Help Capturing Beach Vacationing with new (to me) XTi
Ok, so I got my first DSLR this weekend. I moved from a Canon S3 to the XTi with entry lenses. I will be shooting at the beach and very historic Charleston South Carolina - do you guys have any tips or quick notes that will help out with this first excursion?
I will be posting images upon my return
Any help is appreciated.
Mods - I read the stickies in this forum - thank you very helpful!
I will be posting images upon my return
Any help is appreciated.
Mods - I read the stickies in this forum - thank you very helpful!
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Hi brvheart.. I always find a lot of my beach shots are blown out... (if it's bright out) I often dial down my exposure compensation a tad to try to help. I usually shot in apature priority.. I'm not comfortable enough with manual. Others may have more usful advice. Look forward to seeing your shots.
thank you
1. Your most dramatic shots will be during dusk or dawn, although if the light is too low, you may need a tripod (or to increase your camera’s ISO, which you can read about in your owner’s manual).
2. Get yourself a circular polarizer. This will eliminate reflections while adding more contrast and punch to a blue sky.
3. Read your manual to see if it has a feature called bracketing. This will allow you to capture the same photo at different exposures—with the hope that one will be spot on.
4. Not to get too technical on you, but for bright foregrounds like snow or sand, the camera can be tricked into thinking that the scene is too bright, so it will actually underexpose the picture. In some cases, you actually want to dial up exposure compensation. Check your manual for a button that refers to something called EV (exposure compensation). Not familiar with the XTi, but the top control panel probably has a button that says something like (EV + -). Move it + to make the picture brighter and – for darker.
5. Side lighting is best. Don’t shoot into the sun. Best portraits will be in late afternoon when the light is warm. Fill your frame. Use your flash outside to reduce shadows. Read about the rule of thirds from the internet. Shoot kids at eye level. Eliminate clutter. Midday light can be harsh and appear washed out.
6. Modern digital DSLRs have trouble capturing the full range of light compared to what your eyes can see (highlights to shadows). This is called dynamic range. This is one of the reasons why blue skies often appear white or blown out, or dark foreground objects/shadows appear too dark. So (on a bright day with a lot of contrast), your camera will either have to expose for the shadows (which will make the sky blown out), or expose for the highlights (e.g. the sky), in which case dark objects will appear blocked up (or too dark). You can overcome this with specialized filters. Or in your case, excluding the bright object (such as sky from a scene), or shooting when the sky is darker (towards late afternoon), may help. Just something to keep in mind.
While I suggest you try and learn how to take your camera off of full auto, this will take some time to master. You can start out in the pre-set scene modes (if the camera has them), such as using the sports mode to capture children running on the beach or playing in the waves. The next step from there would be to learn Program mode, which will give you an introduction into how aperture and shutter work together in unison to not only deliver the proper exposure, but a desired creative effect—from freezing action or blurring it to making everything in the scene in focus, or the background out of focus.
P&S camera have extremely deep depth of field, which means that everything (including that dumpster in the background) will be in focus. DSLRs on the other hand will allow you to control what is or is not in focus (called depth of field). Learn how to use this.
If you have the time, I suggest you read Bryan Peterson’s book, “Understanding Exposure.” It is the first step towards learning how to get the most out of your DSLR. Good luck and have fun!
~Dan
www.danielstainer.com
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Graduated NDs come in various strengths, and gradations, and I never seem to have the one I really want when I need it, and I carry about 6-8 with me when shooting landscapes.:D
The screw in Graduated NDs are worthless. I recommend avoiding them entirely. You have no control of where the darker portion of the filter is, and beleive it or not, you cannot see it looking through the viewfinder. The rectangular Grad NDs are useful, as you can raise and lower them while looking through the viewfinder, and see where the filtration begins in the image.
Many folks do not use Grad NDs, any longer, but instead use multiple exposures and then blend in Photoshop as a composite image or even and HDR image.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I have a Hoya circular polarizer that I played with yesterday since the shooting conditions were the same as the day before, but I have yet to look at the results in detail. Didn't seem like it did too much, but we'll see.
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Check out California Sunbounce for scrims - not very useful for most snapshots though.
There is a nice portable scrim in a Tri-Grip style that can be used for portraits, that can be quite helpful.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin