Spot Colour & hello.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Hi Folks

New to this DSLR malarky so stand by for a series of numpty questions over the next few months! (Using an Olympus E300)

But firstly, can anyone direct me in the direction of an idiots guide on how to do the 'spot colour thing' on a monochrome pic (originally captured in colour of course).

I've got both Paint Shop Pro 7 & Photoshop 6 available on this box.


...and unless anyone's got some quick ideas now, my next post will be about aperture/depth of field. I should do some sample shots & put them up but if I set 'Aperture Priority', I can take shots at both ends of whatever range of apertures are made available and they both look the same - no discernable change to depth of field. Surely at widest aperture, in almost any scenario (using normal lenses anyway) should give a depth of field so small as to ensure a fuzzy background?

[TrevorW]

For spot colour, miniman has the best descirption in this topic and works well for me.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=211814

as for the rest? next!

[badbeachbuggy]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

...and unless anyone's got some quick ideas now, my next post will be about aperture/depth of field. I should do some sample shots & put them up but if I set 'Aperture Priority', I can take shots at both ends of whatever range of apertures are made available and they both look the same - no discernable change to depth of field. Surely at widest aperture, in almost any scenario (using normal lenses anyway) should give a depth of field so small as to ensure a fuzzy background?

Will also depend on the length of the lens used and the distance between the object you are shooting and the background. Don't know about your camera but on my canon there is a button you have to press near the lens to get the camera to preview the new aperture before you take a shot. This was taken with a 50mm lens set at F1.8, the car was 2-3 feet away and the people at the back about 10-12 feet away....



If you had a 10mm lens at the same f value you would have a larger DOF and vice versa for a longer lens.

>> Edited by badbeachbuggy on Friday 3rd March 08:37

[GetCarter]

As said... the shot will look the same through the wiewfinder unless you press the DOF preview button. If you don't have one of them, it's only once you've taken the shot that you'll see the difference.

And I also do spot colour like miniman

Steve

[740i]

Bad,

As a keen slotracer myself, would be interested to know where you took that great shot.

[badbeachbuggy]

740i said:

Bad, As a keen slotracer myself, would be interested to know where you took that great shot.

It was taken at Xtreme Wheels show at Alexandra Palace last weekend

[simpo two]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

if I set 'Aperture Priority', I can take shots at both ends of whatever range of apertures are made available and they both look the same - no discernable change to depth of field. Surely at widest aperture, in almost any scenario (using normal lenses anyway) should give a depth of field so small as to ensure a fuzzy background?

Not necessarily. Your dilemma might be caused by simply judging DOF through the viewfinder as already mentioned, but if you are judging on results, then you're using a wide angle lens, where DOF is far greater.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

TrevorW said:

For spot colour, miniman has the best descirption in this topic and works well for me. www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=211814

Ah, perfect. Thanks for that, I'll have a play with the various techniques & report back!

simpo two said:

Not necessarily. Your dilemma might be caused by simply judging DOF through the viewfinder as already mentioned, but if you are judging on results, then you're using a wide angle lens, where DOF is far greater.

Thanks for all the comments on this, if I can I 'll set up a series of shots over the weekend & try some more. The lens is the standard E300 bundle 14-45mm.

There is a preview function that you can assign to the 'ok' button but there's no mention of it being compulsory and it doesn't seem to give much of a preview, just darkens the whole scene slightly.

[740i]

badbeachbuggy said:

740i said: Bad, As a keen slotracer myself, would be interested to know where you took that great shot. It was taken at Xtreme Wheels show at Alexandra Palace last weekend

Cheers Bad,

BSCRA (British Slot Car Association) would be very keen to use your image for future publicity, any chances? Did you take any other shots?

John

[GetCarter]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

it doesn't seem to give much of a preview, just darkens the whole scene slightly.

Yea - they do that... it is 'stopping down' to the apature you have set - if you look carefully, you see the differing dof. But it's a bit pants.

Welcome BTW!

[simpo two]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

There is a preview function that you can assign to the 'ok' button but there's no mention of it being compulsory and it doesn't seem to give much of a preview, just darkens the whole scene slightly.

Yep, they do that - you're looking through a smaller hole. You can see the effect if you look hard enough; but personally I usually just guess. I find I either want DOF to be max or min, which makes it easier.

(Damn, got chatting to a neighbour halfway through...)

>> Edited by simpo two on Friday 3rd March 12:38

[GetCarter]

simpo two said:

Yep, they do that

cue Twilight Zone music

Sometimes Simpo, you're a bit spooky... I also wrote the words "I usually just guess" on my post, then decided everyone would think I'm a fraud (which I am of course) so left them off.

[V6GTO]

The word you're looking for is " Guesstimate "