RDY_2_Carve Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Hi I haven't had many chances to experiment with different settings on my DigiSLR (on the slopes), so I'm wondering what settings you all use when shooting on the slopes.... The white snow seems to be the main problem, and fighting shadows depending on the position of the sun. What settings do you use? FYI, I have a Canon Digital Rebel and mainly use the Kit Lens(18-55 EF-S). I am about to purchase a Tamron 28-300 EF, and I have access to a Canon Ultrasonic 75-300mm, and a Sigma 125-500mm (I'd hate to take this one up the mountain though, HUGE!). Also curious how others pack their SLR's up on the mountain....I normally just ride cautious when I'm packing the camera, do all my shooting, and then drop it in the car so I can ride hard the rest of the day. It's a pain as I'm sure I'm missing some of the best light by commiting to just a 1-2 hour window.... Thanks in advance, JPW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDY_2_Carve Posted March 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 I KNOW there's some photographers out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalka Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 I've been using a simple digicam, Optio 43WR, which fits the majority of my needs. Using +1EV compensation and center-weighted metering, or just relying on the spotmeter. Works good for photos, not so great for the quicktime videos. Check the photoshop thread, it has some gear/case info at the end: http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?threadid=4766 tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciek Posted March 16, 2005 Report Share Posted March 16, 2005 Originally posted by RDY_2_Carve Hi I haven't had many chances to experiment with different settings on my DigiSLR (on the slopes), so I'm wondering what settings you all use when shooting on the slopes.... The white snow seems to be the main problem, and fighting shadows depending on the position of the sun. What settings do you use? FYI, I have a Canon Digital Rebel and mainly use the Kit Lens(18-55 EF-S). I am about to purchase a Tamron 28-300 EF, and I have access to a Canon Ultrasonic 75-300mm, and a Sigma 125-500mm (I'd hate to take this one up the mountain though, HUGE!). Also curious how others pack their SLR's up on the mountain....I normally just ride cautious when I'm packing the camera, do all my shooting, and then drop it in the car so I can ride hard the rest of the day. It's a pain as I'm sure I'm missing some of the best light by commiting to just a 1-2 hour window.... Thanks in advance, JPW On big , white backgrounds you always overexpose frame to make your subject bright enough. I believe that Cannon can handle situation if your subject is more than 18% of your entire frame. I always do overexpose by 1-2 full steps (+1-+2EV) and that deoes not matter whether I use digital camera or regular film. The principle is the same. Now with overexposure you will lose your background detail. The other way and only for digital stuff is to take a middle ground very small overexposure aor none) and apply gamma correction/curve correction when you have the picture on your computer. The curve bulge you pull will expose details from a shadow. Just bear in mind that if anything is lost due too low light cannot be recovered... or recoverd to shape a good photo so you are obliged to expose your frame properly in the first place. And no you do not need professional to help you with those techniques. just subscribe to some good magazines... I mean those who care more about techniques rather than loading the content with advertisments so you could spend more money without understanding why you need that. For large zooms you need either tripod or remote shutter control. You will never get sharp picture with your hands shaking even though you may not feel that. Even if you stop breathing your blood flows throug veins so you are alive. No way you stabilize camera from small uncontrollable movement your body makes. Those movemnts are amplified like hell on large zoom lenses. Actually I use Canon SLR with some decent 100-300mm lens ALWAYS on tripod. I use 28-105 withut tripod, but cerfullly when I take pictures with 105mm setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDY_2_Carve Posted March 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 Heading out Sat AM to hopefully get a bunch of shots. Let's hope the light cooperates and there's not too much powder so I can get some good carving shots! Forcast isn't looking too great...we'll see though. Appreciate the info, I'll try to post a pic on here tommorow night! Cheers, JPW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zone Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 Spot metering on your principal object may help too, especially if tiny on large snow background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 Try a neutral density filter. I haven't used one myself, but I've read that ND filters lower the overall light level in the scene, making it possible to use wider apertures/longer exposures without burning out the image. I plan to get one for my camcorder. I think shooting in snow is a perfect case for ND filters. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 a tripod is not always needed I regularly (2-3 times a week) shoot handheld with an 800mm from 100 feet up on an aircraft carrier and one of my guys has shot with a 400mm from a helocopter more than a few times. The important thing is to make sure that the shutter speed that you use is equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens. 1/500 for a 400mm 1/1000 for the 800mm etc. an experienced shoot could go one stop slower and still acheive crisp photos but that's about it unless you have sniper like body control. as for snow I usually start at my ISO (200) 1/250 and F22 and then adjust from there to acheive the desired effect this is called the F16 (sunny 16) rule and used to be the basis for all exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 FWIW - I recommend the Tamron 28-300 for an all around lense....or ideally the Cannon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM to be used with your kit lense. Extra $$$, but worth the quality difference depending upon your application... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest giorgio32123 Posted March 27, 2005 Report Share Posted March 27, 2005 Originally posted by Gecko a tripod is not always needed I regularly (2-3 times a week) shoot handheld with an 800mm from 100 feet up on an aircraft carrier and one of my guys has shot with a 400mm from a helocopter more than a few times. The important thing is to make sure that the shutter speed that you use is equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens. 1/500 for a 400mm 1/1000 for the 800mm etc. an experienced shoot could go one stop slower and still acheive crisp photos but that's about it unless you have sniper like body control. as for snow I usually start at my ISO (200) 1/250 and F22 and then adjust from there to acheive the desired effect this is called the F16 (sunny 16) rule and used to be the basis for all exposure. So how do you overexpose? I believe that Maciek said "overexpose". That means no fast shutter. Also if you really want quality picture, trust me, you are not able to do that without tripod or at least monopod... or if you have some special photo material (and no even BH Photo does not have that) so it is extremely sensitive and has very low grain. Now without photo sensitive material and digital you will still have the problem as CCD "imitates" the same behavior as photo sensitive material... or rather has problem with low light showing some nasty grain. Now to tell the truth you should take pictures in optimum of your lens. Usually it is aperture F8-F11. Off that region and you have to be very careful what you are doing and how you compensate that (again we are talking high quality). For Canon the best is to go with fast Pro lenses (L-grade). Can you afford that? Then go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thomas_m Posted March 27, 2005 Report Share Posted March 27, 2005 Do not overexpose with digital. Traditional 'overexpose for snow' rules do not always work for digital depending on the surroundings. Digital does not work like film where many people overexpose by a full stop on purpose to increase shadow detail = shooting ISO400 speed film at ISO200 and still processing as ISO400. Digital has no toe or shoulder like with the exposure characteristic curve for negative film. So exposure is more exacting. It works more like transparencey(slide) film where the standard is closer to slight underexposure of 1/3 stop or so. You do not want to clip the right side(highlight) of your histogram. The highlights in the snow will be blown and you're screwed. Expose so that your histogram is slightly shifted to the right but is not clipped off the right side. You can pull a ****load of detail out of shadows with digital but clipped highlights are gone forever. If the snow looks dingy, just adjust the contrast via curves in Photoshop. Here's an example of what happens when you use the traditional over-expose for white rule carried ovr from film. This was shortly after I got my D1x and used the old standard of overexposing for lot's of white(breaking wave). Well, I ended with great shadow detail in the black wetsuits but the whitewater in the wave is completely blown out and the photo is a wasted. I should have underexposed to hold the highlight and texture in the wave and then corrected in Photoshop afterward. Digital is not film and the old rules don't always work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 27, 2005 Report Share Posted March 27, 2005 am I a Photographer but I have spent 10 of my 16 years in the Navy teaching photography...unlike the rest of the world in the Navy those that "DO" teach. Shutter speed is only 1/3 of the equasion for exposure (over/under/perfect), another 1/3 is F stop with the final 1/3 being ISO. A problem many have is that they still think in film terms with ISO beingstatic instead of fluid like the other two ISO for a Digital camera is a much bigger variable than in a film camera (ie 1600 B&W will give you TriX like grain) a careful use/adjustment of these 3 will give you any "Quality image" you want. And thomas_m is absolutly right Digital is more like slide than film The early Nikon's D1/D1H along with the D100 needs a -1EV to give good color the D1X often needs a +1EV and D2's/D70 seem to be spot on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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