Switch from film to digital HELP!

I have just switched to digital after 30 years of shooting with film. I now own

a Nikon D80. I was very excited to purchase since I could use all of my older

Nikon lenses.

 

I got to my first photo shoot and tried to set all the great things that were

available to me, but I couldn't get the darn thing to cooperate and ended up

using it like a point and shoot!!!!

 

When I got the pictures to the computer I was disappointed to find out I had to

photoshop the darn things to death!

 

This is not how I envisioned it would be!

 

Right now I am not feeling much like a photographer at all. I have to learn

some things before I am comfortable with the quality and efficiency of my work.

 

I don't know where to go to learn what I need to learn. I have gotten lost

trying to sift through all the info that is out there.

 

Briefly about me-

My resources are limited, I live in Oklahoma. My time is limited, I work 2 jobs

photographer/dance teacher. I do have some experience/knowledge but it is old

school 4 years college (early 80s) 8 years in a portrait studio, personal

darkroom =) I do mostly portrait work.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can give me as to how I might

educate myself.

 

there is alot of talent on this site!

 

Cindi

Buy Thom Hogan's $29 e-book on using the D80. It has chapters aimed at DSLR beginners but also goes into detail about all the various settings and how to optimize them for various purposes. Best $29 photo accessory I've gotten.

I won't be much help, except for sympathy. I was in almost exactly your situation when I switched to digital. I don't think the problem is that there's a lot to learn, but rather than the whole mindset is different from film. It took me several months to wrap my head around things, but then suddenly it was very easy, and there's no way I would go back to the darkroom now.

 

I would say that it feels hopeless now, but you WILL catch on, I got no help from several of the two-inch thick photoshop books, but eventually learned a lot from a couple of thin books that covered only the areas I had problems with--those were the best investments.

 

Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction by Dan Margulis was immensely helpful for me. I had done a lot of color film printing, but really didn't get how to handle digital color until I read this book.

A couple of basics with digital

 

1. It's not like print film, you need to be spot on with exposures much like transparency film. Although shooting in raw format will allow some movement to simulate exposure change in Camera Raw, it is still better to get it right in camera.

 

2. Shoot raw.

 

3. In 'old school' photography you have two variables, shutter and aperture. In digital photography you have three with the inclusions of ISO. Yes we always had ISO but not on a shot to shot basis with 35mm.

 

4. You do not have as much dynamic range as with print film.

 

5. The most important thing to remember IMO is to use the histogram. Forget about looking at the photograph you just took. The ambient light will affect how the photo looks. Shoot for highlights and let the shadows fall where they may.

Cindi, you probably discovered your old Nikkor lenses do not meter on the D80. You have to shoot on M and use the camera itself as a light meter, using the preview and histogram features. Nevertheless, you can do marvelous things once you get the basic exposure figured out. I too, have shot film since the late 1960's and have come around to digital the last few years. There is a learning curve, but I really love what I can do with digital now that I know what I am doing. These modern DSLRs have such high iso settings which allows you to really get great shots under conditions that would be virtually impossible with film. See this link for some shots I did at a dance performance: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Nmsp

Read the instruction manual and spend some time fiddling with the camera.

 

Don't take a new camera into a photo shoot and expect to know how to work it on the spot.

 

There is no notable difference between the camera or any other electronic camera. This is not a film vs. digital issue, a raw vs. jpeg issue, etc. It is simply an issue of you needing to get used to your new tool.

 

By the way, I am curious as to why people feel that buying a digital camera equals "switching" to digital or "going" digital. All it is is another tool at your disposal. It doesn't make everything else you have not worth using.

 

Keith

I referred to "switching" because digital isn't just another extra tool--it's a whole different set of concepts that don't exist in film photography. For instance, adjusting color by adjusting highlight, shadow, and midtone values is completely different from slapping a filter on in the darkroom. The closest analogy is dye-transfer printing, which few people understood a bit of when they were photogrphers. When I switched, I got nowhere with color balance dialogs--color balance is a lame tool holdover from the darkroom, but it's a pathetic substitute for curves adjustments, which have no non-theory parallel in film.

 

The other thing I had a lot of problem with was pixels and scaling--another non-film concept.

 

The only thing in common, really, is that similar tools yield a similar product. The entire process in the middle--the "digital" part--is totally different from film.

It is like making slides. No different than film.

 

Getting to know the camera is imperative and it takes time. Learn to do a few things and broaden as you go.

 

Studio work. Put the camera on manual, set to sync speed, set the aperture in, and shoot away after you establish the first test shot is good with the histogram. If you are doing a lot of photoshop, your exposures are bad. I use ps only to enhance an image.

 

Outside do the same or set it to program. If you don`t like the combination the camera picked, retate the main command dial and it picks different combinations. My friend calls it P for perfect.

Cindi, I was in your shoes in Dec 2006 when I got my D 200. It was my first digital camera. And I had been shooting with Nikon cameras and lenses for 40 years.

 

You have gotten some good advice. If you have manual focus Nikon lenses, try and buy a used D 200 so those great Nikon lenses will meter on your digital body.

 

I was a slide shooter so I knew how to get the exposure right in the camera. If you were a print shooter you have to learn how to get the exposure right in the camera, especially guarding against making any overexposures. That is why many set a fixed under exposure of -.3 on their cameras. And they shoot in RAW so they can make corrections during post processing.

 

Learn how to read your histogram and flashing highlights on the LCD on the camera.

 

I process my images in Capture NX because if reads all of the Nikon data captured by the camera. The processor you use will affect how your images look right out of the camera. So will your monitor. You must profile your monitor. Ditital photography is a systems issue.

 

Joe Smith

OMGosh this is all such good information! Thank you for your support everyone, I wish I could take you all out for coffee!

 

Michael Darnton you speek my language. There was aperture, shutter speed, ASA, then if you screwed up there was the dark room... (your photoshop) You wouldn't think of having someone else process for you!

 

Joseph Smith, I still shoot with my 40 year old all manuel Nikkormat! I don't even use my light meters half the time, in-camera or my hand held 1951 Weston Master II. (*wink*) just seemed so simple then.

 

I am excited to learn about all this and the possibilities! However I don't think I will ever give up black & white film and the smell of a darkroom. where else can you lock the world out?

 

Thank you in advance for anyone else who offers suggestions for reading, tutorials, general tips, etc. Photoshop tips would be good as well, I have CS3.

 

I appreciate your time and professionalizm.

 

Cindi

My best tip is to learn how to use curves. One simple tip is to click on the left eyedropper, then find a spot in the photo that should be 100% black and click on that. This sets that spot to true black, with no color cast. Then the left dropper does the same with pure white. Mostly, everything between will become close to right by default. The middle dropper sets a middle grey to perfect things (if you have a middle grey to click on), and you don't have to pick a grey that's right in the middle--all it does is set that color to grey, not any particular grey. Click around a bit and you may find a spot that centers things in a way you like. Then play with lowering and raising the middle of the curve. These are basic and crude adjustments, but they will show you how things work and get you in the ballpark. Then click through the colors on the drop down box to see what the eyedroppers have done. One last thing--click on the greyscale bar below the curves box so that black is on the left, not the right--that will put things more in a darkroom mind perspective.

 

The other thing that took me a while to learn an efficient way was burning and dodging, which is easiest done by selecting an area with any selection method, feathering the selection by 150-200px, and then using curves or levels to lighten or darken the selection. If you use curves, you can alter the shape of the curve to build contrast in the burned areas by making the particular area of the curve relating to the problem more or less vertical.

 

Changing the shape of the curve for the whole image by adding and dragging additional points around is a very handy way to vary local contrast (think ferricyanide delivery to the whole photo, in different tonal zones); moving the endpoints is basically the same as changing paper contrast.

 

There's much more to Photoshop, but those are two simple things that ex-darkroom people can immediately relate to, and use.

Using curves or levels to color balance exactly like I do in an enlarger seems to work fine. I apply all my analog printing experience to Photoshop, and it works fine. There is not difference. The biggest and most conceptually huge working differences between the darkroom and Photoshop are layers and layer masks, etc. All the stuff that gives you reversibility and the ability to preview the effects of your manipulations as you perform them. Conceptual differences; not so much. Artistic differences? Yes. Without non-destructive editing and without having to solidly commit to anything until right before the end of the process, it does tend change the way you approach the work. You have the ability to not commit to anything until near the end of the process, with the drawback that you have to spend lots of time and work in front of a computerFor color balancing, All I ever use are the green and blue channels, like using the yellow and magenta knobs on a color head. There is no theoretical difference. In fact, there is a large theoretical similarity, and understanding how that works in curves lets you understand what exactly a filter does in the first place. If you understand one, you understand the other. They are just different tools and sightly different media to do the same thing. It's like painting with oils versus painting with acrylics. All the same theory, and slightly different methods to achieve the same end. The wall people put up between the two is nonexistent. It's nowhere near a whole different world; just a whole different tool chest. Like with any tool, you have to learn how that particular model works, but the physics that the tool acts upon, and on which the tool was designed, will never change.

 

A 200 pixel feathered edge on a burned or dodged area is interesting. I usually use far less feathering...like 5px when I feel like being very sloppy. If I want a softer edge, and was working on a "good" pic, meaning I was taking my time and using layers, I usually use a layer mask combined with the brush tool for a feathered edge.

 

But that is exactly why Photoshop is so popular. Each person can figure out their own way top do the things they want to do with it.

 

Cindi, I would just tinker with the camera. If you have been shooting for that long, you will figure out how it all makes sense. You have to do all the same things you used to do; difference is only WHEN you do them. All the film processing and printing goes on image by image (like sheet film) and with a preview, AFTER the fact of taking he shot. I would suggest taking a Photoshop/Bridge class at a community college, but there are so many horrid Photoshop teachers out there who don't stress the underlying theory. They can do more harm than good by just teaching you tricks and their own way of using Photoshop. The beauty of Photoshop is its versatility. I would find a teacher who teaches the what and the why of Photoshop, NOT the how of it. If you understand the what and the why, you make your own how.

 

Keith

first paragraph, sentence that starts as "without" should start as "with".

As mentioned above, many older Nikon lenses will only work in manual mode on your D80 - no AF, no metering. Check in the back of your manual for lens compatibility.

 

But if you are comfortable with manual cameras, you should see no difference using your D80 in manual mode. The only difference is that you must set ISO and white balance. These are analogous to changing film types.

 

One warning: On my D70, auto white balance does not do well for incandescent. So I use the incandescent setting.

 

Yes, raw files offer the most flexibility but jpegs are more convenient.

Yeah some of the more $$ bodies work with older lenses - Nikon wants more bucks :)

 

 

Re: the post processing, I think with digital you cannot escape that. I think Nikon Capture NX may be a bit easier than other software but its not the best software of user friendliness.

 

 

You can print right out of camera if you want and shoot JPG and play around with the color settings in-camera. That's always an option.

 

 

In the old days my lab did the editing or the darkroom which I am slowly getting myself in now with b/w. We over here in my country cannot get color chemistry anymore due to demand. Digital darkroom is just the digital version of the traditional darkroom.

 

I am not sure if Thom's book would help that much. His books are more like manuals. I have the D70 and the only thing I found useful was a couple of pages of his digital workflow. Thom's D80 or whatever book is not a introduction to digital photography book.

 

www.capturenx.com - has some video's have a look and PDF articles.

www.capture.com - english - tutorials - movies and tech guide. There are 1 portrait lessons in each of those areas.

 

 

Nikon Capture lacks a clone tool so you still need Photoshop for that or another equivalent software. I find that with PS is most photog it does what I need and with the unique design of it .. its easier to learn and do, you don't need multiple layers like you do in Photoshop or mess with numbers just adjusting canvas size, border thickness, selecting multiply or whatever setting you have on the adjustment layers in Photoshop.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned: You can save yourself a lot of work on the

computer by setting your custom white balance on your camera to your studio lights

(assuming you still work inside). You do this by using a white sheet of paper or a grey card.

Hopefully you can find "Set Custom White Balance" on your camera somewhere. Digital is

great for work stuff; so quick and cheap to output. It does involve computer time however.

The more time you can save the better. Custom white balance can do a lot of this. Good luck.