No prob....i wish i had the dough for a Digital SLR right now...eventually ill put a mod or two on the side so i can buy the camera lol i just keep buying car parts only and never anything else haha

 

Dont take this the wrong way, but those shots are way underexposed on the car and overexposed on the background (2nd).

Ill go out on a limb and guess you shot those on AUTO mode....if your camera allows it, adjust to a longer shutter speed, use proper setting for the light source and adjust your aperature.

Just trying to help - dont hate!

 

I am glad I didn't have to say it!


John

 

I know I can come across as an a@@hole, but Im being serious.....I really am just trying to help!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...eed%22&spell=1

 

I took it as being a help and not a tool!


John

 

a hot show flash will allow you to take shots where the lighting on the object you're shoot isn't perfect. with a hot shoe flash, you can use bounce flash and fill flash to change the mood or tone of your exposure. i was looking at the 400, 600, and 800 series and the 600 seemed to be the best bang for the buck. the 400 is small so the output power isn't as great as the 600 and 800. between the 600 and 800, well there are a lot of features that, for me, i didn't see necessary to have. i think if you're going to purchase a flash, you should opt for the 600 because it will have more output power than the 400 and it really isn't that big.

edit: here's a site that may help you out a bit with all the aperture and shutter speed stuff. it really helps to have a tripod and get a nice long metered exposure

http://photo.net/learn/

 

Cheers!

I can be a bit....oh, I dont know.....insensitive is fair.

 

IMO, tripods should be STANDARD equipment. A $200 camera w/ a tripod can outperform a $2000 camera w/o one.

Tripods are essential for 90% of your shooting.

 

In old school days yeah... tri pods are essentials. But today with faster cameras and lenses plus VR and IS it has become less a necessity.. IMO, now a days tripods are mostly used in night scenes or where you are shooting some fancy lighting/effects or serious photography..

 

I smell what youre stepping in, and in general terms, you are correct. I very rarely use a flash, indoors or out, day or night, because the typical built in flash on most digital cameras is…well, garbage. Not useful for most shots, unless it’s a close up of your buds and you are really close to the action.

The problem is using the flash actually makes your photograph worse. Low light photography requires a slower shutter speed and a wide aperture setting. However, when the digital camera is relying on the camera flash unit it knows there will be plenty of light up to ten feet away, so it selects a smaller aperture, and faster shutter speed. These settings are optimized for the target area of the flash, but are unsuitable for the areas outside the flash’s range.

Turning the flash off allows the digital camera to select more suitable settings for a floodlight arena or stage. This event lighting should be enough to get some sort of image without the assistance of flash. Let the camera’s inbuilt meter automatically select a slow shutter speed and a wide lens aperture, to make the most of the limited light. Because the shutter will be open longer than normal, you need to hold the camera steady. While this may sound obvious, with slow shutter speeds it is not simple, this is why serious photographers commonly use tripods and monopods.

Ill try to remember to bring in some examples of my photos and upload them here tomorrow....whats that old saying....a picture is worth......

 

^^I don't totally agree on flash makes a photo look worse. There have been plenty of times where I have used my flash and the exposure has come out so much better than when I didn't use the flash. With the proper aperture and shutter speed combined with bounce flash, an exposure can look magnificent regardless of whether you used you flash or not. I think that the main reason behind so many exposures coming out underexposed or overexposed is because the onboard camera flashes are harsh and have a very limited range

As for tripods, I believe that they are 100% necessary to take quality photos. While VR and IS lenses will help keep camera shake to a minimum, you still can not take a photo where the shutter is open for 1/20" or slower without camera shake.

 

^^ I take shots with shutter 1/4 without or little camera shake and i dont have lens with IS/VR.. tripods has its uses and are necessary in some applications to take quality pics but depends on what photo you take.. 90% of the time I dont need a tripod. And about flash I dont like to use flash too but with the right combination of shutter, aperture and flash settings the pictures will come out good

 

1/4" shutter? man how do you do that? object as improvised tripod? i can never get a good shot freehand with a slow shutter

 

Take the camera and your arm close to your body as much as possible and lock it up in there.. hold your breath until the exposure is complete.