Cowboys in a Diner

[dane714]

Marathon, Texas
717

[John]

I really like your shot. Was you able to get more, or was it one and done? From the angle I take it that you were seated. I've shot a few of these and I know that things can be tricky with strangers. Good shot.

http://www.picturetrail.com/pa-paw

[Aoide]

Really great shot.

[bburton]

Dane,

I have to ask: how are you able to achieve such dazzling clarity in your F717 pictures? I am learning the F717; any quick tips?

For example, the picture above: what were your settings? tripod? post processing USM? other?

Thanks for any assistance.

Bruce

[dane714]

Originally Posted by John

I really like your shot. Was you able to get more, or was it one and done? From the angle I take it that you were seated. I've shot a few of these and I know that things can be tricky with strangers. Good shot.

http://www.picturetrail.com/pa-paw

I use an older version of Photo Impact version 6
reference is www.ulead.com

I shoot the largest file size the camera has to offer, always.
I use a tripod, monopod, are anything stable as much possible. In this case is was the table of the boot we were sitting at.

I resize the images in Photo Impact and increase the sharpness by one notch. Sometimes I enhance the conctrast slightly.

That's about it...nothing fancy.

Yes...this was one of those "one and done" instances.

[dane714]

Originally Posted by John

I really like your shot. Was you able to get more, or was it one and done? From the angle I take it that you were seated. I've shot a few of these and I know that things can be tricky with strangers. Good shot.

http://www.picturetrail.com/pa-paw

Definitely a One and Done number!

[bburton]

Originally Posted by "dane714

I resize the images in Photo Impact and increase the sharpness by one notch. Sometimes I enhance the conctrast slightly.That's about it...nothing fancy. Yes...this was one of those "one and done" instances.

Dane, Thanks for your quick response. Wow, up at 4:00am working on your computer. I guess because of what you're going through, your sleep patterns are thrown way off. (Me, I'm naturally an insomniac, so some of my greatest productivity has been when others are fast asleep.)

The F717 starts at 2560X1920 size. When you say you resize, to what size--the final size for posting (800X600) or what? And then, you sharpen as the last step?

Thanks again.

Bruce

[bburton]

Dane,

Here's an example of how I interpret what you suggest. This pic was taken: 1/200 f4 -0.7ev 9.7mm. Then I resized to 800X600, bumped contrast and brightness by 12% and sharpened one notch.

What do you think? I know it's too dark, but if I don't cut down on the initial exposure (-0.7ev), then it seems my outside pictures have a real contrast problem from the get go (in this case, dark locomotive and white, overcast sky). Any suggestions with this challenge?

[dane714]

[quote="bburton"]Dane,

Here's an example of how I interpret what you suggest. This pic was taken: 1/200 f4 -0.7ev 9.7mm. Then I resized to 800X600, bumped contrast and brightness by 12% and sharpened one notch.

What do you think? I know it's too dark, but if I don't cut down on the initial exposure (-0.7ev), then it seems my outside pictures have a real contrast problem from the get go (in this case, dark locomotive and white, overcast sky). Any suggestions with this challenge?

I don't think the pic looks all that dark. It looks a pic of the train on an overcast day. In fact..I think you did a good job handling the difficult exposure problem.

The photo is tack sharp too.

I have been doing some experimenting with my 717 using the spot meter and a flash unit. I have been working on getting faces nicely exposed againts a bright blue or overcast sky. I point the crosshairs of the spot meter at the brightest part of the composition. With some minor adjustments I find a happy medium between the sky and the subject, with the subject a tad on the dark side. Then I lock the AE on the camera, recompose and shoot, hitting the faces with the flash. More times than not, this method has worked well for me. Here is one example....

I had trouble with this shot of my son, Joe, because I kept burning out the bright white helmet while underexposing his face. I switched to spot meter, aimed the crosshairs at the bright helmut, hit the AE lock, recomposed to the shot with the onboard flash on full. The result is a well exposed helmut, natural looking background, and good facial features that otherwise would have been lost in shadow.



Now I know that this is a different shooting scenario than shooting the train on a cloudy day, but try experimenting with the spot meter to find a happy medium between background and subject. Put the the EV back up to 0 and try it, too. Again...your train shot looks fine to me. It is what my eye would have seen, shadows and all, If I had been standing next to you on that cloudy day.

Regards,
Dane (definitely not a camera whiz kid) I just keep shooting until something works.

[dane714]

Originally Posted by John

I really like your shot. Was you able to get more, or was it one and done? From the angle I take it that you were seated. I've shot a few of these and I know that things can be tricky with strangers. Good shot.

http://www.picturetrail.com/pa-paw

The swivel body of the 717 is real handy for getting candid shots. You can shoot from the hip or pretend to be fiddling with the camera while you are acutally taking shots while remaining inconspicuous. 8)

[John]

Originally Posted by dane714

The swivel body of the 717 is real handy for getting candid shots. You can shoot from the hip or pretend to be fiddling with the camera while you are acutally taking shots while remaining inconspicuous. 8)

My first camera was the Nikon 950 digital. It was also a swivel cam. I really liked the camera. It took great pictures, but was only a 2.3 megipexel camera. Many times a SLR is simply the wrong tool.