Canon Digital Rebel XT

DreamTime Newfs

DreamTime Newfs

New member
Hi All,
Thank you GAD for starting this camera section.
I recently purchased the Rebel. I am having a problem with taking photos when there is snow on the ground. They are coming out terrible. Also, when there is just a bit of sun in the background my photos come out extremely fuzzy with a rainbow hue. Any tips?
I know that this camera is great and I have seen many awesome photos taken with it from members on this list but I am stuggling. It makes me want to go back to my old Canon. :(
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
GAD

GAD

Administrator
Staff member
What was your old canon? An SLR?

re: snow - what does "terrible" mean? Washed out? Not exposed well? Snow can be challenging because of the massive amount of (usually) pure white. It throws off exposure like mad.

Can you post examples of both problems?

What lenses do you use?

GAD
 
sarnewfie

sarnewfie

New member
A polarizer helps to, i have a rotating one...
PS i have been readint the booklet that came with mine, andthere are many things to still learn about the settings, try to absorb as much as you can from your instruction manual and the settings and what each does
for instance i read the AE setting, i think it is that one, will help with overexposed background, the focus points are not like the six in auto focus...

[ 01-21-2006, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: sarnewfie ]
 
L

Largo

Active member
Yes, can you explain what you mean and post an example? It could possibly be a white balance issue. Exposing for snow is definately challenging.

[ 01-21-2006, 06:17 PM: Message edited by: Largo ]
 
sarnewfie

sarnewfie

New member
i have an example of to bright background or surroundings or overexposure.
http://www.fanartreview.com/displaystory.jsp?id=36880

i tried to cover it up by going black and white.
granted i could prolly toy with this more, but renee, is this kinda what you are talking about?
notice the water? the sky thru the fence? the lip of the pool?
all overexposed. this was before i had a polarizer....
 
DreamTime Newfs

DreamTime Newfs

New member
Here is the package that I bought:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Body (Black) - EOS 350D

Dane 2GB Compact Flash Memory Card

SAKCR70M Sakar 21-IN-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader

Tamron Twin Zoom Kit w/28-80mm and 75-300mm lenses and Gadget Bag for Canon EOS

Digital Concepts 58mm Multicoated UV Protective Filter

I had a Canon Powershot A-80 that I have been using for a while now. I wanted to step it up. That is why I bought this camera. I absolutely love photography.
Here are a few examples of what I call "terrible".
 
sarnewfie

sarnewfie

New member
yikes renee, that bottom one, by chance was the sun in front of you or to the front left? if you shot with the sun to your back try that once.
you might as others suggested read about your white balance in your manual that came with the cam, in manual focus you can adjust it, and in auto, i dont think you can, in AE it will adjust it so that the background wont overexpose.
you really got a lot of sunspots, i look forward to seeing what others say!
 
ardeagold

ardeagold

New member
Edited to change post entirely!

With Landseers, I have the same problem with glare on the white that you often get with snow.

I've changed everything I can think of to fix it, and other than taking all pictures of Molly on cloudy days, can you give any suggestions how to fix it via the settings on the camera?

[ 01-22-2006, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: Ardeagold ]
 
GAD

GAD

Administrator
Staff member
The first one is exposure. A camera is really stupid, though it tries to be smart. Since the background is mostly white, and the forground is black, your camera needs to decide what to expose for. Notice how the snow and the picnic table look great? They're exposed well to the exclusion of the big black newfie.

A camera exposes by trying to determine what "matters", then converting everything to a perfect shade of grey (called 18% grey). When there's a lot of white and a little black, the white is "what matters" in most modes, and the black gets crushed as the camera tries to expose the snow properly.

Some things to try:

Get closer. Fill the frame with Newf and the camera will choose better.

Changer your metering mode to "center weighted average" and keep your newfie in the center.

Use a flash - yes especially outdoors in a shot like this.

The second pic looks like lens flare. Judging by the pattern I'd say the sun was above and to the left in the image, or *just* outside of the image. Lenses have a lot of glass in them. Each piece of glass reflects or refracts the severe light back and forth inside the lens causing what you see. The way around it? Always make sure the sun (or any extreme light source) is not in front of you. As Sar said - try again with the sun behind you.

Not the camera's fault this time.
Well... the first one sort of is...


GAD
 
ardeagold

ardeagold

New member
GAD...you and I were posting at the same time. Can you suggest how to get rid of the glare on the white fur while actually taking the photo? Does it have something to do with white balance?

Even in Photoshop, I couldn't do it.

[ 01-22-2006, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: Ardeagold ]
 
GAD

GAD

Administrator
Staff member
One more note:

Is your UV filter multicoated? If it's not, it's causing your problem with flare. Lose it. Oops - just read that it is... might try for a while without it to see if it makes a difference. Filters can cause a lot of problems. I had very nice UV filters on all my lenses for protection. I'm coming to terms with removing them after a particular $150 model caused me issues!

Cheaper lenses can cause the problem too, but it's rare anymore. Again the issue is multicoating. Lenses should be fully multicoated. Most are, but not all filters are!

In this case I think it's more of a situational awareness thing than the filter, but it could be both.

GAD
 
L

Largo

Active member
Also, use a lens hood, it helps.

Shooting a black dog in the snow is a challenge.
Here are a couple of examples where I exposed for Bartlett rather than the snow.

Shutter speed 1/800 sec., Apeture f/5.6, ISO 400, metering mode-pattern, exposure program-Apeture priority, focal length 190mm, exposure compensaton +0.7



Shutter speed 1/1000 sec., Apeture f/5.6, ISO 400, metering mode-pattern, exposure program-Apeture priority, focal lenght 100mm, exposure compensation 0.



[ 01-22-2006, 12:56 AM: Message edited by: Largo ]
 
sarnewfie

sarnewfie

New member
Ardea the Burn tool set at 30%
nice job on those pics largo

[ 01-22-2006, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: sarnewfie ]
 
GAD

GAD

Administrator
Staff member
Largo good call on the lens hood. A lens hood is a must. Mine never come off. They also help protect the lens more than a UV filter in most cases.

Andreagold, the right way to expose somthing of such stark contrast is to meter for the white, meter for the black and average in between.

One of the benefits of the higher-end cameras is that they have spot meters. The D-series actually have multi-spot averaging which lets me do exactly what I described - I meter on black, then on white, and the camera averages between them.

Another thing to try which is much more time consuming is to shoot in RAW. You'll have to convert the files to jpg, and it's no longer simple, but the benefits are huge.

Since your camera actually stores more contrast than a jpg file can show, with RAW you get more informtation to play with. It's a lot of work and there's a steep learining curve, but if you're into it it's a lot of fun.

Lastly some more useful advice:

1) Chimp a lot. Chimping is looking at the display on the camera after you shoot. It should help you get a feel for what the pic looks like.

2) Bracket. Try shooting in "Av" or "Tv" mode. Learn how to get a good exposure, then shoot one stop above and one stop below. The camera can be set to do this automatically too (usually).

3) Learn to read the histogram. Your camera will show you a histogram. Learning how to read it will help a lot. At the least it will help let you know that you're pic is over or underexposed. With black newfs on white snow your histogram will be all on the left and all on the right. Learn how to move the left bunch to the middle and your newf will be properly exposed!

http://www.shortcourses.com/how/histograms/histograms.htm

HTH

GAD
 
DreamTime Newfs

DreamTime Newfs

New member
Thank you all for the advice. I took the UV filter off today, played with some of my settings and shot some photos with the sun behind me. I will post a few in a bit. Not the greatest but much better. I guess it is going to take some time for me to play around and learn this camera. I just hope I learn how to use it before the Nationals.

Gad, thanks for the histogram link. I always wanted to know how to read them.
Christine, Donna and Rona, your photos are gorgeous. Now Gad, I think that we need to see some of your examples. What do you think?

[ 01-22-2006, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: DreamTime Newfs ]
 
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