Cs5 Users and Nature Photographers?

clowns101 · Jun 13, 2011

Anyone got advice that uses Cs5 and does Nature Photography for the following pictures?

(this is only 30 min or so from my front door)

Any advice on how to make my pics better?Any filters that I could buy to help the color of the sun without having to photoshop as much as I did?

And what is causing the pics to come out kinda blurry or have a blurry "mask" over them?Is there a filter I can buy to help clear that up?I did use a tripod on these aswell!

Thanks!

revhtree · Jun 13, 2011

Is your house really cool and then you go out with your camera and it real warm? This will cause a foggy look till the camera/lens warms up.

clowns101 · Jun 13, 2011

revhtree said:
Is your house really cool and then you go out with your camera and it real warm? This will cause a foggy look till the camera/lens warms up.

Ya,my house rus around 68-70 and when I took the pics,the temp was around 85-90 that day.

jlt23 · Jun 13, 2011

People generally use graduated reverse neutral density filters to shoot pictures of the sunsets/sunrises to properly expose the other areas in the photos.

Are you using a remote shutter release when using the tripod? Sometimes even if you are using a tripod the push of the button actually is enough to blur the photo if you have a long exposure.

I'm a beginner photographer and this is what I've read. I have been doing research and slowly collecting gear.

clowns101 · Jun 13, 2011

I wasnt using long exsposers on these pictures,IIRC,they were all taken around 1/40-1/60 zone,so I didnt use a shutter remote for these.

When I was in photoshop,I had used the graduated filter on these to help get the right color in the right places!lol...I need to pick up the TRUE filters for extra measure,where is best place to get them?B&H?

returnofsid · Jun 13, 2011

The photo of the water is the only one that appears to be overly out of focus. Your shutter speed, on that particular photo, was 1/40, which is a bit slow, for hand holding, though you mention using a tripod. Did you manually press the shutter button? That may have caused enough "camera shake" to account for the focus being off. Also, are you focusing manually, or using Auto Focus? It could be, with that particular photo, that the camera was having a difficult time picking a focus point. Depending on where you were focusing, there may not have been enough "contrast," for the camera to attain a locked focus, on a specific spot, especially if it was trying to focus on the water. If you were manually focusing, I think you just got the focus off.

Try adjusting your diopter. The diopter is the view finder and focus adjustments are available, by a lil' wheel that sits to the upper right of the diopter, probably behind the rubber diopter cushion. It could be that you're seeing in focus, but the camera isn't. Use a tripod, focus on something in the distance, with a very clear and contrasting character. Use a center point focus option and allow the camera to attain Auto Focus. Now, look through the diopter and adjust it, until it's out of focus and then bring it back into clear focus. Make sure that the camera is in focus, on the same object that the diopter is in focus on. Now do the same thing, on something close by, with very crisp, defined lines, such as a stop sign. Disclaimer, when focusing and shooting pics of a stop sign, GET OUT OF THE CAR! lol

clowns101 · Jun 13, 2011

As I had stated above,I had used my hand to push the shutter,I generally dont use the remote till Im down to 25ish.But,yes,I did use a tripod,so that did help!I tried to be as gental as possible on it aswell!The shutter is actully pretty fragile,so I didnt think about a remote,but the more I think about it,the better it would have been to use the remote!

I was manually focusing,the reason for that is when I had the camera on AUTO,it was focusing on the rocks,instead of the falls.It was probably more error on my part since I was lying on the ground to get the shot now that I think about it!LOL

I didnt think about using the Diopter!lol...I should have tried that,it did look clear to me,but maybe not the camera,even though its smarter than me sometimes :neutral:

jlt23 · Jun 13, 2011

I bought the Lee filter system and bought it from B&H. I buy 95% of my photo stuff from them. Not that others are bad, but I started with them and haven't had a reason to go else where. If you go Lee, good luck finding their products. They are always out of stock.

m and m · Jun 13, 2011

Ima help you out a little. Ever think of using the timer built in to the cam? Press it it waits the 5-10 secs and then its taken. No button press movement.