Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
These were all taken on a Canon 350D with a Canon EF 55-200mm lens. (monkey and lions are a little blurry as taken through car window on a rainy day).
A trip to Longleat last week
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Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
and a few more
Hamish Gill
Tech Support (and Marketing)
Great stuff mate ...
I especially like the parrots and seal
Its a shame about the softness of a few of them, but the more sharp ones might do a little better with some post process sharpening
Are you shooting jpeg or raw, i cnt remember if you said you had made the transition yet?
Are you using lightroom?
For the most part i just use the sharpness in lightroom, for the sake of simplicity try tweaking it to around 80 on the "amount" slider, maybe a touch less if shot jpeg... the parrot shots im sure would benefit from this!
Its a great shame the little monkey isnt less blury, as that would be a great capture!!
I especially like the parrots and seal
Its a shame about the softness of a few of them, but the more sharp ones might do a little better with some post process sharpening
Are you shooting jpeg or raw, i cnt remember if you said you had made the transition yet?
Are you using lightroom?
For the most part i just use the sharpness in lightroom, for the sake of simplicity try tweaking it to around 80 on the "amount" slider, maybe a touch less if shot jpeg... the parrot shots im sure would benefit from this!
Its a great shame the little monkey isnt less blury, as that would be a great capture!!
Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
I am shooting in RAW now, providing I haven't switched to one of the presets during shooting, as annoyingly on the 350D it does not allow shooting in RAW in these modes (switches back to jpeg). But for the most I am now shooting part manual, or as Canon like to call it, the creative mode.
I am using Aperture at the moment for my editing, still getting used to at the moment as I am still really new to the whole post processing side of things, I will have a little bit of a tinker when I have time and post up some results.
I was chuffed with the monkey shot the way it looked on the tiny screen of the camera, it wasn't until I got home that I realised the blur. Annoying really but I was expecting a certain amount of blur shooting at such a distance without a tripod. It was quite a difficult day for me, well challenging would be more appropriate, as it spent half the day peeing it down, some shots were done through car windows due to the rules they have there, it was all free hand shooting and to top it off I was sat on the wrong side of the car so I was having to shoot past my mate driving. Not ideal to say the least but I'm pretty happy with some of the photos.
I made a classic mistake at the start of the day, shot about 15 photos and all of them were coming out with a blur to them, I couldn't work it out, checked my lens was clean, checked the camera settings, checked the lens was set to AF mode. All fine. Then I twigged, I had bought a camera off ebay a week or so before and then decided to sell it on as the lens was not compatible with Canon digital EOS's. But I had taken the soft filter off that camera and stuck it on my lens for safe keeping and left it on there. Classic. Good job I was shooting digital otherwise I would have had a whole film of soft photos.
I am using Aperture at the moment for my editing, still getting used to at the moment as I am still really new to the whole post processing side of things, I will have a little bit of a tinker when I have time and post up some results.
I was chuffed with the monkey shot the way it looked on the tiny screen of the camera, it wasn't until I got home that I realised the blur. Annoying really but I was expecting a certain amount of blur shooting at such a distance without a tripod. It was quite a difficult day for me, well challenging would be more appropriate, as it spent half the day peeing it down, some shots were done through car windows due to the rules they have there, it was all free hand shooting and to top it off I was sat on the wrong side of the car so I was having to shoot past my mate driving. Not ideal to say the least but I'm pretty happy with some of the photos.
I made a classic mistake at the start of the day, shot about 15 photos and all of them were coming out with a blur to them, I couldn't work it out, checked my lens was clean, checked the camera settings, checked the lens was set to AF mode. All fine. Then I twigged, I had bought a camera off ebay a week or so before and then decided to sell it on as the lens was not compatible with Canon digital EOS's. But I had taken the soft filter off that camera and stuck it on my lens for safe keeping and left it on there. Classic. Good job I was shooting digital otherwise I would have had a whole film of soft photos.
Hamish Gill
Tech Support (and Marketing)
Its the thing with these little screens, the thing i have found is though even with a 3" screen things dont get any better ... a cursory glance tells one thing but a pc screen can often tell another story... I got back from kenya and found a lot of shots were not as i had hoped!
the only way around it is better technique and only checking the screen for framing!
How familiar are you with long lens techniques?
thats pretty funny mate ... lesson learned ... the end of a lens might be safe for keeping something, just not image quality
the only way around it is better technique and only checking the screen for framing!
How familiar are you with long lens techniques?
thats pretty funny mate ... lesson learned ... the end of a lens might be safe for keeping something, just not image quality
Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
Well, this has been the first time I have used a long lens in anger, so I have no real techniques to call upon. To be honest I was just happy if I got a clear image, could really do with a lens that has image stabilisation, I had to do a lot of playing just to avoid blur.
But if you have any tips then please do share. Any help would be great.
Yeah I definitely learnt my lesson about storing filters on lenses. School boy error!
But if you have any tips then please do share. Any help would be great.
Yeah I definitely learnt my lesson about storing filters on lenses. School boy error!
Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
The expression on that monkey is priceless! 
Also like the shot of the monkeys sitting looking for the tourists - them looking at us, looking at them...
My technique for long lenses it this:
I take the focal length of the lens, so 200mm in this case, double it, so that makes 400 - then go into shutter priority mode, Tv, and set the shutter speed to 1/400 sec.
This speed of shutter will avoid camera shake or camera movement blur in your shots, and that formula works for any tele lens.
So a 300mm lens will need 1/600 sec, a 400mm lens will need 1/800 sec etc etc
Then I play with the ISO setting until I get a decent aperture for that shutter speed when shooting - ideally I'm after f8 - so I keep upping the ISO until my chosen shutter speed gives me f8 when I point the camera at the subject.
You don't have to have f8 of course - you could go for less depth of field with a smaller f number.
Using this technique I've waved tele lenses around after high speed cars and jets, and got sharp shots - it's a great place to start when shooting with long glass.
Also like the shot of the monkeys sitting looking for the tourists - them looking at us, looking at them...
My technique for long lenses it this:
I take the focal length of the lens, so 200mm in this case, double it, so that makes 400 - then go into shutter priority mode, Tv, and set the shutter speed to 1/400 sec.
This speed of shutter will avoid camera shake or camera movement blur in your shots, and that formula works for any tele lens.
So a 300mm lens will need 1/600 sec, a 400mm lens will need 1/800 sec etc etc
Then I play with the ISO setting until I get a decent aperture for that shutter speed when shooting - ideally I'm after f8 - so I keep upping the ISO until my chosen shutter speed gives me f8 when I point the camera at the subject.
You don't have to have f8 of course - you could go for less depth of field with a smaller f number.
Using this technique I've waved tele lenses around after high speed cars and jets, and got sharp shots - it's a great place to start when shooting with long glass.
Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the advice, I will have to give this a go. I'll post some photos up once I've had time to play.
Cheers
Ben
Thanks for the advice, I will have to give this a go. I'll post some photos up once I've had time to play.
Cheers
Ben
Ralph Thornton
Well-Known Member
I agree with Chris about the expression on the monkey. Very nice. All your shots are cropped nice and tight too, just the way I like them for animal and wildlife shots. Good job.
Ben Jennings
Well-Known Member
Cheers Ralph, I like to get nice and close for animal and wildlife shots too, gives a lot more character to the photo I feel.
Paul Lange
Moderator
The seal has a pretty good expression as well looks a bit like its growling at something. I have no idea if seals actually growl though.
