A couple of guys have mentioned bracketing. I can relate this experience. A few years ago I took a class on composition. The instructor required every shot be a 3-shot bracketed set, 1-stop apart. She told us up front that this had nothing to do with composition, but that the most sophisticated metering system is never going to be perfect. For the duration of the class I learned as much about my camera's metering system and exposure as I learned about composition.
Later, I watched "A day with Jay Maisel" on Kelby Training. They made a video of Scott Kelby and Jay Maisel walking around New York. At one point Kelby asks Maisel why he's hearing multiple shutter clicks every time Maisel takes a photo. Maisel responds that he always shoots bracketed sets. He said he never knows which one he'll like best. He's been shooting for decades, living through several generations of several technologies, and he doesn't worry about a lot of stuff we seem to think is so critical. So, I guess if bracketing is good enough for Jay Maisel, it's probably good enough for me. I know, I don't use it for sports and other fast action stuff. Outside of that it's been useful more often not. gs George Sinos -------------------- [email protected] www.georgesphotos.net plus.georgesinos.com On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Bipin Gupta <[email protected]> wrote: > Larry, I note that this is a desperate plea for help and support, and > that all PDMLers must respond with sympathy. I am often in the same > situation as yours, so you are not alone. Your Problem Statement:- > 1) Sharpness, 2) Exposure, 3) Technical Quality, 4) Photo Equipment / > Upgrades / Changing Gear, 5) Poor Focus, 6) Camera Motion / Shake, 7) > Photo Situation. > Some honest Solution from a "Not so No All":- > 1) As some one said, a tripod or monopod, a table, wall or other > support. Control breathing at the time you press the shutter. Press > the shutter gently in two pushes, where the first one sets focus & > exposure, hold then the second push takes the photo. Give a chance for > shake reduction to activate. > 2) Use multiple exposure with EV variation. Play with Spot and Matrix > metering. Recognize every Lens's variation for exposure, color and > contrast and set these on your camera body. Use PP software - dark and > bright area improvement. > 3) Technical Quality is a very difficult approach. Request Expert > PDMLers for HELP. > 4) No gear produced today are bad, except for Bad Photographers. Most > DSLR and Lenses are very good, including many P&S cameras. Larry there > is no need to change gear. Just learn the idiosyncrasies of your > camera and lens, make notes and experiment with setting changes - vow > so many parameters in today's cameras. Perhaps you may consider one > good sharp "Star" lens like the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 - cheap and better > than Pentax's. > 5) Most Auto Focus system are damn good. With failing eyesight I have > given up Manual Focusing. Just remember to check for Body + Lens combo > for Back / Front Focusing and make the appropriate setting to your > DSLR body. Also wait for the Shake Reduction to Kick-in before you > take the photo. > 6) As said earlier breathing control, monopod / tripod, etc is your > best friend to prevent camera motion / shake. Larry read up the > plethora of help topics on this issue on the net. Just Google. > 7) Photo Situations are too vast a topic to be covered here. Can some > PDMLers help Larry or point us to some great site on the internet? > Regards. > Bipin - from a far away enchanting land. > > -- > 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. -- 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.
