Thanks everyone. Interestingly the responses seem to come in various categories of things that I already know intellectually.
1) Noise is better than blur. It's better to push the ISO and get the shutter speed and aperture you need. Note that I was primarily thinking in terms of lighting where I don't need to push the ISO quite so hard. Photographing something other than people moving in a dimly lit room. 2) Stabilize the camera. I'm amused by the suggestions to use a monopod, because I went through this last Thursday with my friend Marco at a dance. I kept telling him that he didn't need such a fast shutter speed (especially since is u4/3 camera is seriously ISO limited), he needed to use a monopod. I twisted his arm until he tried mine out for part of the night, and at the end he sheepishly admitted that I was right, the monopod made a huge difference. Many people operate in the default of hand holding the camera unless they need a tripod, others operate in the default of a tripod unless they have to hand hold it. Rather than having a default, I expect that the correct solution is to know when which platform is the best. What guidelines do you use? I currently have three heads with the "ubiquitous manfrotto mount". A 486RC2 ball head A 352RC ball head A 804RC2 three axis head I'm using a Manfrotto 3443 Carbon one 441 base The above setup seems to work pretty well, until I throw the bigma or suchlike on, in which case, using the metric of "does it change position when you let go?" at least the three axis head sags. What would it take to substantially improve what I have for a tripod head? Would I be able to do so and stay with the same ubiquitous mount that already works with the several heads I now have? Just as I was finishing up the above, I got a couple more excellent replies from Bruce and Collin.... Begin forwarded message: > From: Bruce Walker <[email protected]> > Date: May 30, 2012 4:42:59 PM PDT > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Improving the technical quality of my photography > Reply-To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > > Sharpness: easy one. When it matters: > - use low ISO (no higher than 200) Good to know. I try to go for 80 when I can (it seems to give more DR than 100 based on DxO), but often push it as far as 640. > - light your subject well (exposure!) > - use the center focus point on something lit and detailed The topic of how to focus is another interesting one. In my experience, if the autofocus focuses on the right thing, it will do better than manual. For manual focus, it seems as if I get the best results using Live View. > - focus on eyes in portraits (use manual focus-point setting) > - use higher shutter speeds (125th and up) I suspect this also depends a bit on the focal length. What about using strobes? Either studio or speedlight? Are they fast enough that a tripod doesn't give much/any advantage? > - use tripod, monopod, or lean against something solid In what cases do image stabilization help or hurt? I've read lots of discussion one way or another about using it on a tripod. I suspect that it mostly matters how well damped the tripod is. > - don't breath while pressing shutter > - use pro glass (eg DA*) My three most common lenses to use are DA* 16-50, FA31 and FA77 followed by DA40ltd and DA50/2.8 macro or Tamron 90/2.8 macro (thanks Sasha, I dread the day you ask for it back), Sigma 20/1.8 and 18-250. Obviously my 18-250 isn't the sharpest lens in my bag. > - keep your glass clean How to clean it? Lens pen? > - avoid using filters (like UV); *especially* cheap ones I have been avoiding them, though there now seems to be a slight scratch at the edge of the front element of my 16-50. > - set aperture in sweet range for lens (eg not wide open) Two stops? Set program for MTF priority and see what it says? Research it for each lens and note it's sweet spot? > - use mirror lockup when you can > - use timed shutter or remote release when you can > - use input and output sharpening passes in post-processing I'm not familiar with these details. > - avoid too much noise-reduction > - shoot RAW I always do. > > Do *all* of the above together for max sharpness. > > On exposure: not sure what to say to you here. You need to be mindful > of how well your matrix metering works so you know when you need to > compensate; when you need to switch to spot metering; when you should > use a light meter. You've been doing the difficult boundary cases so > long this should be like shooting fish in a barrel for you by now. It should be. I always check the histogram and blinkies. > > What other "poor technical quality" did you have in mind? Eg: poor > contrast / too much contrast? Over / under saturated? Nothing in particular. I'm as much trying to learn what I need to learn. > > For most stuff like that, I recommend looking at a lot of images, then > keeping what you have seen in mind when post-processing. I spend more > time looking at other people's work than I do at my own. I seek out > work that's like what I want to do and spend quality time *really* > appreciating it. > > > I think that what did the most for the technical quality of my own > work was to get the gear to the point where it was all evenly matched > -- ie no weak links -- then forgetting about technical quality and > concentrating on subject matter, composition, light, intent, vision, > ... I can always find gear to spend money on. With the possible exception of spending $1,000 on a tripod and a head, I probably can't improve my gear much and still be shooting with Pentax. > From: "Collin Brendemuehl" <[email protected]> > Date: May 30, 2012 5:04:50 PM PDT > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Improving the technical quality of my photography > Reply-To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> > > By "technical quality" it seems that you mean "resolution" and that seems > unfortunate. Nope. I mean everything that goes into a good photograph except artistic merit. The things that could, at least in theory, be measured. > At this point I am going to attack one of digital's best and worst > characteristics: Speed. > > Here are my suggestions for making better images: > 1. Get rid of any mediocre lenses you have and only get good ones. A few > good is better than a lot of junk. > 1.1 It's hard to do a good job with poor tools. Every one of my lenses has a specific purpose, and specific use cases. There is probably a better equivalent to the 20/1.8, and the bigma, but not within my budget. > > 2. Never shoot a pic in less than 15 seconds -- unless it is a potential > Pulitzer winner that cannot be passed up. Good point. > 2.1 Compose, compose, compose. > 2.2 Control light. Add fill flash. Subtract light with black panels. > Fill shadows with reflectors. Good point. I do a lot of my photography with the light that is there. > 2.3 You determine picture quality. Not the camera. Not the lens. > > When you were shooting film you worried about bad frames and their > associated expense. > You took your time and tried to get the right shot. Stick with that > principle. > Remember that today's speed of digital is a tool, not a solution. > Improper use of even the best tool will drop quality. > > Get a medium format to serve as a learning discipline reinforcer. > RB67 outfits can be had today for <$200. > There was just listed an ETRS on APUG for $160 shipped. ETRS? > Something like these will give you the necessary slow-down for improve > composition. Heh! I've got plenty of film bodies, in Pentax, Minolta and Nikon mounts, not to mention my argus or my Rollei, which doesn't seem all that sharp, but almost certainly needs a CLA. Oh, and Frank, I do tend to bracket shots with tricky exposure. If for no other reason than that I may want to HDR it later on at some point. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
