luenny's zoo excursion!!

[wasabi8888]

Hi Jeffrey, just wondering, how do you use histogram?

Robert

Depending on what type of DSLR you use, there will be an option to view the histogram.

Basically it will be ideal if the graph falls in between the 2 ends. If the graph tends to more on the right side, the pic will have too much highlights, if the graph tends to more on the left side, there will be more shadows. depending on what you shoot, a normal lit picture will have a nice histogram spread from 'off-left' to 'off-right'. In the pic, below, the pic is alittle bit too bright due to the white poster on the right side.

Experts, please correct me if my explanation is wrong.

http://a.img-dpreview.com/previews/N...1444200-01.jpg

[luenny]

well, if the sun (light) is not working your way, sometimes it's hard to take good pictures.
I like the rhino pics, it's really nice...

I also like pic 1, esp the composition. Prob need to get either the metering right or for the light to fall at the right place.

I use histograms in times like this, where the sun is too bright for me to view with the LCD.

My 2 cents worth...

Actually pic 1 was selected to get the sun behind the subject to have the glow effect (i.e. the edge of the subject seems like glowing). I think the missing part is the fill in flash. Next time, I'll try with fill in flash and see how they like it. Good part is, I'm part of friends of the zoo so I can go as often as I like.

[Shadow]

o.. interesting, so that the purpose of histogram

[luenny]

Ok, 2 more photos I dug out from the zoo trip. I really need to sit down and catalogue my photos instead of just dumping them to the PC.

Some bees I found while walking along the zoo.

[StanChung]

Lovely macros. A bit 'burnt' on the whites but I'm sure that's just the compression.

[luenny]

I keep getting this problem with white flowers. Could it be because I set the setting to extra vivid? Or is it just simply overexposed?

[trident]

the bee is nice and sharp but the petals,
gotta wear sunglasses to look at them.

[wasabi8888]

Nice stuff, Luenny.. thought you said the rest of your pics are bad....

I would take the shot closer, because the flower is so big compared to the bee (and it's too bright). Taking the pic closer will allow the the bees to be the main focal point.

[StanChung]

I think extra vivid raises the saturation. Try lower contrast settings for a more NATGEO look. Gotta check my own camera. It's slightly off on the reds, makes it more orange than I see it. [perhaps it's my eyes!]

[luenny]

Hahaha ... you are funny Richard.

Anyway, yeah the petals are way off. I think I'll set it back to normal because I just read that when you up the vivid settings, D200 actually up the contrast too. Darn!

Jeffrey, actually I cheated on those shots. I crop them so that they look this way. The bees are just so fast - and me too tired - that the shots turn out that the bee is actually a small speck in the center (that's why I say they're bad). So I crop them to look like this. I wanted to take closer shot but every time it landed, I only manage to take 1 shot from afar before it flies of again. Darn! I know to some people cropping and PP is absolutely ok but to me, if I have to PP a photo a lot for it to look nice, it gives me no satisfaction. I prefer to do only leveling and curves adjustments for my photos. Well, as you can see, I still haven't reach that stage yet.

[luenny]

Just for your reference, this is one of my original photos without any PP or cropping. This is how big the bee looks like without cropping or PP. Darn! Still not up to standard yet.



See those dust spots there? Never clean the lens.

And this is how I would crop it.

[wasabi8888]

wa lau.. go clean the lens...

I still think the pics turn out ok.. Don't worry.. i am new too... but I think I am improving so that makes me happy...