Played with my canon rebel and my bike

[MoCkiN U]

I finally started reading the manual for a camera I bought mid last year and started playing with various modes. What I was trying to do more than anything else is get better pictures of little hannah running around. Each time I take pictures of her I miss the little expressions that are soooo cute cause there is soo much damn blur in the image.

Anyway. I have a canon rebel xsi and only played today with the Av mode moving the F stop moving from its bottom setting of 4.0 on this camera to its midpoint 18 ISO on auto just trying to see what happened to the focus point and background. I am always open to opinions and suggestions. I have only played with that mode and the Tv mode on its which with flash on and shutter speed on 1/200 I can get objects to freeze in the image but they are darker than wanted again ISO on auto.

I got some of the missing decals in yesterday after them being done right now I only still need the srad lettering and that should be here anyday now I am told.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1535.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1545.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1552.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1563.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1561.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1538.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1536.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1539.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/My%20GiXxEr/IMG_1541.jpg

[0TransAm0]

bike looks good!

[johnny--2k]

pics look pretty good, keep playing, it's all about practice with these cameras. GoatRoper, Domokun, and Nick would be good people to ask for setting options and opinions. day vs night, still vs moving, etc...

[JohnnyT]

Pics are a good start. What you want to start doing (IMHO anyway) is start to force yourself to shoot in manual mode. This will allow you the opportunity to see what changing the different setting will do to your pics without having your camera make all the decisions for you.

ISO with the sunlight that you shot in should be 100 or 200 at the ABSOLUTE most. (I will use the lowest setting I can get away with based on the given available light for the shooting situation).

Move the bike around and let the light work for you. In shots 2 and 3 the nose of the bike should have been pointed into the sun. That would brighten things up a bit. Take the pics a little later in the day and the sunlight and shadows won't be so harsh. Or you could shoot on an overcast day.

You also want to make sure you use the light meter (the little bar graph looking thing in your viewfinder). Learn how to use the different modes of light metering your camera has. I would probably use spot metering in the case of your bike and set the exposure for the white part of the bike. That will allow the colors to pop better and the white parts won't be so over exposed.

The larger the f/stop number the larger depth of field you will have (the more everything will be in focus). I like to use smaller f/ number (larger aperture) for detail shots as it brings the detail area out in the shot. This setting is limited by your lens however. For the most part your camera picked between f/4 and f/5ish for this series (one shot was f/9). I would have set the aperture to around f/9ish for the full bike shots and f/3 or less (again, depending on the lens you have) for the detail shots.

I think you have a great start in what you are doing. The best thing to do is read up on exposure settings and learn to use light and keep shooting!

I do have to say, the comments I made above are just my preferences. There may be conflicing views if you ask other photographers on here or outside of here. The best thing to do is get to know your camera and make it work for you, not the other way around. And HAVE FUN with it!

[MoCkiN U]

THANK YOU!! Got any suggestions or quick setting for manual mode for indoor shots of the little one running around to get those kinda frozen detail shots from a tripod?

Each time I shoot a picture in manual the damn picture is super dark but I'll play with that more to be able to tell you why its that way and what setting is what.

These were on the Tv mode with 1/200 shutter, ISO auto, and in that mode aperture is auto also with the flash on.

Got her frozen but the colors, light, fuzzyiness, and red eye are just nuts

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/IMG_1567.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/IMG_1573.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/IMG_1579.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/ShoUrGlow/IMG_1578.jpg

[JohnnyT]

THANK YOU!! Got any suggestions or quick setting for manual mode for indoor shots of the little one running around to get those kinda frozen detail shots from a tripod?

Each time I shoot a picture in manual the damn picture is super dark but I'll play with that more to be able to tell you why its that way and what setting is what.

These were on the Tv mode with 1/200 shutter, ISO auto, and in that mode aperture is auto also with the flash on.

Got her frozen but the colors, light, fuzzyiness, and red eye are just nuts



You want to use higher ISO settings and larger aperture (smaller f/ number) for low light situations. As a general rule I try to keep ISO under 1000, but some cameras handle higher ISO settings better than others. I am not very familiar with Canon cameras, but they should have a red-eye reduction setting of some sort with the built-in flash. To get even better results you can get a Speedlite external flash with a diffuser to combat the red-eye, cut down on harsh shadows and give you better overall light.

Here are some quick tips on exposure, metering and white balance settings.
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2666

In the first pic below, the flash is being blown out by the white wall and white door behind her. I cant see the exif (shot settings) info from my work computer, but I will bet the metering was set to evalutive or center-weighted average and just over exposed based on the dark conditions without the flash.

Play with the manual settings and start to understand the light meter and you will start to get the feel of where you need to be. You will be amazed how much better things will turn out when you understand these basic concepts. Then just work from there.

[MoCkiN U]

THX Again!

I know that I saw evalutive metering chosen in a menu somewhere when I was scrolling around so you nailed that one.