DSLR Shots and Discussions

6spd

I almost always meter a notch or two above center (when I use the meter). It almost always under exposes on my 7D.

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Pintsize725

Visited a pasture area near my apartment complex to see if the horses would cooperate. I'm excited to start editing!

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Tracie

Huck

This is something I need to play with lol. There's still so much I don't know about this camera.


I survived Zdayz 2013... (barely)

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LunaZ

I have mine set to compensate 2/3 stop higher when using aperture priority mode.
In manual, I follow the debatable "expose to the right" rule.

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2009 370Z Sport/Touring/Navigation | see my journal for mods
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saber

anybody have suggestions on a DIY flash diffuser for portrait shots? debating if a light dome or similar is money well spent or not.

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6spd

On camera or off?

For off camera, you can make a beauty dish out of plastic bowls and buy a white foam or plastic board. I'd splurge on a cheap beauty dish and reflector. The round catch light in the eyes is well worth the $40 layout.

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LunaZ

Are you shooting with a speedlite on the camera or an off-camera flash?
For on-camera speedlites, definitely diffuse or bounce. A bracket is great for getting the flash off center and creating more flattering light.
I have one of these: Gary Fong LightSphere Collapsible at Roberts Camera
It does the job.
A Fong Bong can be home grown out of leftover take-out containers for the cost of last night's dinner.

For off-camera speedlite use, there's a lot of Google-able tutorials on how to fabricate a DIY beauty dish, which you could then apply fabric to for diffusion. (Let's be realistic: A beauty dish and its specular light isn't for every subject that you put in front of your camera!)
At the end of the day, the DIY beauty dish may cost as much in materials and your time as an inexpensive model out of the box. It's up to you.
Finally, there's no comparing a cheap, flat beauty dish like a Paul C. Buff to an Elinchrom or a Mola Setti. But now I'm not talking about speedlites anymore

Other quick and easy on-camera speedlite diffusion options include a plastic flash diffuser cap and or a collapsible softbox: Fotodiox 6"x8" Foldable Flash Softbox for Nikon Flash, Canon Speedlight & ALL Standard Flashes

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2009 370Z Sport/Touring/Navigation | see my journal for mods
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Huck

So I was finally able to get a decent lightening pic tonight, right before the stupid cop came and told me I couldn't park on the top of the bridge lol.

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RiCharlie

Great shot!! So the "stupid cop" made you get off the metal bridge??

Huck

haha, it was concrete and I was nowhere near the lightening. It was roughly 5 or 6 miles away

The cop basically pulls up and gets out of the car. He asks what I'm doing out here in the middle of the night. I answer "I'm taking nighttime pictures." He wants to know what of. I tell him I'm taking pics of the sky and the lightening. He shakes his head and mutters something about "fukking dumbarse" then ignores me and walks to the back of my car. TRIES TO OPEN THE HATCH. I'm like wtf are you doing? You can't search my car, I haven't done anything wrong. He calls my plate in to dispatch and then starts lecturing me "you can't be out here in the middle of the night, it's not allowed". I'm like ok, if nobody's allowed to be on the bridge them why did the county just spend thousands of dollars building the sidewalk I'm standing on? He's like "you could get hit by a drunk driver" to which I reply that that should by my concern, not really his. He looks at me and says get the fukk out before I arrest you. Right then my camera died, so I told him the only reason I was leaving was that my camera had just died, and that he might want to go read the law about pedestrian access to public bridges lol. He followed me all the way home till I pulled in my driveway then turned around and left. Fun night!

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Huck

And I really like the look of this one, even though everywhere I post it (facebook, photobucket, hosted on this forum) makes it come out splotchy and weird looking *sigh*

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RiCharlie

I know what you are trying to do but without any highlights it looks like a dark underexposed picture of a car at night...

Huck

well that's more than I can say for myself, since I have no idea what I'm trying to do lol. I just play with the settings until something I like comes out. I'm always down for constructive criticism though, that's the only way I'll ever learn anything, so keep it coming

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NickTurnon

Huck, you and I are alike. When I take night shots, I just sit there and change ISO settings, etc til i find the right shot that I like thru the on camera screen.

It's such a newb move, but I have to learn somehow!

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saber

angle is a bit off on the car. if you centered it and had the car dead on, that photo would have been better. that line in the foreground is pretty awkward too, it's like the z is sticking its tongue out at me.

i see what you were going for, though! and totally see why you might have done the angle, since it's the side of the road. still, just my thoughts.

so when you're in A, you're usually +0.3 EV?

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