asafrye

<p>Sounds like you want a shallow depth of field (DOF). The wider your aperture, the shallower your DOF. You can set your camera in aperture priority, open the aperture as wide as it will go (i.e., use the lowest available f-# for your lens), and let the camera set the shutter speed to get your desired exposure.<br>

Try Googleing "panning shots". There are many tips available out on the web - probably most targeted for digital camera users. For good panning shots the most important thing is to practice following the moving subject with your camera in a continuous and smooth way even when you release the shutter. Whether the camera is hand held or on a tripod, your camera motion needs to be in sync with the movement of the subject. This takes practice, practice, practice. There's no trick. Just practice.</p>

<p>I think photographers should at least make an attempt to make their intent clear. Otherwise, why have an intent in the first place? Or, more importantly, why bother publishing/displaying the photo to be viewed? A photographer can't control how well that intent will be perceived since we all ultimately "see" with our minds - and no two minds are alike. Text can accompany a photograph and it can also often help to enhance the appreciation of the work. However, I believe with or without text, a photo should be able to independently convey the artists intent with the universal languages of shape, tone, color and light.</p>

<p>The conditions you'd like to shoot under can be challenging depending on what kind of results you'd like to achieve. What you'll come to learn as a photographer is the less you're willing to compromise, the more expensive your solution becomes. And there's a limit even to that. Having said that, I agree with Andrew's comments. I'm not familiar with the D90 (I shoot with the D70, also often under "low light" conditions) so I don't know how it performs under various low light situations. I suspect it may be a step up from the D70, but doesn't perform quite as well as the D700 or D3 (i.e, the expensive solutions). I shoot moving subjects almost exclusively with the speedlight except in daylight. Reason is simple: the focus assist capability of the speedlight is indispensable in low light. Now for exposure, I think you have that problem solved with the 85/1.4. If you use a flash, your shutter speed won't matter and you can choose your ISO/aperture settings to optimize image quality (higher ISO will give you more noise) or control depth of field (DOF). For a given ISO, since you want to capture your (fast?) moving dog, you might choose to work in shutter priority and let the flash/camera choose the right aperture based on the dogs distance to the camera at the instant of exposure. On the other hand, if you'd prefer to capture images under the existing light only, you'll need faster shutter speeds if you want to "freeze" your dog in flight. You may need to go higher in ISO (and accept the noise level, whatever that is) for decent exposure. With the wider aperture, and thus shallow DOF, focusing will become more of a challenge. I find the auto focus lamp completely inadequate under low light with moving subjects.</p>

<p>After your step 4, place your cut strips into your archiving sleeves or sheets of choice, then sandwich them between the pages of a really big and heavy book and check back in a day or two. Maybe put another heavy book on top of the first one. If that doesn't do it, then maybe those negatives weren't meant to be straight! ; )</p>

<p>I use the Konica Minolta flash meter VI and I love it. You can do both incident and spot metering, as well as flash metering. I think it's rather intuitive if you want to jump right in. The manual is well-written for more advanced uses as you grow into using various techniques.</p>

<p>Painting by light. (I think.)</p>

<p>I can tell from your sample screen grab that I'm gonna love it. Thanks for the new development!</p>

<p>generally you get higher contrast when your (day)light source on your subject is direct sunlight, no clouds, such that your lighting source size is relatively small. of course you want the light reflected off of your subject/model, and not have light rays directly entering the camera lens and generating lens/camera flare (I suspect this might be causing the washing out that you've experienced?). . .smaller apertures might help with that. there is likely some post processing involved in these images to set the final brightness levels of the colors</p>

<p>not only is flash typically not allowed, depending on how close you can get to the subject versus your lens focal length, flash typically doesn't afford any significant benefits due to the rapid light fall off; there's really not much you can do other than use the fastest lens you can stand to carry (esp. if it's a long focal length). . .and upgrade to a camera body with low noise performance at higher iso, especially if you intend to freeze action with faster shutter speeds.</p>

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<p>The lens would go in and out of focus, but it would never beep and let me actually take the picture .</p>

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<p>Can you focus manually to first determine if your subject is beyond the minimum focus distance of the lens (listed as 10.6in)? If you can focus manually but the camera just won't lock on in autofocus, it's probably not getting enough light from the subject. Try the focus assist lamp as has been suggested. Or get a speedlight like the SB-600, SB-800 or SB-900. These integrate with your camera and have a built-in AF illuminator that really helps well when focusing under low light conditions.</p>

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<p>I'm not a photographer, but some call me a <em><strong>photog</strong> </em></p>

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<p>BTW, I just Googled up a "how to use" bit about this thing. It can be used with a small camera or SLR. That's what that stage is for in the lower right. URL>

<p>Thank you all! It makes so much sense now. It's not for use with the camera at all! Hah! I feel silly now but that's why I'm here to learn. I had no idea what this was. This was part of a bunch of photo equipment that I inherited from my late uncle. I can see now that he connected these all together probably to keep track of em. As Richard said, these are three separated parts. I'm laughing at myself now because I also have an umbrella that I've been trying to figure out how the heck he was able to mount to the lights!</p>

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<p>I've acquired a Bogen model 3030/a tripod that I use with a 4x5 view camera. I also have this additional part that appears to be some sort of gadget that the camera may mount onto, but it's not obvious to me exactly how to use this thing. I see some sort of clamp (upper left in image). . .but what could this possibly clamp onto and hold tight enough to keep the camera secure and steady through camera movements and exposures? Anybody know?</p><div></div>

<p>Thank you all for your responses! These are very helpful. Personally I'd be inclined to steer her towards some sort of DSLR, so Jennifer I'll mention the XS and XSI. For me, having the ability to at least do selective focusing and spot metering are critical to a photog's ability to exercise some of the basic concepts of creative image making.</p>

<p>Congrats Chris! There was just film when I started into photography, but just recently I've been trying large format - specifically using a 4x5 view camera. If you haven't done this already, try it if you can get your hands on a large (or even medium) format camera. I just developed and printed only my second roll of 120 film. The difference in image quality between an image enlarged from a 35mm neg versus a 6 x 7 neg will blow you away! I haven't tried 4 x 5 sheet film yet. That's my next adventure. ; )</p>

<p>My niece is interested in getting into photography. Isn't that great? So she sent me a message asking what I thought about the cameras she was considering buying. First is the Canon PowerShot G11; the other is the PowerShot SX20 IS. She thought I'd be the "perfect" place to start. (Isn't she a good kid! ; ) My two problems are: 1) I'm a Nikon man. I don't know much about Canons other than they are usually very good cameras; and 2) I think these are PS cameras which, again, I know little about since I've avoided them pretty much all of my photographic life. So more info. . .she wants a camera that will allow her to get to the advanced amateur level at least. Now I don't want to be an SLR snob to assume that she could never do "serious" photography with a PS. (I bet there are many pros that do it all the time.) So I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with either of these cameras or any other camera within the same class/price range (I'm sure this was a factor in her choice) and what, if any, suggestions you think I might pass on to my niece so that she can start her exciting journey into the world of photography! (Of course, I'll suggest that she open a p.net account and get active in the forums too!) Thanks!</p>

<p>Yes! And I still have 10 rolls of kodachrome to shoot before end of year! By next year we'll have plenty more to look at on the big screen. ; )</p>

<p>From the <a href="../photodb/photo-of-the-week/about">About Photograph of the Week</a> page:</p>

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<p>It would be a pretty boring place if everyone agreed with the POW choice!</p>

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<p>Kelly, I have a PhD in the physical sciences, and I didn't understand a word you just said! Maybe I should study less physics and more accounting. ; )<br>

Dispersion: the change of "direction" of light as a function of it's wavelength (color) when passing through the lens; these different wavelengths then focus at slightly different points along the optical axis of the lens; depends on quality of the lens; typically more of an issue near the lens edges, so becomes a factor on image sharpness at the widest apertures<br>

Keith, you want to increase DOF while avoiding decrease in sharpness due to <strong>diffraction</strong> : the spread of ALL wavelengths of light when passing through very small apertures; the diffraction limit kicks in at slightly different apertures depending on the details of the lens/image plane geometry, but for 35mm cameras is typically somewhere between f8 and f16.</p>

<p>Find some inspiration and/or interesting subject matter to shoot. . .and soon! I've got 10 rolls of Kodachrome in my fridge to expose and get off to Dwayne's before the end of this year!<br>

Spend more time shooting large format. I'm kinda enjoying it although I don't really know what I'm doing. So I need to spend some time improving on the "know what I'm doing" part.<br>

Shoot more film and develop them in a timely manner so I'm not disposing unused and out dated D-76 all the time! ; )<br>

Be more active on photo.net! And when I can't think of anything intelligent to say, I'll just think of something stupid to ask. LOL! Juz kiddin. . .but really, some folk here need to lighten up!</p>