Advice for almost zero knowledge on camera/photography dude (me)

[rhino123]

Well... ND filter is important for some of the shots... like making water smooth and silky because due to slower shutter speed and stuff like that. But at present moment, no need to get this type of equipment yet. My advise is to work on your composition and exposure first.

One of the more difficult shot would be the white flower, because it will easily go overexpose. In my case, I always manually step down exposure in order to achieve a correct exposure for the flower itself, since the flower is my main subject.

As for the last photo, I think there are some motion blur (photo a bit small, so cannot really tell, but I think the cranes look abit blurry as in not the same blur as unfocused objects but motion blur).

Like what others had said, step down your ISO (maybe to ISO 100 or so). I would also advise that you use aperture priority in this case, so you only need to concentrate on 1 variable at a time and not jump too fast into Manual control.

 

[HighTone]

Agree with skystrike and rhino123, you probably gotta visit or revisit shutter speed, aperture and iso rather than investing on ND filters at the moment.

Join landscape shoot outings, they are good group to learn from. Hehe.

 

[takafan]

Now on the bus on my way back home from
A shoot at botanical garden. Very tiring. First time shoot in raw format n highest iso I went was 3200. Highest I ever go. Will post some pictures when I get home bought a normal uv protection lens for dust/water protection...

After this shoot I realised I need a ND filter... Sky too bright over exposed in contrast to the ground.

I suppose you are referring to GND, not ND.

And also, there really is no reason to shoot at ISO 3200 in bright day light.

 

[Halfgeek]

Same qst as like asked by HighTone...Was there a reason why you chose ISO3200? The last time I used 3200 at botanic gardens was cos it was a thunderstorm and there weren't enough light for the shutter speed I wanted to use.

And for the ND filter, think again, ND filters helps to reduce the light coming in by a couple of stops. But before getting the filter, aren't you forgetting something? If there is too much light, there are always options like lowering ISO, Stopping down the aperture (instead of wide open f5.6, choose f16 or something like that) or increase the shutter speed.

Any of these can help to reduce the light. Unless these limits have been hit (ISO100, Shutter Speed 1/4000, Aperture f16) and you are still overexposed, then consider adding NDs


But if you are talking about GND, that's a different story..

Any reason why you wanna set at 3200? I find iso beyond 1600 will be unusable unless you are shooting fast speed like F1.

My opinion is, iso too high, flowers too over blown till can't see much details. You are shooting still subjects, just set at 200-400 will do for my opinion.

Oh it's only the 1st flower, the most top one which is 3200iso. My aperture is the Max biggest hole for that (cause of the scarcity of light and the want for a boken effect) and shutter speed is about 1/20-1/30. It was 7pm++ that time with no lights. I didn't being my flash along... Anything below 3200 is v dark, shutter speed below 1/20 for tt is a lil not as sharp as I want it to be as its handheld, tripod too short to shoot from that angle. I'm very particular about iso. I will always try to go for as low as possible on ISO.

I was at the botanical garden from early afternoon till night. During early afternoon I got overexposed sky which result in a lil hazy image, late afternoon was better. Tts why I think I need a ND filter those times at the early afternoon.

 

[Halfgeek]

Sry for many typos typing on iPhone has always been kinda challenging for me lol

 

[takafan]

Oh it's only the 1st flower, the most top one which is 3200iso. My aperture is the Max biggest hole for that, and shutter speed is about 1/20-1/30. It was 7pm++ that time with no lights. I didn't being my flash along... Anything below 3200 is v dark, shutter speed below 1/20 for tt is a lil not as sharp as I want it to be as its handheld, tripod too short to shoot from that angle. I'm very particular about iso. I will always try to go for as low as possible on ISO.

I was at the botanical garden from early afternoon till night. During early afternoon I got overexposed sky which result in a lil hazy image, late afternoon was better. Tts why I think I need a ND filter those times at the early afternoon.

Putting on a ND filter in early afternoon will still get you overexposed sky. ND does nothing else other than having you expose longer. Suggest you read up on ND and GND and their usage.

 

[Halfgeek]

Hmm ya I guess I reading got a lil mixed out on filter stuff. Will read it again

 

[Halfgeek]

Well... ND filter is important for some of the shots... like making water smooth and silky because due to slower shutter speed and stuff like that. But at present moment, no need to get this type of equipment yet. My advise is to work on your composition and exposure first.

One of the more difficult shot would be the white flower, because it will easily go overexpose. In my case, I always manually step down exposure in order to achieve a correct exposure for the flower itself, since the flower is my main subject.

As for the last photo, I think there are some motion blur (photo a bit small, so cannot really tell, but I think the cranes look abit blurry as in not the same blur as unfocused objects but motion blur).

Like what others had said, step down your ISO (maybe to ISO 100 or so). I would also advise that you use aperture priority in this case, so you only need to concentrate on 1 variable at a time and not jump too fast into Manual control.

I think I try to upload 1 full size pic of the fountain you mention. Cos I agree resized pictures kinda hard to tell... Resized for ease of loading times when trying to view

P.S Wah cannot upload file size too big...

 

[SkyStrike]

Oh it's only the 1st flower, the most top one which is 3200iso. My aperture is the Max biggest hole for that (cause of the scarcity of light and the want for a boken effect) and shutter speed is about 1/20-1/30. It was 7pm++ that time with no lights. I didn't being my flash along... Anything below 3200 is v dark, shutter speed below 1/20 for tt is a lil not as sharp as I want it to be as its handheld, tripod too short to shoot from that angle. I'm very particular about iso. I will always try to go for as low as possible on ISO.

I was at the botanical garden from early afternoon till night. During early afternoon I got overexposed sky which result in a lil hazy image, late afternoon was better. Tts why I think I need a ND filter those times at the early afternoon.

Early afternoon, If really that bad, try to adjust your angle so that your subject does not kena the "full illumination" of the sun. Basically find somewhere that is abit shaded.

If flowers are my main subject for that day, by 7pm, I would be having dinner -.- Most flowers don't look nice at night. Unless you are hoping that the moonlight illuminates your subjects or you have flash along.

 

[Halfgeek]

Early afternoon, If really that bad, try to adjust your angle so that your subject does not kena the "full illumination" of the sun. Basically find somewhere that is abit shaded.

If flowers are my main subject for that day, by 7pm, I would be having dinner -.- Most flowers don't look nice at night. Unless you are hoping that the moonlight illuminates your subjects or you have flash along.

Haha I was just walking around still wanna explore. Was going back n saw it so took ;p thanks for advice! btw I saw one of your flowers shoots too. Very nice

 

[HighTone]

Oh it's only the 1st flower, the most top one which is 3200iso. My aperture is the Max biggest hole for that (cause of the scarcity of light and the want for a boken effect) and shutter speed is about 1/20-1/30. It was 7pm++ that time with no lights. I didn't being my flash along... Anything below 3200 is v dark, shutter speed below 1/20 for tt is a lil not as sharp as I want it to be as its handheld, tripod too short to shoot from that angle. I'm very particular about iso. I will always try to go for as low as possible on ISO.

I was at the botanical garden from early afternoon till night. During early afternoon I got overexposed sky which result in a lil hazy image, late afternoon was better. Tts why I think I need a ND filter those times at the early afternoon.

I agree with skystrike, if 7pm, I either will already showered and having dinner or I will stay there shoot night scene. for flowers or macro, so far I have not heard of anyone shoot during that hour. I'll rather you head home, come again another day. iso3200 and the dark sky won't do any good, end up you waste your effort shooting that.

 

[SkyStrike]

Haha I was just walking around still wanna explore. Was going back n saw it so took ;p thanks for advice! btw I saw one of your flowers shoots too. Very nice

Thanks for compliments, but still alot more room for improvements..

I agree with skystrike, if 7pm, I either will already showered and having dinner or I will stay there shoot night scene. for flowers or macro, so far I have not heard of anyone shoot during that hour. I'll rather you head home, come again another day. iso3200 and the dark sky won't do any good, end up you waste your effort shooting that.

I think for macro (bugs), some folks here shoot at 8pm++ or maybe later? but with flash lar..

 

[spree86]

Thanks for compliments, but still alot more room for improvements..

I think for macro (bugs), some folks here shoot at 8pm++ or maybe later? but with flash lar..

Macro the later the better, we usually start at 8pm till late.

 

[detritus]

for flowers or macro, so far I have not heard of anyone shoot during that hour. I'll rather you head home, come again another day. iso3200 and the dark sky won't do any good, end up you waste your effort shooting that.

then there's plenty that u have not heard of its very common... not so much for flowers but some insects are nocturnal. u get very different subjects when u shoot at night.

moreover, many pple work in the day. its easier to meet up with kakis after work for a quick shoot. so 8 - 10pm shoots are quite common (to me at least)...

 

[HighTone]

Thanks for compliments, but still alot more room for improvements..



I think for macro (bugs), some folks here shoot at 8pm++ or maybe later? but with flash lar..

Macro the later the better, we usually start at 8pm till late.

then there's plenty that u have not heard of its very common... not so much for flowers but some insects are nocturnal. u get very different subjects when u shoot at night.

moreover, many pple work in the day. its easier to meet up with kakis after work for a quick shoot. so 8 - 10pm shoots are quite common (to me at least)...

IC.. sorry mates, I'm not a macro/insect person. more of Landscape, thats why didn't know much abt that. only had a colleague who is a macro shooter...haha.. only know for macro, ppl gotta get those ring flash or flash that can be extended to point on the subject.

 

[rhino123]

Macro is just one of the genre of photography that people started extremely early or late at night. Another genre is wildlife photography, whereby many of the wildlife photographer might not be able to sleep because they are filming or shooting at wild animals... many of which are only active at night.

Either way, these type of photography might be interesting but not for everyone... so my advise to TS is, just focus on what he had on hand, learn the basic and excel from it... then branch out to different genre of photographies... whatever suits his taste and interest. In actual fact, landscape photographers might also start off late at night too... there are different views to the same place at different time of the day, or seasons of a year.

 

[detritus]

IC.. sorry mates, I'm not a macro/insect person. more of Landscape, thats why didn't know much abt that. only had a colleague who is a macro shooter...haha.. only know for macro, ppl gotta get those ring flash or flash that can be extended to point on the subject.

for flash, the idea is simply to illuminate the subject in an elegant way, without causing hot-spots or casting unflattering harsh shadows no difference from portraits or any other genre that requires the use of a flash. the type of equipment used is just the different means used to achieve the same objective. don't really need "special" macro flash to get good results for macro pix. a normal flash-gun, properly diffused with DIY materials can produce good results as well.

and agree with rhino's post above - its interesting but may not be for everyone - not everyone finds it fun to bash ard in the forest and feed mosquitoes :bsmilie: most times, the nicest photos pple see in the macro forum are literally the result of the photographer's blood and sweat. its not easy.

i find that macro is also one of the more technically challenging genre - sure, u can just magnify, pop and flash, but thats not all there is to it... anyone with a macro lens and raynox can do that... but doing it with style, with proper composition, with creative lighting and proper PP techniques - its priceless.

 

[HighTone]

for flash, the idea is simply to illuminate the subject in an elegant way, without causing hot-spots or casting unflattering harsh shadows no difference from portraits or any other genre that requires the use of a flash. the type of equipment used is just the different means used to achieve the same objective. don't really need "special" macro flash to get good results for macro pix. a normal flash-gun, properly diffused with DIY materials can produce good results as well.

and agree with rhino's post above - its interesting but may not be for everyone - not everyone finds it fun to bash ard in the forest and feed mosquitoes :bsmilie: most times, the nicest photos pple see in the macro forum are literally the result of the photographer's blood and sweat. its not easy.

i find that macro is also one of the more technically challenging genre - sure, u can just magnify, pop and flash, but thats not all there is to it... anyone with a macro lens and raynox can do that... but doing it with style, with proper composition, with creative lighting and proper PP techniques - its priceless.

Yeah, thanks for highlighting. good education to me too on that. I have tried macro in early morning and yeah, not my cup of tea. haa... great knowledge guys.

 

[Halfgeek]

hi all guys~! im back~ after a tiring and xiong 2 week high key ICT. Finally back with some solo Xmas shots yesterday. Came back on friday, started work on xmas eve... tiring... lucky half day only...

Thanks for csboi for inviting me to a outing which i could as that day is the last day im on a outfield exercise....

Will post some pictures in a min... now uploading... HOW ARE YOU GUYS??!!! Good i hope Hope you guys enjoyed Xmas Happy boxing day

18-55 kit lens resized

18-55 kit lens resized

18-55 kit lens resized

18-55 kit lens resized

18-55 kit lens FULL size

As usual no post processing done... dont have photoshop dont know how to use also lolol

 

[Csboi]

hi all guys~! im back~ after a tiring and xiong 2 week high key ICT. Finally back with some solo Xmas shots yesterday. Came back on friday, started work on xmas eve... tiring... lucky half day only...

Thanks for csboi for inviting me to a outing which i could as that day is the last day im on a outfield exercise....

Will post some pictures in a min... now uploading... HOW ARE YOU GUYS??!!! Good i hope Hope you guys enjoyed Xmas Happy boxing day

As usual no post processing done... dont have photoshop dont know how to use also lolol

Hello there! Wah go shooting never ask me.

Happy Boxing Day!