Raw fts

[drummereef]

Here's my first decent RAW FTS I've taken since I bought my Canon XSi. Go easy on me. :lol:


Canon XSi (450d)
Shutter Priority
1/400 sec
F/3.5
ISO-400
+2 Step Exp Comp

I still had to do quite a bit of post color adjustment, brightening, and sharpening but it's getting there...


http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa113/drummereef/180g%20Reef%20Tank/FTS39-7-2010.jpg

[klepto]

Nicely done Brett. Exposure, focus and wb all look solid to me!

[Dino]

What program did you use? Did you ever get your troubles with DPP figured out?

You're already ahead of many; your frame is close to level, your sand and rocks aren't glowing, and your fish aren't blurs. :lol:

Once you get started with RAW I think you'll wonder why you shot in JPEG for so long. Even if you're just going to take a photo right off the camera and convert it to JPEG you can simply do a batch process in your RAW editor of your choice and you have the RAW file to fall back on if you want to do more extensive editing to it some time in the future. :D

[Brett9917]

I am definitely impressed with your shutter speed! And that's with +2 EV?

Also +1 to everything Dino said... good shot man.

Good name you got there too! ;)

[drummereef]

Nicely done Brett. Exposure, focus and wb all look solid to me!

Thank you! :)


What program did you use? Did you ever get your troubles with DPP figured out?

You're already ahead of many; your frame is close to level, your sand and rocks aren't glowing, and your fish aren't blurs. :lol:

Once you get started with RAW I think you'll wonder why you shot in JPEG for so long. Even if you're just going to take a photo right off the camera and convert it to JPEG you can simply do a batch process in your RAW editor of your choice and you have the RAW file to fall back on if you want to do more extensive editing to it some time in the future. :D

I never could get DPP to process accurately. I researched more online and found other people had the same issues - lack of focus, bad color rendering, etc all after the batch. Strange indeed... So, this was done with Lightroom. I can say Lightroom blows away DPP. Much more detailed and way more control. Much bigger learning curve though... :)


I am definitely impressed with your shutter speed! And that's with +2 EV?

Also +1 to everything Dino said... good shot man.

Good name you got there too! ;)


Yeah, shutter is 1/400 on this one. I always have to do +2 Exp Comp on the camera so it captures brighter with that shutter speed. Still came out kind of dark so I had to adjust exposure and brighten up the pic a bit more. I had the pumps on when I took this so I was trying to reduce bubble noise but still capture the fish swimming. I'm finding it difficult to keep the shutter speed down without over exposing the sand. Like I said before, I definitely had to do quite a bit of stuff in Lightroom to bring back the color and brighten in up. Thanks for the kind word Brett. And yes we have the best name. :D

[drummereef]

I know every situation is different but what's a good starting point for shutter speed, aperture, and exposure for FTS?

[Dino]

I never could get DPP to process accurately. I researched more online and found other people had the same issues - lack of focus, bad color rendering, etc all after the batch. Strange indeed... So, this was done with Lightroom. I can say Lightroom blows away DPP. Much more detailed and way more control. Much bigger learning curve though...

Now you're going to have to fork over the $300 in a month :lol:. That is the difference between a "free" program though and a $300 one. Lightroom is worth price alone though for the simple management of photo libraries if you got thousands of photos.

Watch some of the tutorial videos on Adobe's site. Also this site can be helpful if you haven't found it yet - http://lightroomkillertips.com/ . Its the site for the same guy that does the tutorials on Adobe. Lightroom is a bit like photoshop (or GIMP), you can use it for years and still find new things you never knew about :D.

[drummereef]

Haha this is very true Cody. :D I have some friend that work at the university so maybe they have a hookup. Shhhh don't tell. Thanks for the link, looks awesome!

[Rhizo]

Looks solid, good start

[drummereef]

Looks solid, good start


Thank you Rhizo. :)

[Hookup]

Brett9917 et al;
The following helped me understand digital strengths just a bit more, and gives a good practice for exposure in digital.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

[BlueCorn]

That's a good article but don't get too hung up on the expose to the right thing. Cameras can only capture a portion of the range we see so usually the problem is fitting the scene into the cameras range. If you've got wiggle room, then by all means try to expose to the right.