Photos from the S6000fd

[Spinning]

This is my daughter. She is 11. She just had to move up to a Jr. Level this year.

[sveenbaa]

I was sitting in park, waiting for an appointment, and I took a few shots of pigeons. I like these naughty boys.

They always like water ;-)
Taken with my S6500fd in Sienna, Italy.

[levicki]

Actually I love the storms. Most people head for the basement when these roll in but the wife and I just head out with the cameras as soon as the alarm goes off for our county.

I would advise you to be cautious. Thunder likes to bounce on the metal parts you might have on yourself so holding a camera in a thunderstorm is not a very good idea. Last accident I heard was about a guy with an iPod who got struck so bad that he got both eardrums pierced, wishbone shaped burns on the chest and broken jaw in 4 places.

This is a HDR merge of two photos taken tonight with tripod:


One had burnt highlights and then I took another one intentionaly underexposed. I like how it turned out. The only problem is that with an exposure this long you start to notice dead pixels and I was lazy to remove those.

[levicki]

we were also shooting some pool tonight (I lost):

[levicki]

Another shot of the St. Marko orthodox Church in Belgrade:

[BorisZX6R]

Hello everyone,
another proud owner of the S6000fd.
I am yet to take some pictures that are worthy of posting on the forum.
I do have a question for LEVICKI and COZMO.

Your photos come out soooo SHARP, and it is a pleasure looking at them, but everything I shoot has either a sharpness issue or some compression artifacts.

Are you guys always shooting RAW?! Or do you also use the 6MP Fine JPEG ???
If it is not too much trouble for you, could you please post your steps like how to get a usable jpeg image at the end of the day.
Also do you post process each and every photo, and what are the usual adjustments you make before posting your photo on the forum?

Thank you!

[tralexan]

Hello everyone,

Your photos come out soooo SHARP, and it is a pleasure looking at them, but everything I shoot has either
a sharpness issue or some compression artifacts.

Are you guys always shooting RAW?! Or do you also use the 6MP Fine JPEG ???
If it is not too much trouble for you, could you please post your steps like how
to get a usable jpeg image at the end of the day.

Along this same line, I would ask that everyone look way back on page 1 at the first posting in this thread.
P_Schneider (Paul), who started this whole thing left (and always leaves) the basic camera setup information
with his submitted photos.

I am new to the s6000fd and to photography as a whole. And, while I enjoy seeing what other folks have done,
it would be very helpful to know ISO, F_setting, the "dial setting" (aperture variable, shutter variable, manual, etc),
lens filter used, as well as any post processing steps used as mentioned in the above quote.

That type of information transforms the thread from a quick trip through a gallery into a valuable learning experience.

thanks
--rick

BTW - I do use Opanda for viewing EXIF information. But more often than not, that info is stripped either
during post processing saves, or when saved after reduction for posting.

[levicki]

Are you guys always shooting RAW?! Or do you also use the 6MP Fine JPEG ???

I use JPEG 6MP Fine most of the time although those last photos of the church and pool were taken as RAW.

If it is not too much trouble for you, could you please post your steps like how to get a usable jpeg image at the end of the day.

My everyday in-camera settings are:

1. Photometry -> Average (I use other modes too but this one most often)
2. AF Mode -> Area (allows you to move the focus point if needed by holding the ">o<" key on the left side of the camera and using cursor keys)
3. Sharpness -> Soft
4. ISO -> 100 whenever I can (but never more than 400 when shooting JPEG)

I already explained why setting in-camera sharpness to Soft is important but I will repeat:

By additional sharpening you are bringing out more detail. More detail when compressed to fixed quality JPEG (the way the camera does it) gives more compression artifacts.

So, it is always better to perform any sharpening in post-processing if needed.

Using more than ISO 400 brings in more noise than that fixed JPEG compression ratio can handle, and you also get too much compression artifacts. That is why it is preferred to use RAW for ISO 800 and above.

Also do you post process each and every photo, and what are the usual adjustments you make before posting your photo on the forum?

I mostly import photos (even JPEG) into Photoshop using Adobe Camera RAW where I attempt to correct any blown highlights or underexposure and white balance if needed. I import into 16-bit RGB mode.

Depending on the amount of noise I use Neat Image to filter the noise out using its default settings which seem to be chosen reasonably.

Then I either:

1. Resize to 1600x1200 and use the simplest Sharpen filter afterwards

or:

2. Use Unsharp Mask with radius 0.5px and 500% and then resize to 1600x1200

Which one I chose depends on the perceived sharpness of the photo and on the amount of noise still present in it.

Finally I save it using Save for Web with "JPEG Very High" quality preset.

it would be very helpful to know ISO, F_setting, the "dial setting" (aperture variable, shutter variable, manual, etc), lens filter used, as well as any post processing steps used as mentioned in the above quote.

Of all the things you are mentioning, only lens filter used and post-processing steps could be usefull to know.

Let me try to explain my reasoning:

F number doesn't make any sense because you would also need to know the subject distance and focal length. Without knowing whether I took the photo from 2m or 20m distance from the subject and whether I used wide or tele, the F number is irrelevant. Furthermore, you can often judge it for yourself based on the Depth Of Field effect. If the picture has shallow DOF then F number was low and vice versa.

In much the same way, shutter speed and apperture combination do not make any sense if you don't have exactly the same lighting conditions including the color of the light, color of the subject and reflectivity of its surface.

Most of us use the UV filter all the time, so there is no need to repeat that fact in every single post. On the other hand, when we use other filters such as Circular Polarizer we always state that explicitly.

Most of the info you are asking for was already posted earlier. For example I already said that I mostly use Program mode for shooting.

In my opinion, it would be better to ask for info about some specific photo when you need it, instead of requiring everyone else to post info for each and every photo including those which are not special in any way.

[levicki]

RAW, ISO 1600, 1/40s F4.9, full tele, no tripod, neatimage+resize+sharpen:

[White_dove]

Okay, here are some first images from my new s6000fd.
I don't have the settings unfortunately - and all I think I did PP was color correct a bit (I'm a beginner at using curves), and removed a blemish or two off one of the macros.
Apparently I have a few things to learn about blown highlights, but that's what this board is for right?
Hm, I'm also not sure whether I saved them for the web correctly.
Live and learn.