motivation & set up help..

after seeing the images here the last few days.. it has made me want to go shoot some stuff..and bring my camera with me always..

However..I have ALWAYS been discouraged about the quality (sharpness) of the images I take..

I see the images RobM. takes and they are truly amazing at times.. LOVE the quality he gets..

I have the same camera Canon G5

I knwo next to nothing about cameras.. can somebody tell me what a GOOD average setting (for all important settings) for my camera to be in order to take decent pictures?

Yes I am aware that different situations (lighting, outside, inside) can all have adjustments on how to set it.. but Im looking for a GOOD starting point..

ANy help is appreciated

thanks gang..

Auto, always use flash, never look at what you are taking :)

jking, in a rush. hopefully someone will come in and help before i can come back and post again.

HAHAAHA!... thanks... Ive got time..Ive had my camera this long with havent taken REAL vantage of it....Im sure I can wait until someone can help.. ;)

I quite often leave the camera in apatuer priority. This allows you to adjust the depth of field you want and also shutter speed, but it ussually allows the picture to come out fairly well exposed. Of course like you said there are different times for different things, so you need to play around, but that is what i ussually do.

Milo-
do you have a G5 then? How do you set the apature to "priority"? as well as adjust my depth of field..(or is this just by zoom in/out? you mean? or is this a setting somewhere?)

thanks.. anyone else with some good settings for CRISP pictures..esepcially pertaining to the Canon G5? ;)

Av - Aperture Priority - smaller aperture (large f/no.) larger DOF
Tv - Shutter priority - quicker shutter speed, less shake - sharper pics.

Interesting article on depth of field - http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam...-of-field.html

Av - Aperture Priority - smaller aperture (large f/no.) larger DOF
Tv - Shutter priority - quicker shutter speed, less shake - sharper pics.

perfect...sorta the things I was looking for....so if I want crisper pics..I need to have the setting in Tv. ;)


WHat having a LARGE DOF do for a picture?/

Keep 'em coming boys...any G5 specific or all universal tips welcomed.. ;)

did you read the link? DOF is how much of the picture is in focus. Narrow depth of field (large apeture) means only a thin slice of your shot will be in focus. Whereas you get a broader depth of field with a smaller aperture, so more of your shot will be in focus.

And using faster shutter speeds will reduce shake, but it will affect the exposure. You might consider using a tripod if you are getting blurry pictures due to handshake.

seems a lot of people have G5's

A v.quick tip - if you dont want to do any manual adjustment, I would use the landscape setting for most situations rather than plain "auto"
just my opinion though. This setting will adjust exposure rather than using flash so watch handshake.

I don't acctually have a g5, but most cameras that allow you to do manual stuff have an apature priority.

ctranter was bang on. For some other people reading this thread some camera's not made by canon use a differnet symbol that makes easier sence then Tv, which is S. Tv stands for time variable or something along that lines, but s for shutter is way easier to figure out :P

i can't speak for rob, but i always find it helpful to do a couple things in photoshop that really increase the punch of your image. the first is to adjust the levels - get that puppy balanced. next, and probably most important to making a photo look 'sharp', is to apply the 'unsharp mask' filter in photoshop. play around with this, and be mindful not to OVERuse it. you'll be amazed at some of the detail this can bring out.

that said, you can only do so much.
robb is EXTREMELY talented, and his work reflects that.
good command over DOF, composition, and subject matter.

Thanks for the comments Whispers and Nords, much appreciated, if a bit embarassing http://expectingrain.com/discussion/...on_redface.gif

:D

The only tip I have is to work on imagery as a whole before working on the technical aspect. Set your camera to RAW mode and just shoot away, sit back and watch them in a slideshow, or even better... get some large prints of images you like.

Then look at them and consider what would make them better, wether it be some colour adjustments, or something in the camera like DOF.

No amount of tutorial websites can subsitute experience, that's the magic of digital!

OMG...i've just been messing with the Unsharp Mask on a couple of my photos...i can't believe what a difference that makes to my digital shots! I also can't believe i've missed this tool after working with image adjustments forever and not getting what i wanted. Thanks guys, you're always a great help.