williamting

<p>Well done James!</p>

<p>Cliché but I like it.</p>

<p>Edit: I just noticed you can see the chair and shadow in the top right corner, oops. I should've cropped it smaller.</p><div></div>

<p>I don't run seem to run into this problem (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=51883688&l=434b916acc&id=7964119">example</a>) but I resize my files to 800px wide before uploading rather than let FaceBook compress it.</p>

<p>They're fine photos, I like #26 the most.</p>

<p>Some of the photos look about 1/3 - 2/3 underexposed (#2, 3, 9, 18). I'm not a fan of all the angles (especially #19, 20, 23) but that may be just personal preference. #1 could use crop to remove the distraction off the bottom right edge.</p>

<p>#24 is too "busy", there's no central focus. My eyes are mostly drawn to the branches coming in from the left side of the frame.</p>

<p>Otherwise, those are some pretty photos and you have a beautiful daughter. Keep on shooting!</p>

<p>Solar cells do not provide any significant power in relation to their surface area. Even solar panels for sunny homes require a 10+ years before the homeowner will recoup the investment.</p>

<p>Yes, you can find supporting documentation through Google. Also, it's not 80% efficient, it is max capacity is 80% of design capacity.</p>

<p>My D200 has a battery info feature that lists the current charge and battery life (which compares current max capacity with design capacity).</p>

<p>Try a complete discharge of the battery followed by a full charge. How long will the batteries last you then? If it has an extremeley short life and you bought it recently, you should contact Canon for replacements.</p>

<p>VR does not do anything different depending on the focal length.</p>

<p>The only difference is that longer focal lengths are more susceptible to camera movement blur and thus a lower percentage of the shots will be clear despite VR.</p>

 

<p>I have a D200 and I've shot with a friend's D90 for a day. Personally for me, I'd take the D200 because of 5fps, AF, and external body controls and I've learned to deal with noise in post.</p>

<p>I'd recommend D90 for everyone else though.</p>

<p>I work in the battery industry (specifically notebook and cell phone batteries).</p>

<p>Lithium decays 20% per year stored at room temperature. There's nothing you can do about that (except storing at lower temperatures).</p>

<p>Charging and discharging batteries is a process that converts chemical energy into electrical energy and slowly degrades the material used to hold the charge. Over time this will add up and decrease the capacity of the battery.</p>

<p>This is guestimation from what I know, but the only difference between Canon batteries and 3rd party batteries is Canon ones go through better quality checking and don't sit on the shelf as long before they're sold (i.e. less capacity loss due to lithium decay).</p>

<p>I don't work with NiMH batteries, but I believe they don't have memory leak or degrade as quickly as lithium batteries.</p>

<p>You might want to check these lighting diagrams:<br /> <a href="http://www.photobusiness.com/wordpress/?p=268">http://www.photobusiness.com/wordpress/?p=268</a><br /> <a href="http://www.photobusiness.com/wordpress/?p=234">http://www.photobusiness.com/wordpress/?p=234</a> (nudity)</p>

<p>In both cases he's using a reflector to partially fill in opposite from the key light. The second link still has some shadow from the nose, but I think you can fix that by playing with the angle of the reflector.</p>

<p>When selling through Craigslist insist on local buyers only that meet in person (many people will try to scam you into sending the item) with cash only. Also, make sure to meet in a public place.</p>

<p>I have not dealt with returning auction items ever before, you don't have to offer a return option.</p>

<p>I would try to sell it locally on Craigslist simply due to size and avoiding eBay / PayPal fees, but after a few months would put it up on eBay.</p>

<p>I agree with Grant. The Rebel series are good cameras, especially for someone starting out in photography.</p>

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<p>Ignoring my roommate's underexposed shot, I took a look at the histogram and the bridal dress does look in fact exposed correctly. Maybe the problem is I need to recognize clipping better.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone who responded.</p>

<p>@Nadine: I was using manual exposure, but because there were spotlights on the ramp it was difficult. I didn't notice this initially, but in the first photo only the model's left leg is within the spotlight.</p>

<p>Regarding exposure control, I generally hear two different viewpoints from many photographers regarding this issue.</p>

<ol>

<li>If the highlights are clipped, decrease exposure to match.</li>

<li>If the scene is mostly white (e.g. snow) and using evaluative metering, <strong>increase</strong> exposure 1 stop. This is because the camera expects 18% gray (in reality it varies from 10-18%) and you are telling it to meter closer to white.</li>

</ol>

<p>After a little more research, I am leaning towards the #2 explanation. In retrospect, to get the proper exposure I should have spot metered off the dress at +1 EV.</p>

<p>The catch is that it is usually easier to recover detail from an underexposed image than it is to recover clipped highlights.</p>

<p>I think I need to test a bit more to verify my line of reasoning.</p>

<p>@Rusla: I was shooting in RAW, but I was unable to recover any more detail from the dress (or maybe I'm missing something in my LightRoom editting).</p>

<p>I asked myself this just last week. I'm sure someone else will provide better answers, but a few reasons I go manual mode is:</p>

<ol>

<li>You need the same exposure between multiple shots. For example when you plan on stitching together a panorama.</li>

<li>When using TTL (or manual flash) you can afford to let the flash balance out the exposure while setting the shutter speed and aperature that you want.</li>

<li>You want to control shutter / aperature at the expense of ISO (since auto ISO will default to lowest ISO and slowest shutter / smallest aperature). However that can be handled the same way in shutter / aperature mode by simply disabling auto ISO and manually setting ISO to control the third automatic option.</li>

<li>You're taking multiple shots while needing a constant exposure for a highly dynamic setting (e.g. person's face with a setting sun behind him/her). The alternative would be constantly spot metering off the face which may or may not be preferable or consistently accurate.</li>

<li>You can dial in the exposure adjustment using + or - EV, but you may prefer gaining or losing that stop through aperature, shutter speed, or ISO instead of letting the camera decide.</li>

</ol>

<br />

To be fair, I shoot in aperature mode 90% of the time, shutter mode 5% of the time, and manual 5% of the time. I don't have any automatic modes on my D200, but I'll use program + auto ISO when handing off the camera to someone else to play around with the camera (unless it's for a specific shot, in which case I'm setting up the camera for them to use).

<p>Jose: Love the photo, my eyes are drawn towards the single boat at the bottom.</p>

<p>Sjord: That picture has a timeless quality to it, obviously enhanced by the B&W and the classic car.</p>

<p>Robert: Great simplicity.</p>

<p>Nina: The positioning lends you to believe it's a golden fruit hanging off the tree. :D</p>

<p>jfzhang: Incredible sky, great contrast between the sky and ground.</p>

<p>The graduating textile and apparel seniors from University of Texas at Austin put on a fashion show last Friday, this is one of my favorite shots of the night.</p><div></div>

<p>Wow those are some great photos.</p>

<p>I can relate, my mother-in-law is into photography and only speaks a language that I'm not completely fluent in. However through photography we are able to communicate to each other through a different medium.</p>

<p>Attaching a photo from my friend of the same subject.</p><div></div>

<p>Attaching the bridal gown.</p><div></div>

<p>I shot a fashion show recently and most of my pictures came out fine. However I was losing the detail in some of the dresses and I've attached two of them below.</p>

<p>For the yellow dress I was using center weighted and -1/3 EV. Should I have upped EV back to 0?</p>

<p>For the bridal gown portion of the show I placed EV back to 0 (still using center weighted), should I have bumped it up another 2/3 stop?</p>

<p>Regarding wedding dresses (at weddings) in general, I should spot meter and lock exposure off dress, lock focus on face, use a large enough DOF, and use +1/3 to +1 EV. Is that correct?</p><div></div>

<p>As a fellow photographer once said, "Everyone's beautiful from the back of the church."</p>

<p>You could always hand off the Lumix for a family member to help out and take pictures from the back while you work from the altar to get more personal shots.</p>

<p>Your battery will not last all day. It will last roughly 300 - 500 shots depending on how much you use the LCD screen. If buying another battery is not an option make sure you bring plenty of replacement battteries for the Lumix then. Using the Lumix outside and DSLR inside is a good idea to conserve battery power.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info. I wasn't surprised by the fact that I had dust, but that the "dust" was like an eyelash on the sensor and thus visible at f/4. I was incredibly curious how it got there without the lens being removed.</p>