Any photographers in here?
- Thread starter ChopstickHero
- Start date
It will just add more complication and crap you have to learn and deal with. Just get a good used D300, battery grip, SB-800 and some nice lenses and you will be all set man!!
Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
Ok, so I'm really unhappy with this pic, and I was thinking it was going to come out to be really good. Shot under orange mercury vapor lights, so I had to screw with the color balance to even get it to this point, but it is REALLY not sharp. Help?
also, I lost the detail of the snow streaking across from the sky by adjusting the white balance... which further pissed me off. I'm going to assume thats unavoidable, and may be related?
also, I lost the detail of the snow streaking across from the sky by adjusting the white balance... which further pissed me off. I'm going to assume thats unavoidable, and may be related?
Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
well, theres a simple solution I wasn't expecting... maybe the cam didn't like the cold/snow? or hell, maybe just I didn't. I think thats one that I shot on a seriously clamped down f-stop too.. so I was hoping it would all come out clear.
Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
yes, it was on a tripod, though a cheap one, which may also be part of the problem (it was somewhat windy). I wanted to pick up the streaking, not dots.. flash always ends up with hot spots on the reflectors and I can never get it to look how I want...
FlyinHawaiian
Member
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- Mazdaspeed Protege #1460
Fixed...
But seriously there are a couple things to do that will fix your problems:
White balance - This is a hard thing to correct in the camera, from my experience. If you can, shoot in RAW format and just fix the white balance when you do the initial process of the RAW photo (I set mine to auto adjust and it works great).
Focus - I've noticed a lot of your photos are out of focus. Are you using manual or auto-focus? Check the button on the side of your lens and make sure its set to AF. I also use the "AI FOCUS" setting in the camera. You were right to step it down to f/5, though in that case f/10-11 would have been better (assuming you had a tripod. Also, what file size are you having the camera save to? The image quality doesn't look as good as most SLRs I've seen and looks like you're blowing the image up...
Snow blur - You're going to have a hard time getting this at night. Even at your highest ISO I would doubt you'd be able to get an exposure under 1 second, which is what you'd need to get snow blur in the photo. I like the thought and would love to see it executed, but you're definitely going to need more light to do that.
What sort of editing programs are you using? Might be able to help you more there in the post processing too...
Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
That one I tried to adjust in PS4... I also have a version I ran through iPhoto (which I'm more familiar and confortable with) but i couldn't get the white balance anywhere near where I wanted it. I definitely need to learn photoshop a LOT better... I haven't figured out how to even get back to the adjustments menu yet, once I go in to adjust color balance, I can't get back to levels.. etc. (makes an IT person feel stupid LOL) Also, yes, since I now HAVE (*cough*stolen*) photoshop, its time I shoot RAW. I tried moving the Fstop around and shot both Av and Tv mostly as an experiment in what was going to work (I put the camera in M once... and could get it to stop flashing something at me, so not ready for that yet).. This one was my favorite shot of the set, so I kinda focused myself on that, but hopefully there are some others that came out better, or are at least properly focused and don't have any camera shake
As for focus, it was on AF, and IS was also on (kit lens.. I didn't shoot the 50 for once). What just occured to me is that I may have shot the center focus point over the car.. resulting in the whole pic being crap.
As for focus, it was on AF, and IS was also on (kit lens.. I didn't shoot the 50 for once). What just occured to me is that I may have shot the center focus point over the car.. resulting in the whole pic being crap.
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FlyinHawaiian
Member
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- Mazdaspeed Protege #1460
Okay that does answer a lot. I have iPhoto too and although you can adjust a lot in it, its not nearly as fine-tuned as Photoshop is. The only two places you should need to go for color and light levels in there (assuming your photo is exposed correctly in the first place) is:
Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels: I usually darken the lower slider slightly, and increase my mid-tones a bit.
Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast: This will automatically adjust the color balance of the photo in relation to where you click the dropplet. Pick a part of the photo that is in direct light and is either pure white or black and Photoshop will do the rest.
I once read, as well that you shouldn't have the IS turned on when you have the camera on a tripod for a long exposure, since the stabilizer will be trying to adjust constantly throughout the exposure... I've found that to be true in a couple of my shots and turn it off whenever it goes on the tripod. That might explain some of the blurriness.
I learned photoshop through trial and error, reading up on it via various sites, asking for help, and even through some classes I took back in school. I'm sure there's even more I could do with it, but for now I am happy with my level of expertise with it.
that is exactly what I assumed happened. The trees appear to be perfectly in focus, while the car isn't. You can fix this by either selecting a different focus point (read your instruction manual) or switching to manual focus.
Also, you don't need to shoot in RAW to adjust white balance. I changed it in your picture while it was in JPG. Sure you'll lose a tiny bit of data, but (no offense) you're not to the point where it matters yet. Make it easy on yourself and just keep shooting in JPG. All you need to do is a spot white balance on the snow. You're going to have to figure out how to do that yourself also, because I don't think that my version of PS will even do it. I honestly just threw your JPG into my raw editor, spot white balanced, sharpened, changed the tone curve, added highlight compression, and fixed the horizon to level.
very sound advice.
Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
yeah, I feel pretty dumb for not catching that... and blame my own stupidity and the cold.. I know how to pick the focus point.. but rushed the setup, feel pretty dumb that I both did that.. and didn't realize it until I looked at the uncropped composition.
for reference only, here is the version through iphoto:
I will not take offense, I promise you that. I'm asking for help because I clearly need it. lol
for reference only, here is the version through iphoto:
I will not take offense, I promise you that. I'm asking for help because I clearly need it. lol
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Wagonbacker9
Member
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- 2004 'Hoe
LOFL... I'm at work.. I can't do jack here. I think I need to go shoot some more tonite and try to save the ones from last night with your handy suggestions for photoshop.
FlyinHawaiian
Member
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- Mazdaspeed Protege #1460
Don't worry too much about it. We've ALL rushed a photo that would have otherwise been amazing and ended up less than stellar. Next time you set up, though, you'll remember that picture and you'll make a DIFFERENT mistake. That's how the process goes. I've shot nearly 7000 photos through my DSLR and only NOW do I feel like I'm actually getting the hang of it (still making mistakes though).
FunkyBuddha
Tuned by Slick Nick
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- 2003 Spicy Orange MSP
Whatever everyone said before me is pretty much true.
Also try using the Curves in pshop and fool around with it. You can also mess around w/ curves in Camera RAW when you shoot RAW files. You can adjust it before you actually get into photoshop.
You can't fix the focus now...it's too late.
A landscape composition would be better for this shot. Too much space up top. There is nothing that "leads" the viewer into your photo.
Shoot a bit underexposed..so to bring the details back from the snow or recompose your camera somewhere else to take the photo from a better angle. Since the light is above the car, maybe move off to the sides a bit so you get some shadow details in the snow.
Adjust your white balance accordingly in your camera. I'm not sure how good the 20D is with that...but you can try those so you don't have to do much processing later
Also use spot metering so you can meter for the car's color/exposure and the rest will take care of itself. But remember that spot metering will only cover about 8 or 10% of the center of the viewfinder. So the car has to be pretty much in the middle. Fool around with your metering modes to produce the best result.
