Nikon User Thread

TheYankee said:
I have no idea how to do a good sillouhette shot. I adjusted the metering and everything but can't do it.
Click to expand...


Do you mean backlighting? If you do, shame on you. :)

You should know how easily that can be achieved in post.


The key to taking backlight pictures is to have the camera poiting into your light source, with your subject between it and tha camera. Then, the background is adjusted for proper exposer, and your foreground is so underexposed, it becomes the sillouette.
 
Last edited:
A day full of headaches, but thankfully none of them related to the Nikon experience... the sb-800 arrived and yes my friends, it kicks ass. The wireless function works perfectly. The only downside is there will be a slight learning curve to get the most out of it. I found that if I turn the head all the way around that it changes the timing of the flash, then the flash blasts just a millisecond ahead of the cam, still leaving the picture dark. I think this is for some other odd purpose that gets engaged once you turn it past a certain point... but I don't know what it could be. There are other odd setups you can initiate to get a bad result, but with 20 minutes of experimenting I think it will be pretty easy to get used to. I'll probably be doing some stuff in manual when I use the flash, which is no big deal because you just take a few test shots to get it dialed in and then you're free to go nuts... and I don't mean you have to ever touch the off-cam flash... just forget about it and it will do what it's supposed to do... I mean that you dial in the exposure compensation on cam and check the results. It's really nice to set the flash for a certain angle or bounce and then just move around and forget about it. The thing just pops when you hit the shutter.

Next issue... on dpreview there is frequent heated debate between the d50 and d70s in the noise department... and I'm always telling the d70s guys to get over it... that the d50 trumps the d70s in the noise area... well some guy chewed me out asking why I would want to leave ISO 200 anyway? I thought that was the dumbest statement ever... but then tonight I decided to drive around and take some night shots, just to see what I see. Rather then try to initiate noise (as I have before) I decided to see if I could shoot clean... these pics are ISO 200 and jpeg straight from the cam... first the whole picture, then the 100% crop. I think I can live with this performance.

hollywood1.jpg


hollywoodcrop.jpg
 
What a great thread!
As a new member of this thread, i want to post my first photos
with my D70s.

Originals and photoshop'd

sitaria.jpg

sitaria_ps_.jpg

gilda.jpg

gilda_ps_.jpg

gaidourangkatho.jpg

gaidourangkatho_ps_.jpg


entoma.jpg

entoma_ps_.jpg


I am waiting for your thoughts!
:)
 
Howdareme... great shot! I'm laughing because it looks like it could have been a self-portrait... tell me that guy didn't just say "how dare me"...

Ipos... you're name is tough... so for now I gotta' go with Ipos... but you've come out of the gate running... wow good stuff! I'm really impressed! I've got a feeling that this will eventually be the longest thread on DVXuser... even longer then Ed's DOF adapter thread. I'm hoping to actually get good with this cam and post my progress... so that means a lot more shots from me.

I like how on dpchallenge they give you an idea, a word, then everyone has to shoot their take on that idea... since we've all got similar or the same cams, I'd like to see something like that here. It would be cool if we could have everybody post a pic of themselves in something local of interest perhaps?
 
MattinSTL said:
I like how on dpchallenge they give you an idea, a word, then everyone has to shoot their take on that idea... since we've all got similar or the same cams, I'd like to see something like that here. It would be cool if we could have everybody post a pic of themselves in something local of interest perhaps?
Click to expand...

Matt, dude, that is a great f*cking idea! We could do almost weekly assignments to not only encourage all of us to continue to shoot and seek out some interesting assignments, but we could also show off photoshop skills (Rapier), local attractions (that freaking arch), and just expand our area of shooting.

I am actually going to have unlimited server space soon (long story, but great family connection) so we should go ahead and do that and I can offer to host it for people.

I think it sounds awesome!

OK, time to go to breakfast and then the Yogi Berra house!

-Jeremy
 
i second that. there is definitely some kind of politics going on at dpchallenge. there seems to be a certain kind of picture that does well there and that's it. i did a couple of challenges and the comments i got were mostly about technical stuff. let's do something here that will be more of an exhibition than a competition....
 
Okay I'll start... here's me with one of my favorite old engines... I had my dad holding the 70 totally off to the side... not even looking through the viewer... he just approximated the shot entirely from the hip.

Yes my dad is a good shot... or maybe he just got lucky. I think he took this with the 18-70 kit lens at the wide end... with the front of the lens surprisingly close to the red machine there.

thresher411.jpg
 
Here's another shot of my dad with my sunglasses on... he can never remember to bring the ones I bought for him... and now that I have the Nikon it works out great because I can't shoot and wear them at the same time.

This shot is mostly due to uploading a curve with a program called ToneUp... it's only $14.99 and it allows you to upload tone curves to your camera. I sent Capture 4.4 back... I don't think I'm going to need it. I still think that if you plan to PP your photos that you should use the default curve... and if you're a d50 owner then you've already GOT the ideal curve and dynamic response so don't even think about loading in a curve!

This was one of the curves that was supposed to increase dynamic range of the d70s, but it gave my dad a slightly off color... like I played with the contrast or something. The more I play with curves the more I think I'll use the default curve and shoot in RAW... d50 owners have it easy... about the only concern you will have is reds and blues can sometimes get out of hand... but other then that... that's it... my pic above this one is pushing the reds and blues a bit to much also, but I set my cam to emulate d50 punch.

This shot below is typical of results that the d70s will get w/o really paying attention to the highlights... see the 100% blown sky? It's just something I'll have to accept.

dad342.jpg
 
Oh and regarding Matt's idea for some sort of photo assignment I say that we get started... PM every D50/D70 person you know and let's run with the idea of a photograph of a unique place where you live and say that we'll all post by Sunday... Who's in?

-Jeremy
 
TheYankee said:
Oh and regarding Matt's idea for some sort of photo assignment I say that we get started... PM every D50/D70 person you know and let's run with the idea of a photograph of a unique place where you live and say that we'll all post by Sunday... Who's in?

-Jeremy
Click to expand...

i'm in....
 
Obviously I'm in... I'm actually thinking I'll drive down to the arch for this one... maybe I can kill two birds with one stone... I'm wanting to try my hand at a pano.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a major WA lens for that stuff? I want to do stiched shots of creekbeds and stuff like that... so that on an enlargement it looks like you can touch the rocks... basically any shot where the foreground elements seem to be right in your face... I like pictures like that.

So the deal is any photo up to interpretation but the stipulation is that we must appear in our own photo and it must say something of our special place on this ball? Sounds good... I may even bring my DVX and pose with it like the cam caught a BTS shot...
 
I'm personally against us having to show up in our own photos because that requires setting up a tripod and using a timer or remote. I say just anything special about the city or town (Rapier is in WV, they don't have cities there, kidding) we live in...

Charlotte = either freaking bankers or... well bankers.

Let's say this. We'll vote for who has the best photo of the week and the winner comes up with the mission for the next week. No popularity contest but just to see who chooses what we shoot the next week. And if someone, like Isaac (when he decides to participate) drops out then we all get to pick on them for quitting and not participating. Sound cool?

-Jeremy
 
infokill said:
Side note, someone here pointed me to a CS2 update to suport raw .nef files for mac but the path they show on intalling the plug-in file is different from the path i see on my comp. Can anyone tell me what folder the plug-in file is supossed to go in?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
yelp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top