Surfs Up - 490kb

[Piper]

Hi

I am new to posting but have been quietly observing forum activity and thoroughly enjoying browsing the many images posted here.

I'm a friend of Wendellt and new to photography. Wendell has been guiding me in the basic use of a camera and photography in general. I think there was a thread here discussing which camera I should buy, the Nikon D70s or Canon 20D, I obviously went with the status quo and bought the D70s with 300G lens.

These are some of my first shots that I am happy with, shot at Mona Vale beach on sunday 5th Nov.

The first 3 have been post processed to look the best they can for the purpose of sharing

full manual 1/1000 f5/6, ISO 200,
contrast enhanced in photoshop - auto levels


1/320 f9, ISO200, adjusted PP


1/1000 f5.6 ISO200, adjusted PP


1/1000 f5.6 ISO200, adjusted PP


Technically how can I improve the following. All shot with the 300G lens at 300mm. They look blurry to me can I be doing something to improve the definition and contrast of these shots, should I use a monopod, hold the camera a better way, try different exposure settings or work on my focus method?


How can I improve the contrast on this shot in the camera rather than in post processing?


Thnakyou

Catherine
D70S, 300G

[rebel]

Welcome to the forums, hope you like it here.
The lens beening soft at the 300mm end is typical for the 300G lens. I may suggest saving up your money and buying a better lens.
the photo's are still beautiful!

[Heath Bennett]

Welcome Piper.

Great PP, great use of the 300G

You have your work cut out for you with the 300G - it is a bargain for the price, but is slow focusing and a little soft. An ideal stepping stone lens. You have shown that you can get great results with a cheap lens, and this is what photography is all about. The shots, not the props.

[ozonejunkie]

I really like the 4th photo there, I think that it has an excellent DOF, and really invites the viewer into it well.

Not knowing the lense, my thoughts would be to perhaps stop down the apperture a bit, in hope for more sharpness.

Also, to improve the contrast on that last one, the use of a polarizing filter would help.

My $0.02,
Tristan

Edit: I am tired, I didn't proof read the post properly.

[MattC]

Hi Catherine,

Welcome aboard.

With that lens, I would be looking to stop it down a little - at least to F8 - F11. It is also really soft above ~220mm, so if you can restrict the focal length (get closer - not always practical), you should see an improvement.
I had a bit of a play with the last image - I did not realise that it was a crop of one of the other images until finished. You have done well with this lens. All that I did was brighten it up, add some contrast (the 70-300G is not real good with contrast) and sharpen it.

Edit: I also boosted saturation.

I would not try to correct for this lens in-camera, unless this lens spends most of its time on the camera. I think that you are always going to need to spend a couple of minutes in PP with any shot from this lens.
A monopod will help, tripod would be better.

Cheers

[marcotrov]

Welcome aboard piper. You've had a good coach to start with As others have mentioned you have started well. I agree stay around the F/8 aperture, avoid the extremity focal ends of the lens and use a tripod and your pictures will sharpen up considerably. Then sit back and catch the Lens Lust disease like the rest of us here.
cheers
marco

[BBJ]

Hi Catherine, Well i am not sure on how you have set the camera up but here is a tip if you haven't already done this and no one else has susgested. I have taken some good shots with this lens over time and can be done.

Camera settings make sure you go into menu and AF-C Auto Focus if you leave it in S mode it will focus from when you pushed the shutter part way and focuson that spot, but when you take the shot of a moving object it will be out of focus so use AF-C continuous will keep it focussed as long as you hold the shutter partly down.

I hope this helps as i am not sure how you have the camera setup but this is the mode you should use if try to take a picture of moving objects.

[cc@t]

Hi Catherine, like you I am only new here and still learning, but all these guys give great tips and are very open with sharing all their knowledge. I just learnt something from John from his reply on AF - C.....I wondered what that did

[blacknstormy]

Welcome Piper - I love the 4th photo - the beauty in its simplicity.
cc@t - I was wondering what that did too

[ozimax]

Welcome Catherine, great work, love the crop of the parachute, keep 'em coming, Max

[wendellt]

Catherine

Picking up the camera and learning the basics in the space of 3 months and getting quality results in terms of intent, composition and having a feel for capturing the moment is nothing short from impressive. I can see from your images you have a passion which always helps fuel the intent to take such images.

I know in this series you used manual setings which is very brave you have worked well with testing out different shutterspeeds learned from the results and have a good feel and understanding for the midrange depth of field f4.5 allows. Image 4 shows your skill best, it's a classic surf shot. The shallow focus makes it more impactful, only suggestion is next time try to centre the subject in this case moving a little to the left would of done the trick, even though the surfboard is dead centre the image is slightly off balanced by the surfer, sometimes to help with composition half close your eyes this way you see more contrast in tonal range and then frame accordingly.

Well done, can't wait to see what you do with a pro class lens, keep up the momentum and passion for the image and this time next year you will be shooting next to the pro surf photographers in Hawaii, getting paid top dollar and being allowed to wear sandals, a hat and shorts to work!

[Wocka]

Love the paraglider shot. Looks like Cooks Terrace at Mona Vale. I was there last weekend doing a tandem paraglide flight.

Would like to take up paragliding ( or atleast go up again ) and take my camer with me for some aerial shots.

Cheers.