The XMEN Clan Forums

I though this was a weird thing to find at an airshow... but I got some pictures anyway. (Pardon the dust on the lense... I fixed that later in the show.)

The last one is your best, IMO. Nice shot, looks like he's looking right at you.

Ditto on SH's post

Could anyone with a better eye please tell me if I was slightly out of focus in pictures 1,2,3,4,6,7 (everything but 5) or was my shutter speed too slow?

Also, anyone with a properly calibrated monitor... is it just me or are they all over exposed?

SH and Sharp, yes that one is my favorite, followed by #3 where he is not touching the bike at all. (I had a better one, except I had the focus way off.)

Porsche, do you use AF alot? I almost exclusively use manual focus w/ the 300mm lense because I don't trust the AF... usually because it's too slow or focuses on something weird.

Focus vs. motion I'm not a big help on. Bad eyes. I do wish the Canons had a better way to manual focus, though. Because of my aforementioned bad eyes, I use the autofocus almost exclusively, even on those lenses that don't focus very fast. It'd take me longer to do it manually.

I don't think your images are overexposed. You can't see any detail or color in overexposed areas, and the only places that match that in your pics are the sun-reflecting-on-shiny-metal highlights, which is fine. What I DO see is that your contrast is low. Easiest way to adjust is the contrast slider, but a better way would be to use the "levels", or even "curves", control in your photo processing software.

Your focus seems to be spot on. I think the issue is the speed. Also you might want to consider messing with the apature (sp?) setting. Remember the larger its opening the faster shots you can get but the less your field of focus is. Youve got a few shots where the bike is perfect but the boot being closer or farther to the camera is out of focus. I havnt gotten into digital photography yet but thats the way it is with film. The answer to this for film is to get a camera that shoots medium or large film. Not sure of the digital answer. Overall though GREAT shots. Gawd I wish I had time for it.

Yeah, I was shooting in Tv (shutter priority) and the effect I was going for was more along the lines of #6 vs #5. (#5 actually makes me feel a little dizzy, which is why I don't like it. ) So I'd manually set the shutter speed and the meter would set the apropriate aperture for a correct exposure. Though I think I could have opened up aperture a 1/3 or 1/2 stop with no ill effects....... idk.

I have a lot to learn before I go to THIS on Saturday. For example... what's the best shutter speed for shooting p-51s to get the prop blurred just enough?
Oh, and should I bump exposure compensation to deal with a HUGE sky backdrop? Do I overexpose by... a stop or what?

*edit*
Oh, and is this better or worse?

I really have no clue what I am doing when it comes to adjusting contrast and colors.

To some extent it's like cooking - season to taste. I might call that a little oversaturated, whereas someone else might like that. On the contrast, it's pretty easy to tell with the levels control (or a histogram). Take this shot as an example. In the previous version of it, there was no real black. The dark areas were not black at all, but kind of a gray. Kind of looks like a haze across the image. The idea is to stretch the range of brightness values so that there are some pixels that are as dark as possible, and some that are as light as possible.

Here's a simple tutorial on the contrast control which explains the basics of contrast:
http://bairarteditions.com/pages/tutori ... trast.html
When you get through that contrast control page, have a look at the other links under exposure on the navbar to the left.

more this-ish then?



or did I take out too much?

Too bad this photography class doesn't focus much on the back end... but I guess you have to learn to take 'em before you bother with learning to fix 'em.

I like this last one. But it's not my picture, it's YOURS.

For your consideration:
http://submit.shutterstock.com/

Hrmmm... I'll look into it, but I'd like to keep all rights to my photographs and to be able to post & share them as I please. So I am hesitant to sell anything put prints.

Also, from the same shoot as the bikes...
A B-25 at the moment of ignition:


...and the pilot:

Hey, ya got some very nice shots there! I'm with most others who like the last one best. The rider looks like he's posing for you.

As for your other questions...

* No, these images do not look over exposed. Just a tad flat. I like what you did with that last image when you punched up the colors a bit. Your adjustments really made the rider stand out.
* Yes, I use AF almost ALL the time. This is where the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens really stands out. I'm constantly amazed at how this lens is able to keep fast moving subjects in focus. If I shoot something that's not in focus it's because of me - not the lens. There are lenses out there that do not have a fast AF. For example, the Nikkor 80-400 VR has plenty of reach, but it's almost unusable for shooting fast action because the AF is so slow. Now, the Nikkor 200-400 VR is a different story. I just don't have the $5,500 to buy a new one.

Since I'm at work I do not have my EXIF viewer loaded which means that I cannot see the technical detail for your shots. I don't know what your S and A were set at, but I would recommend trying to keep your A at least a few stops higher than it's widest maximum setting. For example, my Nikkor 70-200 can open up to f/2.8 - but the most tack sharp images tend to happen at around f/4.5-f/5.6. Not saying that they're soft at 2.8, but they're just a hair sharper when running a little higher than that.

Image #5 is very good. I like the motion blur in the background.

oh, almost forgot.... b-25 in the air:


hrmmm... maybe I'll give AF another shot tomorrow at the airshow. expect zillions of pictures on Monday