First DSLR photos

[birdeast]

I have attached some of my first photos with my new D50 and Sigma 80-300mm APO DG Macro. Be happy for some pointers on how I might improve the quality of my photography.

Have learned a lot in 3 or 4 sessions:

1) Light!!! - Man...You need a lot of it. I have been playing around in auto and aperature priority mode. Just seems like no matter what I do, I am always shooting at max aperature with low shutter speeds :C

2) Hold Steady...I am absolutely the shakiest person I know. I am working on the breathing, but still seem to blur a lot of photos even at relatively high shutter speeds 1/320, etc. Focusing more on bracing the camera better. All of my shooting has been done while walking about

3) You can't make a short lens long...100% cropping of a small bird 30ft away doesn't remotely compare to getting within 10-15ft

Speaking of gettin close. Today, I am trying to approach a brown-throated sunbird. I have already started snapping a few shots as I approach. On about the third shot, I see it fly toward me through the view finder. Next thing I know the darn thing is standing on the end of my lens. I'm holding my breath thinking...."How am I going to get this shot?". He stays there about 10 seconds looking at me, looking down at the lens (maybe he saw his reflection??), looking at me, etc. Man, its a great feeling to get a wild bird that close to you. Only sad part was that I ended up with about 10 shots of this guy, but no keepers....Too shaky!!

Anyway....give me all the pointers you care to for the following shots.

Scott

[Andy Bright]

Very nice first shots, Scott. I can't extract any exif data from them (neatimage?) so I can't really see how each shot was taken. Looks like you may have had some issues with noise as it seems some sort of noise reduction has been applied...otherwise I'd suggest upping the iso levels if you're not getting the shutter-speeds.

Yep, bracing yourself against any available solid object is very important when you can't get a good shutter-speed.

Nice story on the Sunbird. You do all the right things and get the bird up close, but too close for a photo...just typical isn't it ;)

cheers,
Andy

[Keith Reeder]

Yes, it looks like you've used rather agressive noise reduction settings on the last two images.

To be honest, Scott (and I'm speaking here as another new-to-dSLR forum member) you're experiencing exactly the kind of problems that everyone seems to see at the beginning.

Interesting about your struggles to get decent shutter speeds: what ISO setting are you using? Whatever it is, as Andy says, try increasing it.

Most important though is just to keep at it.

As I wrote on the forum recently, I'm not conscious that I'm really doing anything differently now to what I was doing when I first got my camera (Nikon D70), but my pictures are definitely gettting much better (though I use my Sigma 135-400mm almost exclusively now - I never really got the results I hoped for from the Sigma 70-300mm APO: others have though - it's a very good little lens).

[Tyler Vargo]

Try shooting at ISO 400 or 500 (if you aren't already), noise levels for the D70 (and D50) aren't bad at all at those ISO levels.

One more thing:
Are you using proper telephoto handholding technique?

[rezMole]

And never hold your breath when taking a photo - it makes you shake! Breathe out and then shoot before you inhale. Far, far steadier that way.

Oh, and i almost exclusively use ISO 400 (upping it to 800 if i have to). I use my Tamron zoom at 500 end most of the time. At 400 ISO most of the noise can easily be removed with neatimage software.

On Friday i took about 40 pictures, and basically they were all rubbish - just how it goes sometimes!

[birdeast]

I didn't realize Neat Image removed the exif info!! I was shooting at ISO800 and trying to keep my aperature at 6.3 - 7.1 instead of wide open at 5.6.

I have been out again today trying to use ISO400 and I missed many opportunities because shutter speed dropped to 1/125 and lower. Actually I was around 1/60 the majority of the time. It was morning...about 9am....and sunny. Problem is that I am walking around an area with many trees. Shade is killing me.

I didnt think I would need a tripod (really not my style to sit and wait). But, now I think I will get a basic tripod and a small collapseable stool (3 legged variety). Together these things should be pretty compact and light. I will sit and wait at a few very product locations. Oh yeah...you may be asking "Why the stool?" Well I am 6'8" and I am not ready to shell out the bucks for a good tripod that might reach that height. I just want to do something short term and see how I get along with a tripod. Just want a way to shoot at low shutter speed without blur. Then there is the problem of freezing the action of the bird....Oh well, one problem at a time.

Lastly, I do exhale when I am releasing the shutter. It was when the sunbird was sitting 9" from my face that I found myself holding my breath? Awesome experience!

Keep the advice and suggestions coming....

One last question...What if I adjusted the exposure compensation a bit? Would that allow me to underexpose, gain some shutter speed and then correct the image in PS?

Thanks
Scott

[Andy Bright]

I didn't realize Neat Image removed the exif info!! I was shooting at ISO800 and trying to keep my aperature at 6.3 - 7.1 instead of wide open at 5.6.
The standalone version of Neatimage strips exif, the photoshop plug-in doesn't.

Yep, it's nice to stop down a bit if you can, but certainly not a great idea if you're struggling for shutter-speed.... shutter-speed is number one priority, in fact vital if you're handholding.


One last question...What if I adjusted the exposure compensation a bit? Would that allow me to underexpose, gain some shutter speed and then correct the image in PS?
Thanks
Scott
That's a popular option worth trying, but don't under-expose too much or else there will be some quality issues when you brighten it up in-computer.
Many bird photographers in the far-east (and similar locations) working in dense cover often have to rely upon flash photography.

cheers,
Andy

[rogerscoth]

...................... I didnt think I would need a tripod (really not my style to sit and wait). But, now I think I will get a basic tripod and a small collapseable stool (3 legged variety). Keep the advice and suggestionscoming....
Thanks ScottJust as an alternative suggestion Scott, maybe a fairly sturdy mono-pod may be a compromise solution for you. A birder I know uses one for his spotting-scope, and he is quite tall (not 6'8" though!). Personally, I tried one a few years ago with a camcorder, but I just could not come to terms with it.

Roger

[birdeast]

I have attached photos 3 and 4 w/o any touchup. They were converted from RAW to high quality JPEG.

Would be happy if a couple of you would play with the images and show me what you think I should aim for when photoshoping or neat imaging (o)<

These JPEGs should also have the exif info as well.

Thanks
Scott

[Neil]

[QUOTE=birdeast]I have attached some of my first photos with my new D50 and Sigma 80-300mm APO DG Macro. Be happy for some pointers on how I might improve the quality of my photography.

Scott,
I've had a lot of problems in HK with low light levels to. I sometimes have to select an iso of 1600 to get the photo. You will need a shutter speed of at least 1/500th sec with your kit so should try adjusting iso and aperture. Small birds are tough anyway and 300mm is not normally enough. Start out with bigger birds. I normally head down to the local pond to test out new kit on ducks,egrets,herons.
Good luck, Neil.

[IanF]

With the two photos attached (no exif for me at least) the file sizes are rather small to play with but the photos below are the sort of thing I'd be looking for.

With NeatImage by clicking on the Help menu and then selecting 'web' you can access the NeatImage web site and download 'noise profiles' for your particular model of camera - there's one for the D50. I have the Nikon CP4500 so I just used the profile for that here selecting the ISO200 profile and adding slight sharpening. I tend to go for the quick and easy fix rather than spending hours on a photo. If that doesn't work I'm more likely to just discard the shot rather than fiddle on.

Both shots here are a little on the soft side which could be down to low light and slow shutter speed especially if hand held. I don't know what the camera settings were but I'd be trying at least one stop up from widest aperture and preferably two or three - providing there's sufficient light whilst tying to maintain a reasonable shutter speed - less important if on a tripod - but with a DSLR maybe by boosting the ISO to 800 or more. Also any zoom is rarely at it's best when at full range.

There's no doubt about it that getting in close on a bright day really boosts the quality of a photo. Dull days tend to be ones more for record shots.

Neil's advice is spot on regards taking the shots. I don't have a DSLR and rarely go above ISO 100 - DSLR's are a whole new ball game in that respect as ISO 400-1600 is common place to still get decent results.

To build confidence I'd be inclined to try to pick ideal conditions to practice in and on a subject that's obliging such as garden birds or even static objects so you know the conidtiions needed to get good results out of the camera and lens combination.

[GavinM]

At these sorts of ranges an SB800 Speedlight might be more use to you than a tripod.

Great shots of lovely birds, by the way.

[jourdaj]

At these sorts of ranges an SB800 Speedlight might be more use to you than a tripod.

Great shots of lovely birds, by the way.

I'll just add that if you aren't already doing so, shoot in Continuous mode and fire off 3-4 frames of the subject. Mirror lockup and initial camera shake usually ruin the first image but you'll tend to get sharper images on the 2nd-3rd shots.

Keep up w/ good work!

Jerry

[Kevin Wade]

I have attached photos 3 and 4 w/o any touchup. They were converted from RAW to high quality JPEG.

Would be happy if a couple of you would play with the images and show me what you think I should aim for when photoshoping or neat imaging (o)<

These JPEGs should also have the exif info as well.

Thanks
Scott

Scott
Here is my attempt using neat image three times, with sharpening in photoshop in between.

[birdeast]

Thanks for everyones advise and feedback. I have changed my lens to a Sigma 100-300 f4 and I am using with a Manfrotto tripod. Results are getting better, but good opportunities are still few and far between :hi: My next project is to teach myself how to use the camera in full manual mode.

I am enjoying my DSLR kit and finding myself getting drawn to other types of photography....macro, landscape, etc. Since my wife will probably kill me if I purchase another lens, I think I will stick to birds exclusively for awhile.