I'd like to say thanks to the Digi Cam Gurus!

[Tony Eeds]

Greenie - JOHN SHAW'S PHOTOSHOP GUIDE e-book is one of the best references that I've found. It's written by an amazing photographer specifically for other photographers.

John Shaw ROCKS. I have his first book, The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques which I just learned, is now out of print. If you like to shoot wildlife, check out ABEBOOKS for a copy.

If you like to, or want to, shoot wildlife I cannot recommend any book more highly.

As Rich said, written by a photographer for photographers.

 

[Green Horn]

The commands you guys are describing in PS sound pretty similar to the ones that I have in the 5.0 ver. I may just stick with that for right now since I'm used to it. I'll keep in mind to make little adjustments at a time. I can get happy with those slide tabs at times. :) I'll have to turn this into a partnership with the wife. She can figure out how to take the nice pics and I'll figure out how to sweetin' them up on PS. We're going camping this weekend so it'll be fun to play around with some daytime and nighttime outdoor pics.

** The new Sigma lens should be here later on today. :yeehaw:

 

[biglou]

"Batch". That's the word I was looking for. :cool:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Some useful info Greenie - Sharpening 101 - http://www.bythom.com/sharpening.htm

 

[Green Horn]

Cool, thanks everyone. I've definatly got some "literature" to keep myself and the wife busy for a while. :)

BTW the new lens came in this afternoon. She put in on the camera and started messing with it. However, when she placed it into fully erect I couldn't resist telling her that I always knew she had penis envy. :rotfl: It's a sweet zoom lens. I can take a pic of a booger in someones nose that's on the other side of the house.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

I can take a pic of a booger in someones nose that's on the other side of the house.

Obviously money well spent. :whoa:

 

[Green Horn]

Back from camping. :) Here's a pic using the new Sigma lens. It's a tad out of focus though. I also "auto tweaked" the pic with Photoshop 5.0 Some pics came out good, some bad. Just like everything else, practice will eventually make perfect.

 

[Okiewan]

I can't figure out where the focus was in that shot, sorry greenie, it more than a "tad" out... did you use servo or single shot in AF?

 

[Green Horn]

One more pic...

 

[Green Horn]

That was a single shot. What's the trick for keeping a moving target in focus? Needless to say the AF constantly tries to adjust when something is moving towards it. Is it time to work on my manual skills?

 

[Chili]

For still subjects that you are certain are going to stay still (portraits etc) use One Shot AF, for still subjects that may move you can use AI Focus, and for action shots of moving subjects use AI Servo. Page 70 of your manual.

 

[Green Horn]

Sweet! I'm on my way to page 70 now. :)

 

[Green Horn]

Ok, I read the page like 5 times. It says to press the "AF" button on the camera and the AF mode screen appears. I don't think I'm in the right mode or something though, because my camera does nothing. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Oh well, worst case is that it's up to the wife to come home and show me. :)

 

[Chili]

You can't chose the AF mode if you are in the preset shooting (auto) modes. Put it into P, AV or TV or full manual and you should be able to select your AF mode. It's all in the manual, as a Pro Photog once told me RTFM! :p

 

[Green Horn]

once told me RTFM! :p

Return to Fully Manual? :rotfl: Yeah, I'm guilty of selective reading and selective hearing. Thanks man!

 

[Green Horn]

Just trying out some night pics. And no I didn't RTFM before taking this pic. LOL :laugh:

 

[Green Horn]

...and another night time attempt. Very OOF fo sho.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

...and another night time attempt. Very OOF fo sho.

Greenie - That looks more like camera shake than out of focus.

 

[Green Horn]

Hmm. I may have bumped it then. These were both done on a tripod to try and avoid the shakes.

 

[Green Horn]

Another question; Do you all prefer to take pics in RAW format or jpeg? To me RAW seems like a hassle to work with once it's time to convert/ edit the pic (not to mention it's gotta be in jpeg or tiff format anyways to edit), they also take up more space on the card, and after touching up photos in photoshop I can't seem to tell the difference in quality.

 

[Chili]

RAW gives you more lattitude to fix your mistakes than JPEG does. For me shooting 2000+ photo's on a weekend at the races I always shoot Large Fine Jpeg as the workflow to process all of those shots for RAW would be impossible. When I shoot under tough conditions for stuff other than racing I'll shoot RAW.

 

[Okiewan]

Same as Chili ... for moto and the like, large jpg.
EVERYTHING else, RAW only.

 

[Green Horn]

Then I'll probably stick with the jpeg stuff unless it's a really special occassion type thing. Not to mention, I've only got a 512mb card in it (for now). Thanks

 

[Green Horn]

I like this one. It was a little on the bright side but I toned it down in PS. Still bright, but I just like the focus and how the shot turned out etc... (the wife took it not me. :) )

 

[Okiewan]

Getting better!
That's the onboard flash? You'll soon find it's useless... If it's an external flash, try a ceiling bounce. It'll avoid the hot spot like on her forehead. I don't do a lot of people shots but here's a smaple of a ceiling bounce. We are used to seeing everything with the light coming from abvove and the way it casts shadows, therefore images look more natural when shot that way. The second one is using a flash diffuser called a Omni Bounce. The LumiQuest Ultra Soft is my next purchase for hand held shooting (ie; not in my studio), simulates a softbox. http://www.adorama.com/LQUSB.html

Now the photogs will nail me for the lack of focus in the first shot (her right eye, aperture to large), but it's a good example of a ceiling bounce so hush! BTW, that's Thump's Katlin.