Insomnia and Tequila

[caradoc]

Well, the resolution is better… but the focus is just a touch soft. Unless that, too, is an artifact of the resizing?

[Jakevol2]

Well, the resolution is better… but the focus is just a touch soft. Unless that, too, is an artifact of the resizing?

I really wouldn’t know why. Honestly I thought it was in focus judging on the lettering on the shot glass.

[caradoc]

One of the problems I’m having is that since you’re uploading to Flickr and you’re not a Pro account holder, the images max out at 1024x. This means I can’t see what you see when you’re looking at the original file.

[Curious]

there’s focus and there’s DOF (depth of field) and while the actual focus on the lettering is ok the back of the rim is soft. a quick glance at the specs on your camera Manual mode is also fully automatic, as the camera selects both the shutter speed and the aperture values. However, now you have access to camera settings, like ISO, Exposure compensation, White balance, My Colors, and Metering. tells me you have little control over DOF.

frankly i like the first one best. yeah even with the light on the right. the new ones run downhill and i expect the fluid to run out. i wasn’t panning the accent light just the amount and placing of it.

and i’m not trying to be harsh here but you ask for criticism so i’m being critical. i’m not sure if that particular camera will do what you’re asking it to. more light overall should get the aperture to stop down giving you more DOF (hopefully) and backing up slightly (a la ray of wrath) with help with the DOF also. as a general rule the closer you are the shallower it is.

and caradoc has point about being unable to see the original. whatever resizing is done by you or flickr makes evaluating the photo harder.

[Jakevol2]

Oh I am not upset with your criticism at all. I asked and am happy to get it. I also like the advice you guys are giving me. But sometimes you talk a little above my understanding, I am still learning remember, and when I say I dont get it, I, in the most literal sense, don’t get it. So bear with me.

I am planning to upgrade to Pro in the next few weeks, I am hoping it will be a b-day present. And as I have said I already have my eye on a Canon Digital Rebel or something with 10mp. But I think for now with me just learning digital photography…hell photography in general, my little PowerShot A560 is a good learning tool mithinks.

[Elsinore]

Sorry I haven’t weighed in before now, and I’ve skimmed what the others have said and don’t think this has been suggested, but you might try getting some more light in your scene. Autofocus is going to struggle a bit more in dim lighting, so your focus could be thrown off. Double check your metering mode. If you’re in partial or spot metering (don’t *think* the A560 has spot, but it might have partial), you might switch to evaluative or center weighted average metering. In evaluative metering, the camera looks at the entire scene and determines proper exposure, while in center weighted average, it looks at the entire scene, but gives more weight to the center of your frame. If the center of your frame is quite dark, it’s going to suggest a longer shutter speed or wider aperture, while if the center is lighter, the opposite will be true. I have the most luck with center weighted average metering, except in cases of seriously high contrast where I need to expose for a small portion of my image to make sure that’s exposed correctly.

Keep in mind that your meter wants to make everything middle gray. This works for most scenes, but for night shots, it would be overexposing. So for images where you want them darker, you may need to override your camera’s suggested exposure values and underexpose. In bright situations the reverse happens–snow for example. Your meter would want to make all that bright white into middle gray, but that woudln’t be correct for the scene, so you’d need to basically ignore the meter and overexpose a bit to get the snow brighter.

Also use a tripod if you aren’t already. Generally speaking, it’s difficult to handhold when shutter speeds drop below 1/50th, though that’s partly dependent on your focal length, size of camera, etc. I can get reasonably clear shots down to 1/30 or 1/4, but it sometimes takes a few tries. Your PowerShot probably gives you a shake warning when you drop below 1/50th or 1/40th, so if it’s doing that, try using tripod or resting the camera on a solid surface.

If you want to get that shallow depth of field look where part of your image is in focus, but the focus falls away to blur, use your macro mode. Macro mode may also work a bit better for focusing in dim lighting–I’ve sometimes found that to be true with my Canon A620. If you’re having a tough time getting your camera to lock focus, regardless of mode, pay attention to where the focusing point is and whether there’s some obvious contrast in your subject matter at that point. Autofocus systems determine focus by locking into areas of contrast–lines/patterns. So if what you’re trying to focus on doesn’t have a pattern, is smooth/blank, etc, your camera’s AF might not function well. You could try manual focusing, though it’s hard with a point and shoot, or you could add something to your scene at the same point, lock your autofocus, remove the test object and shoot your picture.

Hopefully some of this will help you in a more general way. The last set of pictures you posted seemed under exposed, so I would work on your exposure some. I like the concept, though.

[caradoc]

If I may make one recommendation – I’m certain that somewhere very close to you is a community college that offers a one-day course in “Basic Digital Photography” or something similar. Those classes run between $50 and $90 depending on the college, and are about six hours of “This is what aperture does, this is what shutter speed does, this is what ISO does, this is how red-eye reduction works, et cetera.”

I cannot say just how valuable these courses are for anyone who’s just getting started with a DSLR (assuming you go with a Rebel, as you mentioned.)

I’d been shooting film for about twenty years before switching to digital, and I still learned things in that class that I’d learned years ago (in high school photography) and had forgotten again.

[Jakevol2]

Sorry I haven’t weighed in before now, and I’ve skimmed what the others have said and don’t think this has been suggested, but you might try getting some more light in your scene. Autofocus is going to struggle a bit more in dim lighting, so your focus could be thrown off. Double check your metering mode. If you’re in partial or spot metering (don’t *think* the A560 has spot, but it might have partial), you might switch to evaluative or center weighted average metering. In evaluative metering, the camera looks at the entire scene and determines proper exposure, while in center weighted average, it looks at the entire scene, but gives more weight to the center of your frame. If the center of your frame is quite dark, it’s going to suggest a longer shutter speed or wider aperture, while if the center is lighter, the opposite will be true. I have the most luck with center weighted average metering, except in cases of seriously high contrast where I need to expose for a small portion of my image to make sure that’s exposed correctly.

Keep in mind that your meter wants to make everything middle gray. This works for most scenes, but for night shots, it would be overexposing. So for images where you want them darker, you may need to override your camera’s suggested exposure values and underexpose. In bright situations the reverse happens–snow for example. Your meter would want to make all that bright white into middle gray, but that woudln’t be correct for the scene, so you’d need to basically ignore the meter and overexpose a bit to get the snow brighter.

Also use a tripod if you aren’t already. Generally speaking, it’s difficult to handhold when shutter speeds drop below 1/50th, though that’s partly dependent on your focal length, size of camera, etc. I can get reasonably clear shots down to 1/30 or 1/4, but it sometimes takes a few tries. Your PowerShot probably gives you a shake warning when you drop below 1/50th or 1/40th, so if it’s doing that, try using tripod or resting the camera on a solid surface.

If you want to get that shallow depth of field look where part of your image is in focus, but the focus falls away to blur, use your macro mode. Macro mode may also work a bit better for focusing in dim lighting–I’ve sometimes found that to be true with my Canon A620. If you’re having a tough time getting your camera to lock focus, regardless of mode, pay attention to where the focusing point is and whether there’s some obvious contrast in your subject matter at that point. Autofocus systems determine focus by locking into areas of contrast–lines/patterns. So if what you’re trying to focus on doesn’t have a pattern, is smooth/blank, etc, your camera’s AF might not function well. You could try manual focusing, though it’s hard with a point and shoot, or you could add something to your scene at the same point, lock your autofocus, remove the test object and shoot your picture.

Hopefully some of this will help you in a more general way. The last set of pictures you posted seemed under exposed, so I would work on your exposure some. I like the concept, though.

Thanks Elsinore.

1. I was only working from the living room lamp. I know the pics apear to be underexposed…you should have seen the ones I discarded. That said I was aiming for a dark and smoky bar feel with these pics. On some level I think I succeded with that. Until I can afford some lamps I have to shoot with the light that I have and not with the one that I need.

2. The A560 has spot but I was shooting with evaluate. I might try the centered weight or spot metering next time.

3.Yep I have a tripod and I did used it. I love my new tri-pod 😀

4.

1/50th, though that’s partly dependent on your focal length, size of camera, etc. I can get reasonably clear shots down to 1/30 or 1/4,

Um, n00b no understand, n00b feel stupid.

5.

Macro mode may also work a bit better for focusing in dim lighting

Yup shot in macro too.

Again thank you and curious and caradoc for your imput. I will talke all you have advised and try to put practice to it. I feel a bit bruised and battered after all of that but I think it will help. Don’t forget though I am still very green to all of this. So I hope you do take that into account with my skill level.

I still have to say for being new to this I thought they were pretty good shots for what it’s worth. And I know there is room for improvement.

[Elsinore]

Don’t feel too bruised–I don’t think anyone here would mean anything in a vindictive way (not that I think you’re taking it as such, just re-iterating that it’s constructive criticism).

For the 1/50th etc stuff, I’m referring to shutter speeds. The rule of thumb for handholding without inducing blur via camera shake is 1 over the focal length, so for an SLR/DSLR with a 50mm lens mounted on it, you can probably hand hold down to 1/50th second shutter speed, but anything slower than that would probably be prone to camera shake. If you mounted a longer telephoto lens like a 300mm lens, then you’d need to keep your shutter speeds above 1/300th second if you wanted to hand hold. With a compact camera/digicam like the A560, the rule is a little harder to apply due to the smaller focal lengths at that size, but I think the camera will start warning you with a little red camera and beep that says the shutter speed you’re at is possibly too slow to hand hold.

Something you might try is to put your camera on manual mode, make sure your LCD displays all your camera info (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), then watch what your LCD does as you change aperture or shutter speed. Start with one (like aperture) and just change it. You should see a change in the brightness of your LCD that gives you an idea of what the aperture or shutter speed change is doing to the final product. Remember that smaller number apertures are actually bigger openings, so they let more light into your camera. f/2.8 (will probably just say 2.8 on your LCD) is much more open than 8, which is likely the highest aperture your camera will go, possibly 11.

Edited to add a PS:
Yes, if you’re shooting dim light shots where you want a dark/smokey/dim mood, you’re going to want to “underexpose” by the camera’s middle gray standard, so you aren’t far off the mark there.

[Jakevol2]

Elsinore…maybe I just dont recognize the icon for apeture on my camera but I cant find anything about it in the menu for my camera either so I dont know what I am looking for. I find “Exposure” and “Long Shutter” but I dont think that is what you are talking about…or is it? My “Long Shutter goes up to 15” but it just washes everything out at that setting.

[Elsinore]

Hmmm I missed Curious’s note about your manual mode not being fully manual–saw the reference to manual mode and thought it was fully manual. Looks like you have Exposure Compensation ability under it–it won’t let you change shutter speed or aperture directly, but you should be able to tell it to brighten or darken the exposure as needed for the scene you’re wanting to capture (like brightening for snow, darkening for your dark bar scene). See what your manual says about how to go about changing it. If/When you get the Rebel, you’ll have more control over your exposure and depth of field because you’l be able to directly set your shutter speed and aperture as desired.

[caradoc]

In the owner’s manual there should be a section on setting everything manually. There won’t be an “icon” for aperture, which might also be called “f/stop.”

[Jakevol2]

Hmmm I missed Curious’s note about your manual mode not being fully manual–saw the reference to manual mode and thought it was fully manual. Looks like you have Exposure Compensation ability under it–it won’t let you change shutter speed or aperture directly, but you should be able to tell it to brighten or darken the exposure as needed for the scene you’re wanting to capture (like brightening for snow, darkening for your dark bar scene). See what your manual says about how to go about changing it. If/When you get the Rebel, you’ll have more control over your exposure and depth of field because you’l be able to directly set your shutter speed and aperture as desired.

Yeah I actually took the exposure down while taking these photos, it gave it the warm caramel colors in the pics. I actually played with a lot of the settings taking the photos. I put it on some settings that were intentionally wrong, some came out horrible same came out interesting. The ones I posted here if I remember right I had set on “foliage” with an exposure of -1, macro, vivid color setting and tungsten lighting. I think those setting worked best. Caradoc mentioned I might be pushing my camera to do what it is not capable of doing. I had even considered that, it was something that came to mind during the “Bug” theme last week whe nmy photos were very disapointing. That is when I started thinking about buying a Rebel.

For now though my little PowerShot is what I have to use. It’s frustrating when you have ideas for your camera and it can’t perform. Again that is blaming my equipment and not myself.

I am just now getting into all of this so it is going to take time to get all the equipment I ultimately will need, and classes in basic digital photography will definitely help me with my skill level.

[Curious]

For now though my little PowerShot is what I have to use. It’s frustrating when you have ideas for your camera and it can’t perform. Again that is blaming my equipment and not myself.

therein lies the crux of your problem. and it’s not a matter of blaming. you wouldn’t “blame” your car if it failed to win a nascar race. the frustrating thing for the time being will be not being able to do some of the things you see done in the contests. lately there has been an emphasis on shooting close. next week that won’t be an issue.

oh and btw you will never ever get all the equipment you “need” for the shots you can imagine. never. trust me on this.

[caradoc]

oh and btw you will never ever get all the equipment you “need” for the shots you can imagine. never. trust me on this.

Oh, now that’s not a joke.

I seem to have contracted terminal NAS (Nikon Acquisition Syndrome) with about $4K in lenses alone on my wish list.

Don’t even get me started on my wish list for flash/strobe hardware.

(sigh)

I really need to sharpen my skills before I buy more *stuff*.

[Author]

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