Do you shoot?

Upset of the century - publisher agreed to sell me the lens for 200. I'm picking it up tomorrow. Hopefully my afternoon interview goes well and I'll be able to fix it by spring.

 

I'm jealous, so much so I logged in for the first time in months just to say that. Got to use one once -- could have married the lense.

 

I read a couple photog blogs and saw a tutorial on shooting natural light portraits so I tried to use some of what I learned and took these pics of my daughter. I was trying to get the rim light around her head. I don't have photoshop or any editing program at home, so these are as they were taken.

I like the frame of this one but the face she's making isn't the best.


I hate that part of her hat got cut off here.

 

I like the top one, too.

I've never actually used it, but have friends that swear by it: GIMP is a free Photoshop-ish program. I downloaded it a couple months ago but never actually used it. Might be worth a look. I'm sure others have actual experience with it.

 

She has great colors in that outfit.

I would try to get nothing but white behind her.

 

I have some with all white behind her, but they need cropping and editing.
I have Photoshop 10 elements, but my laptop needs repair. I'd load it to my wife's, but here is a piece of garbage and can't handle the files.

And as you can imagine, the snowsuit was chosen by my wife. I bought the hat.

 

Just saw this thread. Rhody, give pixlr.com a try if you haven't already. It's slightly cumbersome and doesn't have every Photoshop function, such as stroke, but it has some of the things you'd find on Photoshop Elements -- and you don't need to download anything.

 

Hello gang,

Been a long time since I posted here. Photography is, once again, a part of my job. I took a photo seminar recently, and it allowed me to get to the point where I feel comfortable shooting with my own equipment (ratty old D-100, 50mm/1.8 lens), but I know I have a long way to go.

One thing I'm struggling with is light. I'm shooting at 200 outdoors and the shutter speed is as fast as my camera allows (1/4000), so I'm doing all that I know to combat the sun. Trying to make sure the sun is not glaring horribly when I take my shot. I'm not touching the F-stop on it, so I'm at 1.8. I also have a UV filter on my lens, but for all I know I may need a better one. One particular photo here I thought was really good, but the sun ruined it.

Here are a few shots I've taken recently. I'd really like some feedback. I know they're not great ...











I can send you links to more of my work, if you want to give more feedback. Thanks.

 

Hey wicked,

Easy solution: dial down that f/stop in daylight photos. At 1.8 is to big of an aperture for daytime sunlight. I'd try dialing it down to f/4. You shouldn't shoot at the maximum aperture unless you have very poor lighting. Leave ISO at 200 in daytime.

I'm not familiar with the D100, but I am with the D200 and D300 and assume your D100 has similar settings. I'm assuming you're in manual (M) mode if you're setting aperture and shutter speed yourself. You could also try shooting in aperture-priority (A) mode (you set the aperture, the camera sets shutter speed) or program (P) mode (camera sets both itself).

That old 1.8 D is a great lens and gets tact sharp stopped down. It's great a f/4.

 

Read up on the D100 a bit. I think you'd appreciate an upgrade in camera too.

You could get a good upgrade without spending too much money. A good upgrade would be a D200 ($280ish used on Amazon) -- shoots at five frames per second, has better out-of-camera image quality, better colors in pictures, and better LCD on camera to name a few. Would also be pretty similar to your D100.

If that's too much, I'd suggest a D60 ($150ish used on Amazon) which does everything better as well, expect it shoots 3 FPS vs a D200's 5 FPS (looks like your D100 shoots a maximum of of 3).

 

Used a D100 for 4 years and LOVED it. Took it everywhere I went and shot half a million photos, if not more, with it. Sturdy and dependable and it delivers.

You'll start to learn it quickly but my biggest advice is to just experiment with the dials -- and take thousands and thousands of photos away from work. Take photos of anything and everything. Save the photos somewhere and study them and why or why they didn't work in certain lighting. After a while you'll understand it.

It's a great camera. Drive it like a Ferrari.

 

Since losing my job, I've been Mr. Mom, which means taking an insane amount of photos.
I shoot a lot; probably five days a week and whenever there is a family holiday or gathering. It's been good practice because I'm trying to do things I couldn't do in sports. My biggest problem - not including my lack of photoshop (still waiting on my laptop repair) - is I don't have a portrait voice yet. I have no idea how to pose people and I feel weird about instructing subjects because I'm so used to shooting for a paper where that doesn't fly.
Anywhere, here are a couple I've taken the last couple months. I won't overdo it. All photos shot with my D7000.

-This is from Easter. I've been trying to layer shots and my niece was sitting there with all the empty eggs from the hunt in front of her. I took one of her turned around, but the top needs to be cropped. Used my 24-70 2.8; this is at 2.8, ISO 500, 1/200.


-Took this last week. Some of you who've been here for a while might remember the thread I starter the day after I called the cops on my sister, who was having serious problems with drugs. She is clean now and in a much better place; this is her and her son at a local carousel. The framing is all right, but this photo really means a lot to me. Shot with the 24-70 2.8 at ISO 1600, F 3.5, 1/1250. I feel like I should have shot with a lower ISO at a slower speed, but when the carousel moved I wanted to shoot a little faster.


-I'm still trying to get ring light down. I shot this in my backyard with my 50 mm 1.8 at ISO 100, F 1.8 (I was messing around with it) at 1/1250. It's a little soft, but not awful. I really want to be more effective with the 1.8.


-We had a day at the park and my sister-in-law was blowing bubbles to entertain her daughter. I kept having her move to not be in the shot, but the wind wasn't working with us. Oh, and she was eating a cracker; also not practical. This was a test and ended up being the best of the bunch. Used the 24-70 at ISO 200, F 2.8, 1/1000.


-And this isn't a great technical photo, but my daughter's face when the goat comes near her made me laugh my ass off. I want to crop this tight once I get around to it. Shot with the 24-70 at ISO 200, F 4.5, 1/640.