new sig please!

[daniel]

I had never read this but I have experienced this. Makes total sense... wow! It's all come together for me.

hehe, thats good. this photog shit can be confusing.

[87e30]

hehe, thats good. this photog shit can be confusing.

It's all just practice. Went out and took a couple hundred today. :) Hopefully 1 is worth keeping.

[daniel]

thats a lot. since i started shooting RAW i try to be a bit more selective so i don't have to go processing a ton of photos. i also realized that most photos were repetitive. sometimes you want to try out different settings, though.

[87e30]

thats a lot. since i started shooting RAW i try to be a bit more selective so i don't have to go processing a ton of photos. i also realized that most photos were repetitive. sometimes you want to try out different settings, though.

Yeah, I was just messing around. It's no big deal, I just am a relentless deleter. If something looks off, bam it's gone. I hate coming back wishing I would have tried something that I didn't. I put some shots up in my "white" thread.

[etta325]

It's all just practice. Went out and took a couple hundred today. :) Hopefully 1 is worth keeping.

haha that is the only way to go man! thats what I do all the time.

thats a lot. since i started shooting RAW i try to be a bit more selective so i don't have to go processing a ton of photos. i also realized that most photos were repetitive. sometimes you want to try out different settings, though.

what is better about shooting raw?

[etta325]

as 87e30 said, you can get a nikon remote for really cheap. if you don't want to do that, set the camera on a timer (like 2 or 10 seconds) so you can press the shutter and then let the camera settle on the tripod again, then let it snap the shot.

on a tripod there is no reason to shoot anything higher than ISO 100. higher ISOs are used to compensate for a slower shutter speed and unsteady hands causing blur. the smaller the aperture (the higher the f-stop, like f/32), the longer the shutter will have to be open in order to allow in the amount of light needed.

it is really easy to experiment with this without even taking a photo. set the camera to aperture priority and open it to the widest setting. choose one subject and let the camera choose the shutter speed. you will find that at f/4 or whatever, the shutter speed will be fast. as you "stop down" to f/5 or f/10 or f/20 or whatever, you will see the shutter speed slow down significantly. if you were to then change the ISO setting to ISO 1600, the shutter speed will speed up again, but with higher ISO comes a lot of grain, and you lose a lot of detail in the photo.

another thing you may be having issues with is the focusing. if you are shooting still subjects, set your camera to AF-S, and turn on single point focusing. the directional pad on the back of the camera will switch between the focus points, so make sure the middle point is selected. hold the shutter release button halfway down as you are pointing at the subject, then frame your shot (you should look up "the rule of thirds"), then press the shutter release button all the way down.

in general this should work, but depending on the lighting, you may want to play around with exposure lock to make the camera lock the exposure when pressing the shutter release halfway down (along with focusing), otherwise the exposure may change significantly after framing the shot, even though you are focused on the subject.

as for moving things, fast shutter speeds are the key. shoot at the widest aperture possible (lower f-stop number). you might even want to bump up the ISO to 400 or so to give you an even greater shutter speed advantage.

btw a good photog friend of mine told me that when shooting cars, always use the longest focal length you can. 300mm is really long, especially on a DX nikon, but you should take a few test shots at that length if you can (definitely with a tripod, preferably during the day) so you can see the results.

ask more questions if you have them.

yeah I will check all of that out but I do not have a nikon. I have a rebel. it is a nice camera but I do not have those settings. I will have to try out some of that stuff. the shooting cars thing, I know you deffiently want to use a longer lense because it will sweep faster and blur out the back.

thank you for all the help man. I am going to shoot you a PM. I want to learn some more about this stuff. I wish I was near you guys so that I could meet up and get some real face to face knowledge.

[daniel]

yeah I will check all of that out but I do not have a nikon. I have a rebel. it is a nice camera but I do not have those settings.

i don't know what settings you are talking about, but your camera can do exactly everything mine can, although the types of focus might be called something slightly different.

[87e30]

i don't know what settings you are talking about, but your camera can do exactly everything mine can, although the types of focus might be called something slightly different.

This.

You can adjust your ISO and Aperture just the same way we can. ;)

[etta325]

This.

You can adjust your ISO and Aperture just the same way we can. ;)

haha thank. every thing just seems hella confusing in text and not out loud.

here is a pic i took the other night trying to use some of your guys advice

[87e30]

Better. Gotta keep composition in mind too.

Tilted edge of that balcony looks kinda weird. I've seen tilt done well by people, but typically in the beginning stages I think it's just overdone. I dunno, I was all against it but recently I've been experimenting with it. Just saying, tilt needs to be a conscious decision that doesn't distract. In this instance I find it distracting.

Also, turn your wheel slightly towards the camera, that will help all your shots.

Do what ever you can to make the car stand out as the subject.

[daniel]

correct iso - check

focal length - check

aperture - why f/11? the smaller the aperture (bigger the f-stop), the more will be in focus. in this case, that means the wall behind your car, which is distracting. in fact, it looks like the wall is actually what is in focus, instead of your car. it came out clearer than your car did.

i'm going to take a wild guess and say that you didn't mean to tilt the photo like that. straighten your photo, especially when you have a linear object like a wall as a major player in the composition. it doesn't matter if you have the tripod perfectly straight, just straighten it on your computer.

as 87e30 said, turn your wheel so it faces the camera, rather than the tire.

look at the "rule of thirds" and apply it to your photos, even if you do so by cropping.

i edited the composition of your photo to give you an idea.

[etta325]

ok so we are getting closer. thanks for showing me the rule of thirds, that is defintly a useful thing to keep in mind. thanks a lot for all the help you guys.

so here is what I got at different apertures. I hated how bright it was with the lowest f stop.


I believe f/4.something






decent picture I thought



after I fixed the picture.



I will make sure I put the tires where they should be in the next one. thanks for all the help

[87e30]

WEre you shooting that series of f/stops in manual mode?

If so, it looks like your exposures (brightness) was off because of the shutter speed. The f stop is the size of the hole that lets light in. The shutter speed is how long that hole is open. By making that hole larger you are letting in more light, thus you need to increase your shutter speed. So increasing your shutter speed would have made that first shot less bright. For the opposite effect, the last shot needs to have a longer shutter speed to let in more light b/c you made the hole smaller by making the f stop smaller.

Honestly, black car + harsh lighting is tough too. Some day time or sunset time (when lighting isn't harsh) would really help you out as well for evenly lighting a black car.

Should also mention, typically you always want to get low when shooting cars. I say this as a common rule. Now there are exceptions, but I think that when first shooting always shoot from a low angle. (These "rules" make a lot of shots boring but start out with them then experiment is my thinking)

[daniel]

so here is what I got at different apertures. I hated how bright it was with the lowest f stop.

if you are shooting in manual mode (M), then yes, the larger aperture will let in more light relative to smaller apertures when shutter speed is held constant. you need to increase the shutter speed to compensate for this.

in the daytime, i always shoot in aperture priority mode. with a wider aperture (lower f-stop), the shutter speed can be faster, making it easier to capture a moving subject. as a side note, this is why the 70-200mm f/2.8 is such a popular lens. you have major zoom abilities, with a constant maximum aperture. this makes shooting cars that are moving or sports much easier. (don't even bother looking at the price, you will shit yourself).

anyway, you should do a little test. it will help you make more sense of things. during the daytime, pick any subject. even your car. make sure you have spot metering on, so the camera sets exposure settings based on what it is pointing at and focusing on, rather than the whole frame. then set the camera to aperture priority. as you increase the f-stop (making the aperture smaller), you will see the camera compensating for this and it will lower the shutter speed. the smaller the aperture, the slower the shutter speed. the shutter must stay open longer with a smaller aperture because less light is being transmitted to the sensor over the same amount of time.

you might see something like f/4 ss 1/250, then f/8 ss 1/100, f/26 ss 1/8. i just made stuff up there, but you get the idea. depth of field changes significantly, but unless i am shooting a landscape, i rarely find myself needing a small aperture (like f/26) to increase the depth of field with my basic lens which is similar to yours. at f/4, almost everything you shoot will come out as desired. if you are focusing your photo on one thing, always shoot at a wide aperture. if you are focusing on lots of things that are several distances away, then make the aperture smaller.

so how do people shoot with very small apertures without a tripod? they increase the ISO a bit, which increases the sensor's sensitivity to light, allowing a faster shutter speed. in my own experience, i have noticed that increasing the ISO to 400 is a safe level without sacrificing too much image quality, especially in the daytime. ISO changes are much more visible at night. super high end cameras can go up to iso 1600 before seeing significant photo deterioration.

regardless, always shoot ISO 100 unless you find that your photos are coming out a bit blurry, due to a slow shutter speed. this should only happen at night, or if you are shooting a moving subject during the day. you should be able to hold the camera still enough to take a clear photo as long as the shutter speed is 1/25 or faster. you should be able to go even slower, like 1/20 or 1/13, if you have an image stabilized lens. personally, i prefer to shoot with a very wide aperture so that the shutter speed can remain high even at ISO 100.

lots of info to take in, but the best way to learn is trial and error. i think that little test i mentioned above will help you get a better grasp on what is going on with the camera.

[daniel]

Honestly, black car + harsh lighting is tough too. Some day time or sunset time (when lighting isn't harsh) would really help you out as well for evenly lighting a black car.

very, very true. especially the fluorescent lights coming from a parking garage.

Should also mention, typically you always want to get low when shooting cars. I say this as a common rule. Now there are exceptions, but I think that when first shooting always shoot from a low angle. (These "rules" make a lot of shots boring but start out with them then experiment is my thinking)

i agree with this, also. i rarely like high angled car shots, and only at a short focal length, like 18mm when standing very close to the car, like this:



otherwise, stay low:


and while i'm posting photos, tilting a shot only works in certain situations ;) :