Photography – The Dark side.

[Graham Hart]

Hi everyone, been quite some time since I last visited these hallowed pages but I finally came out of my photography ‘slump’. It’s weird but I just seemed to lose motivation. I suspect it’s because I hit a wall in my journey to improvement. The last few times I went out shooting, I would return home only to discover my shots were crap – both technically and subject-wise. Frustration got the better of me and couldn’t see the point in continuing if I kept making the same mistakes over and over. I still struggle to understand what my camera is actually doing when I shoot. Not the basic aperture, shutter speed and ISO stuff but he miriad other hidden setting that the camera has which affect images. Auto ISO, AE, AE-L, linking AF to AE, WB, metering, colour space, manipulating live view, the fact that most buttons on my camera do ten different things depending on what function you’re using and so on…..
Eventually my craving to take pictures got the better of me and I decided to revisit my 300,000-page camera manual and try to start from scratch. I’m still pretty clueless but I went out and took some shots. Most were crap but I got a couple of keepers so I’m happy with that even though they took some PS magic to improve them. I hope to pick up where I left off and as Spirios Heniadis would say “get out there and take some damn photos”.

Anyway, here’s a shot I took recently. It must be bird mating season here because these Lorikeets were bobbing and dancing around each other before rolling around on the ground in winged embrace.

 

[beth]

beautiful birds, i like how you’ve captured the eyes of both birds.

worry less about the technical side of your camera and just enjoy the art.  when you’re ready to try something new, just focus on that one piece.

[Graham Hart]

Hi Beth, thanks for the morale booster, I need it. My problem is I do worry about the technical side of it because it sometimes feels like I’m just shooting and hoping that things turn out ok – often that’s not the case and so I’m determined to understand my camera better. I think my main problem is going hand-held too much instead of using my tripod. By far my biggest issue is blurry photos. I’ll get there though! 🙂 🙂

[beth]

make your shutter speed 1/focal length or faster when you handhold.  include the crop factor in the focal length.  so a 100mm lens and a 1.5x crop factor gives you a 1/150 sec shutter speed or faster.  if you have IS you can go a little slower if you need to.  if you’re still shaky then drink less coffee or choose a faster shutter speed.

i don’t use af-l or ae-l, linking af to ae – i don’t even know why that would be a thing, my wb is always on auto and i’ll mess with it in post, i suck at metering (live histogram is fantastic and much more useful), color space has never been touched in camera.

auto iso is the one and only feature you mentioned that i use.  when i shoot wildlife and people i’ll set my aperture and shutter speed to specific values and use auto iso along with the ev comp dial.  for landscapes, travel and pretty much everything else i like to slow down and set the iso myself.

if your shots are blurry due to autofocus then try prefocusing or focus on the center point (it’s usually the most accurate point) and recompose.  you could also try manually focusing or upgrade your camera.  if you’re shooting landscapes and struggling to get everything in focus from back to front then blame physics and learn how to focus stack.

my main focus when shooting is exposure, focus and composition, nearly everything else can be handled in post.  if i keep it simple in camera there’s less to screw up.

[Dahlia Ambrose]

Good to see you Graham and happy to know you finally got out to photograph. I would tell the same thing as Beth. Enjoy photography and don’t worry too much. While reading the manual, it is good to keep the camera in hand and practically check how that works. If confused, there are many videos online that talk about these settings, sometimes for specific models. It will be easier to understand sometimes.

Love the photo of the birds. Striking colours and great details 🙂

[Graham Hart]

Thanks Dahlia and thanks for the advice. I had been enjoying my photography but didn’t seem to be getting any better at it. Making the same mistakes and not knowing what I was doing wrong. I sat down with my camera and lenses the other day and started going through my camera manual (or as I call it – Encyclopedia Brittanica). It’s the first time I realised that most of my lenses don’t do some of the functions the manual describes. This is why I need to better understand things from a technical perspective. I’ve been playing around having fun but now it’s time to get more serious if I want to improve. Photoshop can’t fix everything (although it’s doing a pretty good job so far 🙂 ).

[Dahlia Ambrose]

I understand Graham. Of course photoshop cannot fix everything.

I read your reply to Beth. Where you need a tripod, I think you should use one for sharp and creative images. You should also keep an eye on the shutter speed when hand holding the camera. Never have it slower  than 1/focal length taking into account crop factor if not using a full frame camera. When using lenses without image stabilisation, I thonk it is better to go with faster than 1/(2 x focal length). Also, having it faster than 1/250s if possible would be great even for wider focal lengths if handheld. For longer exposures, never handhold the camera and if on a tripod, turn off image stabilisation.

You have mentioned that “most of your lenses don’t do some of the functions the manual describes.” Are you able to give examples please if possible?

Also, anything that you are confused about regarding photography technique or camera settings, please post a questions here and do not worry about it alone. I am sure someone will have an answer for it here and will be happy to help 🙂

[Graham Hart]

Hi Dahlia and thanks for the tips. I had a light bulb moment straight away when you mentioned the full frame camera thing when calculating shutter speed. My Pentax K5 has an APS-C sensor (I believe?) and I was always conscious of the 1/focal length thing but I never considered the crop factor side. From now on I will factor the full frame conversion (x 1.5?) into my calculations.

In regard to the lens issue, an example is when I was reading in my manual about the shake reduction function and the camera’s ability to automatically read lens information, such as focal length, but to do this the lens has to be a DA, DA L, D FA, FA J, FA or F lens. As far as I can tell, none of my lenses are of this kind.
The main thing which I struggle with is the interconnectedness of everything. If you choose one option over another in the camera’s menus, this can affect other settings elsewhere. It’s just about knowing your camera and the only way I can improve is to use it more. Simple things like when in Live View, the 4-way controller doesn’t control the zoom function as I would expect it to. Instead it’s the Info button which controls zoom – seems counter-intuitive to me but again, it’s about knowing and memorising this stuff. I’ll get there one day – probably after I retire and have the time to get out more and take pictures 🙂

[Erik Fransman]

Hi Graham,

Your Pentax K5 is a cracking camera, so we know, can´t blame that.
The technical side can be a bit overwhelming. It is always great to know your camera inside out.
If the technique is in your way, I would suggest taking a step back and build from there.
Just start at the basic.

The next time you go out for a shoot, why don´t you chose ONE technical part of photography and work on that, and ONLY on that.

Start with one and once you master that one, build on that. Do the next one. But one at teh time.
Let say you chose AE-L. First, go to YouTube, look at AE-L clips. It will become crystal clear in no time.

For the image that you posted and which I like:
I would suggest slightly blur the grass close to the birds. Now my attention goes to the grass.

[Graham Hart]

Hi Erik and thanks for the advice. I knew my Pentax was a good camera so I wasn’t blaming it for my failures – I know it’s me. Today was a classic example. I had a go at trying some zoom burst photography indoors. I followed the steps and settings as posted by Diane and I ended up having to shift the exposure compensation as far to the left as it would go to get the histogram centred. After I adjusted all the camera settings back to where they were before, the exposure compensation meter was maxed out to the right and I can’t for the life of me work out how to get it back to the zero rest position. GRRRR!!!
I gave up eventually and will revisit it tomorrow with a clear mind.

[ElinL]

So good to have you back Graham ! Stunning birds – you who live down under are so lucky to have access to all those colourful creatures to photograph. Erik´s suggestion on how to address technical aspects is very sensible. Toying with one function at a time prevents the feeling of being overwhelmed. In my books, playing around with things in that manner often brings unexpected inspiration with it.

[Graham Hart]

Hi Elin and thanks. You are of course all right about taking things one step at a time but I was always a ‘bull in a china shop’ type of guy so I only have myself to blame 🙂

Yes, we have colourful creatures to photograph but I would swap them for your sweeping scenic country any day. I guess the grass is always greener……

[Ken Scheepers]

Awesome photograph Graham.

I was given a suggestion a few months back by a birding pro to shoot bird, no matter the condition, flying or not, and that has improved my bird photography immensely. Is simple: Manual mode, Shutter at 1250 – 2000, f/6.3 no matter the lens, AFC (Continuous AF) Spot (& eye tracking if your camera has it) and Auto ISO with a high of 12800. I encourage you to give it a try, you will be amazed.

[Graham Hart]

Thanks Ken, I will note these settings and give it a go on my next bird shoot. Cheers.

[Kim U]

Great birds! It’s always great when you can capture behaviours in wildlife photography.

You say you kept making the same mistakes over and over – does that mean you know what mistakes you were making? Because that’s half the battle.

I’ve definitely gone through slumps like yours before, and working out what I disliked about the photos I was taking really helped me to start taking photos I did like again.

[Graham Hart]

Thanks Kim. I think my biggest mistake is lack of planning and clear direction when I venture out. I tend to just follow my nose and start taking pictures without any clearly defined goal. Consequently, I don’t prepare properly and end up paying the price for my impetuousness.

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