Official Photography Tutorial/Lessons Thread

[Verdugo]

Post 'em here...I've found these two to be particularly useful to me:

http://photo-class.deviantart.com

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

Will post more when I find them.

[c00lbeans]

Eh just ask me a question and ill answer it. lol

[c_rogue69]

I got a lot of good lessons from http://www.photoshopjunkie.com

[Verdugo]

I got a lot of good lessons from http://www.photoshopjunkie.com

My friend Bryce runs that site I used to work with him a few years ago.

[dome]

Pretty good tutorials and break downs from Canon. Very Canon biased (obviously) but general enough to be informative to all newbie photographers. Pretty helpful with lots of pics and illustrations.

http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

[chanwahyaoh]

all the stickies in this forum I've found to be great:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

High Pass filter for sharpening in photoshop:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...arpening.shtml

[chanwahyaoh]

Here is a good write up on tips for shooting your car

http://popularhotrodding.com/feature...pix/index.html

[rallymaniac]

how about this one

http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/feelnikon/kumon/
it used to be my first photo bible

[cyrilgrey]

Concerning histograms, level adjustments, and exposure compensation:

http://www.photozone.de/7Digital/index.html

[cyrilgrey]

http://www.zenadsl5251.zen.co.uk/photos/tutorials.html

[TurbeauxREX]

Panning Tips

A few tips for shooting moving cars.

SHUTTER SPEEDS
Anything under 1/250 will generally give decent blur in the wheels and still provide sharpness in the subject. The slower the shutter speed the more blur, naturally.

SELECTABLE FOCUS POINTS
IF your camera has selectable focus points, choose one that is either left or right of center, depending on the direction of travel. Place the focus point over the front of the vehicle (the front wheel or grill area works well). When combined with a slow shutter speed (1/125 or less) you will realize a fading sharpness from the front of your subject to the rear, e.g., the front of the car in focus with the rest of the car becoming progressively blurred; very cool effect. Works well with fill-flash, also.

EXAMPLE:


FOLLOW THROUGH
Don't stop moving the camera after squeezing the shutter release. Continue to follow the path of your subject. This will ensure that you don't cause blurring or an out of focus condition because you stopped moving the camera while the shutter was still open. Also, the more fluid your panning movements are the better your results will be.

COMPOSITION
Avoid placing your subject (car) in the center of the frame. Have some
lead-in area to give the impression that the car is coming into the frame, or exiting. Remember the 'Rule of Thirds'.

IMAGE STABILIZATION
If you use Image Stabilization lenses with multi-stage IS, such as the Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS, set the lens to IS position 2. IS position 2 is designed for panning.

DUST SPOTS
Shooting at slow shutter speeds in bright day light will cause you to shoot at smaller apertures (F16+) in order to achieve 1/200 and less. This will acentuate any dust that is on your sensor (DSLR) that you otherwise may not have realized shooting at wider apertures. This generally becomes painfully obvious as dust spots in your images when shooting at F22+. Learn how to clean your sensor. There are tutorials on the web for doing this at a minimal cost. I use Pec Pads and Eclipse fluid on homemade cut-down spatula handles and a Rocket bulb blower. DO NOT USE COMPRESSED AIR!

Shoot multiple frames. Shooting at slow shutter speeds are typically low-return as far as keepers go. At least as far as others are concerned, that is. What I like, someone else may not. Since my goal is to sell photos to racers, well, I have to please their taste without compromising mine. So, shoot plenty at varying shutter speeds from 1/250 to 1/15 and wiegh the amount of background blur against the lack of sharpness in your subject and find what works best for you.

I have many samples at www.pbase.com/cvbjr . Just look in any of my galleries of races - road racing, drag racing, STi, etc. Many of the photos have the EXIF data available so you can see the camera settings I used to make the shot.

Peace,

Curtis

[GraysonSubaru]

I have a quick question about my rebel xt.

do i have a setting on it that will allow me to take a picture and accent one color and the rest of the picture be in black and white (or some sort of muted tones) to help that one color stand out??

i know some cameras have this setting, but have not found the official term to look it up on mine.

[WRXDriver82]

I just happened to be reading through my manual last night in search of this. The only thing I could come across were Filtering effects and Toning effects. BUT these both are only used during black and white shooting. I haven't tried messing with any of these yet, but it sounds like you want Toning effects. Should be page 66 of your manual.

[c00lbeans]

I have a quick question about my rebel xt.

do i have a setting on it that will allow me to take a picture and accent one color and the rest of the picture be in black and white (or some sort of muted tones) to help that one color stand out??

i know some cameras have this setting, but have not found the official term to look it up on mine.

Probably not. image>ajustments>hue/saturation in photoshop, select a color at the top and desaturate, desaturate all the colors 1 by 1 except the color you want. Or selective color under image>ajustments works. play around its pretty easy. Or use a selection tool on the area you want in color, and desaturate the rest.

[GraysonSubaru]

just goofed off with it a little. it is an obvious work in progress.

a friend of mine says they have a camera that somehow has a setting for something along these lines. I should hear from them tomorrow as to how theirs works....or if it is a program that they have to physically do it.