Took 257 pics this evening.

[pontifex]

I went to Lake Tobias this evening. I took the Safari Tour and walked around and took photos of the animals.

The safari was good for pics but the other animals - not so much. The reason for this is because they are all fenced in so you have to take your pics though fences, some are big fences and the lens can fit through but others are too small to do anything. I think some of them might come out pretty well anyway, at least they looked pretty good on the ccd screen.

I'm downloading them from my camera right now, so I'll go through them and take a look.

My Site - Just check back later tonight or maybe tomorrow to see if I have them up yet.

 

[pontifex]

Ok, pics are up.
Direct link to the pics

or you can click the link in the OP and go to the Lake Tobias album.

I have to say that I am really impressed with some of my photos. I wish they could all be as good as those. I had made a thread a few days ago saying that I wasn't happy with the image quality of my D50 but I am happy with most of these. I think I just need more experience and education on my camera and photography in general.

The safari tour pics came out way better than I expected because the other people on the tour were moving around the bus to take their own pics or to get their kids to see the aniamls, so I had a hard time keeping the camera steady as the whole bus would shake.
The bus is actually half a bus, the top half is cut off. You can what they look like in one of the pics.

Another (huge) challenge was the fences. Trying to take pics of animals in fences is not fun. The camera kept wanting to focus on the fences. Of course, as an afterthought, I probably could have used manual focus. that might have helped. Do you think so?

 

[dartworth]

So are you feeling more comfortable with your D50?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: dartworth
So are you feeling more comfortable with your D50?

Not really. All these shots were taken in program mode. whether thats better than auto mode, i don't know. I don't know what it is, but I have a really difficult time grasping the concepts of ISO, shutter speed, and f-stop. I understand what they do, but I don't understand how to make them work together or when to use certain settings.

hmm...this may sound stupid, but is there some kind of device that you can use that will tell you what settings you need to use? like it takes in all the environment variables and displays what settings would be optimal for this shot? if not, someone needs to make that, stat! i bet it would sell really well. i could use that until i learn.

I also tried messing with settings the other night. i took several pics of the same object but with different settings. I could see the difference in some, but I didn't quite understand why the settings needed to be that way, and it seemed that some of them needed really drastic settings changes.

 

[dartworth]

I have a D50 also and shoot mostly in P mode too. I'm still not totally comfortable with using a SLR, but I keep on grinding it out and learn from the pics I take.

I've been taking about 200-300 pics a weekend for the last month. I'm lucky if I'm happy with 10% of them but I still enjoy doing it

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: dartworth
I have a D50 also and shoot mostly in P mode too. I'm still not totally comfortable with using a SLR, but I keep on grinding it out and learn from the pics I take.

I've been taking about 200-300 pics a weekend for the last month. I'm lucky if I'm happy with 10% of them but I still enjoy doing it

I really enjoyed going out today and seeing the animals and taking pics. it was fun. normally i never know what to take pics of. i really like nature and macro shooting.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: pontifex
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: dartworth
So are you feeling more comfortable with your D50?</end quote></div>

hmm...this may sound stupid, but is there some kind of device that you can use that will tell you what settings you need to use? like it takes in all the environment variables and displays what settings would be optimal for this shot? if not, someone needs to make that, stat! i bet it would sell really well. i could use that until i learn.

Auto Mode?

but seriously there is no concrete settings that are used for certian photos, there are general guidlines like the Sunny 16 rule, basicially in bright sunlight stopping down to F/16 and setting the shutter speed to get the exposure will result in a good exposure,

but that doesnt mean its has to always be used,

when chooseing the settings its best to have an idea on what you want

a lower apature setting will result in less DOF and a more selective focus, fast shutter speeds freeze action and slow ones blur,

i normally shoot on apature priority where i set the apature and let the shutter speed fall where it needs to or i shoot fully manual, its just something you get used to doing

visualizing the shot before you take it is hard to do but comes with time, and i feel that with practace and thinking about what you want out of your shots, you will become more happy with them

 

[troytime]

i tend to stick to aperture priority OR shutter speed priority.

Like if i'm shooting something and want a short depth of field and bokeh (if lighting permits), i'll throw it in aperture priority

I revert back to auto when all my shots are turning out like crap (which is way too often)

 

[troytime]

this ones awesome, good job!

 

[pennylane]

pontifex,
If you're having trouble getting a feel of how to use shutter, aperture, and ISO, just try focusing on one at a time.

If you start in P mode, ISO is simple enough to adjust. Try to keep it at 200 or 400 on your D50. Only switch to 800 in low light situations. It just takes some practice and you'll get the hang of it.

I usually keep my camera in aperture control mode if I'm walking around. I generally try to control aperture so I can adjust the depth of field since that makes a more noticeable difference than just adjusting the shutter speed. If I'm in a hurry, I let the camera pick a shutter speed based on the aperture. It's only when I'm not in a hurry that I switch to manual mode to control both aperture and shutter.

 

[pontifex]

Is it possible to remove the fence from some of the pics with photoshop (and make the pic still look good)? particularly the photos where the fence is in front of the animal?

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: pontifex
Is it possible to remove the fence from some of the pics with photoshop (and make the pic still look good)? particularly the photos where the fence is in front of the animal?

yes
rubber stamp tool, patch tool

its not automatic, and its time consuming
but its not too difficult once you get the hang of it.
user lower opacity

 

[Aharami]

some of the pics in that group came out really good.