**Photography Talk**

[leftyguns21]

for those who don't know, Colorado has some of the biggest and best sunflower fields this time of year. sunflowers as far as the eye can see. usually located out near the airport on 'private' property. here are a couple of my favorite shots I got this season. both of these are multi imaged pics edited in LR5 and CS5

this is a 3 shot image.
1. focused on airport
2. focused on one of the sunflowers in foreground
3. airport lit up at night, layer blended

this is a 2 shot image
1. sunflowers during the day
2. background at night

you can find them and others on flickr or instagram at lockechrisj

I have on order a new Canon 5D mark iv. it will be delivered to me on the Sept 8. then wheels up to California the following week to play with it :jump:

 

[Jayhawk5G]

Hoping the knowledgeable photography crowd can help me out. I purchased a Nikon D3200 with the 18-55 kit lens about a year ago, wanted to start trying my hand at some photography but haven't had a ton of time to do it.

My wife is pregnant and wants to take some announcement photos and I'm looking for tips and tricks on getting the best shots. I plan to shoot in Aperture Priority mode, in this mode what selections would you make for F-Stop, etc.

Would like some background blur which I assume I can achieve with a high zoom, and small aperture?

 

[leftyguns21]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION]
is the 18-55 your only lens? if so, you can make do. just be sure to shoot at 35-50mm (since that camera is a crop sensor you're really shooting at 1.5x these distances). if you shoot too wide (like 18mm) body parts get distorted. usually lenses are sharpest 2 stops up from their widest, im guessing that's a f/3.5 at widest, to get blurred background and sharp pictures I would shoot at f/5.6. if you have ability to set focal points, use this feature and set focus always on her eyes. use rules of 3's for framing. and always watch your background. make sure no tree limbs are in weird spots. fence posts. or whatever. start an hour before sunset, or within hour of sunrise for the best light. take 100 pictures cause you'll probably only keep 5 of them.
from personal experience of shooting people, plan plan plan. don't wing it. scout the spot ahead of time. when you show up make sure your camera battery is charged. you have a memory card. tripod. water. shade. otherwise the subject gets grumpy and it makes for a long day. im pretty sure you don't want to make your pregnant wife grumpy

 

[Jayhawk5G]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION]
is the 18-55 your only lens? if so, you can make do. just be sure to shoot at 35-50mm (since that camera is a crop sensor you're really shooting at 1.5x these distances). if you shoot too wide (like 18mm) body parts get distorted. usually lenses are sharpest 2 stops up from their widest, im guessing that's a f/3.5 at widest, to get blurred background and sharp pictures I would shoot at f/5.6. if you have ability to set focal points, use this feature and set focus always on her eyes. use rules of 3's for framing. and always watch your background. make sure no tree limbs are in weird spots. fence posts. or whatever. start an hour before sunset, or within hour of sunrise for the best light. take 100 pictures cause you'll probably only keep 5 of them.
from personal experience of shooting people, plan plan plan. don't wing it. scout the spot ahead of time. when you show up make sure your camera battery is charged. you have a memory card. tripod. water. shade. otherwise the subject gets grumpy and it makes for a long day. im pretty sure you don't want to make your pregnant wife grumpy

I do have the ability to set focal points, either single or multi. I will play around with some shots tonight based on what you have recommended and see how they turn out. Thanks for the input.

 

[Hepar]

I do have the ability to set focal points, either single or multi. I will play around with some shots tonight based on what you have recommended and see how they turn out. Thanks for the input.

Consider the 35mm f1.8 lens. It retails for $200, but you should be able to find it used for around $100. It's essentially the crop-frame equivalent to the nifty-fifty. It makes a really nice portrait lens, especially for the money.

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

Here's a good visual on what Leftyguns21 was speaking about with portraits and distortion:

Untitled Document

 

[leftyguns21]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION] how I usually do it (everyone is different) I set my focal point to center since its most accurate. push shutter half down to get focal point, while holding it down I then re-frame the shot. it takes a bit of practice but saves you from constantly moving focal points.

I agree with [MENTION=56396]Hepar[/MENTION] if you can, you should pick up a prime 35mm or 50mm lens. you'll use it for a lot, and primes usually take crisper pictures.

 

[01100101]

Messing around with macros and OCF w/ my 100mm prime.

Sig Sauer 9mm Magazine by 01100101

Federal Premium 9mm LUGER 124 Grain HST Hollow Points by 01100101

 

[Stangboy]

A little B&W flow from Great Sand Dunes NP. From my recent road trip .

 

[Jayhawk5G]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION] how I usually do it (everyone is different) I set my focal point to center since its most accurate. push shutter half down to get focal point, while holding it down I then re-frame the shot. it takes a bit of practice but saves you from constantly moving focal points.

I agree with [MENTION=56396]Hepar[/MENTION] if you can, you should pick up a prime 35mm or 50mm lens. you'll use it for a lot, and primes usually take crisper pictures.

I took the information I searched and the tips from this thread and surprised myself with how well the pictures came out. I set the camera to aperture mode, F-Stop 5.6, set the ISO based on current lighting, and then adjusted the focal point... since it was only my wife and myself I had to use the self-timer feature, but made sure everything was framed up well and took almost 100 pictures and we got quite a few good ones. My wife struggled for a bit for which to use, but very happy overall and can't wait to pick up a better lens.

 

[leftyguns21]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION] good to hear. the next trick to portraits is lighting. this is something I have no clue about. I am shooting a wedding on the 16th and really worried about this part

 

[Thai]

Still learning but damn love my Nikon 24-70E VR.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Jayhawk5G]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION] good to hear. the next trick to portraits is lighting. this is something I have no clue about. I am shooting a wedding on the 16th and really worried about this part

Beyond adjusting the ISO based on overall lighting, I don't know anything... but with a baby on the way I want to get better with my portrait shots.

I also want to work on my landscapes and sunsets, so will need to figure out lighting for that as well.

 

[Hepar]

[MENTION=85704]Jayhawk5G[/MENTION] good to hear. the next trick to portraits is lighting. this is something I have no clue about. I am shooting a wedding on the 16th and really worried about this part

Beyond adjusting the ISO based on overall lighting, I don't know anything... but with a baby on the way I want to get better with my portrait shots.

I also want to work on my landscapes and sunsets, so will need to figure out lighting for that as well.

I highly recommend the book Light Science & Magic.

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Scienc...79971&sr=8-1&keywords=light+science+and+magic

 

[01100101]

I highly recommend the book Light Science & Magic.

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Scienc...79971&sr=8-1&keywords=light+science+and+magic

This place is a good source for learning light and it's free.

Stobist - Learn How to Light

 

[01100101]

Canon 6D
100mm f/2.8 L
Canon 480EX II


Sig Sauer P320 Compact 9mm

 

[leftyguns21]

picked up the new Canon 5D mark iv today :happy:
excited to get some shooting done this weekend

 

[01100101]

picked up the new Canon 5D mark iv today :happy:
excited to get some shooting done this weekend

Nice! I'm jelly. Have fun with it.

 

[leftyguns21]

took the new Canon 5D Mark IV for a spin on my latest vacation. the full moon coming up over the harbor on Catalina Island while the sun is setting

LR6.7 finally has RAW support so ill get to the rest of my shots

 

[Hepar]

took the new Canon 5D Mark IV for a spin on my latest vacation. the full moon coming up over the harbor on Catalina Island while the sun is setting

Early thoughts?

 

[leftyguns21]

[MENTION=56396]Hepar[/MENTION]

I likes. I came from a 6D, this has a loooot more menu options and buttons that's taking some getting used to. the quality/build is great and they finally caught up with the times and added an intervalometer and a bulb mode setting. the AF is great and has so many options. allows for 3 user fav menus, at least that's what I've added so far. battery life is quite a bit shorter but could be due to me playing with it a lot more. best feature is the bigger brighter touch screen. you can actually trigger the shutter from it as well, makes it quick/easier to change focus points and snap a picture. the AF will even follow a person/subject if you select it and they move or the camera frame moves. you can zoom in using touch, you can swipe through the photos using the touch. change all of your settings using touch. really cool feature to have.
it uses the same remotes and batteries from the 6D which was great, I didn't have to buy new ones and have extra batteries.
I don't know if its my laptop or LR6 but its much slower now. I have I7 and 16gb RAM and its noticeably slower. The RAW file sizes are close to 40mb. .

I've only shot one 2 second video so not enough to go off of yet.

if you've been looking to upgrade its worth it, better upgrade than the 5Ds