The *OFFICIAL* Throwdown Photography Tips Thread

[cmcadams]

I actually won first place in a local club competition with this, with a theme of "hands"

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by cameraman

Yeah! Cool cars, nice cyc. I want to see the soft box.

I used a 20X20 silk with black draping on the back side to keep light off the back wall for a soft fade to grey.



CD

[Will work for bbq]

Soft box, hard box.... whatever it takes.




But seriously, all I know is that to my highly untrained eye those pictures look farking perfect.

[Al Czervik]

Originally Posted by Will work for bbq

Soft box, hard box.... whatever it takes.

Is that like "220, 221... whatever it takes"?

[Will work for bbq]

Dang it Mongo!!! I was pretending to know what I was talking about.

[Al Czervik]

Originally Posted by Will work for bbq

Dang it Mongo!!! I was pretending to know what I was talking about.

[fingerlickin']

Damn CD, I hope they pay you extra for shining up the bumpers before the shoot. They should really have a "guy" for that.

[colonel00]

Originally Posted by fingerlickin'

Damn CD, I hope they pay you extra for shining up the bumpers before the shoot. They should really have a "guy" for that.

They used to have a girl for that but in a communications glitch, all of the chrome was somehow sucked off

[fingerlickin']

Seriously though, since I bumped a thread more than 30 days old I should probably ask something useful.

Where do I find out how to work my camera? For instance, this shot here. I don't even know how to move the little red dots to the part of the picture I want to focus. I would've liked to focus the very front of the slice, I don't love that it's a little out of focus. Is that stuff in the manual? Maybe I should read it.

[colonel00]

RTFM


Now, once you are done with that, you should have a basic understanding of how the controls work. Then read a book or hop on a forum and start to learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I have learned those buzz words so far However, it would appear that you took the picture with a very narrow depth of field which caused it to be in focus in the middle of the slice but out of focus in front and behind. If I were to play a detective, I would guess you had your kit lens zoomed at 55mm at F5.6 then you depth of field is only .091 ft if the slice was 2 feet from the camera. This is extremely thin. Useful at times but that is my guess as to your issue. It would be a little better once you figure out how to control the focus points.

[fingerlickin']

Originally Posted by colonel00

RTFM


Now, once you are done with that, you should have a basic understanding of how the controls work. Then read a book or hop on a forum and start to learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I have learned those buzz words so far However, it would appear that you took the picture with a very narrow depth of field which caused it to be in focus in the middle of the slice but out of focus in front and behind. If I were to play a detective, I would guess you had your kit lens zoomed at 55mm at F5.6 then you depth of field is only .091 ft if the slice was 2 feet from the camera. This is extremely thin. Useful at times but that is my guess as to your issue. It would be a little better once you figure out how to control the focus points.

RTFM? Who does that anymore? Guess I'll have to throw it on the back of the chitter for a week.

btw: f4.5, 29mm, iso 500, exposure time 0.017s

[cameraman]

Originally Posted by colonel00

RTFM


Now, once you are done with that, you should have a basic understanding of how the controls work. Then read a book or hop on a forum and start to learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I have learned those buzz words so far However, it would appear that you took the picture with a very narrow depth of field which caused it to be in focus in the middle of the slice but out of focus in front and behind. If I were to play a detective, I would guess you had your kit lens zoomed at 55mm at F5.6 then you depth of field is only .091 ft if the slice was 2 feet from the camera. This is extremely thin. Useful at times but that is my guess as to your issue. It would be a little better once you figure out how to control the focus points.

I don't know what type of camera you have but you'd have to have a very close focusing lens to have brought the tip of that chip in. I suspect you were focused in as close as your camera will go. Oh, and RTFM. There is nothing intuitive about modern cameras.

[cmcadams]

I've been playing around with a new light source... my iPad!

I downloaded an app called Softbox Pro, and it allows for different colors and shapes, brightness, etc. I took these shots with a 40" silver bounce directly above it. Just because I could, I did HDR processing with 7 shots each, which helped even out the exposure. Black foamcore in the back. Shots were done at f/8 at 80mm. for the lone cocktail, 30mm f/2.8 for the cocktail and ingredients, and 30mm f/8 for the bottles. Exposure ranged from 1/30" to 3"

I got a gadget called a CamRanger which allows me to use my ipad or iphone to control the camera from up to 150' away.

The ipad was on full brightness, with the objects sitting directly on it.

[Moose]

These are hollowed out orange peels filled with jello. The jello was still liquid at the time, and reflects the light quite nicely:

[caseydog]

Originally Posted by fingerlickin'

Seriously though, since I bumped a thread more than 30 days old I should probably ask something useful.

Where do I find out how to work my camera? For instance, this shot here. I don't even know how to move the little red dots to the part of the picture I want to focus. I would've liked to focus the very front of the slice, I don't love that it's a little out of focus. Is that stuff in the manual? Maybe I should read it.

It really varies from camera to camera, with a lot of new point-and-shoot cameras actually deciding what the primary focus point is, for you -- such as, a person standing in a big room. The camera assumes the person is the subject.

On my cameras, including both my pro Nikon, and my pocket-canon, I can choose my focus point in two ways. I can move the focus bracket thingy, or I can point the focus bracket thingy at my chosen focus point, and press the shutter button half way. Then, I can move the camera to frame my picture, and push the shutter button the rest of the way. The camera will hold the focus I selected as long as I keep the shutter button pressed half way.

I generally use the second method. If I have the camera on a tripod, then I will use the first method.

Read your camera's manual, and do a bunch of practice shots until you get the hang of it.

CD