ANITIX87 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 3233 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1426 times:
Unfortunately, all these pictures are way too dark. If you play around with the levels you might get them to look better, but the quality may suffer. What mode do you shoot in, Manual?
I'd recommend shooting in either aperture or shutter speed priority (I always use Aperture Priority) so that the exposure is right, since the camera will choose the corresponding opposite characteristic (if you're in aperture priority, the camera will choose shutter speed, and vice versa).
Also, what equipment are you using? I took the liberty of editing one of the pictures, but noticed that the picture is not very large (megapixel-wise). I don't know if you cropped it or resized it or not, so that's why I'm asking.
Here's my very quick attempt at editing. I used the last one, just because. If the file you posted is not the original, drop me an e-mail through my profile and send me the original file, full-size, regardless of what size it is.
Just my two cents.
TIS
www.stellaryear.com: Canon EOS 50D, Canon EOS 5DMkII, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Canon 24-70 2.8L II, Canon 100mm 2.8L, Canon 100-4
Lufthansi From Germany, joined May 2002, 454 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1402 times:
Thank you both very much for still helping me out! I don't have some kind of Photo-Club around to ask. That's why I'm happy with your nice and kind help!
Well you can see my gear in my profile. I alway use the D30 and the tele-lens.
I tried everything from automatic to manual. No matter if P-mode or Tv or Av the results never satisfy. If they look fine on my camera display I can be sure that they'll be to dark at my home monitor which is indeed crap. It's running at 100% contrast and 100% brightness to make things usable.
I really don't know what to do.
The tele-zoom was about 300€ (new, guaranty etc) and the camera isn't to cheap as well.
How much more money do I have to invest for being able to edit my pics in a way that improves my results?
I need a new monitor for my PC,
I need some sensor cleaning,
maybe a better graphic card (I'm unsing a Sapphire Radeon 9600 PRO ATLANTIS),
some filters?,
PhotoShop and so on.
How should I afford all this stuff? I know it's not only the hardware but also the monkey (me) behind the camera...
I also asked some CDG spotters to help me out via PM on a.net but as usual for french guys nobody answers. Maybe I can get a little help at FRA. I already asked in another thread.
@ANITIX87
The size is the original. I used only 1440 pixels. Next time I'll change that into a higher size.
Maybe this one helps to find the money's mistake?
As you see I really try to improve my results. It's quite some work to copy and paste all the pics, upload them on photobucket, put them on here and do the same with my windows-screenshots from the camera-settings. Hopefully it turns out soon.
ANITIX87 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 3233 posts, RR: 14 Reply 5, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1391 times:
Stephan:
Some bits of advice...
1) Shoot at the largest file size you can, for editing purposes. The higher the original resolution, the better the editing can be. Get a bigger card if fitting more pictures is an issue. Ideally, you want to shoot in RAW mode to get the best editing capabilities, but you'd need software with RAW conversion, something Photoshop CS has, but I don't know if you have it. You have, after all, 8.2 megapixels in your camera! Use every bit of them! You should be shooting at 3500x2350, or whatever 8.2MP is. This will give you so much more freedom.
2) I rarely, if ever, use manual mode. The single-characteristic priorities are best, I feel. It leaves you many options while giving the hard work to the camera, which it is very, very good at.
3) Make absolutely sure your camera does not have exposure compensation on. If it needs it, then put it on, if it's a ridiculously bright sunny day. Otherwise, make it zero. Also, make sure you did not mistakenly leave it at a weird ISO value from another outing. Everytime I start shooting, I check my settings, just in case. I recommend doing the same.
4) While the good, expensive equipment does help, the real way to get great photos is to become a great photographer, which will only come with practice. Don't give up, you're well on the way there! Keep positive and keep shooting because you'll only get better.
TIS
www.stellaryear.com: Canon EOS 50D, Canon EOS 5DMkII, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Canon 24-70 2.8L II, Canon 100mm 2.8L, Canon 100-4
Lufthansi From Germany, joined May 2002, 454 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1384 times:
One more thing:
Which white-balance mode do you recommend???
I have AWB (Automode), Sunlight, cloudy conditions, normal lightbulps, neon tubes, flash light and customer-mode.
If you use customer mode how do you adjust? Light conditions change so quick because of the clouds here.
Do you attach a white paper at the airport fence or at your car, take a photo of it, set it as refernce for the customer white balance and set the white-balance-mode to customer for taking pics???
Just look at my pics in the above mentioned thread. They always tend to have one color too strong... Mostly green.
Should I mention that I have a filter on my lens??? It's a 58mm UV(N) filter from Hoya. Today I didn't use the filter but it seems not to affect the pics.
ANITIX87 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 3233 posts, RR: 14 Reply 8, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1376 times:
I use Auto White balance. What you can do, if it's bright, is to look down at something mostly gray (like asphalt or concrete, as long as it's not black), press the AEL button (and hold it down) and then compose your picture, focus, and shoot. The exposure will be remembered and locked while you focus on something that's lit differently, since something mostly gray will show the true light better. There's other, more complex ways of doing it, but that's the method I use and it works well.
TIS
www.stellaryear.com: Canon EOS 50D, Canon EOS 5DMkII, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Canon 24-70 2.8L II, Canon 100mm 2.8L, Canon 100-4
Lufthansi From Germany, joined May 2002, 454 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1372 times:
Ok. I went through my manual... Never heard about this button before. But hey... I found it!
So once again: I focus on the asphalt, hold the AEL button for 4sec (acc. to my manual) and each time I take a photo the camera remembers the AEL setting? Or do I have to press the AEL button prior to each shot for to activate this special setting?
And should I use my lens-hood? I always did so far.
ANITIX87 From United States of America, joined Mar 2005, 3233 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1338 times:
Quoting Lufthansi (Reply 9): I focus on the asphalt, hold the AEL button for 4sec (acc. to my manual) and each time I take a photo the camera remembers the AEL setting? Or do I have to press the AEL button prior to each shot for to activate this special setting?
It depends. Some cameras have ways where the camera can remember it (which seems to be the method you're describing) but I'd only use this if you often shoot in the exact same conditions (if you live in a desert, chances are you always shoot bright sunny conditions, etc.). But since you live in France, I'd not set it definitively. There must be some mode where you can simply press it (just for a split second), take the picture, and then it will reset itself to the default.
Quoting Lufthansi (Reply 9): And should I use my lens-hood? I always did so far.
Lens hoods are made to protect against glare and ambient light. Unless it's very sunny or you're taking a long exposure, the lens hood won't make much difference. I always use it, just to make my life easier, so that I don't have to open the bag and put it back in.
TIS
www.stellaryear.com: Canon EOS 50D, Canon EOS 5DMkII, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Canon 24-70 2.8L II, Canon 100mm 2.8L, Canon 100-4
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