The NIKON Thread (Talk About Nikon Stuff here)

[mr_baseball_08]

Originally Posted by perplex

This is like my second flower try: http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/192/dsc5337vy0.jpg

50mm f1.4 1/1000s iso200

Advise me on what would have improved it, I think I should have used a different aperture as I'm not sure I'm happy with that bokeh

To me (Canon user here, sorry ), the composition is a bit muddy, but personally I like the bokeh. It looks as if you've focused on the flower furtherest to the right, but with such a small aperture, you've left the rest out of focus. Also one of the flowers is dead or diseased and affects the rest of the composition.

From now on, before you take a picture, ask yourself what you're wanting to show. If you are taking this picture for others to see, what do you want other people to feel when they see it? Also, start looking at your pictures as if you didn't take them and you're seeing them for the first time. Decide what you don't like and try to keep it in mind the next time you try to take a similar shot. Personally, I'm keeping a photo journal to help myself learn.

If you're a beginner, I highly recommend the book Understanding Exposure. It will help you tremendously, and will quickly get you well on your way to taking creatively correct exposures.

JD

[dj_mocok]

Originally Posted by WhatMACHI

Aii. went into another few stores today, and the D40 vs D50 crap came up again. bla bla, i think this argument is never going to end in my head, everytime i get my mind set someone new comes along and puts it off lol.

Anyway, im still constantly researching, im gona try get my hands on both of the cameras regardless to see how they both feel. But its still strongly leaning towards D50 for obvious reasons. Anything at the D40 is more just becuase its small, and i may not ever stock up on enough lenses that the limitation to AF-S may not be too big a deal. -_-'' someone shoot me

I'm quoting this from someone from a camera forum. Basically:

"When in doubt, buy both".

You're so not gonna go wrong that way.

[WhatMACHI]

Originally Posted by dj_mocok

I'm quoting this from someone from a camera forum. Basically:

"When in doubt, buy both".

You're so not gonna go wrong that way.

Bahaha, if only i had the money Waiting time now, i geuss ive got about as much info and advice as one can get, now its hammer time :P Soon as my gf gets back, ill tell her to go camera hunting for me :P

[perplex]

mr_baseball_08 thanks for the advice and I just ordered that book.

[stevesurf]

FYI Wide Angle / Tele MTF comparisons of:

18-200
70-200/2.8
80-200/2.8
70-300VR

[stevesurf]

Originally Posted by perplex

What do you mean by "softening effect in D70"? and "front shot"? "stopping down" you mean increase aperture right?

You've got Imaging Enhancement in the D70! Pg. 56 - user's manual. Try Soft and then Vivid. Try a shot where you are shooting more into the flower; here's one of mine (no bokeh, but it illustrates a kind of front/side shot)

Yes, stopping down means it's better to shoot at f/2.8 instead of f/1.4 because of the very narrow Depth of Field (DOF) at your widest aperture. It's also better to get into this habit since most lenses perform substantially better stopped down. That's why constant aperture zoom lenses are so expensive!

[dj_mocok]

Went to botanic garden today, took some nice portraits of my partner.

I didn't bring my macro lens today, but I also got some dead flowers pictures. Dead flowers can be fun
Looks like I was a few days late, or else I could have some nice fresh flower pictures.

Don't think too much about the shots below, they're just quick snapshots I took while taking a break from shooting portraits (or more like my partner needed a break).







This one is not really flowers, but I like the background. It's a handle of wooden bench, with thin grass on the background. The DOF sort of "dissolved" the grass.



This is the edge of a wooden bench, with some plants in the background.



Met quite a few hobbyists too. First was this guy with his Canon and a large lens with red ring attached to it (I know nothing about Canon gears, but as far as I know, red ring = premium lens in general?), and he used it to shoot whatever he could point his camera at. Infinity, then medium range, and then did some flower macros, back and forth.

Then met a bunch of students, I asked one of them, it was shooting day for their photography tuition. It's quite a sight to see a group of people with their DSLRs out.

Then I bumped into the previous Canon guy, and this time he changed his lens to this 30cm-ish white lens, and still used it to shoot flower macros. Looks like he brought all his arsenals with him.

Walked past him and he kept staring at my camera. I think he was trying to figure out what lens I got. From a quick glance when I passed him, it looked like he got this "my lens is bigger than yours and what the hell are you doing with that old looking lens" on his face. Can't stand smug with big lens thinking that just because he got a big lens then he's suddenly a pro or something.

Or maybe he's really a super duper pro, looks like he pretty much "point and shoot" the hell out of everything he saw, came accross one flower, pointed, shot it. The resumed walking around (and holding his camera uphold like a soldier holding his AK-47), looked around, another flower, pointed, shot again. Either that he's a tard who don't have a concept of composition or he's so good at composition, didn't even need to think and just shoot everything right away and all come up perfect.

Not jealous or anything, but it's a bit annoying when you see a guy who thinks he's better than you because his gears are better than yours.

[WhatMACHI]

I geuss he was all about compensating for what he has below

When you say you were late, there werent any other flowers in bloom?

Learnt my first bad lesson about my (dad's :P) Nikon EM yesterday night. After loading up my film and taking shots for the family that night, looking professional and all, i took my photos to develop...loe and behold i hadnt loaded the film properly. I didnt properly slide the end bit of the film into the turning part (wow how good is my photography jargon) and it didnt end up spooling any of the film the whole night i was taking supposed photos

I was sooo shattered, CNY, family all there, great shots in great lighting....blank negatives...yay

[Dimitris]

He was probably one of these dudes that start the "is my lense sharp enough?" threads in fredmiranda, takes a million photos of brickwalls to show to others that his copy is the best and sends 4 copies of a lense back to the store after keeping the 5th "sharper" copy for himself.

[dj_mocok]

Huh? Bought 5, returned 4, isn't that abusing the system? I wonder why the store actually let him do that...

But yeah, he really looked like a poser. I wish I could record a video of him doing his stuff.

About the garden, there were lots of roses just now, but I couldn't find any good bunch or something worth shooting (although for some reason that smug 'managed' to find/see sooo many good things to shoot around there )

But I wasn't there to do macro anyway.