Help with settings on new camera(now with pics)

[lewis1641]

that rod looks cool.

i dont think you are doing anything overly wrong. depends what you want though.

first thing against you is the weather. it is hard to make stuff look really good on really sunny days. i am not sure how technical your camera is but try and avoid having lots of bright sky and dark subjects in the frame as less technical cameras struggle with the exposure levels.  the sun can wash out the shots like on the front end of the lambo.

It also creates harsh shadows which can make things look less good.

the way the cars have been laid out hasn't helped either - the backgrounds are busy. sometimes there is nothing you can do about this. sometimes you can wait for people to move out the way.  if you can adjust the apeture of the camera (the apeture setting on mine is just an "A") set the apeture to be wide (ie a small number). this will help to blur the background so the car will be in focus but not the background.

if you read through some of the tips and what not in the sticky's there's some good info.

by the way, i am far from great with my camera and definately still learning.

i think your pictures are ok. they document the weekend you had and thats what its about.

EDIT...

my mate is a really good photographer (award winning no less) and he is coming to the next BCD meet. if you can make it bring your camera and he will give you some tips)

[Ridg]

also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round

Also you'll pull far more detail out of an under-exposed shot than an over-exposed one, because the data is wiped out when the shot is over-exposed

this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

basically the digital camera sensor records the most information at the bright end, and the least at the dark.

if you try to pull the exposure up on an underexposed image then you're guessing and making up data (this will make a very noisy image), if you decrease an over exposed image then you're only throwing data away.  The catch is overexpose too much and you blow out the highlights (this data can never be recovered), personally I find even on a bright day mine can cope with a + 2/3 exposure bias.

Obviously you can also shoot at the 'correct' exposure, however overexposing gives you the most RAW data to play with.

[LowlifeDubber]

Nice one Dave thats really helped.The camera does have aperture adjustment and im keen to try out blurring the background,i just wasnt sure which setting to twiddle with.
I set the camera to f and let it automatically find its own f stop ......i think  :grin:I dunno it had a funny graph in the bottom getting the levels of something or other :embarassed:
Thats a great idea,if i can get the 1st shift off work on that sunday i will get over with the camera and let your mate have a twiddle with me knob
Cheers Dave

[LowlifeDubber]

.  You could shoot that Golf3 with a Canon 5D MKII and it'd still look sh*te.

You know you was nearly helpful you f**ktard!

[LowlifeDubber]

also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round

Also you'll pull far more detail out of an under-exposed shot than an over-exposed one, because the data is wiped out when the shot is over-exposed

this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

basically the digital camera sensor records the most information at the bright end, and the least at the dark.

if you try to pull the exposure up on an underexposed image then you're guessing and making up data (this will make a very noisy image), if you decrease an over exposed image then you're only throwing data away.  The catch is overexpose too much and you blow out the highlights (this data can never be recovered), personally I find even on a bright day mine can cope with a + 2/3 exposure bias.

Obviously you can also shoot at the 'correct' exposure, however overexposing gives you the most RAW data to play with.

Good bit of info there thanks mate

[Diamond Hell]

this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

I've had quite the opposite experience trying to pull detail out of 'white-out' images vs dark images.  I was going on what I was told by a friend who's done a lot of image-based work for people like Sky and a few other minor concerns.  I'll try and read the article though - every day's a school day.

[Ridg]

this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

I've had quite the opposite experience trying to pull detail out of 'white-out' images vs dark images.  I was going on what I was told by a friend who's done a lot of image-based work for people like Sky and a few other minor concerns.  I'll try and read the article though - every day's a school day.

TBH it really comes down to the scene you're photographing and your metering mode, say you're shooting the inside of a church and you want to capture the light from a strain glass window, then you'll need to under expose otherwise the fine detail will be blown out, if you're shooting a landscape then you'll want to over expose to give you the best chance of recovering the highlights.