The Photography Thread, back again by popular demand!

[Chris-White]

and my flickr thingy, if your bored:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/33777661@N08/

Couple of questions:

Photos were taken using canon 400D.

1. i cant seem to get the manual mode to turn the F below about 4, is this cos of the lens im using (the boggo one that comes with the kit)?

2. How do i get rid of the orange glow that always happens in my night photos, take it thesres some kind of filter?

[bobbarley]

800 ISO, 1/30th second at 1.8

How did you manage to get such a crisp focused shot of the cat at 1/30? Especially that they don't stay perfectly still!

I want to know how there's no artifacts at ISO 800!

[Horney]

800 ISO, 1/30th second at 1.8

How did you manage to get such a crisp focused shot of the cat at 1/30? Especially that they don't stay perfectly still!

I rested the camera on the sofa while looking through the view finder. They could be sharper but they were shot in really really low light.

Nick

[Komenda]

They are awesome shots though mate, new Kitteh is certainly photogenic

[Horney]

Photos were taken using canon 400D.

Firstly, great choice of camera. Same as mine :-)

1. i cant seem to get the manual mode to turn the F below about 4, is this cos of the lens im using (the boggo one that comes with the kit)?

Yes indeed. The lowest that a len will go is printed in the numbers round the front of the lens. In the case of the Kit lens 3.5-5.6. This means the lowest f stop at the 18mm (wide) end of the lens is 3.5, at the 55mm (longest) end is 5.6 and inbetwwen it'll be between those two.

2. How do i get rid of the orange glow that always happens in my night photos, take it thesres some kind of filter?

This is called White Balance. Problem is Sodium (orange) lighting is horrible and the camera only compensates a bit in AWB (AutoWhiteBalance) mode. To get rid proper you need to set the White Balance to Manual. You'll also need a sheet of white paper.

1) When at desired location afflicted by orange lights take a photo of the sheet of white paper so that it fills 90% or above of the frame, doesn't matter if it's out of focus.

2) Go to the menu, then to camera menu 2 (if that makes sense?), then scroll down to "Custom WB". Press set. It will then take you to your shots on your card.

3) Scroll through the shots till you get to the sheet of paper you just took and then press set. It'll then tell you to set "WB to <o> (well it sort of looks like that!)."

4) Press menu and you're back to shooting mode. Now press the WB (V) button and select the custom option. Bingo your shots will be Orange free.

5) DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE IT BACK TO AWD NEXT TIME YOU USE YOUR CAMERA! If you don't you'll spend a day taking shots that you think are ok but when you get home and look at them on the computer thew colours are really odd!

[Komenda]

An Oxford landmark, I keep finding loads of stuff tonight

[Guy]

one i took the other day



and i am thinking of editing the shadow out of this one 





on the subject of WB - took me ages to remember to set it each time...  it makes such a difference though

AWB


manual WB

[JC]

so point, press, hold and let go aint the way ahead then 

[jamie_pyrite]

I thought even that was too technical for you oldies, chuff! 



EDIT: Guy/Horney: Is it not easier to use AWB on the camera but shoot in RAW, then in Photoshop RAW (Bridge) just change the WB in there?

[MrBounce]

One thing for camera shake - I find that as a general rule of thumb you usually don't need to rest the camera on anything if the shutter speed is equal to or higher than the focal length of the lens i.e 50mm lens, don't go lower than 1/50th of a second before getting support. And if you're using a zoom lens (which is the standard lens for most of the SLRs sold today), use the larger figure as your base calculation i.e 35-80mm, don't go lower than 1/80th second without support.