First go in public with 70-300mm

[Graham.J]

As I mentioned in the 'Kit Help' thread I had a 'do' to go to at the local school to get some pictures for the head to use around the school.

Ordered a new lens and a flash which, due to a mix up with delivery, I received 5mins AFTER I was supposed to be at the school

I'm not particularly pleased with the images, the lighting was pretty bad and they didn't want me using the flash

So, long shutter speed isn't really brilliant for taking pictures of people who are always moving, I stuck the ISO right up to 1600 to try and brighten it all up a bit which meant I could use a slightly quicker shutter speed.

Anyway, here's what I came back with - on arrival she told me she was only after 'happy snaps' which was ok, but I'm still a bit 'off' with the pics


(they wouldn't turn the other 2 strips of lights on)











I've adjusted the brightness/contrast in photoshop to try and make them look a little better but I don't think it's really helped

Oh well, all in good practice

Graham

>>> Edited by Graham.J on Friday 28th January 14:08

[Graham.J]

Totally agree, that 2nd shot, the chap was standing under the section of the hall that had NO lights on, it's been lightened up in photoshop a lot too.

Picture 4 was everyone crowded round watching them cut the cake, I just managed to squeeze a hole in and take a shot.

The pic of the girl was again, where the lights weren't on, didn't realise the background til after.

The glasses were me just playing with the lens really does nothing for me either

[Graham.J]

rico said:

Just admit it... you fancied the bird, took a quick shot before she noticed... thus the blurring. It's ok... i use that excuse all the time!

I took about 3 shots actually

[Graham.J]

bilko2 said:

Also i am presuming this is the first time you have been THE MAN with the camera at an event. Gawd that must have been quite daunting, hmm...and exciting.

It was quite surreal and daunting actually, I'm 6'3" so I'm not really inconspicuous, for a while I had a lot of people staring at me. Which felt quite unnerving.

Also I was told to try and get shots of every table, I felt odd walking randomly up to a group of people and sticking a ruddy great cam in their face, so tried to do more distant shots.

A new learning experience

>> Edited by Graham.J on Friday 28th January 23:51

[Graham.J]

Thanks for all the advice, I will bear it all in mind for my next one.

I'm actually quite glad in some respects that she didn't want me to use the flash because when I first turned it on it was a bit

I think with the technique of asking people if I can take their photo and using the flash properly (must read manual), I could've got away with some better 'group' shots rather than the 'eyes shut', discreet shots I tried to get.

Roll on the next one

Graham

[Graham.J]

simpo two said:

A bit what??! The built-in flash (are we talking D70?) is designed for fill-flash and you have to be quite clever to mess it up. Two drawbacks - it's not powerful, so no use for long shots, and its proximity to the lens can easily provoke red-eye, so be careful.

I bought the Sigma EF 500 Super NA-iTTL for the evening 'do' and upon turning it on was a little overwhelmed by the display and buttons and whatnot.

simpo two said:

Actually you're talking about two styles - what I call formal, ie when people know they're being photographed and are looking at the camera and smiling etc - and reportage, when you prowl the perimeter sniping whatever looks good, candid etc, and people don't know about it (until it's too late ). But the latter would probably be done with a telephoto so that's when you need a big hairy strap-on flash for best results.

I was going for the 'reportage' style, hence the bigger flash but she didn't want me using a flash so had to make do.

>> Edited by Graham.J on Saturday 29th January 21:32

[Graham.J]

LongQ said:

Some very helpful tips....

They're worth bearing in mind, I was a little loathed to crop in case she wanted to order prints of them in which case with the online photo services with their need to crop to make the shot fit, it might loose some detail I'd like in the shot. And the glasses shot was indeed a test shot, I was a little bored so just pointed it at the glasses and fired one off.

murph7355 said:

Helpful shots to prove LongQ's points

Thanks Murph, it's amazing what a bit of cropping can do to a photo, I particularly like the shot of the head and the girl now.

FunkyNige said:

Purely out of curiosity, could you post up one of the pics before you brightened it, etc, Graham? I'm just interested in how the pics came out before PS.

Sure....
















Never actually realised just how hard it is operating a camera at 300mm handheld

>> Edited by Graham.J on Sunday 30th January 13:35

[Graham.J]

Looking back I should've used a tripod but I don't think I'd have got as many of the images I did with having to lug it around.

I suppose it's just one of those things, you can't win

[Graham.J]

Good idea

I did some 'studio' style photos earlier today (about to start a new thread so not to drag this off topic) and gave cropping a good go, really pleased with the results, thanks

[Graham.J]

I'm a person of the night, tend to go to bed about 2 or 3 and sleep til lunchtime

I think on track shots, cropping would be more essential, you not zoom in as much to make sure you get what you need in shot, then crop afterwards.

It is amazing what you can do with something like photoshop, most of it amazes me, I only really use it for basic stuff.

I think I might see what my health is like come April time when my local club hold a Sprint just down the road from me, may see if I can do some photography there

[Graham.J]

The more I think back to it the more I think I should've used a more formal way of getting the people photographs, think I was trying to run before I could walk a little there.

[Graham.J]

I was thinking the same thing, at 1600 all my shots went grainy, the quality of those shots is fantastic too.

What a lens