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Valentines Day theme!

Photography question for you guys: When i do these portrait type pics of the kids to get decent lighting I usually set up a background facing my large picture window in the living room to get alot of natural light allowing me to keep ISO low and get good shots, but since its kind of a make shift studio setting i'm limited to early in the day to get light, although in PP i usually increase the exposure as you can see. What sort of basic photography lighting would i need to get similar results to light coming in the window? An Umbrella light or something? I dont know much about photography lighting so i need some help.

Absolutely adorable!!

Well I just got a 50mm f1.4 this week, so I took some shots w/ that without the strobes.

DSC_9792

DSC_9799

DSC_9771

DSC_9788

The gym is so poorly lit that with f2.8, in order to get a shutter speed of over 1/200, I have to use ISO 2000-3200, while useable, it still looks like crap on my D90. (Waits for moonman to tell me to get a D3s.). I used to have to shoot volleyball that way, so if you search my steam for SSU volleyball, that's what you'll see.

aren't you the funny one. ;)

Well those don't look bad at all, also the SSU album is good too. I'd have to agree with moon though, I like more of your non-strobe stuff than strobed pics , although the ones I like ( strobed) are jaw dropping :)

@Bubba, 2 stand out there, First with the little dude with the candy? on his forehead and then your girl holding the heart. Awesome composition! How do you manage to get your kids to listen to you :s ? Also, is that with The kit lense in the T1i ?

Well those don't look bad at all, also the SSU album is good too. I'd have to agree with moon though, I like more of your non-strobe stuff than strobed pics , although the ones I like ( strobed) are jaw dropping :)

Well I'm shooting with my 50mm f1.4 a lot now, and I'm able to stop down to F2.0, which lets in a whole extra stop of ambient light, so that the lights don't have to do as much work. I like the look of the shots I'm getting w/ f2.0 a lot better, to be honest. I think I'll make it my main lens next game, even though it's kind of on the short end.

not if the photos are good!

Thanks :) My wife got mad at me today while editing, cause she wanted to get prints to send to family for valentines but wanted me to edit some cheesy heart border and put text all over it and i refused to knowingly turn the pics to crap.. she was not happy..lol

@Bubba, 2 stand out there, First with the little dude with the candy? on his forehead and then your girl holding the heart. Awesome composition! How do you manage to get your kids to listen to you :s ? Also, is that with The kit lense in the T1i ?

Yeah i like those 2 as well, but believe it or not those are the easy shots to get.. trying to get them to sit together is like pulling teeth. Candy or something shiny is the only thing that can keep them good for a minute.. but i kid you not, although some of the shots of them together look good, each pic is like 1 of 10, the other ten my son is pulling her hair, or trying to bite her etc.. lol Give Candy > Take Pic quickly > allow 2 min wait time for bad behaviour to end.. repeat..lol

But to answer your other question, yes it's the kit lens.

Well I'm shooting with my 50mm f1.4 a lot now, and I'm able to stop down to F2.0, which lets in a whole extra stop of ambient light, so that the lights don't have to do as much work. I like the look of the shots I'm getting w/ f2.0 a lot better, to be honest. I think I'll make it my main lens next game, even though it's kind of on the short end.

I thought your pics you posted above from the basketball game at f1.4 were great, surprisingly sharp and crisp.

Thanks :) My wife got mad at me today while editing, cause she wanted to get prints to send to family for valentines but wanted me to edit some cheesy heart border and put text all over it and i refused to knowingly turn the pics to crap.. she was not happy..lol

LOL exactly :)

I thought your pics you posted above from the basketball game at f1.4 were great, surprisingly sharp and crisp.

Thanks. I too was surprised by how sharp the glass is. Very happy w/ the lens!

So I went on an impromptu fishing trip last weekend and desperately needed something to snap ( while anxiously waiting for D5000 and 35mm 1.8 to arrive), so I tried on the 18-5mm kit lens on my banged up d50 (which got "flooded", kicked around, etc). And I managed to get the kit lens working on manual focus! It seems like the focusing motor is filled with sand or that's my guess because of the grinding it makes. Also I had to shot most of the time in auto because the inbuilt flash fires itself regardless of whether it's popped up or not in whatever mode it's set. But in auto I can't shut it off completely... Long story short I ended up with a couple of decent shots with really banged up equipment. So on the shots.

#1 I really like this one because it was around 3am, but the full moon lit the place up completely

4342349669_0ced3909fa_b.jpg

#2 This second one had lots of potential, but the condensation INSIDE the lens ruins most of it, you can see it clearly in the bottom left corner, just above the rock, there's water movement, it appears blurred but in reality it's just condesation blocking light, thus affecting the exposure.

4343083214_b5696e3ce3_b.jpg

#3 Is meh... I was trying to capture the sunrise, but I was tired of fighting the camera all nite long So I just kept fishing instead.

4343054374_9244e680af_b.jpg

#4 Buddy of mine fishing (again see how the bottom left corner appears slightly out of focus)

4342369113_6572bd3055_b.jpg

Condensation inside the lens only seemed to affect pictures at "big" apertures ( as wide as the kit lens anyway), I guess, less light, then lesser refractions within the lens = less blurring.

PS. I tried some light noise removal in Lightroom ( was to lazy to run photoshop->noise ninja), still the shots are noisy as hell @ ISO 1600, I need faster glass :pinch:

PSS. Once I get new equipment I'll be sure to post pictures of what my camera and broken glass look like, i'm sure it will drop somes jaws :p

@ Crazy, love the junior basketball shots! they look like they're really serious about it! :p

Edit: forgot to ask, hey crazy, the other day while I was browsing your stream I saw this girl with a "contraption" on her leg. ( DSC_9771 and there's another where her leg is totally stretched out, It kinda makes me "feel" like it's about to break) I just got me curious because you'd think someone wearing a device like that shouldn't be playing basketball, so in order to avoid more ignorant comments :p I have to ask, Why does she wear it or do you know the function of it? If not it's all good :)

Edit: forgot to ask, hey crazy, the other day while I was browsing your stream I saw this girl with a "contraption" on her leg. ( DSC_9771 and there's another where her leg is totally stretched out, It kinda makes me "feel" like it's about to break) I just got me curious because you'd think someone wearing a device like that shouldn't be playing basketball, so in order to avoid more ignorant comments :p I have to ask, Why does she wear it or do you know the function of it? If not it's all good :)

Looks like it's a knee brace. The link has some more info on it, but she's probably wearing it because she injured her knee and needs to brace / support it. My brother's used one a few times before.

Looks like it's a knee brace. The link has some more info on it, but she's probably wearing it because she injured her knee and needs to brace / support it. My brother's used one a few times before.

Yeah I kinda figured it was for support, but everytime I look at it, it just feels like something bad is about to happen :s Anyway, thanks :) !

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