Pictures.........Puters........Filing............
The first batch of pictures I took with the Nikon D40 had the camera setting on auto. I adjusted the lens to the distance I wanted held the button down half way to tell it to adjust to that distance and then depressed it the rest of the way to take the picture. 
I think it was because I had the camera set on auto that it decided when to use the flash.......which was all of the shots. The camera really didn't like the amount of light present in the arena. Even with the flash, I got a message "insufficient" light. If there is a setting where I can turn the flash feature off, I haven't found it yet. 
Some of these pictures, I had a problem with flashback in the horse's eyes. In other shots, there appears to be spots on the lens but that is really the dust in the air being kicked up by the horse. So there are lots of little things I have to figure out to get better shots. 
As for editing pictures, I will look into Picassa as suggested by Grey Horse Matters . (Provided I get the spelling right and don't go searching for Picasso again! ) However, no amount of editing or sharpening is going to help some of these shots! First I will have to move some of these many pictures off my hard drive and onto a flash drive so I even have room to install software.
My attention span still sucks so I haven't attempted any projects that take that kind of concentration as yet. I'd hate to see what kind of damage I could do to my computer if I did. I am hoping to be headed that direction soon. I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and hope to find out what's happening with my goofy body then. In the meantime, I working on lots and lots of filing.........at this rate I might actually find my desk.
I think blogger is currently inverting the order of pictures uploaded now so the order of these is probably one showing the dust the horse kicks up, followed by more blur than anything will fix, the I was trying to take a picture of the "lacing" on Vee's back (it looks like I'm going to have to get on a ladder and shot down) and then Louie in the cross ties. I didn't take that shot, Jessica seems to be impressed with cross ties shots........I hate them.....the perspective always sucks and the horses look distorted.....which I think this picture shows.
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Taking action pictures is a skill, no matter how advanced your camera is. I think you just have to take a lot of pictures and in the huge number of shots there will be some keepers in there. It doesn't help that the horses are generally uncooperative!
ReplyDeleteYeah it is a skill, not as easy as it looks, as far as the distortion in the cross ties goes I will explain why that happens as well. Do you mind if I use small versions of your photos as examples when I am explaining?
ReplyDeleteDust in the arena, as is fog, smoke or rain is a nightmare when you are using flash, the light bounces off every speck leaving dots all over the place. I promise I will do this. I think I am going to start another blog jus for this sort of stuff and if you ask me questions, like the one about the pictures of the horses in cross ties, it will help me come up with ideas to cover.
I made my first sale on Alamy, so I have to devote some time today to getting more pictures prepared, it is such a generic photo, not a huge sale but something. The photo is one of a dies4el storage tank painted red in front of an old wooden barn!!!! These days I shoot anything that I see, you just never know.
Just close the flash, push it down. It's off then and won't go off until you push the little button on th side and open the flash again.
ReplyDeleteIt does have a setting for low light situations. It's just a matter of playing around with the settings to get that one figured out. :)
You're doing good. Keep on trying, you'll get it figured out.
The angle distortion drives me crazy too.
I have a hard time figuring out cameras and computers. I should probably go take a class, but I'd never stick with it.
ReplyDeleteI think the last three pictures looked sharp enough. My camera has so many features but I only use the point and shoot, auto stuff, if I venture into the other areas, I'll probably never be able to get back to my original settings.
taking photos - especially of horses - is quite tough. I have more that I have deleted than kept.
ReplyDeleteI have access to two high-end cameras and a professional photographer to teach me and I still don't get it all that well. I'm good with computers though, so that makes up for it!
Keep shooting and your shots will get even better!
Hi again MiKael,
ReplyDeleteI thought you might be interested to read about photographing horses on a blog I've been reading. It's at ranchette@wordpress.com
This girl is up to part 3 in the series and she has some good tips.