Sequence pic

Well we haven't had water to board on since I got my new Rebelxt so I thought I'd post my first sequence pic on frozen water! I took this today at the mountain. This is my first sequence pic from anything other than frame grabs.
70-200 f4L

Good job. I really need to learn how to do those.

That looks great Jeremy.

Thanks guys. I was all like..damnit...which, layer, is, on, top, of, which. What one am I supposed to erase for this one....AAHHHHH!

Then about half way through I got the hang of it.

Jeremy ~ nice pic! how many pics will you camera take. I count 6 here. Is that the max? I know my Rebel only takes 4 at a time.

Honestly I've only taken about 12 in a row. But It says it will take 15 and I've heard it will actually take more than that.

I'll just get it and try and see. Be right back.

Ok, I don't know if shutter speed has anything to do with it but shutter speed was at 100.
It took 18 pictures before it slowed down. Then it just kept taking pics but sounded like it was maybe one every second or so.

OK, maybe it's because of the shutter speed but it was probably because there wasn't enough light so there wasn't as much information per picture? But when I set the shutter speed to 640 I was able to take 23 pictures before it slowed down!

Sequences are nice when the background isn't moving, much easier to stitch. The buffer on the 20D is subject mostly to picture quality (jpeg vs RAW). I know setting a higher ISO will limit the buffer somewhat as well. I believe the RAW limit is 6 and the jpeg officially around 20+. The CF card speed will affect the buffer as well. Shutter/aperture/eposure shouldn't really affect it though. Your white balance and exposure looks OK in that shot. A lot of snow in the background tends to under expose the shot. I usually dail in 1 - 1 1/2 extra stops of exposure compensation when shooting snow.

I have been forcing myself to shoot in manual so I can learn what settings I want for different shots. What I don't understand is, if I'm in manual mode, why the hell won't it let me set EVERYTHING. You can't set the exposure compensation. It doesn't make sense to me. So what I end up doing is bringing down the shutter speed until the exposure automatically sets a little higher. Then stoping down if I need to. Am I on track or retarded?

What your doing is essentially the same thing as the exposure compensation. When you shoot in P mode for example, you can dial up or down the exposure compensation because the shutter speed/aperture are linked and there is no variation in one without the other. Exposure compensation is there as a tool to help you lighten or darken the photo. you can't do it just by lowering or raising the shutter speed, because the f-stop would also move. Exposure compensation as the "little meter" isnt really needed in Manual because you can adjust it just by changing the f-stop/shutter speed. Sorry, I hope that makes sense. :-)

That makes perfect sense. But I still don't agree(yet) that exposure compensation should be changed for you in manual mode. Say I've got everything set and the picture's a little overexposed. The camera will adjust the exposure compensation to "fix" the problem. But what if I WANT it overexposed? I must not be seeing something?

If you are in Manual mode (M), I don't think that the camera will "fix" any problem, but I could be wrong. If you want it a little overexposed open up the shutter or increase the shutter speed and the meter level should move to the right. a "properly" (or at least what the camera is telling you is proper) exposed shot should have the meter right in the middle. when the meter moves to the right, the picture will come out a little overexposed. the more to the right, the more overexposure.

OMG I get it....It's just a meter isn't it! I thought by moving it you changed the exposure by moving the exposure compensation. In reality your just telling the camera how you want it exposed!?! When I'm in manual mode it's actually just telling me how I have it exposed. Correct?

So when I'm shooting manual in alot of snow I just want the camera to "think" it's overexposed.

As Duncan pointed out when you're shooting in AV or TV (or P for that matter) the in camera meter will always read zero because either the shutter speed or aperture adjusts to give you what the camera thinks is perfect exposure. You don't see the actual metering like you do in M what you see is the current exp compensation setting. (or flash compensation if you press that button) and it's default is 0 obviously but will remain at your previous setting even after the camera is turned off. So if you want exposure compensation in M you dial in your shutter or aperture until the meter reads the desired compensation amount. One of the reasons the Pro types complain about cameras like the 20D is the lack of spot metering. If you shoot in manual a lot spot metering allows you to get a reading off the part of the scene you want exposed properly and thus exposure compensation isn't as necessary. Spot metering works well in AV or TV as well as you can lock the exposure off a certain "spot" using the * button.

As far as snow goes what is happening is the in cam metering in full evaluative mode wants to balance all the brightness levels of the scene to an18% grey. The meter doesn't actually know what you're shooting and doesn't care. So if you have a scene like your snowboard shot where 50% plus of the scene is pure white the meter is going to bring down the exposure to make it a balanced 18% grey. So in a sense the metering is fooled into giving you an underexposed image for which you have to correct manually or with exposure compensation. If you could spot meter off the snowboarder and keep the snow out of the metering equation you would be much more likely to get the correct exposure. I've found with front lit scenes (sun at your back) the in camera metering on average is pretty close (unless you have high contrast like snow). When you are shooting side lit or especially back lit you have to know what you're trying to expose properly. If you go shoot a bunch of sunsets or scenes like that it will really help you begin to understand the metering and histograms.

Thanks Rich. Confirmation that I'm actually figuring something out!

Here's another. I missed the first part of this also. I almost missed the whole shot and fell down in the snow.

Backside 180 STOMPED!

Very nice Jeremy it looks like you have the sequence shots figured out!

Sequence shots are so damn cool! I'm looking into buying a camera that is capable of snapping off photos fast enough to put something like that together. But, my question is, what program do you use to make these pics.

-Blake

That's great. I played with it in PS because it's still a tad underexposed, what do you think?

Looks good. That's funny cause I printed this out and all the sudden, on print, it was dark. So I have a copy that is actually a little lighter all over than the one you just did, but even though mines lighter, your shadows lightened up more than mine. How'd chew do dat?

I used a curves adjustment layer in PS to pull up the shadow areas. You see it most in the jacket but also in the trees and detail in the foreground snow. Since a good monitor will show more dynamic range in the shadows then a printer can I'ts important to get all that's there in your adjusted image before you print. If you have photoshop I can tell you the exact steps I used if you're interested.

I saw it most in the jacket and the boots. Shows what I'm lookin at.
I don't use photoshop, I use Jasc Paintshop pro 7. I'm really comfortable with Paintshop and it is a great program, but, EVERONE uses Photoshop. So there are more tutorials and discussions. I've been thinking about swithching to the new version of photoshop so I can use a program that would be easier to talk with people and learn things, and a newer/better version than I'm using. The only thing stopping me is the learning curve and the extra cost. I'm just so comfortable with Paintshop and don't know if I'd be gettin much out of it?

Well I went for it! I changed over to Photoshop CS2 today. Looks like I got alot of learnin to do! So far it's not as bad as I thought it would be. One thing I'm missing so far is the clone brush. I think in PS it's called the stamp tool? I just haven't figured that out yet. I'm lovin the healing and history brushes.

So, I'd be interested in those steps now Rich.

Are there any plugins that are a "must have"?

I just bought a new home design program today also. I have alot to learn!

Jeremy ~ What did CS2 cost you?

Your right the clone tool is called the clone stamp.

Plug-ins I use a lot: Noise Ninja, Photokit sharpener (or the FM sharpener for the 20D is excellent and costs way less) FM web presenter Pro.

Open your image and then select layers - new adjustment layer - curves and then alt click inside the grid, this is what you should see:

curves 1.tiff (90.2 k)

click on the intersection to creat an adjustment point at the center, and 2 boxes in from bottom left and top right corner:

curves 2.tiff (87.6 k)

Now select the lower left dot and press the up arrow watching what what happens to your image, do the same with the upper right point until you like what you see. This is the curve I ended up with.

curves 3.tiff (97.8 k)

If you want an in depth explanation of what this is actually doing read the manual!!

#*%$#!@^(&^$# program!!!!

Here's the three screenshots!:

I didn't know the XT would shoot that fast.

Rich, I never thanked you for the detailed explanation. So thanks!

I've watched dozens of tutorials now which has increased my skills 10 fold. I'm now absolutely lovin CS2! Working with layers and masks is where it's at, and the liquify tool is amazing.

You're welcome!

I'm just starting to finally understand levels, curves and the histogram but if there is one procedure worth learning curves would probably have to be it.