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Need advice on taking beach shots (bright light, pale skin etc.)? I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow, going to Clearwater Beach, Orlando etc. I took some great shots last year IMHO, they were mostly candid shots of my three teens being themselves. But, it was with a Kodak z612. I have just purchased a Canon T1i, with a EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM, a EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and the kit lense Canon 18-55. I am really hoping for some even better shots this year. I'm sorry for the amount of pics that I am posting but I really want to get this right. I can't seem to get it right with the Canon, my skin tones are very pale and washed out.
Yes they could have been a lot better but I like the skin tones, in the close-ups.
The following are shots with the P&S kodak z612:
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
Again, I'm not saying these are good, I'm saying I like them, but here are some examples of me using the Canon, to me they are washed out, no definition, especially the one of my son on the rock and by the tree:
Shots using Canon T1i:
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/…
What am I doing wrong ( I know,everything,right?)
I have purchased a polarizer and a uv filter, should I use them with all the shots I intend to take on the beach? Should I remove it if it is dusk? Should I use it at all? What setting should I use, P?
The guy at Wolf Camera told me to basically not even think about switching lenses at the beach. Should I plan on just taking the EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and not the 70-300? I know there is no failproof method, but I hate to miss great shots, they almost always look great on the viewfinder until you see them on the computer.
Is there any advice that you can give me? I appreciate any and all responses. :) Constructive or Destructive :P | You are asking a lot of different questions here.
I will try to address some of the easy ones first and then tackle the exposure problem.
I would recommend that you put the UV filter on whichever lens you expect to be using and leave it there ESPECIALLY AT THE BEACH! It will remove a small amount (but not much) of the light that is making your pictures washed out. More importantly it will act as a dust and grit barrier to help protect your valuable camera lens from being scratched or damaged by sand getting inside of it. In fact, I would get either a UV or 1A filter to leave on each of your lens. It serves as a "clear cap" so you don't have to keep taking the regular lens cap off and putting it back on. I have many lenses (about 25 at last count and nearly all but the ones I use for studio work have their own protective filter. It is cheap "insurance".
I would not use the polarizing filter at this time except for a few test shots to get the feel of what it can do. It is a good investment but this type of filter has different effects depending on the type and angles of light and the subject matter. I will try to find a link that explains how it works.
To fix your exposure problems you will need to do less "chimping" (looking at the pictures you have just taken to judge their quality). Camera display screens are notoriously unreliable tools for judging picture quality, especially when viewed in bright light.
To get good exposures in bright sun on the beach you may need to take the camera out of Full Auto or Program mode. I would suggest setting it to Aperture Priority (Av) mode on the mode dial; adjust the ISO setting (light sensitivity) as low as you can, ISO 100 on your camera, see page 60 of the manual; then set the aperture to about F8.0 or F11 by turning the adjustment dial (see paragraph 2 on page 78).
Then you will need to learn one or more of the following (in order of increasing complexity) -
a) How to set and use the exposure compensation feature on your camera. See page 84 of the manual. This a setting that is changed by pressing the little button with the +/- near the top right of the display screen and then rotating the adjustment dial. Because your pictures are too bright you want to turn the dial to get a lower (negative) setting. You will have to try various settings to see how this feature works for you, make small changes until you find a setting that works for the specific lighting and circumstances. Keep in mind that pictures that appear too dark or light on the camera display may look much better when viewed on a computer screen. And remember to undo/reset the adjustment when you go to a different lighting condition.
b) How to set and use the exposure bracketing feature on your camera. See page 86 of your manual. This method gets the camera to make a series of pictures in rapid succession using slightly different exposure settings for each image. It will make darker and lighter exposures so you will have 3 different images to select from. This can be combined with the exposure compensation feature mentioned above.
c) Learn how to take and process pictures in RAW mode. See page 71 of the manual. This is a significantly more complex procedure that requires adjusting the images captured by the camera AFTER it is transferred to a computer. Read the section on page 71-72 to get a basic idea of what this means. You will need to learn a good deal about this type of processing to benefit from it. I would not recommend trying this on a vacation/holiday without time to practice before hand.
HTH. Good luck. Have a nice vacation...
Email me if you need more assistance. | Can you name this family? Parents- dad 44 mom 40
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1…
18 year old twins
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1…
16 year old daughter
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1…
14 year old son
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1…
11 year old son
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-5…
8 year old twins
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1…
4 year old adopted triplets
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2…
1 year old son
www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-8… | Dad= Mark... optional middle name= William
Mom= Natalie... optional middle name= Paige
18 y Twins= Ivy and Mackenzie... optional middle names= Rachel and Sophie
16 y daughter= Sydney... optional middle name= Taylor
14 y son= Marcus... optional middle name= Nathan
11 y son= Mason... optional middle name= Connor
8 y twins= Stephanie and Trevor... optional middle names= Amanda and Spencer
4y triplets= Janna, Jessica, Jordan... optional middle names= Caitlin, Courtney, Christina
1 y son= Malcolm... optional middle name= Jeremy
family name= Fowler
Haha this was fun!! :D |
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