Questions,Questions, Questions ?

[man415]

Hi All!

I tried out my e300 again this afternoon at Chinese garden and had a blast!The place is perfect for landscape picture taking practice ( newbie ).Two nights ago I was practicing in my room the portrait mode on which the background will be a blurred and somehow got it but when I went outdoors today, I can't seem to get the effect. Everytime I take a shot it's always like on landscape mode where all the images are detailed.It's cloudy this afternoon, does it have anything to do with the lighting?:dunno:I'm using a 14-45mm lens.Is it because of my kit lens that I can't get the effect?

One more thing if it's cloudy which setting should I adjust? WB, ISO,setting ?

I saw a thread here that you can do it by using a software( Blurring the image ).
No offense to photographers using software to enhance the image but I wanted to learn how to do it without software enhancement as much as possible.That's why I'm taking it one step at a time.

I need advice from you guys.:thumbsup:

Thanks in advance

 

[ssping83]

suggest you read up on "bokeh" (google for it).. it depends on aperture size.. distance of camera to subject.. distance of subject to background.. etc (quite a bit of knowledge for this.. i'm still reading and learning.. ^_^)

for the cloudy skies.. you might want to tune your WB.. try playing around with the WB settings on the camera.. ISO try to keep as low as you can if shooting in the day (as long as camera shake is avoided)..

cheers~

 

[night86mare]

please read sulhan's short writeup on photography basics

sooner or later you'll learn that shutter priority/aperture priority/manual mode is much more preferable to scene modes
not hard to learn either. and gives you a lot more freedom as to what happens in your pictures.

 

[man415]

Thanks for the swift reply guys!
Yes I'ved been trying to read some photography tips and lessons from a couple of days now and read about the distance to object, aperture etc.Thanks ssping83!

Yes night86mare, I tried setting it in the scene mode for a couple of times and some shots appear better when I'm using the aperture mode.Maybe just luck in different settings i'm making.

By the way how to post pics here?I had a couple of decent shots that I can ask for advice on how to improve.

Thanks again!:bsmilie:

 

[dennisc]

scene modes usu calculates the correct exposure, etc for it so it'll usually look better. Aperature takes practive and judgement would be put to full use after you've mastered it and can judge what settings merely by looking at the weather condition. Then after that you can get creative and tweak the settings to make all kinds of looks and effects.
Once you get the hang of it, you can simply achieve bokeh effects whenever you want to naturally.

 

[foxtwo]

Were you using the same focal lengths? Was there different distances to subjects?

''I. Focal length of the lens
The depth of field is inversely proportional to the focal length of the lens; that is, the smaller the focal length number of the lens, the greater the depth of field. For example, a 28mm lens has the ability to capture more of the picture in sharp focus than a 100mm lens.


II. Distance from the camera to the subject
Depth of field is directly proportional to distance; i.e. a subject at a greater distance will have greater depth of field than a close-up subject. Therefore, you need not worry as much about a distant subject being out of focus.''


taken from http://www.azuswebworks.com/photography/dof.html

 

[man415]

Yes Dennisc!From what I know his scene modes are have programmed setting depending on what you choose to use.I guess I have to have faith in what they say " Practice makes perfect " .

 

[dennisc]

simplest tip after reading up will be full zoom in 45mm, and shoot @ a close object, you can see bokeh. Then tweak the aperature, etc and learn

 

[man415]

Hi Foxtwo!

I also read somewhere that the camera should be nearer to the object than the background to have the blurred effect.

Thanks for the tips!:thumbsup:

 

[megaweb]

Hi All!

I tried out my e300 again this afternoon at Chinese garden and had a blast!The place is perfect for landscape picture taking practice ( newbie ).Two nights ago I was practicing in my room the portrait mode on which the background will be a blurred and somehow got it but when I went outdoors today, I can't seem to get the effect. Everytime I take a shot it's always like on landscape mode where all the images are detailed.It's cloudy this afternoon, does it have anything to do with the lighting?:dunno:I'm using a 14-45mm lens.Is it because of my kit lens that I can't get the effect?

Read the article on DOF.

DOF is affected by aperture and focal length.

Taking a object under same lighting with a camera,
- use bigger aperture ( e.g. f2.8 or smaller values ) will give shallower DOF ( background more blur )
- use longer focal length will give shallower DOF ( background more blur )

When you use preset mode like portrait mode, it will set aperture to bigger value. Thus you will see object with blur background. In landscape mode, it will set aperture to smaller value, thus wider DOF, thus everything appears sharp.

 

[StrifeYun]

hmmm for good background blur .... try ...

use the bigges apature, then try to have the distance of your subject near to you and the background as far away as possible.

2 cents

 

[denniskee]

well, there is a fast method.
1) make sure distant of to photog is alot alot shorter than subject to background,
2) select picture mode "portrait" (normally picture of a head),
3) if cloudy day, set wb to cloudy lor, if sunny day than set wb to sunny lar.
4) your lens 14-45mm (should be about 28-90mm after crop factor), zoom in all the way.
5) dont take full body shot of a person, take 1/2 body better still head and shoulder shot.
6) if the flash pops up, than select higher iso until it does not.

 

[man415]

Gee thanks for all the tips guys!

Actually it's a challenge for me to do that after me sister ( an slr user ) knew that i got a dslr.I'll do these tips and hopefully come up with better shots!:thumbsup:

 

[zoossh]

Hi All!

I tried out my e300 again this afternoon at Chinese garden and had a blast!The place is perfect for landscape picture taking practice ( newbie ).Two nights ago I was practicing in my room the portrait mode on which the background will be a blurred and somehow got it but when I went outdoors today, I can't seem to get the effect. Everytime I take a shot it's always like on landscape mode where all the images are detailed.It's cloudy this afternoon, does it have anything to do with the lighting?:dunno:I'm using a 14-45mm lens.Is it because of my kit lens that I can't get the effect?

if you are using scene modes, then it is determined by the camera. nothing we say here is going to make a difference.

depth of field is primarily controlled by
1. aperture size
2. distance to subject versus distance to background
3. 35mm equivalent focal length

you therefore need to
1. understand depth of field (can google easily)
2. play with aperture size with aperture priority exposure mode
3. consider if your subjects can be approached, moved or shot with a different focal length, all of which change the composition.

by thist time, with various inputs, you should roughtly know for a narrow DOF (which i think you wants), you should pick a faraway background, go near your subject, push to largerst aperture, at an appropriate focal length (one usually do not compromise the focal length for DOF, it is more imrpotant for distance and magnification consideration).

you can return to ask more after you have read DOF, but still have queries.

One more thing if it's cloudy which setting should I adjust? WB, ISO,setting ?

WB
- cloudy if you want to correct back to neutral
- daylight or flash WB if you want it to look slightly warm
- auto for something in between
- effects vary depending on brand/model of camera

ISO
- enough ISO to give you sufficient shutter speed to avoid handshake
- as low as possible

No offense to photographers using software to enhance the image but I wanted to learn how to do it without software enhancement as much as possible.That's why I'm taking it one step at a time.

depending on what you mean by enhancement.
read DOF to achieve what you like the DOF to be.

other form of "enhancement" in terms of colors and contrast are in
1. the subject - selection of subject
2. lighting - timing of the day (or season)
3. correct WB for the mood
4. filters and hoods - exposure control, glare reduction, WB alteration
5. lens - good quality glass
6. in-camera processing - essentially post-(capture)-processing with jpeg output, saves time by applying rudimentary pp on the camera body, often in batch command (using single setting for all shots).
7. off-camera processing - more commonly referred to post processing, in computers. (need to learn batch command, if not it is tailored)

 

[man415]

Hey thanks zoosh! :thumbsup:

Very informative explanation there! I guess I'll learn it more by trying out the different setting.I'll do it this coming week.

By the way where can I find the info on how to post pictures?:dunno:

Thanks!

 

[Fragnatic]

Hey thanks zoosh! :thumbsup:

Very informative explanation there! I guess I'll learn it more by trying out the different setting.I'll do it this coming week.

By the way where can I find the info on how to post pictures?:dunno:

Thanks!

to post pictures here, u can either upload to the photo gallery in CS, or upload to any image hosting site like flickr, photobucket, imageshack, etc.

then, use click use the inline image tags or click on the insert image icon and enter the url of that pic. (the url shd look like this: http......... pic.jpg)