My first pictures with the XTi, or any DSLR

[crashgirl]

I took my first pictures today with the Rebel XTi (all of them of my favorite subject). I will be the first to admit that I have a lot to learn... so I would like some input on how to improve.

Also, they don't seem as crisp when I make them smaller in order to post them. Do you use a specific software to make the images smaller?

[Rhys]

Nice photos. You might want to try using 100 ISO instead of 400 because as you go up the ISO range, the colour gets a bit greyer.

Regarding resizing - strange things can happen - my pet peeve is straight, diagonal lines gaining jaggies. It really depends what formula is used by the software for resizing. Adobe is pretty good (but expensive) for most photo applications.

[crashgirl]

[QUOTE=Rhys;177577]Nice photos. You might want to try using 100 ISO instead of 400 because as you go up the ISO range, the colour gets a bit greyer.
QUOTE]


Thanks, I will definitely try that. I was a little disappointed with the color. Even though it was a "grey" day outside today, I wasn't overly impressed with the color. But, I love with the fact that there is no shutter lag compared to my point and shoot. Thanks for your constructive help!

[adam75south]

seems like the white balance might be a little off on a couple of them(a little on the cool side). does the xti do custom white balance?

try shooting in raw and editing with digital photo professional(should've came with the camera), change the white balance modes to see if you can get the color the way you want it.

[Nickcanada]

Adam had some great sugestions, I find sometimes uping the saturation a little can make a big difference. Also try playing with your flash outside to illuminate your subject's face. If you use Av mode (or any of the creative modes) than the flash will ajust it's self to fill in the subject and not the entire scene. For more info on that read your manual and play around with it. I think one of the best things you can buy for your camera is a good flash that you can bounce, it makes all the difference in the world.

[Rontech1]

Crashgirl,
Good for you on the new camera. Already using it and posting pics. Great!
On my XTi I upped the Ev by 1/3 stop and it sems to be more pleasing to me overall on all pics. I also shoot raw+jpg (it will eat up a mem card fast though!) just so I have the flexibilty to modify in Digital Photo pro (that came with the camera) the pic more easily if it does not come out the way I intended. Lot of power built into that program.
There are a lot of in camera settings you can change but it is easier to learn what they all do by shooting in raw and processing in DPP.
Hope this helps some,
Ron

[cwphoto]

Good to see some fresh work from someone new rather than the usual clowns (myself included).

Welcome to a potentially expensive but very rewarding hobby.

PS. Your daughter is very cute too.

[cwphoto]

What Picture Style are you using?

I would suggest using Standard if you wish to mimic the sort of "look" you get from a P&S camera. Eventually for shooting people I think Neutral with +3 Sharpening is a good place to be - works for me anyway for what it's worth. :)

[aparmley]

Nice photos for the first time out - Number 3 is fantastic!

One thing you need to understand with DSLR images, even JPEGs, is they need a little Post Processing (PP) work - A little TLC if you will. . . There is lots to learn in this area.

For a beginner like yourself I think Photoshop Elements 5.0 + any of Scott Kelby's books accompanied by Bryan Petersons "Understanding Exposure" is a great place to start. This is only my opinion but I highly recommend that road to start with.

Enjoy!

[forno]

What Picture Style are you using?

Eventually for shooting people I think Neutral with +3 Sharpening is a good place to be - works for me anyway for what it's worth. :)


Locked in the vault:D

[zmikers]

The B&W photo is excellent. Like that one. I also agree that using your flash outdoors, especially on grey days, can make a great improvement. The beauty of photo pro. is that you can play around for hours and still come back to your original photo if you're not happy. Just experiment and play around with what ever software your using, it will make the world of difference. Keep it up and most of all have fun.......:)

[noyjimi]

Cool shots (literally? hehe), pretty subject. On my monitor, a few look a lil underexposed -- hey how bout some flash next time? Let's get some catchlight into those pretty eyes. Happy shooting.

[24Peter]

Nice photos of a very cute subject. :)

I wouldn't do anything different except (as has already been astutely mentioned several times) add some flash. It can make a huge difference esp. on cloudy days. You can use the built in flash in most situations and get great results. (Use Av mode). The only caveat is, the built in flash won't let you shoot at shutter speeds higher than 1/200th so it's not really helpful on sunny days. A 220EX or 430EX would work for you then. And personally I wouldn't bother with shooting RAW right now. Learn your camera and how to do some basic photo editing on .jpegs in the computer first.

[aparmley]

Nice photos of a very cute subject. :)

I wouldn't do anything different except (as has already been astutely mentioned several times) add some flash. It can make a huge difference esp. on cloudy days. You can use the built in flash in most situations and get great results. (Use Av mode). The only caveat is, the built in flash won't let you shoot at shutter speeds higher than 1/200th so it's not really helpful on sunny days. A 220EX or 430EX would work for you then. And personally I wouldn't bother with shooting RAW right now. Learn your camera and how to do some basic photo editing on .jpegs in the computer first.


I have an opinion and some real world reasons why I'd like to say shoot RAW from Day one!

I respectfully disagree with Peter simply because I didn't discover how easy it was to get accurate WB shooting RAW for a long time, until I picked up a whiBal. I'm not saying you need to buy a WhiBal, I'm saying, if I could go back and simply just fix the WB in a lot of my images I took over a year ago when I first began I'd be extremely happy.

Sure, there are ways to edit a jpeg to help the WB out but nothing as easy as one click and your done - or better yet, one click copy and paste and you've just fixed 100s of photos. Better yet, if I had the RAW files and just didn't have a solid WB reading to go off of, I could return to that location and take a WhiBal shot tomorrow and get correct WB info to fix my photos I took years ago (given the lighting is fixed and has not changed) - but that is a specific example. just being able to say, yea WB temp of 2800 seems perfect for that venue, copy paste and bam all my images from that day have accurate WB.

Thats enough for me to say shoot RAW right away. No pressure - just hindsight is 20/20 and my hindsight wishes I shot RAW right away and constantly, I have a folder or two (I separate my images by dated folders) that I used RAW and was able to rescue, if you will, with all the knowledge and skills I learned over the past 18 months that I didn't have back when I took those images. So, for me, it was great to have those too few RAW images, Digital Negatives if you will, there and available for applying my knew skills.

Just my .02

[cwphoto]

I agree 100% Andy.

[24Peter]

I agree 100% Andy.

There you go ganging up on me again... :(

[adam75south]

I have an opinion and some real world reasons why I'd like to say shoot RAW from Day one!

I respectfully disagree with Peter simply because I didn't discover how easy it was to get accurate WB shooting RAW for a long time, until I picked up a whiBal. I'm not saying you need to buy a WhiBal, I'm saying, if I could go back and simply just fix the WB in a lot of my images I took over a year ago when I first began I'd be extremely happy.

Sure, there are ways to edit a jpeg to help the WB out but nothing as easy as one click and your done - or better yet, one click copy and paste and you've just fixed 100s of photos. Better yet, if I had the RAW files and just didn't have a solid WB reading to go off of, I could return to that location and take a WhiBal shot tomorrow and get correct WB info to fix my photos I took years ago (given the lighting is fixed and has not changed) - but that is a specific example. just being able to say, yea WB temp of 2800 seems perfect for that venue, copy paste and bam all my images from that day have accurate WB.

Thats enough for me to say shoot RAW right away. No pressure - just hindsight is 20/20 and my hindsight wishes I shot RAW right away and constantly, I have a folder or two (I separate my images by dated folders) that I used RAW and was able to rescue, if you will, with all the knowledge and skills I learned over the past 18 months that I didn't have back when I took those images. So, for me, it was great to have those too few RAW images, Digital Negatives if you will, there and available for applying my knew skills.

Just my .02

i'm sold. 10 characters

[cdifoto]

RAW here too. It's really not complex to learn right off the bat. It's actually easier than screwing with JPEGS. Even if all you need it for is white balance, RAW doesn't add much to the workflow. If anything it lessens the work if you aren't into heavy editing, since you can just fix the little things you fuggled up then convert, sharpen, and be done.

[aparmley]

However, I was driving this morning and I remembered something. I do believe Adobe Lightroom's WB eye dropper tool will fix WB issues with JPEGs just the same as any other application, including LR, would handle WB issues with RAW images, one click and your done. I will confirm that later this evening, if someone doesn't do so before then. . .

Pete, I dusted off the old "gang up on pete bandwagon" and restored her to her old glory! LMAO - just kidding - no hard feelings - There are plenty of professionals that shot straight JPEG - I guess really its more about what works for your purposes. You're work alone is enough to convince people that RAW isn't required

Just to reiterate, for crashgirls benefit, after I learned all about RAW images and then how to process them, my RAW workflow compared to my JPEG workflow was cut in half - The little tweaks I do to my images regularily are faster to do when working with RAW.

[crashgirl]

I would suggest using Standard if you wish to mimic the sort of "look" you get from a P&S camera. Eventually for shooting people I think Neutral with +3 Sharpening is a good place to be - works for me anyway for what it's worth. :)

I don't necessarily want to mimic the style of a P&S.. but maybe my photos look like that because that is what I am used to? LOL.


Thanks again everyone for the info and advice. Some of the terminology you use sounds like a foreign language to me, but I am learning. All of your tips have been helpful and I can't wait to try them out!

[aparmley]

I don't necessarily want to mimic the style of a P&S.. but maybe my photos look like that because that is what I am used to? LOL.


It really is one of those "Common" complaints from people moving to DSLRs from PnSs - PnSs apply very aggressive in camera saturation and sharpening algorithyms.

[crashgirl]

It really is one of those "Common" complaints from people moving to DSLRs from PnSs - PnSs apply very aggressive in camera saturation and sharpening algorithyms.

Ah, I see. And, I did think that the XTi was awesome for speed and I was impressed with the sharpness. But, I wasn't as impressed with the color... until I found out that most bump up the saturation.

[adam75south]

eh, if the sun was out, you probably wouldn't have needed to add saturation at all. i hardly ever add saturation.