i got my d40 just now!!so as soon as i played with it...i took a few snaps... sifu!!! pls tell me whats wrong with the pics...oh yes..first time operating dslr cam...only held it for half an hour an i cant stop snapping...


First post-30mins after i get my cam
Click here-Improved flower close-ups after advice taken
Click here-Trip to Muara Tebas
Click here, here, and here & -Lundu Pics
Click here-Regatta Sarawak 2007
Click here-Kuching City View
Click here-Abstracts and Watch
Click here-My own mini-studio
Click here-Lemanak Longhouse Day 1
Click here-Lemanak Longhouse day 2
Click here-Lemanak Longhouse day 3
Click herePhoto Series: Yunnan, China
Click hereBboy Moves
Click hereChap Goh Mei Fireworks
Click hereInter-school Tennis Competition
Click hereAbstracts: Colors & Patterns
Click herePoker 808 Card Deck
Click hereMacros: Stutong Park
Click hereLatin, Breakdance etc
Click hereDrums
Click hereThe expressions
Click hereMatang Family Park
Click herePhua Chu Kang in The Spring, Kuching







This post has been edited by orenzai: May 23 2008, 06:01 PM

hehe...find some thing more interesting...

erm.... colour not so crispy... maybe because lack of lighting?

hm...ya...i dunno how to setup the cam yet...lolz...dunno how to read the shutter speed lar...lolz...why is the aperture keep on moving up and down itself even when i set aperture priority... here is somemore:

5.


6.


7.




This post has been edited by orenzai: Aug 25 2007, 04:41 PM

it moves up and down cos ur lens is not constant aperture lens...when u zoom out it goes down when u goes in it goes up...

D40 not suitable for your lar ... should've bought at least D80 or D300-mah

i agree on that...if im u i will just wait for a little more cause D200 n D2x price is dropping...

As agree with ac98, one day the TS will hit the wall pretty soon.

me kiddo nia...where got so much money... jumping from a cam phone to d200 is a gigantic leap...haha... hit the wall means wan an upgrade is it?

ur pics....
hm....
take something more meaningful...
avoid MUGS!
luckily u didnt put any lens cap...

try something more interesting! =)

kekeke...i know its boring...was just working on the compo...trying out new cam mar...heheehe....i tomorrow shot a few close ups on my flower outside...hm... still getting use to the setting...

Actually, for a first timer, its not bad. Is that u in the picture.. taking the picture of the camera?... haha..
When I just got my dslr, I drove down to the beach ... maybe u can go like so.. just a thought..

Hey man,

Congrats in getting your D40 mate. Eh since you are from Kuching, please go stand at the waterfront and take more pictures there

Well finally you got your cam... Hope to see more pics of yours. Read loads of your comments in other threads.

haha...thats of course not me...that the guy who sold me..i am three times younger than him i see got time or not...take things around my house first...


haha...actually i only saw your thread selling the d40 this morning(sold)... stand at waterfront ar...many natives there...dangerous...haha...wait till i have the guts first...

thanks for the support... er...don expect to see good photos from me...i am damn noob..only know how to criticise but dunno how to do it myself gonna take some close-ups tommorow morning..

---

Added on August 26, 2007, 12:32 amjust to share with you my cam pics using w800...







Thanks for viewing..

This post has been edited by orenzai: Aug 26 2007, 12:32 AM

Oh, finally you got your D40! Where did you get it from?

Congratulation anyway.

It's time to put your mouth to where your fingers are since you finally have a camera.

By the way, congratulations on your purchase. Hope you won't hit the wall too early.

On your pictures, get something more interesting before testing your camera. Some of the taken ones are underexposed.

congrats on the D40

Go and look for interesting subjects man. Those pics alone wont do anything. Go out and shoot something ^^_

about time you got your own gallery here...

anyway...comment abit about your pics...lol
most of it just simply shoot only and no meaning...i know you got happy trigger right now...but at least find something that got meaning and nice la...

1. dont chop your main subject...properly compose them so the whole thing fit in the frame

2. mug, lens caps...oh my...newbie photographer main best friend...avoid all these subject if can...

3. aiyo...first the paper subject...not nice at all la, its a rubbish anyway...and second the disturben from in front is very distracting

4. no comment...chop again

5. same comment as no 1 and 4

6. nothing to say

7. nothing special...and underexpose

practice more and go outside and shoot something...d40 can do better...

thanks...got it from empress studio..friendly guy

hmm...does hit the wall mean wan an upgrade? btw... the pics are underexpose coz it was a soon-to-rain day...


ok thanks...working on the flowers now
haha... thanks for the comments...will try to do smth bout it...hm...my house boring lar...nth to shoot..haha...

inside house always nothing too shoot one...thats why peoples advice go outside and shoot...
unless you living in castle then got something nice nice to shoot lo...lol

haha...next week gonna go to take photos from the hill...

here are my close-ups:

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.My favourite


10.My favourite too



C&C welcomed... thanks for viewing

orenzai,

is diz d closest u can get to d flower?

dude .. u deserved D80 nia ..haha..

i think so...not quite sure... i think 1 or 2 more cm closer...thats the limit..its kit lens..cant do anything..
lolz... you gimme a d80 i dunno how to use...and i so noob...use good cam also same thing...d40 is good enough for me (at the moment)

You don't need to keep to that angle when taking flower shot. Try taking from the side, use the max focal length, blur out the rest (including leaves) and only showing the flower in focus.

Check this out, a very normal flower, but the presentation is speechless:
http://www.juzaphoto.com/eng/galleries/flo..._flowers-01.htm

thanks for sharing kelvin...yeah...i did thought of taking sideways...unfortunately it was a grey wall(divider of house) thats why even if i blur it out it would be very dull looking with a grey background...ill try it when i shoot other flowers...thanks

The dull the better. You just need a uniform blur BG. Try it next time and you'll be surprise. One more thing, I was told that the best time of the day taking flowers is in the morning and evening. The light is so warm and you will get a very nice colour. Noon time is bad, unless it's going to rain or after a rain.

those were taking during the morning...ok i will show you what i mean next time..grey badkgound=bad...my opinion lar...hehe..

u can go closer...
=)...
the closer u go....the nicer the bokeh...at least for a kit lens...
anyway....now better....

haha...i just took and snap nia..gotta learn more..thanks for sharing...

Actually the higher the zoom, the nicer the bokeh. If you check out the photos taken by that Jap dude, notice that most photos with his 70-300mm lens.

orenzai, its time to get your 55-200mm lens!

alamak...use one day wan call me get new lens...lolz...the tauke also got ask me wan buy 55-200 or not...my mum cant afford...haha...half her salary gone edi...

dun worry...
go slow...
after 55-200 u need sb-800....
then u might be interested in 50mm f1.8...
then u wanna learn cls...u need another sb-800....
slowly u'll want the holy trinity lenses....
then u'll want a better body...
then u'll want the super tele....
then...u'll want to collect every nikon lens available...
hehehehhe...i wish u good luck being poisoned everyday!

lolz...kena a portion of the poison edi...now my target is a tripod+spare bat+55-200 lens first..all these edi at least 1.5k

Congratulations on you new camera ^^

At last you got it

Enjoy the D40. As for the flower photos, I think you need a tighter crop on some of it.

Exactly. 150mm macro lens has the capability of producing nice bokeh. Not sure about the non-macro lens though.
Btw, who's the Jap dude that you mentioned?

tripod...juz get a good one...once and thats it....
as for spare batt....i guess its not very essential...unless u shoot more than 600 shots per session...the batt can tahan quite some time...

good shots! don't worry about equipment but just shoot shoot shoot!

thanks
that crop isnt tight enough? i took a few shots this afternoon..but my desktop cant connect to the internet so i cant upload to flickr...wait tomorrow see how

macro lens exp lar...haha...use kit lens good enough for the mean time...ada duit baru cakap

hm.. i dunno..theres tripod ranged from rm100+ to rm3k+...but the tauke intro me a 100+ only..say that one good enough...but what the diff really? besides being lighter...i think all the same ler...the battery..dunno ler..i shoot one day finish edi..maybe coz i used to much

thanks...still experimenting lor...yup...gotta shoot shoot shoot...no need care bout eq first...

Better tripod provides better balancing too, firmer.

This post has been edited by jdreamer: Aug 27 2007, 11:39 PM

Don't need to find macro lens yet to get good bokeh, your kit lens can do just fine at the moment Need to really crawl on the dirt hehehe.

Any dealer in East malaysia selling manfrotto tripods? You should check some of those out.

Eh... u're so good at commenting other ppl's work.

It's time u put those comments into ur photoshooting.

Composition, contrast, white balance, levels, hue, saturation ..........

The crop isn't tight enough becaure there are still subjects in the picture that detracts the viewer from the main focus.

A bunch of leaves on the right hand side of Pic.6 and some loose twigs (could be moved before picture taking?)

I am not a fan of a lot of empty space unless it serves a purpose ie to give a feel of the environment or artistic reasons

Since the flowers are shot in your garden, I guess you can crop it close to the flowers leaving very little empty space. Just my two cents

Continue shooting! Will love to see more of your work

nvmind... i assume he has been understanding through theory and to apply that to practical would need experience... let him get to know his equipment first. I think he's starting off quite ok leh and has enthusiasm which is important to get the ball rolling anyway...

Orenzai-san, good luck yah! (you like macro don'tcha)

hi
from kuching also and i just got my D40 last night!
hehe
how much u bough urs?

neh...my next lens would be the 55-200 before anything else tripod...yeah... i gonna get one very soon...i dont know if any shop here sells this branded tripod but what i do know is that the shop i bought my cam is selling a 2k tripod..so i guess he sells manfrotto...

now all balasan edi...should not have commented on other peoples photo in the first place

ok thanks for the edvice...how bout my new shots?is the crop tight enough?
you know me best

i got mine for 2250... look here for more details.


here are the pics i took after absorbing all you guys' advice...any improvement?

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


C&C welcomed...thanks for viewing

You see, I told you so. The first 2 photos looks much more better. Uniform and blur BG is what you need to make your flower stand out. However, you must have used a wide aperture (can't verify since your jpeg doesn't have Exif data), since your DOF is kinda too narrow. Try using a smaller aperture, F8 or even smaller.

hooo...already got ur weapon...envy you...wait for mine...hahha..

I think it's time for you to go out for a walk instead of staying inside your house's compound. Maybe we can got for a walk and snap photos together.

hm... i somebody in the last few posts told me to blur everything even the leaves...so i thought of getting a nice bokeh...so i didnt think of anything straight set to f5.6... the third flower shot was f7 or 8 i think...but it was so windy i used high shutter speed...

hehe...soon we will all have own weapon

haha... i am with the sarawak photo-art soceity also... they always have outing wan... maybe we could join them and go in a bigger group?

I hope you now understand that, talking, and doing, are two VERY different thing. Nothing wrong with commenting on others' work, but you talked more than Simon in American Idol. An old saying, if you have nothing better to say, don't say it.

Only 2 pictures in post #48 are properly exposed. #2 and #5. Here are some tips for you

1) if you are shooting a subject with BRIGHT background, either meter the subject closely by excluding the bright background out of the frame, or use spot on the subject. That will properly expose the subject but blow out the background. Alternatively, the best solution is to use fill flash. Meter the background, lock EV, then power up ur flash to fill the subject. This method is obviously not feasible if u are shooting in a large area with very bright sky.

2) When you are shooting subject with lots of whites, at least add in 0.5-0.7 ev compensation (also works with #1). I don't like to go more than 0.7 in case the highlights are blown out. Do the reverse if there is a lot of shadow/black.

proper exposure and lighting is #1 in my book, composition comes second.

ur flowers tend to be a bit underexposed...
and also the phone...
however the book looks nice!
=)

but simon still is a celebrity til now... i get what you mean...i know talking and doing is two diff thing...we always saying its easier said than done mar right ...just like food critics..they themselve comment so much but they cant cook it themselves... anyways i get what you meant and i'll somment less on peoples picture lor

about the exposure...thanks for sharing those tips... i dint know that exposure comes ahead of composition....will take note on that next time...thanks

which flower is underexposed? for me i think only the third pic is underexposed lor

the first flower....
try to use the histogram to check the exposure properly...

This post has been edited by xandman: Aug 29 2007, 02:47 PM

Those people were paid to criticize. But as a general rule, it's better not to talk too much, u don't know when u'd step on someone's tail. The point is be moderate.

When i check my lcd, I only check for composition. Learn to take proper exposure without relying on the lcd. The lcd can be deceiving when it comes to exposure.

OMG... i assumed that u have watched Ratatooee.. haha..

AS for me.. pic 1, 3, and 4 is underexposed. Just my opinion.. hehe..

This post has been edited by derek87: Aug 29 2007, 03:28 PM

Keep up the good work ok? Continue to strive and take criticism as learning points

lol orenzai.. too exicted until the pic flower shot abit overexpossed..haha
good try

m...i love critics...i am happy somebody is willing to pinpoint my weakness...thanks for telling me...will not comment unnecessarily anymore



i will i will...thanks

no mar...coz that time wind so strong...i had to use 1/160 at least..pluse manual focus..the flower keep swaying here and there haha...

bro?
can i ask u why do u use manual focus with an AF-S lense?
it can track the object in focus....at least thats waht my lens did...=)...
focus mode i put it in AF-A...i think...it's the one where it can automatically change from single focus to continuous....

i guess it is more accurate than AF mar...hehehe...er...i dont know the how to use the single servo thing... mind teaching me?

Actually a nicely composed picture + 'unproper' exposure can create nice abstracts too....

Nice advise... a photographer has to understand light and how his equipment handles it. (something i really need to work on as well )

All sifu all there..give some comments on my pic please...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1283/125849..._6110221e27.jpg

Like this shot. a little brighter might add up the mood

thanks for the feedback bro! hm..i gotta really work on my exposures..everybody have been saying that my pics are under exposed...

single servo af.. hmmm i read from the book.. it keeps focusing even if the object is moving closer to u. Good for panning i guess... and the ai focus thingy, it focuses the object again once it detects the object is moving...

no no no. Sometimes a darker pic might work. Others gave advice, so its up to you to whether wanna follow or not. The only thing in the end is, be true to your own style.

You have to experiment more, thats all i can say.

If u want a perfect exposure. Take into calculation that certain subjects might fool your sensor. Like a white subject usually fool your sensor for underexposing the image. Dial in a positive exposure compensation like +0.7~+1.0 just to make the whole thing bright enough.

Like that picture i mentioned. Why its under exposed? Maybe because its the whitish background behind which fooled your sensor that your frame is bright enough.

ok i just read the manual last night...and i found out that it was the opposite of what you said it says that single servo focuses on stationery object while continuous servo focuses on moving object
how bout if like those white flower? wont it be blown out if i set an exposure compensation?

Opps.. sorry.. haha.. forgotten u are using D40. 350D here.. mine is single shot af, AI servo af (moving objects) and AIfocus ( automatically focus when u point at something). LOL...

depends on what kind of metering you're using. If u use spot metering and you metered on the white spot of the flower, then you should dial in around +0.7-+1.3.

A simple test is use any kind of metering and meter a white piece of paper, without any exposure compensation, take a shot. Then do it again with a +exposure com.

Go try it out

ah...hehe... okok... i put it one auto servo...switches between single and continuous servo automatically...thanks for sharing
so much things to experiment..haha...i'll try it out..thanks

---

Added on August 31, 2007, 6:07 pmhi...new batch of photos...the outdoor shots was quite tough for me as the sun was so bright..it made my photos a lil blown...

1.

This is the aquarium in the Madarin restaurant. I had lunch there before i left to Muara Tebas

2.

Kinda low lighting thats why i couldn't set a higher shutter speed.

3.

Took this before i started climbing the stairs to the temple

4.

What you always see in temples

5.

This is the view from the top. I was lucky to get such good weather. Look at the clouds.

6.

This Flower's color is very saturated. Makes it look quite fake. No editing done.

7.

The pole behind is quite distracting

8.

I love this shot. However because of the bright sun i could not control the lighting properly. My bad

9.

Another shot of the scenery but this time covering a lil more of the village.

10.

No Bloomed flower but i kinda liked this composition.

More to come...cant post more than ten in one post

This post has been edited by orenzai: Aug 31 2007, 06:07 PM

not bad not bad... got improvement from previous pictures.. but why picture 10? haha... doesnt seem something interesting for me to shoot.. just my 2 cents..

haha...thanks for the compliment...pic 10..lolz..maybei got wierd taste lor

continue...

11.


12.

too empty..thats why add some meaningless caption..lolz

13.

this shot also same

14.

i don quite like this shot

15.

more close-ups

16.

i darkened the background by using flash on this shot...came out quite good

17.


18.

fish?anyone?

19.


20.


more to come...reached maximum number of pics again

thanks for viewing..C&C welcomed

Definitely got improvement. Keep it up.

nice bro...
i like the aquarium shot!
n the scenery of the seaside....cool!

thanks bro...

ok now i continue again...lolz...

21.


22.


23.


24.


25.

This is Kampung Bako..a fishing village

26.


27.

my favourite shot

28.

just another shot before i get into the car and head back to town

29.

hehe..took this from a big longkang...

finally... since trip is on merdeka day, i wish to include this photo. Happy Merdeka!!



Thanks for viewing...C&C welcomed...

Or3nZai

I found Pic 8 and 19 to be my favorite However there are still room for improvement.

Pic 8: Tilt your camera anti-clockwise a little and make a diagonal presentation, and lower EV by 2/3 will make it a nearly perfect shot. The light is harsh due to the strong sun, but I guess that's nothing you can do about it unless you wait. I really like the uniform back ground.

Pic 19: The diagonal presentation made the photo interesting. However you shall not forget the Rule-of-Third. The flower is dead at the center, so it leaves too much space on top. But if you rotate the whole photo 90° clockwise, it will be so much nicer. Try it

You are a fast learner

I love to see ur clouds shoots,seems I'm clouds shoot collector..^^

As i agree with many u finally improve, but continue snapping more pics and learn more! Good for effort but u need to work even hard to get better results!

Don't use AF-A, it's not very reliable and i hate it when sometimes it thinks the subject moved and tries to focus it. If you are taking moving subject, do AF-C, if not, keep it at AF-S.


Malaysia...apa pun tak boleh (this sounds more like it ) jk hehe
slightly underexposed btw

look for difficult scenes to shoot. Shoot at odd times when the sky is really bright, then you will quickly get the hang of how much compensation to dial in. All other scenes will then be very easy later Or....just shoot RAW and fix it in photoshop anyway, good job on the exposure, much better now.

ah..thanks for the feedback... first time taking outdoor shots... it was about 11 to 12 when i was taking those pictures...was swearing like hell...i even thought my cam will spoil under hot sun... about pic 19.. yeah i tried it..was really much better..lolz...i heard the rule of third quite a number of times..what is it about? btw..thanks for the tips...very helpful...

i was lucky to get a good weather on my first outing

just got cam for less than one week oh...still a long way to go for this kiddo here...thanks for the compliment

er... in that flag pic...what diff would it make if i put at af-s or af-c? please tell me more...i know af-c is for moving and af-s is for still objects..but i dunno whats the diff if the flag was taken in af-s/af-c...thats why lar i say its like no other....you don see other countries making a big deal about somebody modifying the national anthem right.... you don see other country's parliment shouting:" RACIST!!!RACIST!!!"

about the compensation...yeah..it was really tough today as the sun was just above my head... my camera showed almost 90% of my shots having blown out parts...luckily i didnt delete it and transferred it into the computer for further investigation.. lolz...actually it wasnt blown out parts but only white cloud will work harder on the exposure next time...thanks

Dont worry about blown out clouds. It is difficult not to blow up any clouds yet get everything exposed properly. You will need the fuji s5pro/do HDRi/find a VERY nice time to shoot it.

if you selected the left AF point and put it at AF-C and aim at the star for example, it will constantly try to focus on it because the flag is moving, you *might* get sharper picture of the star that way. If you used AF-S, it will focus on the star once and ignore the movements due to the wind. Depending on the aperture used, you might not noticed any difference at all.

Here's a good thing about the D80/D200/D300, there are many many af points all around the viewfinder. What I did when I took my macro shots was to set the camera to AF-C, then use group dynamic focus (u dont have this on D40) and select the group that i want my subject to be in. The I set it to high speed burst. I simply compose the picture and keep my subject within the group af points and it will keep on focusing on the subject. I just had to burst a few shots and pick those that turn out sharp. You need lots of af points to truely exploit the benefits of AF-C. Ok, now go pick up a new camera

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Aug 31 2007, 10:57 PM

Malaysia Flag is nice~~

wat metering do u use o??

i'm learning to use metering but still get no idea of it lo..

hoping to c more pic up..

wondering if you used frame rate priority (burst regardless of whether in focus) or focus priority (will not burst until focus is achieved) on AF-C mode?

I used to use frame rate priority but alot of pics turned out out of focus with AF-C, so wondering if getting a nikkor 18-55f/2.8 will be more substantial than the tamron 17-50f/2.8 for the better focusing speed. Not sure how big an improvement it is but really itching to test the nikkor out...

AF-S doesn't mean faster speed, it is just more silent. I leave mine @ focus priority, and I don't burst more than 3 at a time despite doing it at 5fps. AF Macro is so easy on D200, but if you ever go too close....around 1:1, this method is not very feasible.

Still wanna bother with the 17-55mm? time to go full frame liao lar...get the 17-35mm.

wow...you are master at cameras dude..salute!!! i get your point but for the flag pic i really couldnt see the diff...haha..maybe on other shots it will be more obvious...yeah..3 af points sometimes bug me a lot... usually i go mf when the cam just dont want to focus on the object i wan... your method seems to be quite true..haha...put af-c and shot a few burst...will try out later... new cam? sponsor me

i only use matrix nia... i tried using spot for the flowers...didnt work out

ah...i was finding for this option in my d40... sigh...i dont think my cam have...

This post has been edited by orenzai: Sep 1 2007, 07:45 AM