Photo question for Nibbles, JeffB, MattBoom or others

[Mickifan17]

All your photos look amazing. The colors are so vivid and every picture seems so sharp. Now I understand some people have an eye for photography and some don't. I like to consider myself one that does and have taken some nice shots. But all your pictures just seem that much better looking.

I believe I have quality equipment (Canon Digital Rebel xt, a couple of Canon lenses and a Tamron 50-300mm lens). Could it be the lenses or the filters? What is giving your photos the bold colors and sharpness? Please help. I'll be back in Disney at the end of April and would love to get some really quality shots to go along with my thousands of photos I already have.

Any suggestions on camera settings, other equipment, etc? Any special rules of thumb to use as a guideline? I do use a tripod for night shots.

Thank you to any and all that help.

Paul

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Most of my photos are edited using a highlight and shadow enhancer. My problem with night photography is that I need a lens that allows more light to come in. Atleast 3.0 or lower, but it seems those lenses are very expensive.

I use a cannon digital rebel xti and love it! :sohappy:

 

[sissa216]

I'll join in to watch for any tips or advice! :wave:

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

If I had to give any tips I would say avoid using ISO above 200 for nightshots, unless you can't get an f-stop such as 2.0 or below.

Cool things happen when looking up at things. Such as buildings and other disney architecture, when taking during the day shadows and other features create amazing patterns such as looking up at cinderella castle on a sunny day.

Always wait for the crowd to leave....I'm not a big fan of people in my photos...so I wait and wait for them to get out of the frame LOL.

There's alot off the beaten path....so what if everyone takes a picture of the front of the castle....look at whats on the side of the castle....or go into different parts of tomorrowland or adventureland to see cool views and architecture.

Also, don't rely on the automatic setting on a camera...it tends to make pictures brighter than they should be such as taking photos with an automatic setting on sunny days. :wave:

 

[jeffb]

Hi Paul,

Thanks. With regards specifically to the bold colors and sharpness, alot of it comes form the post processing for which I use Photoshop. I shoot primarily in RAW and use photoshop to 'develop' the RAW file. For sharpening there is a tool named unsharp mask which is very key for producing 'crisp' pictures. However if the original photo is blurry, the unsharp mask will not be able to fix it. Also, if you oversharpen, the pic will not look good (the crisp look will turn to a crunchy look).

On my last trip I used a polarizer filter which helped in some shots but I definitely do not think it is a must have item.

I highly recommend using a tripod and a remote cable at night. I also like to take pictures early evening when you can get some really magical blue skies. Mid day pictures are really tough because strong sunlight makes colors seem dried out and you can run into shadow / sunny areas in the same pic.

BTW - with regards to you Peart quote - I used to be a big Rush fan, I am particularly fond of the Hemispheres - Counterparts era, but their new stuff is too heavy for me.

I am starting to ramble so if you have any specific questions, please feel free to fire away.

All your photos look amazing. The colors are so vivid and every picture seems so sharp. Now I understand some people have an eye for photography and some don't. I like to consider myself one that does and have taken some nice shots. But all your pictures just seem that much better looking.

I believe I have quality equipment (Canon Digital Rebel xt, a couple of Canon lenses and a Tamron 50-300mm lens). Could it be the lenses or the filters? What is giving your photos the bold colors and sharpness? Please help. I'll be back in Disney at the end of April and would love to get some really quality shots to go along with my thousands of photos I already have.

Any suggestions on camera settings, other equipment, etc? Any special rules of thumb to use as a guideline? I do use a tripod for night shots.

Thank you to any and all that help.

Paul

 

[KeeKee]

Hey! You are right about composition being the number one element in any photograph. If you don't have that right, nothing else matters.

As far as correcting, boosting, or altering the color and sharpness, you will need a software program like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to do that. The thing to keep in mind is that sometimes less is more. You don't want to boost the color to the point that it seems like it's completely unnatural. It should be vibrant not vibrate!

When you work with your image remember that you want to have nicely saturated shadows that show some detail, but also detail in all of the highlights as well. If either end of the light spectrum isn't correct, the photo won't look right.

You can definitely over do it on the sharpening as well. There are several methods within Photoshop for sharpening and many, many online tutorials for favorite techniques.

Most of the free tutorials that you find online are for Photoshop and are excellent. If you are serious about photography, the next step is to bite the bullet and purchase Photoshop. It is the industry standard and nothing else comes even slightly close. Then start reading the online tutorials and you are on your way!

 

[KeeKee]

And - everything that JeffB said too!!!

 

[Mickifan17]

Most of the free tutorials that you find online are for Photoshop and are excellent. If you are serious about photography, the next step is to bite the bullet and purchase Photoshop. It is the industry standard and nothing else comes even slightly close. Then start reading the online tutorials and you are on your way!

I actually do have Photoshop 6. I know it's a few years old, but it's fine for me since I don't really know how to use it. I also have Photoshop Elements.

JeffB, I do have a polorizing filter as well and it does help some of the pictures. I will try your suggestion of shooting in RAW mode and try enhancing it with Photoshop. Thanks. (Im a HUGE Rush fan. I love all their styles of music.)

So I would think shooting in the Auto mode is not the best idea. What mode and settings do you suggest for most outdoor shots?

Thanks again for all suggestions.

 

[KeeKee]

I actually do have Photoshop 6. I know it's a few years old, but it's fine for me since I don't really know how to use it. I also have Photoshop Elements.

JeffB, I do have a polorizing filter as well and it does help some of the pictures. I will try your suggestion of shooting in RAW mode and try enhancing it with Photoshop. Thanks. (Im a HUGE Rush fan. I love all their styles of music.)

So I would think shooting in the Auto mode is not the best idea. What mode and settings do you suggest for most outdoor shots?

Thanks again for all suggestions.

If you have Photoshop 6 you have some of the tools that you need, but the current version, CS3, has SO many enhancements for photographers that it is worth the upgrade. You won't be sorry.

Skip over to the Adobe site and compare the features that are available for PSCS3.

 

[Mickifan17]

If you have Photoshop 6 you have some of the tools that you need, but the current version, CS3, has SO many enhancements for photographers that it is worth the upgrade. You won't be sorry.

Skip over to the Adobe site and compare the features that are available for PSCS3.

I will, thanks.

 

[jeffb]

I actually do have Photoshop 6. I know it's a few years old, but it's fine for me since I don't really know how to use it. I also have Photoshop Elements.

I am not familiar with Photoshop 6 but I believe the first version that allowed you to process RAW files was CS2 and the program received substantial upgrades to its RAW engine for CS3. I would recommend starting with Elements before jumping to Photohop. Photoshop has a steep learning curve and it is expensive. If you find you really enjoy photo editing then, as KeeKee mentioned the upgrade to CS3 is probably warranted.

So I would think shooting in the Auto mode is not the best idea. What mode and settings do you suggest for most outdoor shots?

Thanks again for all suggestions.

I usually shoot in P mode (I think it what Canon calls Program AE), the camera will automatically set the shutter speed and arperture for proper exposure but you can shift the shutter and arpeture values using the main dial. If I don't want the camera to decide the exposure then I will shoot in manual. If you are not familiar with how the shutter speed and aperture impacts the image (depth of field, etc...), I recommend getting a handle on it before your trip.

Adorama, which is a NYC based camera store has a pretty nice tutorial center which can be found here http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=academy

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[jeffb]

....:sohappy:

Expo_Seeker40 - that is fantastic!

 

[PhotoDave219]

All your photos look amazing. The colors are so vivid and every picture seems so sharp. Now I understand some people have an eye for photography and some don't. I like to consider myself one that does and have taken some nice shots. But all your pictures just seem that much better looking.

I believe I have quality equipment (Canon Digital Rebel xt, a couple of Canon lenses and a Tamron 50-300mm lens). Could it be the lenses or the filters? What is giving your photos the bold colors and sharpness? Please help. I'll be back in Disney at the end of April and would love to get some really quality shots to go along with my thousands of photos I already have.

Any suggestions on camera settings, other equipment, etc? Any special rules of thumb to use as a guideline? I do use a tripod for night shots.

Thank you to any and all that help.

Paul

Ramooooone!!!!! (Dumped out by Steve from Yellowstone)


... anyways, Its all about good light and composition. For instance, the basic sunny f/16's rule. In bright sunlight, your shutter speed is 1/ ISO speed at f/16. Just look for good composition and good light. Put the sun behind you and avoid the backlit shots.

I highly suggest the National Geographic field guide to photography, its about $20 and explains most everything in simple, easy to understand terms.

I generally shoot everything manually. Expose it correctly the first time and you wont have to spend hours in photoshop. I find crispness has more to do with the picture being in sharp focus, rather than post processing.

On an Canon XTi, you can get good ISO rating up to 1600-ish before lots of noise creeps in.

Just play with your camera at home and start taking pictures that you like and figure out how to use it there, and then it will be all the easier once you get to WDW.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I love this thread!! Jeff since you brought up the unsharp mask, what settings do you use? I shoot in raw and always bump up the saturation on my pics, but I can't ever see much difference when I run the unsharp mask.

 

[jeffb]

I love this thread!! Jeff since you brought up the unsharp mask, what settings do you use? I shoot in raw and always bump up the saturation on my pics, but I can't ever see much difference when I run the unsharp mask.

Hi Disneyfalcon

The general range of numbers I seem to wind up with after moving the sliders is a) Amount between 70 - 130, b) Radius between .6 - 1.4 and c) Threshold between 1 - 7. But these are just ranges as every image is different.

For images with a lot of little detail the Radius will be closer to .6. For an image that does not have to much intricate little details the Radius will be closer to 1.4. At 1.4 my Amount is generally 100 or below and at .6 my Amount is generally 100 or above. But again it is really image specific. This would be on an image that is lets say 1000 X 1500, if the image is significantly larger then it can handle higher numbers for the Amount and Radius, if siginficanlty smaller than the numbers should be smaller.

For Threshold, if I am using a edge mask the threshold will generally be between 0-4, if no edgemask (entire image is being sharpened) then the Threshold will generally be between 3-8.

I prefer to sharpen in LAB and then only sharpen the L channel. This gives me the best results. If I am sharpening in RBG then the layer that I have sharpened I switch the blending mode to Luminousity.

You had mentioned that you have a hard time seeing the difference after runing the mask, make sure that you image view is at 100%. Also sharpening should be the last thing you do, never resize the image after sharpening.

I hope this is helpful.

Jeff

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That does Jeff, thanks. I meant to give you a specific example but I think you covered them.

I doubt I have my images on 100% so I'll try that too.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I love this thread!! Jeff since you brought up the unsharp mask, what settings do you use? I shoot in raw and always bump up the saturation on my pics, but I can't ever see much difference when I run the unsharp mask.

Shooting in Raw does not help much beyond trying to "save" a photo in post OR post-processing for magazine and other high-end output.... unless you like sitting behind a computer rather that staying in the camera.

Expose your photos the right way the first time, and a simple jpeg-large is all you'll ever need.

 

[KeeKee]

Shooting in Raw does not help much beyond trying to "save" a photo in post OR post-processing for magazine and other high-end output.... unless you like sitting behind a computer rather that staying in the camera.

Expose your photos the right way the first time, and a simple jpeg-large is all you'll ever need.

Correct exposure is really important, but post production can also save some images that otherwise might be lost. Sometimes lighting will change at the last nanosecond before you press the shutter and you may have something that is on the edge of acceptable that can be brought back with some editing.

All media add some kind of color cast to the image as do the different cameras. Post production helps take care of that. I wouldn't even think of taking photos without Photoshop at the ready.

Having started out with film cameras and developing and printing my own pictures, this is essential and nothing to be ashamed of. Since I am highly allergic to the developers and other chemicals in the darkroom, I waited many years before I could really affect my own work in post production. I wouldn't discourage anyone from using Photoshop or some other kind of image editing software. This is where a lot of photographers do some of their most creative work. I LOVE sitting at the computer seeing how far I can take some of the images that I've captured. Love it! In many ways that's the best part for me, so everybody has a little bit different approach to this whole photography thingy.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Shooting in Raw does not help much beyond trying to "save" a photo in post OR post-processing for magazine and other high-end output.... unless you like sitting behind a computer rather that staying in the camera.

Expose your photos the right way the first time, and a simple jpeg-large is all you'll ever need.

I agree photodave. Unfortunately I am still limited in my manual abilities so raw and post processing are my crutches! I love correcting my white balance and upping my saturation.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Correct exposure is really important, but post production can also save some images that otherwise might be lost. Sometimes lighting will change at the last nanosecond before you press the shutter and you may have something that is on the edge of acceptable that can be brought back with some editing.

All media add some kind of color cast to the image as do the different cameras. Post production helps take care of that. I wouldn't even think of taking photos without Photoshop at the ready.

Having started out with film cameras and developing and printing my own pictures, this is essential and nothing to be ashamed of. Since I am highly allergic to the developers and other chemicals in the darkroom, I waited many years before I could really affect my own work in post production. I wouldn't discourage anyone from using Photoshop or some other kind of image editing software. This is where a lot of photographers do some of their most creative work. I LOVE sitting at the computer seeing how far I can take some of the images that I've captured. Love it! In many ways that's the best part for me, so everybody has a little bit different approach to this whole photography thingy.

So you miss that developer/fixer high? LOL