TS_eXpeed

I love my 2589th post because that means that at 2am this past thursday morning,the most beautifully crafted piece of conjoined magnesium, metals, glass, and plastic finally graced my hands. It means that since Thursday, I just had one of the best weekends I have had in a long time as I was up at one of my friends ranches in the middle of nowhere just chilling while I concurrently got to play with.....




.....my new D300!!!

I am absolutely in love with it and couldn't be happier with my choice of not only the camera itself, but the fact that I decided to go for it. The quality of pictures is just beyond anything I've taken before. I know there is MUCH room for improvement, but I was hoping you guys could help be out with that.



Here are some of the shots I took over the weekend. Please leave comments, and I am would really like any and all criticisms yall have. I tried to include all different types of pictures I took from portraits, to landscapes, to macro...a little of everything so I can get cristicisms from all sides. Part of becoming a better photographer is having another view/perspective on your work, yea???

Well, here ya go....


A couple of Bugs. One of my first, and still one of my favorite pictures over the hundreds I took this weekend.



A crop of it...



A Flower



An interesting building we saw on the ride up to the ranch. This is the only post processed photo I have, and it was done in camera. The original turned out really blue.



Finally got there.



Pic of one of my good friends



At a creek




On the way to pic up one of my friends after we already got there



I'm not really happy with what I got as far as sunsets and sunrises. What is some advice yall have on this??

A Sunset.



Moon before sunrise the next morning



Sunrise




Well there ya go.

Give me yalls thoughts.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

for the sunrise/set photos you might want to try a graduated Neutral Density filter

TS_eXpeed

Thanks!

achenator

Where'd ya get it?

TS_eXpeed

Amazon.com

West6MT

Glad you are liking it.

I get to steal,...er borrow my friends D300 this weekend at his cottage. Hopefully I get some good shots. I have played with it a few times and drool all over it when ever I get my hands on it.

BruceLandry

You'll love it more once you get to know it like your right hand!!!!

Check this out!!!!

Shot through a planes window!!!

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

looks like my cottage trip is a GO as well, will find out tomorrow for sure. I'll have to bring up my Xti to capture the weekend.

Edit: maybe I should pick up a ND filter for the sunsets too, I'm wondering if my Circular polarizer will be enough.

Edit #2: I see jupiter lurking, you think my plan will work?

West6MT

Cottage FTW for you too

jupitersolo

Just saw your edit, a GND is a great item to have in your bag. I could have used one this morning. I'll be ordering one soon, I bought three ND filters a while back, thought I had order a GND.

A CPL is good for all around soothing or warmer of the shot but a GND is what's need for landscapes and bright skies.


edit, What's this thing with Canadians and cottages, is it given to you at birth?

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Must be, I don't even have one, I just whore myself to those that do.

Looks like I'll have to stop at the camera shop and pick up a GND.

stogie1020

I just did about 30 minutes of reading online about GND filters, etc... and boy do they seem slow to use. Certainly not somehting I would quickly capture an image with. Now, if I was setting up a particular landscape shot, sure, but I think I might try to simply expose for the foreground and then take a single shot of the sky exposed properly and layer them in CS3.

I guess I just don't see myself using a GND for a "day at the beach" type thing, although that would be a great application with the straight horizon defiing the two regions.

Defiitely looks more complicated than a CPL.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

NIce man i'm up in maine this whole week my d300 is really showing some great pixs. Last year only had the d80 =P
have fun man now don't forget to keep a 2nd battery for running it out lol.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I forgot all about layering in PS as a technique to achieve the end result. Guess I'll have to remember to bring the tripod too.

stogie1020

I would love to get a Lee or Conkin ND filter set, but it seems like if you use the screw-on round type, you will get your horizon right inthe middle of the image, which looks bad IMO. I think if Iwas going to use the tripod, the Lee or Conkin .3 or .6 would be easy to use, as you have time to set it up, etc... but if you just happen to be walking and decid to take a picture, it would be a PITA I think.

Maybe someone (Jup, Dan) who has used these can chime in on their effectiveness versus doing the layer in PS.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I like PS because its free.

rimz

i personally keep my .6 (4x) B+W ND filter on 90% of the time...i find it very useful in reducing the strength of the sun or any other bright highlights that might get into my picture.

i use it all the time at my son's baseball games and pictures come out awesome! i figure it's better to shoot slightly darker anyways because i can always brighten up the photo later in photoshop or something...

i think shooting without an ND filter and then blending your layers in photoshop to achieve the same result isn't as accurate...photoshop (or probably any graphics program) will usually overdo what you're looking for whereas the ND filter is pretty subtle...but most people who look at your image probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyways, so its just a personal choice in the end...

stogie1020

Rimz, would you mind posting a pic or two from the baseball game? I would love to see how the ciurcular ND filter works on "other than landscape" pics.

TS_eXpeed

Question....

Why setting did I change for it to be taking 3fps??

I'm pretty sure I got it to take 6fps this weekend....


Lol, still learning everything.

jupitersolo

Just a guess but, 14 bit??

TS_eXpeed

Thanks jupity!

waTSX

Congrats on the new rig.

TS_eXpeed

Thanks!!



To everyone: No more criticism??

lol

I know I still have quite a ways to go in my skills, and any input yall have would be awesome!!!

S14 n Tsx

congrats!!

zguy95135

Practice, practice, practice. Work on creative compositions, look for interesting lighting because in those pics it looks kinda flat. Remember the rule of 3rds. You can add depth by looking for convergence in the frame, look for interesting patterns. Play with exposure, it doesn't always have to be technically perfect, use it to change the mood of your photos. You want the subject to be the first thing your eye goes to. Playing with the aperture to get the look you want too.

Also get to know Photoshop, and don't go crazy with post processing like a lot of people do. Have fun

Mizouse

thats the one area where 40D > D300

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Quit hovering the forums and shoot with that thing !!!!
=P
enjoy

TS_eXpeed

Good advice.

Honestly. lol. I am on azine too much.

TS_eXpeed

Does anyone else dod RAW + jpeg??

If so, what are the advantages??

EuRTSX

Congrats on the new rig.

stogie1020

Well, not exactly....

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Its incase you want an actual jpeg saved.

But you might as well just do your own.

zguy95135

It would be a lot easier to review your pictures on the computer before you post process them too.

stogie1020

I review them in RAW... Lightroom.

waTSX

No raw+jpeg for me. I shoot almost exclusively raw now, maybe using jpeg for high-volume shoots like motocross, etc. The only reason for that is because raw eats so much card space.

I think raw+jpeg is good for those who want that jpeg for quick down-and-dirty posting of the image, without having to deal with the raw conversion, yet they still have the raw file for more "serious" use.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

I just shoot stuff in raw when I know i'm going to take the time to edit them.

Jpeg for more minor stuff like a trip or something.

I would shoot all raw but i think i'd kill my poor computer at the rate i'm shooting haha..., which requires me to delete alot raw after editing them into jpeg and sizes haha.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Found this site pretty neat
http://www.markallenphotography.co.u...aphy_d300.html

gives a bunch of little pointers what you can and should try.

Damn lazy wb checker haha... is neat!

TS_eXpeed

Relatively speaking, is there a big difference to notice in a f/3.5 and f/2.8 lens??

waTSX

Not really, it's just two-thirds of a stop, but, IMO, faster is always better, everything else being equal. Having that f/2.8 as a constant aperture throughout the focal range is even better. It does mean, however, that the lens will be bulkier and heavier.

TS_eXpeed

^^

Thanks!

The reason I ask is cause I'm looking for a fairly fast macro lens (Nikon if possible; I usually like to stay within the same company/brand). Zoom would be nice but it wouldn't bother me to have a prime if it was faster and had noticeably better optics.