is this a good pic?

hey guys, I've been playing around with my new D80.
could I get some opinions on this photo? www.coreyandtina.com/xena.jpg
thanks

corey

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:48:26 GMT, Corey wrote:
: hey guys, I've been playing around with my new D80.
: could I get some opinions on this photo? www.coreyandtina.com/xena.jpg
: thanks
:
: corey

I think you can do better. It's truncated at too many points, and the nose and
teeth are out of focus. Apparently you lost depth of field by getting too
close with a relatively long lens. The exposure is fine, but if you fired the
flash in his eyes from that distance more than once, it could account for why
he doesn't look as though he's enjoying getting his picture taken.

Bob

Robert Coe wrote in
:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:48:26 GMT, Corey wrote:
: hey guys, I've been playing around with my new D80.
: could I get some opinions on this photo?
: www.coreyandtina.com/xena.jpg thanks
:
: corey

I think you can do better. It's truncated at too many points, and the
nose and teeth are out of focus. Apparently you lost depth of field by
getting too close with a relatively long lens. The exposure is fine,
but if you fired the flash in his eyes from that distance more than
once, it could account for why he doesn't look as though he's enjoying
getting his picture taken.

Bob


thanks for your thoughts. Apparently I'm going to have to buy some books
about photography. I appreciate your criticism, my family are all like
"wow! what a good picture" lol. here's the origional shot:
http://www.coreyandtina.com/xenafull.jpg

shes a hyper little thing

Robert Coe wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:48:26 GMT, Corey wrote:
: hey guys, I've been playing around with my new D80.
: could I get some opinions on this photo? www.coreyandtina.com/xena.jpg
: thanks
:
: corey

I think you can do better. It's truncated at too many points, and the nose and
teeth are out of focus. Apparently you lost depth of field by getting too
close with a relatively long lens. The exposure is fine, but if you fired the
flash in his eyes from that distance more than once, it could account for why
he doesn't look as though he's enjoying getting his picture taken.

Yup. The composition is interesting and edgy. The off-balance nature of it
goes with the fierceness of the dog, but it still has symmetry. But it's not
very sharp. A run through a sharpending filter like Photoshop's could help.
Fix the blue-eye while you're at it.

--
Ray Fischer

...edgy ...blue-eye

He's messing with you.
I've never seen blue-eye before, it must be from the flash. Try shutter
priority as your standard mode (that'll let you go without flash). Set a
high ISO and get the shutter as slow as you can to avoid motion blur or
get the dog outside & leave the ISO low, or figure out some way that the
flash isn't too obvious with shadows like that. Flash lets you get *a*
shot but often looks unnatural. I'm not a fan of flash, others might
suggest ways of making flash work, I suggest turning it off. The camera
should perform alright without flash (or at least turn it down).

Getting the shutter slow means wide aperture and you can do that by
zooming out, moving closer and using aperture priority. Wide aperture
means shallow depth of field so align the dog's nose with it's eyes
perpendicular to the shot or go outside with more light.

Basically, trying to catch a hyper miniature dog indoors is VERY
difficult, so yeah your family was impressed that you could capture
anything recognizable since a point & shoot camera couldn't even get
close to that but what you are trying is really very difficult so no
it's not a great picture because it's a tough shot.

Hopefully some of this made sense and was useful. I really recommend
aperture priority (or shutter priority if you like) as a more meaningful
base-point to explore. Turn up the ISO or pop the flash up when you
can't get enough shutter speed. Wide aperture (small f/number) means
shallow DOF, tight aperture (large f/number) means slow shutter speed.

Have fun!
Use auto when you don't have energy to think, use Aperture priority to
experiment.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

Paul Furman wrote:
...edgy ...blue-eye

He's messing with you.
Nope.

I've never seen blue-eye before, it must be from the flash.

No kidding?

Try shutter
priority as your standard mode (that'll let you go without flash). Set a
high ISO and get the shutter as slow as you can to avoid motion blur or
get the dog outside & leave the ISO low, or figure out some way that the
flash isn't too obvious with shadows like that. Flash lets you get *a*
shot but often looks unnatural.

Maybe sometimes that's the point.

--
Ray Fischer

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
...edgy ...blue-eye

He's messing with you.
I've never seen blue-eye before, it must be from the flash. Try shutter
priority as your standard mode (that'll let you go without flash). Set a
high ISO and get the shutter as slow as you can to avoid motion blur or
get the dog outside & leave the ISO low, or figure out some way that the
flash isn't too obvious with shadows like that. Flash lets you get *a*
shot but often looks unnatural. I'm not a fan of flash, others might
suggest ways of making flash work, I suggest turning it off. The camera
should perform alright without flash (or at least turn it down).

Getting the shutter slow means wide aperture and you can do that by
zooming out, moving closer and using aperture priority. Wide aperture
means shallow depth of field so align the dog's nose with it's eyes
perpendicular to the shot or go outside with more light.

Basically, trying to catch a hyper miniature dog indoors is VERY
difficult, so yeah your family was impressed that you could capture
anything recognizable since a point & shoot camera couldn't even get close
to that but what you are trying is really very difficult so no it's not a
great picture because it's a tough shot.

Hopefully some of this made sense and was useful. I really recommend
aperture priority (or shutter priority if you like) as a more meaningful
base-point to explore. Turn up the ISO or pop the flash up when you can't
get enough shutter speed. Wide aperture (small f/number) means shallow
DOF, tight aperture (large f/number) means slow shutter speed.

Have fun!
Use auto when you don't have energy to think, use Aperture priority to
experiment.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

A considered, constructive response - and what this group (and USENET)
should be about.

If there were more like him, there'd be fewer like them...

RM

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:33:19 -0700, Paul Furman
wrote:

...edgy ...blue-eye

He's messing with you.
I've never seen blue-eye before, it must be from the flash. Try shutter
priority as your standard mode (that'll let you go without flash). Set a
high ISO and get the shutter as slow as you can to avoid motion blur

Do you mean "as fast as you can"? Or "as low as you can"?

or
get the dog outside & leave the ISO low, or figure out some way that the
flash isn't too obvious with shadows like that. Flash lets you get *a*
shot but often looks unnatural. I'm not a fan of flash, others might
suggest ways of making flash work, I suggest turning it off. The camera
should perform alright without flash (or at least turn it down).

Getting the shutter slow means wide aperture and you can do that by
zooming out, moving closer and using aperture priority. Wide aperture
means shallow depth of field so align the dog's nose with it's eyes
perpendicular to the shot or go outside with more light.

Basically, trying to catch a hyper miniature dog indoors is VERY
difficult, so yeah your family was impressed that you could capture
anything recognizable since a point & shoot camera couldn't even get
close to that but what you are trying is really very difficult so no
it's not a great picture because it's a tough shot.

Hopefully some of this made sense and was useful. I really recommend
aperture priority (or shutter priority if you like) as a more meaningful
base-point to explore. Turn up the ISO or pop the flash up when you
can't get enough shutter speed. Wide aperture (small f/number) means
shallow DOF, tight aperture (large f/number) means slow shutter speed.

That's what I'd have thought.

Have fun!
Use auto when you don't have energy to think, use Aperture priority to
experiment.
--
John

John O'Flaherty wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:33:19 -0700, Paul Furman
wrote:

...edgy ...blue-eye
He's messing with you.
I've never seen blue-eye before, it must be from the flash. Try shutter
priority as your standard mode (that'll let you go without flash). Set a
high ISO and get the shutter as slow as you can to avoid motion blur

Do you mean "as fast as you can"? Or "as low as you can"?

As slow as he can hold steadily or just fast enough to stop the moving
dog. Hand held at 1/25 second should be OK zoomed wide & 1/80 second
zoomed in on a kit lens.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

"Corey" wrote in message
...
hey guys, I've been playing around with my new D80.
could I get some opinions on this photo? www.coreyandtina.com/xena.jpg
thanks

corey

I just want to say that sometimes whether it is a "good pic" or not depends
on the intended use of the photo. A fact oftentimes overlooked in the forum
(IMHO).

It'd be easy to criticize a "non-symmetrical" or "off-balance" or
"badly-cropped" photo when looking at it from a technical point of view. But
this same photo might be selected for use on the cover of Time Magazine
specifically because it leaves room for cover text.

Ya never know how good a pic is until you see how it works in the final
application.

In this case you say your family thought it was a "good pic". Well, I agree.
As a pet-lover I can appreciate the difficulty of snapping an active pet
while in a "photogenic" pose. I think you've done that.

Just some thoughts...

-Frank