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First Day on the Job


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11 replies to this topic

#1
Jim_TX

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This is from the first outing I made with the then (new to me) Nikon Df.

 

Obviously, I hadn't learned how to lead the action and let the autofocus lock in, but it'll do for now, because Rookie Mistake, and also, because it's a compelling eye-lock with the dancer's eyes, and if I could crop the image as I want, I'd have a bit tighter framing of her to present.

 

I did not forget my learning of Henri Cartier-Bresson and his Decisive Moment, from my photo-class days.

 

Good news?  I've found a good digital photo tutor, and now I'll be able to learn more of the Black Magic built into the camera, and maybe also come up to speed with a bit of post-processing ability.

Baby steps, folks.  I'm here wobbling along, taking baby steps.

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  • Patriotette.jpg


#2
Tony

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Jim,

 

This one darn fine effort.  Looking forward lots more.  Thanks very much sharing.

 

Tony :)



#3
Jim_TX

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Merco, Tony, thanks.

 

I'm encouraging y'all to be merciless in your "appreciations".  Back in film, I would produce negatives suitable to enlarge to the 20"x30" range, on occasion?

 

So, my shutter speed and focus lock were the screwups here.  Still learning to work with a "both" automation in the camera, as my F2a was all manual, and the FE was Aperture Priority (or manual).

 

But I did get the basic composure and Decisive Moment in the frame.

 

I'm shooting here guys, after a 20 year hiatus from the craft.  And while I'll welcome encouragement and constructive criticism, the occasional and necessary swift kick in the ass, won't be resented.

 

Right now, I am still fully versed in all the olde photographic principles.  I'm a human exposure meter for ASA 200 print film.  Blah, blah, blah.  I could still make an F2a sing songs.

 

But I don't HAVE one of those now.  I have a Df.  And I'm having to learn how to make it sit up, fetch, and obey other commands, as needed.



#4
Merco_61

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I read that you were aware of the problems already…

For exposures, just make sure that you protect the highlights. Blown highlights can never be recovered fully. Underexposure leads to noise, but this can be reduced in postprocessing without losing fine detail with the right software.

 

Why use all the bells and whistles when you can keep control over the important parameters in manual, but with AutoISO active and using the exposure compensation to override. With the D600 generation of Matrix metering in your Df, you are better off using center-weighted as Matrix will misidentify the scene occasionally. The meter is weighted more to the center  than the F2 and FE meters. The pattern is very similar to the F3 meter.

 

Remember that you have room for a slight crop. 12 clean megapixels are enough for prints on 17” paper stock, you have 16 available… 



#5
Ron

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What Peter said.

 

I have a D610 and pretty much leave it on center weighted metering. I also have an FN button set to do quick spot metering when the need arises. Shooting digital is, to me, just like shooting positive slide film. Meter for the highlights, let the shadows fall where they may. I can recover the shadows but I can't do anything with highlights that aren't there.

 

I also like to shoot manual much of the time, but I occasionally cheat and sometimes use Aperture Preferred. Because I'm lazy.

 

I take it you've set your ISO @ 200 and if that's the case, and judging from the light in your photo, your base exposure would be around f/11 (cloudy-bright)  @ 1/200th of a second. If that's the case, you have plenty of room to maneuver with both your aperture and shutter speed.

 

I really like the framing. And, the lead dancer's smile is spot on. I can see why you pushed the button when you did.

 

--Ron



#6
Jim_TX

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Ron,  Huge Thanks!

 

Because your simple comment as to treating "exposure" in the Df in the same manner as one would a direct-positive slide film.  THAT, sir, just unlocked a whole sequence of tumblers in the mental vault, bringing to the fore, memories and knowledge that I'd forgotten I'd learned, long ago.

 

I need to think "Ektachrome" when shooting, vs. "Kodak Gold 200".  And you're exactly right, that's a shooting for highlight vs/ shadow appreciation.

 

As Homer Simpson famously said:   "D'oh!"

 

Now if I can only remember if my brain was originally wired in COBAL or FORTRAN?  I know I left that stack of programming punch cards laying around here, somewhere.....


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#7
Merco_61

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Now if I can only remember if my brain was originally wired in COBAL or FORTRAN?  I know I left that stack of programming punch cards laying around here, somewhere.....

Are you sure it wasn’t wired in ADA? Very logical, very fast but also very specialized?



#8
Jim_TX

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Logic would require that my original programming was in TRS/DOS, made famous by the Tandy TRS-80 personal computer.

TrashDos, they called it.

 

I'll wear it proudly!  (at least there was no blue screen of death?)



#9
Jerry_

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The BSoD only came with Windows …

TRS/DOS was having simple, though robust commands.
At how many bytes per sector are you formatted ;) or is it only tape based?

#10
Ron

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I must be the kid on the block because my introduction to coding was through BASIC and 6502 assembler.  Actually started learning to code by typing in programs from computer magazines. 

 

--Ron



#11
Jerry_

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Hi @Ron,
We must have gone throughthe ame process ;)

Btw my first own computer was a TRS80 Model 1 with tapes and a 300 Baud modem, later I upgraded to a Model 4, but had had some ZX style (not the ZX80) computers in between.
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#12
Ron

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Haha,... yeah! :P

 

--Ron