's practical with the camera in hand. It's far easier to analyse one's mistakes when the choices were made by the photographer and not the camera.

I strongly agree with these comments, and disagree with just going out and shooting the CF card full. You can shoot 400 images a day, and still know nothing, particularly not knowing what went wrong.

The OP (rhodesx6) knows that throwing a baseball without knowing how won't produce curves and sliders.

Learn the fundamentals of photography - start with Bryan Peterson's book, "Understanding Exposure". When you've read it once carefully, go back in a few days, and read it again.

I see that side of the coin as well. It is about quality over quantity in the end. I know that I used to shoot a band 3 times a week and get maybe a good one. Now, I'll shoot once a month maybe, and come away with 3, 4, 5 and even more really good ones and probably a great one too.

How bout we just say do whatever works for you because to think about all this is making me nuts for the time being haha.

SkipD wrote in post #5685678
I disagree with recommendations to shoot tons of images in order to learn photography. To me, it's sort of like telling one to learn to shoot a rifle accurately by merely blasting away with several boxes of ammunition.

Instead, I recommend that a photographer who is trying to learn the basics concentrate on making essentially one image (or possibly a few in a common series) at a time. This would allow for analysis of the image(s), reshooting if necessary, and correcting any errors before progressing to the next image. This is even easier to do with the advent of digital photography than it used to be in the "olden days" when we had to process our film and print the images in a darkroom (or wait days for prints to be returned from a processing service).

The new photographer has so many things to learn (exposure control, focus control, composition, etc.) that shooting lots of images would, at least in the beginning, drown the learning process.

I strongly recommend that the beginning photographer turn OFF as much of a modern camera's automation as possible. Use manual exposure control for sure, and manual focus if it's practical with the camera in hand. It's far easier to analyse one's mistakes when the choices were made by the photographer and not the camera.

I agree and disagree with this suggestion. I would suggest you practice one feature of the camera per session, but with many shots. For example, working on DOF you can take multiple shots of the same subject from different distances and apertures, then analyze the results. For me, I learn far more this way.

^^^ That is one thing I have been doing. Shooting the same subject over and over with different settings.

rhodesx6 wrote in post #5682963
If an experienced good photographer (you) was going to give a noob (me)some hints for taking sharp pictures, what would it be.

If you want to just know about how to take sharp pictures, among all the other stuff, I would highly recommend that you DO NOT follow the 1/focal x multiplier rule for hand held shots (read below before commenting on this statement) AND you understand depth of field and correct focusing. Don't shoot wide open or with an aperture above F/16.

For my first "apocalyptic" comment this rule is not enough. I would recommend that you use this rule as a guideline and then increase the shutter speed by at least 2 stops. Bump up the ISO if you have to. This rule is a guideline and unless you have a rock solid foundation for hand holding, increasing the shutter is your safety margin. Some people say they can get sharp pics lower than the recommended minimum, for a noob, start with safety first I do.

Depth Of Field (DOF) will give you more or less front to back sharpness (depending on just the aperture). Learn what the aperture does.

Correct focusing is making sure you know which AF point is being used and ensuring it covers your main subject. Select it manually yourself.

Lenses wide open can be soft and below a certain opening of the aperture, you start to incur diffraction issues. Softening your end result.

rhodesx6 wrote in post #5691134
^^^ That is one thing I have been doing. Shooting the same subject over and over with different settings.

That's good because doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is one sign of insanity.