Shooting Pictures SHQ vs HQ

[Dee]

Dennis...I concur with Gilligan on all but one thing. If I'm taking fish shots, immediately after taking the shot I continue to 'follow' the fish with the camera, carry through with the motion and you have a good chance of still having that shot in the lens when the shutter snaps. Do you shoot skeet? It's the same principal as leading the skeet and carrying the barrel through the shot. We're talking partial seconds here but my fish butt count has dropped tremendously.

 

[DennisW]

Thanks for the help. I've been using the camera on full automatic and the P mode. I'm not even what I would call an amature photographer. I guess I need to learn a little more about manual settings. I probably need to read more of the tips section. I have been disappointed in the camera when trying to take pictures of fast moving objects, like airplanes at airshows. I thought I would just have to use my film camera for those kinds of pictures. Maybe not. Maybe I just need to learn how to use my C-4000 better.

 

[Dee]

Thanks for the help. I've been using the camera on full automatic and the P mode. I'm not even what I would call an amature photographer. I guess I need to learn a little more about manual settings. I probably need to read more of the tips section. I have been disappointed in the camera when trying to take pictures of fast moving objects, like airplanes at airshows. I thought I would just have to use my film camera for those kinds of pictures. Maybe not. Maybe I just need to learn how to use my C-4000 better.

Dennis, although 'P' mode is supposed to be automatic, all it usually does is to automatically choose the slowest adequate exposure speed. (digitals don't have shutters!) :frown2: You don't have to go into full auto, but I would start with "A"perture mode. Learn a bit about apertures, they control you depth of field (DOF)...the part of the pic that is in focus. That number is the size of the window that is open in order to let light in to expose the picture. The smaller the number, the bigger that window is. The more light you let in, the less amount of time you need for that light to hit the CCD/film to get the picture. Remember the bigger the aperture number, the smaller/shorter the DOF will be. The lower the number, the bigger the window, the deeper the DOF. For instance, if you were to place a ruler, with #1 on your end, vertically on a table in front of you and took a picture of it. The DOF for f/8 will only be sharp between 3" and 5". But if you change that aperture to f1.8, the DOF changes to 2" to 10". (these distances are not accurate and are for example purposes only)

The exposure speed is what controls the background and stops the action of shots. For an outdoor action shot I would probably start with an exposure speed of 1/250 and f/3.6. Underwater, ES of 100 is usually all you need unless you want a black background behind that scorpion fish, or you're shotting up into a sun ball...but that's another lesson!

For a way better explaination, check out Dave Read's Exposure 101 Keep in mind he's still using that nasty old film stuff :54: and the aperute numbers do not correspond exactly with the digital numbers but the principal is the same and that's what you need to understand. His Caribbean Island analogy can be hard to follow.

 

[jlyle]

At air shows, use shutter priority, set the speed at 1/1000 or faster, and fire away. You'll be happier with your images.

 

[DennisW]

Thanks again. One of these days I'll have the time to play with my camera for a bit and get better at taking some pictures, both on the surface and underwater.

 

[Abril]

I normaly shoot in HQ but I only have a 128 mb card. but when I open them up in Photo Shop it is 31"x23" and I never print over an 8x10, I think the quality is just fine 90% of the time.
As far as the slow thing, If it put it in TIFF mode it takes the pic quickly but it takes nearly 35 seconds to process it! slooooww

 

[MildlyDamp]

There are significant differences in the write speeds of the various brands of compactflash cards, and this directly affects how long the camera takes to store an image. The cheap San Disk cards sold at Costco are among the slowest.

For an exhaustive review of this topic, with extensive actual write speed test results, check out www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007