Herp photography tips

[DonnB]

I have a canon 1000d. Can you set TTL on it also? Been throught the manual and found nothing about it.

Also anyone got good setting to try for the above camera at night and also at day.
I currently use at night : 1/125,f11,iso 100
Day : 1/125,f8,iso 400

 

[ssshazza]

if you google the model and make of your camera you can usually find the instruction manual in PDF format.(if you've lost it)

Some little tips:
*The eye is drawn from the top left corner of the photo, to the bottom, across the bottom, to the top right corner. Try to harmonise any lines (tree branches, vines etc) by keeping that natural flow.
* Double check your horizon (or any background lines) are straight! nothing worse than a wonky horizon!
* Learn photoshop, turn ur crappy photos into works of art lol

Hope this helps

 

[DonnB]

Critic this pic for me.

Had to compress the crap out of it

 

[seumas12345]

I'd say there are two main things that put me off:
a) the flash is putting too much focus on the leaves... it would be a better shot with less light on the leaves, so the herp stands out more.
b) again, the leaves are covering part of the neck with takes away some of the effect...
One last thing, I would have put the herp more in-frame. Other than that focus is good and it is a clear, sharp image. Keep it up!

 

[DonnB]

I'd say there are two main things that put me off:
a) the flash is putting too much focus on the leaves... it would be a better shot with less light on the leaves, so the herp stands out more.
b) again, the leaves are covering part of the neck with takes away some of the effect...
One last thing, I would have put the herp more in-frame. Other than that focus is good and it is a clear, sharp image. Keep it up!

Thanks for your opinion.

The only thing is i deliberately put the herp on the side like that, so i could get some added background into the shot. I like to get some habitat into the shots also. So you think i put to much background in?

 

[seumas12345]

I'd say just a tad. I see what you were going with the background, but with the herp just a little to the left would have made sure they main focus of your photo was quite clear and well detailed

 

[Red-Ink]

As a general rule if you want the subject to still show the background then the ratio is 3:1, i.e. the backgound should cover about a 2/3rd of the frame and the subject 1/3rd to have proper relationship in the frame without either over powering the other. Putting the subject on the side of the frame forces he eye to only go to that side and dis-regard the rest of the frame. If you are going to do this for portraits be mindful of continuation on the subject as in the subject should not lead the viewers point of view outside the frame.

It's a crappy photo from the outside of a dirty tank with a phone camera but i think it illustrates my point.

 

[DonnB]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Kirby]

for dragons....

heat them up nice and hot, and throw them into a feeding bin. a hot feeding frenzy brings out their colours.

 

[Nighteyes]

WOW, I can't believe how well people have taken to this thread! Keep up the great tips and questions!!

 

[seumas12345]

I reckon its a great thread! It needs to be made a sticky so amutuers can post their new pics and get criticisms and tips from the pros!

 

[Nighteyes]

Great idea, let hope the admin agree (c:

 

[moosenoose]

I used to take most of my pics in RAW, but then didn't take the time to work out how to mess around with it. Quite frankly, I reckon most of my shots turn out pretty good (without blowing my own trumpet). I don't know a whole heap about why the camera does what it does, only what buttons to press to get the damned thing giving me enough light in the places I need it....and then to make sure the focus is as sharp as it can be on the objects I'm wanting in focus.

I just happily and aimlessly snap away with my brain telling me if it'll work or not :lol: See, simple! :lol:

 

[Nighteyes]

When I was doing marketing flyers and things for my last job, which involved lots of photoshopping, I was using RAW format for photos I was taking. But just for my happy snaps I just use JPEG. I suppose it depends what your desired outcome for the photos are.

 

[DonnB]

Heres 2 more pics from the same shoot. (same settings)

 

[seumas12345]

Now that's better! The framing in those pics is perfect! I'm not sure about the quality of the pics i think it's just because you've compressed them.
What I would try now is changing your ISO to 100. The lower the ISO the better the quality and better the colours, but it can cause you to have to lower the shutter speed (1/125 will be fine for hand held, anything lower and you should really use a tripod).

Also try using photoshop (or any basic program like microsoft office picture manager) to bump up the colour saturation a little. Then you should have almost perfect shots!

 

[DonnB]

I used higher iso as they pics started out being to dark. I only have built in flash.

 

[seumas12345]

Ahh ok that's fair enough. Maybe try ISO200 with 1/125 shutter speed and F10 or something along those lines? It's all about playing about Great pics though

 

[DonnB]

heres with some post prod on the pic...

 

[seumas12345]

That looks wikid man!