Neither. Get your exposure right the first time. :tup:

I think my light meter lies. I find myself pushing it 1/3-2/3 of a stop either way once I get it in Lr.

Ah ha.

I'll make sure to do this from now on.

Lunaz-- what are your thoughts on LR?

I have LR & Aperture, both excellent, but I like the Lightroom workflow better so I switched over. For heavy lifting, neither can replace PS. Both have a 30 day trial, so I would download both and see which one you like better.

You drive a sports car when you could easily drive a POS that can get you from A to B. Same thing with camera equipment :stirthepot:

I think I may have been being a little of a smart aleck. I use Photoshop, but in a minimalist way -- sometimes minor exposure adjustment or cropping.

I was originally taught photography by a hard-core guy back in 1975. When we learned exposure and composition, he made us use Kodachrome and we had to present on the screen through a projector for critiques. His approach was that we needed to do everything through the lens and with slides, you cannot hide. My original 35 mm was an Argus C4 viewfinder -- it had no light meter and was a great camera and it taught me a great deal.

I sometimes think my digital cameras make me a little lazy.

Anyway, Mr. Red-Zed, I hope I did not offend you or anyone else.

Can't offend Red. You can only make him poop his pants.

pretty much this.


I always wind up with a handful of pictures I am really happy with, but need some sort of minor tweak. As of now, my pictures come straight from my D3100 with no mods. I would like to be able to make at least some minor mods to try and tweak the pictures to be where they should be.

I would also like to be able to adjust exposure differently in different parts of the frame, but I think I will need to shell out more cash to do something like that.

Only about 1 out of ever 10 of my photographs are usable.

Then again I like to take pics without even looking at the viewfinder.

I take a ton of photos, maybe only 10 are usable, but I'll still post 50 of them :roflpuke2:

:icon18:

The way I figure it is digital "film" is free... so I shoot everything. :icon17:


Then I get out my camera and take pictures. :ugh2:

I can't compare Lr to Aperture, but I know my editing got much cleaner when I switched from Paint Shop Pro X to Lr. Now I have the whole Cs5. I'm also of the mindset that you should try to get it as close to right as possible with the camera and the lighting, but i love having the tools we have to tweak a photo to bring out shadows, highlights, contrast, and touch up skin when necessary.
I'm stil a n00b though, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

I'm a total noob. I can't even use a Rebel XS.

none of my pics are usable. every once in a while my wife takes a good snap with my camera, and I claim it as my own.

Example of some things I want to change:


Want more detail in the thatch roofing:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...1/DSC_0833.jpg




http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...DSC_0527-1.jpg

Would like to just bring a little bit more detail out, maybe need to lighten a tad.

I think my focus was a bit off here, too shallow DOF. had just gotten the camera

Haha! My wife says hilarious quotables and I tweet them. The world thinks I'm brilliant!

It funny when you get a tool that can do the extreme, that's all you focus on. When I first got my 50mm f/1.4 I shot everything wide open. There was no middle ground for me. If my subject's eye was in focus, her nose wasn't.

I shot everything wide open until last week.

I immediately associated a shallow DOF with an expensive camera.:icon17:

:icon18:

Wow, never thought about it that way before... that's a good point !

would also love to be able to salvage more hair detail in this picture

:yum:
http://i.imgur.com/8lI1l.jpg?1

I'm a very amateur photographer and that's what I do as well. On my 35mm high aperture lens I shoot everything at 1.8. I've been trying to bump that number to 2.2 or 2.5 when the focused object is too close to avoid what you are describing... but often there is no time for that.

I don't even know what wide open means.



Just kidding...


:|

I'm the opposite lately. I usually don't go below f/4 unless I'm desperate for light.

Red, if you want a little more detail in the shadows you can just dodge in PS real quick.

Do you guys shoot full manual most of the time or do you do shutter or aperture priority?

I have no editing software as of now. I'm actually hoping to get some advice on what to buy.

It would also probably be helpful to be directed towards a good learning resource:icon17:

A friend of mine swears by Lightroom.

I walk around in aperture priority in case I need to snap something quickly, but I usually go manual for anything I want to have turn out well

What's funny is I have this desire to get these DSLR cameras and then I see some of the shots taken with standard digital cameras and I'm like :|

People with DSLR are just like to show off their big cameras and look professional. :roflpuke2:

Get a grip and use a lens hood for extra "look like a pro" points :tup:

I definitely need a battery grip to add to the look.

Unless it's of something moving, I'm usually in aperture priority because its a lot quicker to compose a shot and control the DOF. Before using the manual setting, I take a shot full Auto, see what settings the camera uses and go from there.

I am super excited about shooting video with the 60D.

I feel like such a newb in full auto when the flash pops up when I don't want it to. :bowrofl:

You can disable the flash popping up on the 60D, even in Program mode.

flash free auto mode ftw:icon17:

I do the same thing except with Program mode. It's kinda like Auto, but with being able to shift the exposure quickly. I find that works best for me when a moment happens without me having time to think about the shot or set up for it.
If I have time to set up for the shot, definitely Manual.
Aperture priority is a great mode too, but if you are not using Auto ISO (and set at 100-400), you can find yourself with some shutter speeds that are too long without a tripod.
I choose my ISO based on what I'm going to do with the pictures. If its just for posting here or on Facebook, I leave the ISO at Auto. The noise just isn't an issue at Internet posting size/resolution.

Very easy fix with a layer mask in Photoshop or an area adjustment in Lr.
http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1337804247