gbharani
New member
Sky
Moon 1
Moon 2
Moon 3
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All taken with Kit Lens
Bharani
Moon 1
Moon 2
Moon 3
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All taken with Kit Lens
Bharani
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My first DSLR - D40
- Thread starter gbharani
- Start date
ianbramham
Veteran Member
Hi Bharani,
The sky in the first one loooks really great. In situations like this I often find that it helps the overall composition of the photo to include a little of the ground at the bottom of the frame. This helps to give scale to the overall photo and will add impact to the clouds.
I'm less keen on the photos of the moon but even these would benefit from the inclusion of the horizon, as the moon itself is very small and not enough on it's own to provide enough interest to those of us who weren't with you that night and therefore don't know how exciting it was.
Personally I really love the excitement of night photography but it's important to remember that you need to be able to convey this night time drama in your photos to people who weren't actually there with you.
Regards,
Ian
http://ianbramham.com/
http://ianbramham.aminus3.com/ (Photoblog)
PS - I don't often take photos of just clouds but to show you what I mean here's the only one I could find with just a thin strip of land showing:
and here's a few other holiday shots where the sky was the main subject of the photo:
The sky in the first one loooks really great. In situations like this I often find that it helps the overall composition of the photo to include a little of the ground at the bottom of the frame. This helps to give scale to the overall photo and will add impact to the clouds.
I'm less keen on the photos of the moon but even these would benefit from the inclusion of the horizon, as the moon itself is very small and not enough on it's own to provide enough interest to those of us who weren't with you that night and therefore don't know how exciting it was.
Personally I really love the excitement of night photography but it's important to remember that you need to be able to convey this night time drama in your photos to people who weren't actually there with you.
Regards,
Ian
http://ianbramham.com/
http://ianbramham.aminus3.com/ (Photoblog)
PS - I don't often take photos of just clouds but to show you what I mean here's the only one I could find with just a thin strip of land showing:
and here's a few other holiday shots where the sky was the main subject of the photo:
André BARELIER
Forum Pro
Superb pictures Ian, as usual. Lot of pp, I guess.
I notice you added +0.3 and even +0.67 exp compensation for the 2 last pictures.
That's very surprising, as I tend to keep my D40 with -0.3 or -0.7, to avoid blown highlights (that's what you did in the first one).
Your pictures don't show blown highlights. Damned! is your D40 different?
BTW, back home here at dpreview ???
Regards
André
I notice you added +0.3 and even +0.67 exp compensation for the 2 last pictures.
That's very surprising, as I tend to keep my D40 with -0.3 or -0.7, to avoid blown highlights (that's what you did in the first one).
Your pictures don't show blown highlights. Damned! is your D40 different?
BTW, back home here at dpreview ???
Regards
André
ianbramham
Veteran Member
Hi André,
These days with regards setting exposure on my D40 I'm using the histogram and exposing to the right to the point where the histogram just touches the right hand side without actually clipping the highlights.
I then adjust exposure in post processing.
I was told by Alexring here on this forum a while ago that the bulk of the digital data is held over on the right hand side and by combining this technique with shooting Raw and good post processing technique it certainly seems to give me plenty of smooth tone and dynamic range when I want it (not really relevant on these photos here!)
The other thing I'm doing in post processing these days which made a big difference to colour, tonal smoothness and dynamic range from my D40 was switching from using ACR for my RAW files to using Capture NX2 (it's miles better IMHO). I then export the files as 16 bit Tiffs (the 16 bits are important) to Photoshop CS3 if they need anything further such as B&W conversion.
As for DPR, I've never really been away but I don't start many threads anymore - most of mine were image based anyway if the truth be known as I'm not very hot on the technical side of how cameras work.
For a while I was looking to buy a D700 but, in the end, I decided to buy a couple of lenses (full frame compatible ones just in case!) and an SB900 flash.
All the best,
Ian
http://ianbramham.com/
http://ianbramham.aminus3.com/ (Photoblog)
nice pics.
I don't know if anyone else noticed but, I think you have a speck of dust on your sensor ( or the lens ? ), but you can clearly make it out. It is towards the right about 40-45% from the bottom.
I don't know if anyone else noticed but, I think you have a speck of dust on your sensor ( or the lens ? ), but you can clearly make it out. It is towards the right about 40-45% from the bottom.
André BARELIER
Forum Pro
Thanks for the info. I read a while ago a Michael Reichman article on his site "the luminous landscape", about the "expose to the right" rule.
I noticed that using center weighted, I get less blown highlights than with matrix metering.
I fully agree about NX2 : it's far better than Photoshop for NEF files, and fun to use. I too convert to TIFF and open the file in Photoshop for further editing (mainly distorsion correction).
I suppose you know the tip : when you're in NX, you choose "File/Open with" and NX saves the NEF file as a tiff, and opens it in Photoshop. Very useful.
Best regards
André
I noticed that using center weighted, I get less blown highlights than with matrix metering.
I fully agree about NX2 : it's far better than Photoshop for NEF files, and fun to use. I too convert to TIFF and open the file in Photoshop for further editing (mainly distorsion correction).
I suppose you know the tip : when you're in NX, you choose "File/Open with" and NX saves the NEF file as a tiff, and opens it in Photoshop. Very useful.
Best regards
André
sillyconguru
Veteran Member
Yep, sensor dust.
gbharani
New member
Thank you guys for your comments.
Yes, I was too keen on my first few shots and not concentrated on the effect produced by the picture. Hence the plain pictures. I will keep updating this thread itself with pics over the week and wait for your comments.
The Lens had some dust which i noticed only after i saw the pics on the computer. Have cleaned it out now.
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Bharani
Yes, I was too keen on my first few shots and not concentrated on the effect produced by the picture. Hence the plain pictures. I will keep updating this thread itself with pics over the week and wait for your comments.
The Lens had some dust which i noticed only after i saw the pics on the computer. Have cleaned it out now.
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Bharani
gbharani
New member
Guys,
Quick question.
Though I am planning to buy a SB-600 down the line, I have an old Vivitar 2600 flash. Can I use this with D40 ? If so how ?
regards
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Bharani
Quick question.
Though I am planning to buy a SB-600 down the line, I have an old Vivitar 2600 flash. Can I use this with D40 ? If so how ?
regards
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Bharani
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