Nikon D50 settings for Portraits and Landscapes
Posted by creining | Filed under Photography
Here are some notes on what I’ve found works best for my Nikon D50:
Portraits – Aperture-priority exposure mode (A) with the largest aperture (smallest number as in f/2.8), within Optimize Image set Sharpening to low, Color Space to Ia, and Tone Comp. to Normal or Medium Low. Focus on the eyes.
Night Portrait – Aperture-priority exposure mode (A) with the largest aperture (smallest number as in f/2.8), within Optimize image set Sharpening to high or normal, Color Space to Ia, and Tone Comp. to Normal or Medium Low. Set Rear Sync in the Flash Options.
Landscape – Aperture-priority exposure mode (A) with the smallest aperture (largest number as in f/22, within Optimize image set Sharpening to high or normal, Color Space to IIIa, and Tone Comp. to Normal or Medium Low. Focus manually.
Digital SLRs
Posted by creining | Filed under Photography
I am looking to pick up a digital SLR before I take my trip to Ghana. I thought long and hard about this decision. I’m no great photographer by any stretch, and I’d like to improve my skills and develop photography into more than the occasional habit that it is right now for me. In my mind a big part of this means learning how to actually control the light that enters the camera. This means moving past the digital point-and-shoots that I’ve relied on for the past few years and buying a true SLR camera.
The new Canon Digital Rebel XTi was just released; one of the new features is a self cleaning sensor! The XTi is replacing the camera that I had my eye on, the Digital Rebel XT. I think I’m going to try and purchase the XT at a good price as merchants will begin discounting them. I was planning on getting the body with the lens kit but may try and pick up just the body and a Sigma 30mm/1.4 lens based on some positive reviews like Phillip Greenspun’s “Building a Digital SLR Camera System”.
Another really neat thing I ran across was taking pictures through another cameras viewfinder. This is called Through the Viewfinder (TtV). An excellent tutorial on this process along with instructions for building a contraption to do this is provided by Russ Morris. There is a Flickr group for Through the Viewfinder photos and a website throughtheviewfinder.net devoted to the process. I really like Mr. E.’s TtVs photos.
UPDATE:
After going to a camera shop and handling the Canon Digitial Rebel XT, it just didn’t feel right in my hands as it is rather small. I picked up the Nikon D50 and it has a much bigger grip and felt much better. The Nikon D50 is basically the competition against the Rebel XT and gets great reviews. So, with that in mind I went ahead and bought the D50 with the kit lense, a Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18 – 55mm f/3.5 – 5.6G ED.
Madison, Wisconsin Photographs
Posted by creining | Filed under Photography
I was perusing the Madison, Wisconsin Wikipedia entry and saw this great photograph of the the city from across Lake Monona. It had been uploaded to Wikipedia from the Flickr account of Todd Klassy, who has taken some great photographs of Madison as well as surrounding towns and countrysides. Incidently, there’s a Madison, Wisconsin Flickr pool which gets some use.
Lifeposter with IrfanView
Posted by creining | Filed under Photography
About a year ago the instructions on how to make a lifeposter made the internet rounds. I thought it was a neat idea although I didn’t have access to a Mac or iPhoto for that matter. Soon after instructions also appeared on how to use Photoshop CS to do the same thing. I don’t have Photoshop CS either but I do have access to a Windows machine. I came across bits of instructions on how to use IrfanView to create a lifeposter so I decided to download it and try it out (the catalyst was that I received a free 16×20 print from shutterfly). Below are the steps I took to create my 16×20 print, I’ll also include how one should be able to create a 20×30 print.
16×20 print, 7 pictures x 12 pictures, 84 total pictures
0. select 84 cool pictures
1. open IrfanView Thumbnails
2. Browse to your images and select all
3. Select Options->sort thumbs->no sort
4. Select File->Create contactsheet from selected thumbs
4. Adjust image size to 3200 px by 4000 px, 12 rows 7 columns, margins 35 px, spacing 17 px, uncheck create file infos, optionally change sheet color
5. Select Image->Information and Set DPI to 200×200
20×30 print, 7 pictures x 14 pictures, 98 total pictures
0. select 98 cool pictures
1. open IrfanView Thumbnails
2. Browse to your images and select all
3. Select Options->sort thumbs->no sort
3. Select File->Create contactsheet from selected thumbs
4. Adjust image size to 4000 px by 6000 px, 14 rows 7 columns, margins 35 px, spacing 17 px, uncheck create file infos, optionally change sheet color
5. Select Image->Information and Set DPI to 200×200
Save the created image to your disk and send it off to your favorite print maker. I should be getting mine soon. If it turns out good I’ll go ahead and make another one. I want to set the sheet color to black next time as I think it would make the pictures look really sharp.
Daily Street Art
Posted by creining | Filed under Photography
Streetsy is a site where 7-10 pictures of street art are posted every day. When I was at the Art Fair on the Square this summer I really liked the photography of Xavier Nuez who did a series Alleys & Fire Escapes, which do to the subject matter featured some street art / graffiti.