Amateur Photography Thread

[Duncan Glenday]

I've made similar mistakes.

One time I found a batch of slide film that had been deeply discounted. I couldn't understand why, and didn't care either - I just bought a bunch of it and went out on a photo shoot. I only read the box carefully after I'd gone through 4 rolls ... it was tungsten film!

But closer to Steven's experience - I bought a new camera, played with it, and took it out on a shoot. Only when I got back did I realize that when you change the ISO - the camera did not reset it to a default value. It worked fine in auto, apperture and shutter priority, but in program mode, I'd left the ISO at 3200 - and about 1/3rd of my pics were horribly exposed and grainy as hell.

[Chain]

about 1/3rd of my pics were horribly exposed and grainy as hell.

That is not a fault.

It is an undocumented feature

[UnephenStephen]

in my case, i knew there was something inherently wrong with those pics. even if the angle of the sun wasn't the best, they were just too dark and colorless for such a bright sunny day.

[WHORG]

Went out to a deserted island off the coast (Shackleford Banks) this past weekend. There's nothing out there: no lights, stores, bathrooms, water, electricity, roads, cars - nothing. There was a community there (Diamond City) from the early 1700's up until the hurricane of 1899 - when most of the inhabitants moved over to the mainland.

But = there are these wild horses that populate the island, remnants from a Spanish ship wreck off the coast nearly 500 years ago.

Night time was stupendous with all those stars and a big bonfire on the beach - - - we camped out for two nights . . .

Here's a few shots from a morning hike with the kids:

[Gruno]

I love the pics of the horses!

[UnephenStephen]

still have some work to do with lighting but post-processing made these look ok..

[WHORG]

Those pics are nicely balanced and sharp - it's been a wet spring and everything is GREEN ! ! !

We went to a comedy show last night at a small theater, I took some shots with my wife's Point & Shoot that came out really well considering the varied lighting, no flash and high ISO's - but the shutter speeds were manageable.

Since I go to see lots of bands and visit dance clubs a lot - half of me would like to get a full-frame, high ISO body with a really fast medium zoom - but the other half dislikes carrying around a heavy rig like that all night long - it gets to be a hassle after a while. Think I'll rent something for a long weekend coming up - and see just how tolerant things can be for me - - -

It's nice to see how people can learn and grow with a camera like this -

Later

[Dave (in MA)]

still have some work to do with lighting but post-processing made these look ok..

Really nice.
Here's how it looks from my laptop if I leave the image on the screen for a few minutes:


My video card has been acting up for a few months, and it's on the motherboard so I can't replace just the card. Time for a new laptop pretty soon.

[UnephenStephen]

Really nice.
Here's how it looks from my laptop if I leave the image on the screen for a few minutes:


My video card has been acting up for a few months, and it's on the motherboard so I can't replace just the card. Time for a new laptop pretty soon.

looks like one of my old PnS shots..

[Greg]

Still clearer than what I see through my eyes, sometimes. ;-)

Nice shots. I wonder if the angle to the sun would have made a polariser useful in getting more definition in the sky and clouds on those two pics.

[UnephenStephen]

Still clearer than what I see through my eyes, sometimes. ;-)

Nice shots. I wonder if the angle to the sun would have made a polariser useful in getting more definition in the sky and clouds on those two pics.

could be but i'm still not at the point where i can afford the extra equipment i need (18-200mm lens, lens hood, filters, etc). what i did do was change the exposure values after seeing that the sky was blown out which is something i previously wasn't doing. after finally learning how to view the histogram in playback mode, i changed i think the shutter speed until i saw that the sky came out right. unfortunately everything else came out too dark which is where the D-Lighting and color boost came in handy in post-processing.
btw, is there a way to look at the histogram BEFORE you take the shot? would allow you to change the exposure settings before snapping the picture.
also, in the manual or priority modes, does it matter whether or not you set the focus before changing the settings? one of the books i'm using suggests this but i find there is no difference between before and after.

[Greg]

btw, is there a way to look at the histogram BEFORE you take the shot? would allow you to change the exposure settings before snapping the picture.

Not much point to that, really. You're not wasting any film, and can delete the image after you've view what those settings did for the image. You would have give the camera a chance to meter the exposure, then you'd have to look at the LCD, to see the histogram, anyway. With the image recorded, it just lets you view the image and histogram side-by-side so that you can compare the lights and darks more appropriately.

also, in the manual or priority modes, does it matter whether or not you set the focus before changing the settings? one of the books i'm using suggests this but i find there is no difference between before and after.

The only time pre-focusing would have any affect on your settings is if you are manually focusing the lens, and it is waaaaayyyy off. And, then, it may only affect the camera's ability to meter the scene. It would not have any affect on you setting exposure.

If the lens is set to autofocus, the camera will focus the image first, and then meter the scene.

Even in full manual mode, the camera will meter the scene and display some warning or "Okay" indicator about your chosen settings. You don't have to listen to what the camera suggests, though.

[UnephenStephen]

The only time pre-focusing would have any affect on your settings is if you are manually focusing the lens, and it is waaaaayyyy off. And, then, it may only affect the camera's ability to meter the scene. It would not have any affect on you setting exposure.

If the lens is set to autofocus, the camera will focus the image first, and then meter the scene.

Even in full manual mode, the camera will meter the scene and display some warning or "Okay" indicator about your chosen settings. You don't have to listen to what the camera suggests, though.

this is the quote from the book in case i misspoke..

describing how to set up Aperture priority mode:

Point the camera at your subject and then activate the camera meter by depressing the shutter button halfway.
View the exposure info either by looking through the viewfinder or at the LCD display.
While the meter is activated (??), roll the command dial left and right to see the changed exposure values.

when i do this, the autofocus occurs but i end up having to redepress the shutter button again later to take the picture since i stopped to change the shutter and aperture settings which in effect refocuses. so that's where my question came from - what's the difference? and how do i know the meter is active - i only notice the focusing.

[Greg]

Ah, I get it.

The manual is having you meter the scene, and change the exposure values while the meter is active. The fact that auto focus occurs at the same time is just part of the process triggered by depressing the shutter button. It's really just how the cameras are designed to work: One button triggers meter, autofocus, mirror, and shutter curtain. If you had to do any of those in separate motions, you'd be back using a Nikon F.

Don't worry about the camera needing to re-focus. If you're juts not fond of it, use manual focus, but make sure your focus doesn't drift between metering, resetting exposure, and re-composing.

Some cameras have a focus lock button, but I have always found it to make things more complicated unless I really need to focus on something that normal metering system doesn't want to lock onto--I would move the camera to focus on that element, hold the focus lock button, and re-compose that way so I don't lose my intended focus point.

And, the meter is active is when your exposure settings light up in the viewfinder and the and the metering grid (not sure what kind you have) lights up one or more nodes to show where the metering and autofocus are taking place in the frame. The viewfinder will automatically go dark when the meter shuts off (usually a second or three).

If you are using full manual, the meter will not "set" any part of the exposure, but it will still read the scene and tell you if it thinks your settings are good or off. Autofocus will still re-adjust whenever you depress the shutter button if it has drifted, or if you caught a different focus point in the meter grid with the second shoot.

To avoid the last condition, set your meter grid to use only the centre metering/focusing point, and get into the habit of moving that to the part of the scene you want to take the metering on. Depress the shutter half way and hold it there, recompose your scene in frame, and then fire the curtain. That's what we used to call centre-weighted metering.

[Duncan Glenday]

...
Point the camera at your subject and then activate the camera meter by depressing the shutter button halfway.
View the exposure info either by looking through the viewfinder or at the LCD display.
While the meter is activated (??), roll the command dial left and right to see the changed exposure values.
...

I (almost) always do this.

As Greg says, the problem is that it also pre-focuses and holds the focus - so if the area you're metering is at a very different focal point from your main subject, you'll be in trouble. Also - it won't always work with live action or people pics, because with those, timing is everything.

But in most cases - it allows me to get the metering I want in about 1/2 a second, point the camera at the subject, and shoot.

Also, in the case of landscapes or other static shots, the 3 key words are: Bracket, bracket, bracket! Your camera may have a setting that causes it to automatically shoot 3 copies of each pic - one at the "right" exposure, and one slightly under- and one slightly over exposed.



On a separate note: Steven, Greg's comment about a polarizer was right on the money. Changing exposure cannot accomplish the same thing as a polarizer. These filters are cheap, and your landscapes will often come to life quite magically with a polarizer.

[UnephenStephen]

this is taken from the book not my camera..
D5100_LCD.jpg
the only difference being my camera has a grid line that looks sort of like this underneath the shutter and aperture values..
......|......
where the vertical bar in the middle is marked as 0. it's what i use to set both settings in Manual mode (a bar with an arrow shows up underneath the grid and the object is to manipulate the arrow down to the 0 so it doesn't appear anymore).
and this guy is ALWAYS visible on my LCD. is this the indicator that metering has been activated? because i don't have to do anything to have it show up - it's always there. not only that but it's constantly changing. if i set the aperture to say 5.6 because the bar went to 0, suddenly the bar is jumping a little to the right or the left. never seems to stay at 0.
does this make sense to anyone? i have a Nikon if that helps.

[UnephenStephen]

Also, in the case of landscapes or other static shots, the 3 key words are: Bracket, bracket, bracket! Your camera may have a setting that causes it to automatically shoot 3 copies of each pic - one at the "right" exposure, and one slightly under- and one slightly over exposed.

have used bracketing quite a bit already. the problem is i can't set the initial settings. trying to adjust either the aperture or shutter as the 'right' exposure doesn't work because the bracketing locks them out. is this normal? can you actually rely on the camera choosing the correct initial settings?

[Greg]

...my camera has a grid line that looks sort of like this underneath the shutter and aperture values..
......|......

That is your exposure compensation matrix. The values to the right of 0 are the amount of OVER exposure, and the values to left, UNDER exposure.

This is not exactly the way you should be setting your exposure. You should be choosing a shutter speed appropriate to the light in the scene (and, to the focual length or your lens if you are hand-holding), and also appropriate to the aperture value.

When Duncan and I say "bracket, bracket, bracket", this exposure compensation matrix is thing you would use to affect that.

When you have your desired exposure--let's say a shutter speed of 1/250 and an aperture of f9 for a street-scape--you can take bracketed images by shooting at the chosen settings once, then using the compensation matrix to select an UNDER exposure of let's say -1.5 for a second image, and then an OVER exposure of +1.5 for a third image. Then, after the fact, you would select from the three images the best exposure. You can also shoot 5 images: two different UNDER and OVER exposure settings, say -2.5, -1.5, 0, +1.5 and +2.5 (if your camera goes that far out), and have a better selection at post-processing time.

HOWEVER, make sure that you ALWAYS set the compensation matrix back to 0, or you will end up with randomly mussed exposures, and not know how to fix what you've been doing when your settings don't appear to match what the resultant image is telling you.

Also, read the camera manual so that you are aware of how your camera handles exposure compensation. Some cameras will use different settings based on the program mode chosen. For instance, some cameras (like mine) may change the shutter speed while in aperture priority (Av) mode, but change aperture in shutter priority (Tv), and it may choose for you which to change if you are in mode. In full-auto mode (P).

That is important as it can have a drastic affect on the resultant image that changes more than just the amount of light hitting the film plane.

[Greg]

have used bracketing quite a bit already. the problem is i can't set the initial settings. trying to adjust either the aperture or shutter as the 'right' exposure doesn't work because the bracketing locks them out. is this normal? can you actually rely on the camera choosing the correct initial settings?

1. Which program mode are you using? (I prefer "aperture priority" for most of what I do.)
2. How are you trying to set the "initial settings"?
3. Not sure what you mean by "bracketing locks them out". The EV compensation dial will alter them, yes, but should still be able to change them.
4. The camera's meter is telling you what it believes is the correct exposure for the scene at the point(s) in the meter matrix that light(s) up when you depress the shutter button. If you see that the meter points being activated are not exposure the areas you want metered, you may need to manually select a meter point, or move the camera when you expose, and then re-compose while holding down the shutter release before taking the shot.

[UnephenStephen]

here's the scoop..
i'm all set on bracketing. if you look at that pic of the LCD, in the bottom right hand corner you can (barely) see a setting BKT OFF. this is Nikons auto bracketing feature. it automatically takes 3 shots each with a different exposure compensation - correct, under, over just as you guys said. in fact you can set the difference in compensation using f-stop values 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3 etc. it doesn't choose initial values for shutter and aperture for you - you still have to set each yourself (without use of the matrix which is what i meant by 'locked out') which is the thing i'm still struggling with. ie: still guessing at what the 'correct' exposure should be bracketing or not.
but using Manual, i'm considering experimenting further with bracketing where i set the f-stop to 1.3 and the exp comp setting in the camera to 0. take 3 shots. keep f-stop the same but change the exp comp to -0.7. take 3 shots. change exp comp to +0.7. take 3 shots. that's 9 shots all at different exposures. as long as the 'initial' settings are close, i should be able to come up with a pretty decent HDR image.
but i'm doing ok using the matrix as a guide in manual mode - at least for now. i'm just now starting to experiment with shutter and aperture priority modes.

[Greg]

I get the feeling that your are not only over-thinking the process, but approaching it backwards, as well, and trying to run too fast through all your camera's options without having a firm foundation with the basics of light and film.

A camera's auto-bracketing mode will never choose the initial exposure settings for you unless you are in full-auto/programmed exposure mode. If you are in full manual mode, or either of the half-programmed modes (Av or Tv), you have to set the the appropriate values for the exposure, yourself.

Aperture and shutter speed should never bet "set" using the bracketing matrix. They should only be set using the appropriate dials on the camera for each.

If you feel "locked out" of setting the exposure via the bracketing dial that's a good thing, as it's not the way to set exposure.

In the past, the photographer would have to calculate the desired variance in exposure and manually change the shutter speed or aperture before each bracketed exposure. Modern cameras simply let you adjust the exposure using an additional dial to make it easier for you to do this.

i set the f-stop to 1.3

This alone makes me think you're looking at the wrong thing. I can't remember what gear you bought, but I doubt your camera lens can achieve an f-stop of 1.3. I have some extremely expensive lenses, and none of them can achieve an f-stop lower than 2.8. "f-stop" is the lens "aperture" (just in case there's any confusion over the terminology).

Please forgive me if the following is "too basic", but from what you've been writing I get the impression that you may have lost your grasp on this:

Both the shutter speed and the aperture control how much light hits the film plane, but the do it in different way. Shutter speed controls the "time" (Tv, or "time value") that light is allowed to hit the film plane, and aperture (Av, or "aperture value") controls the "size of the window" through which the light is allowed to pass.

Both Tv and Av need to set so that enough light hits the film plane to exposure the image. Too little light, and there is a loss in definition that translates to "darkness". Too much light the loss of definition translates as "brightness", "washout", and possibly "blur" (for long Tv settings).

Using your image of the viewfinder as a reference, you'll see 1/100 and f3.5. The first is Tv and represents a shutter speed of one-one-hundredth of a second. The second is the aperture and represents a fairly wide lens opening.

The faster the shutter speed, the better the setting for stopping movement in the scene, and for eliminating camera shake when hand-held. The slower the shutter speedn, the better for filling in definition in darker areas (trading off loss in definition in lighter areas), or for shooting in lower light situations, OR, for compensating for a reduction in light due to a *small* aperture setting.

The wider the aperture (smaller f-stop "numbers"), the less "depth of field" you will get. This means there will be less focus of the main subject from front to back in the image (i.e., from close to the camera to far away from the camera).

The smaller the aperture (larger f-stop "numbers") the less light will be allowed to pass through then lens. This means that as you shrink the aperture (increase the f-stop "number"), more and more of the image from front to back will appear in focus. But, you will need a longer shutter speed to compensate for that limitation of light.

On average, the settings for Tv and Av are directly proportional: The "smaller" the aperture NUMBER, the smaller the shutter speed FRACTION (of a second) permissible. However, creativity precludes this, and you play around with each to get the effects you want.

If you are hand-holding the camera there is a shutter speed rule to keep in mind, and I'll simplify it: Using the focal length of your lens at the time of shooting, use a shutter speed with a denominator higher than the focal length in millimetres. I.e.: if I'm using a 70mm-200mm zoom lens and I have zoomed to 150mm, I have to use a shutter speed faster than 1/150 to avoid camera shake blurring the image.

Now, even when you are in full manual mode, you use the camera's meter to suggest an exposure, and then work from there to get the effects you want.

Lets say the camera suggests an exposure of 1/500 and f5, but you are shooting a landscape. A more appropriate setting would probably be 1/100 and f11 to start.

So, you manually set the camera at 1/100 and f11.

This setting may be off. But, instead of mussing around for a while trying to get the exposure exact through your own efforts, you can bracket to get a better chance at a proper exposure.

Let's ONLY talk about manually bracketing, and let's assume you feel there is going to be a wide variance in the exposure before you get one correct.

For landscapes and portraits make sure your camera is set to bracket by shutter speed ONLY. If you are shooting sports, I'd say set it to aperture. But, the most widely applicable bracketing option is going to be by shutter speed.

With your camera set at 1/100 and f11, you take the "zero" shot. Then using the bracketing dial, you set the exposure compensation value to -2 and take the UNDER shot.

Then you move the bracketing dial to set the EV compensation to +2, and take the OVER shot.

And, you're ready to review your images. That's it for manual bracketing.

And, you can take more than three shots, manually, if you choose. You can do UNDER exposures of -2 and -1, and then OVER exposures of +1 and +2. But, that's still all there is to it.

The toughest part is getting the camera setting *close* to correct for that first "zero" shot; and, that requires familiarity with how the light in the scene appears in the image in response to shutter speed and aperture.

Don't forget to zero-out the bracketing dial when you're done shooting that image series.

Now, let's talk about AUTO bracketing. BUT, I am only going to deal with the EV comp as it applies to Tv and Av settings. Digital camera auto bracketing can also control flash, white balance, D-light combinations, and it will only confuse the issue. I suggest staying away from these additional features until you are completely comfortable with the basics of exposure control.

You STILL need to start with an exposure of your choosing. So, let's stick with 1/100 and f11.

Again, make sure your camera is set to bracket by shutter speed, only.

Set the EV comp stop value at your desired variance, say +/-2, have the bracketing matrix set at '0', turn on the auto-bracketing, hold the camera perfectly still, press the shutter release, and you're done.


As a sort of "side note", for the shots you've been posting, I would also recommend you stick with an ISO setting of 100 or 200, and ignore the tricks you can do with ISO changes for a while. If you start shooting indoors, maybe change to ISO 400, and if you shoot sports, ISO 800 or ISO 1000. But, don't jump into a variety of ISO values as the most important settings are still really shutter speed and aperture.

[UnephenStephen]

"I get the feeling that your are not only over-thinking the process, but approaching it backwards, as well, and trying to run too fast through all your camera's options without having a firm foundation with the basics of light and film."

no, i think the main problem is we have different cameras and i'm seeing stuff on mine that i don't necessarily understand and trying to explain it to you which of course you can't relate to since you don't have the same camera. it may seem like i'm rambling but it's not easy to explain here - you have to see it.

"A camera's auto-bracketing mode will never choose the initial exposure settings for you unless you are in full-auto/programmed exposure mode. If you are in full manual mode, or either of the half-programmed modes (Av or Tv), you have to set the the appropriate values for the exposure, yourself."

totally aware of this but as i thought i mentioned, i don't have a firm knowledge yet of what to set them to. i know what shutter and aperture do it's just deciding which are the right values of each to use in a particular situation. Manual mode at least gives me the matrix as a guide and that's what i've been using. may not be ideal but give me a chance to pick up the other modes.

"This alone makes me think you're looking at the wrong thing. I can't remember what gear you bought, but I doubt your camera lens can achieve an f-stop of 1.3. I have some extremely expensive lenses, and none of them can achieve an f-stop lower than 2.8. "f-stop" is the lens "aperture" (just in case there's any confusion over the terminology)."

maybe not f-stop but according to the book some kind of stop. first those values i listed show up on the LCD after you select the BKT option. they are displayed with an 'AE' appended to the front as in AE0.3, AE0,7, etc. the book describes AE0.3 as 'one-third of a stop' so that's where i got f-stop from. and yes i know f-stop is normally used to describe aperture.

D5100_Brack_text.jpg
D5100_Brack.jpg

"Please forgive me if the following is "too basic", but from what you've been writing I get the impression that you may have lost your grasp on this:"

appreciate your help and all but yes i do know some things including how shutter (the larger the number (1"), the longer the shutter stays open and hence the greater the light that hits the sensor) and aperture (the bigger the number, the smaller the opening - big opening to blur background, small for everything in focus) work. it's understanding all the indicators on the display and how they change between modes that's my biggest problem right now.

[Duncan Glenday]

This alone makes me think you're looking at the wrong thing. I can't remember what gear you bought, but I doubt your camera lens can achieve an f-stop of 1.3. I

I think he was saying that's the amount by which the auto-bracketing system will vary exposure on either side of the calculated 'ideal' exposure.

I have some extremely expensive lenses, and none of them can achieve an f-stop lower than 2.8

I have some old fixed-focal-length 50mm lenses with F1.4, and several were available with F1.2. (Not that I'd use them today LOL)



I think you're both looking at this backwards

Fuggedabout the camera. It's far more important to develop an eye for good photographs - and that's where I would be inclined to "focus" the conversation.

Okay - that was written with tongue deeply in cheek, and I know that it's important to become a master of your medium. But even though I'm a gadget freak, I'm more interested in the art of taking great pics, even if it's with a pinhole camera, than about the technicalities of the camera.

[Greg]

...as i thought i mentioned, i don't have a firm knowledge yet of what to set them to. i know what shutter and aperture do it's just deciding which are the right values of each to use in a particular situation. Manual mode at least gives me the matrix as a guide and that's what i've been using. may not be ideal but give me a chance to pick up the other modes.

Okay, I think I'm getting where you're coming from, now, and I still recommend forgetting about the EV comp matrix while you're setting your initial exposure. It's only going keep confusing the issue.

Personally, I prefer to use Aperture Priority mode when shooting as I rarely, if ever, shoot anything that is moving too much to show up with a risk of blur in my pictures. I care more about about the depth of field (DoF) than I do about stop-action. So, I put my attention toward getting the aperture I want, and letting the camera choose the shutter speed. If the metered shutter speed I end up with is too slow for the shot or for hand-holding, I open the aperture by a stop, and do that until I have a happy medium between DoF and a usable shutter speed. If the shutter speed is so fast that I afford to add more DoF, I do the reverse and stop-down the aperture to get the DoF that want.

In full manual mode, your camera should have some kind indicator that your exposure settings are "good" or "bad". Some have red/green LEDs, some have a meter that looks a little similar to the EV compensation matrix that indicates whether the meter believes you are under or over exposing, or, that meter might simply be a +/- indicator.

I'm still going to recommend that you stop using the EV comp matrix while you set your initial exposure. Use the exposure meter for assisting you in adjusting your settings.

Choosing where to start takes practice at reading the available light. Many professionals use hand-held (incident) meters to take readings off the subject to get a faster combination, but with practice, you can do this fairly instinctively by looking at the scene. It takes a while, so experiment.

In the end, the only way to know what your settings will give is to take a shot with them and see. Then, play with only one of the settings and see how changing that value changes the resultant image. Then, play around with the other setting in the same way.

HOWEVER, there is a "simple" rule that most photographers learn (well, those who take courses in it), called "Sunny 16".

The Sunny 16 rule is essentially this: For a general outdoor shot on a bright sunny day with a brightly lit sky and dark shadows, set your aperture to f16, and your shutter speed to 1 over the ISO rating of your film.

Like this: If I'm using an ISO of 100, I set my aperture to f16, and the shutter speed to 1/100. For ISO 200, the shutter speed would be 1/250 (or, 1/200 if your camera actually has that available). And, so on. Then you adjust from there.

Instead of me re-writing what a lot of others have spent a good time expounding, here are two links with some reasonably simple explanations of the "Sunny 16" rule, and basic rules of exposure:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...exposure.shtml
http://naturephotographyblog.squares...explained.html

Now, the "Sunny 16" rule usually only explains exposure by changing aperture, but both links have charts that should help you understand how to adjust the shutter speed for the same results. You can also adjust both, but don't start there.

The best thing to do, like Duncan mentioned above ("Fuggedabout the camera"), is to ignore all the fancy things your camera can do for you, and do them all manually in the beginning. Except, that I do recommend using your camera's metering system to help you get close to a "correct" exposure for the scene you want to shoot.

Once you have a decent handle on how changing shutter speed and aperture affect your image, you can begin experimenting with bracketing. BUT, when you start, do it MANUALLY. Forget about the camera's auto bracketing options until you understand what affects it has on the resultant images.

I think he was saying that's the amount by which the auto-bracketing system will vary exposure on either side of the calculated 'ideal' exposure.

Yeah, I'm getting this now...

The values you see in the auto bracketing settings, and on the EV comp matrix are the "percentage of a stop of change" in the exposure By "stop" it is meant that you are "doubling or halving" the amount of light hitting the film plane in relation to the initial exposure setting. But, modern bracketing capabilities of digital cameras are a little more flexible, and can change the exposure by more subtle amounts than just full or half stops.

If you feel that your initial exposure is very close to "correct", bracket by small changes (less than +/1/ 1.0). If you feel that you are off by a fair amount, or if the scene has a wide variance in highlights and shadows, then use a larger EV comp percentage.

You seem to want to jump to HDR composites, which is fine, but I think you should start small and work up. Still, though, you can manually shoot your bracketed images at any combination of percentages of a stop, and this might get you your HDR frame series if that's where you feel you need to end up.

Being a purist (much like Duncan), I'm inclined to tell you to aim for the correct and final image in-camera LONG before you start with HDR composites. If you can get proper exposure--or, even just darn close--in-camera, then post editing and processing will be far more successful.

If you are trying to use HDR composites to compensate for washed-out skies and clouds in landscapes, I think you are over-complicating your approach (and, jumping past an understanding of light and film). For this I would suggest simply picking up a ~$60 circular polariser, and maybe an 0.3 ND gradient filter to boost the definition in your skies. You would be surprised how well each of these can make your post-processing density adjustment almost negligible--if not eliminate it, entirely.

I have some old fixed-focal-length 50mm lenses with F1.4, and several were available with F1.2. (Not that I'd use them today LOL)

Before an ex-girlfriend of mine stole my Nikon FE, I had a couple of (reasonably priced) Nikkor primes that fast, too. Those were the days ;-) You just can't get that kind of lens for today's cameras without spending some serious money, though. Even my f2.8 60mm prime macro was over $600, and that's "cheap" by today's prices.

[kid_runningfox]

Forgive my coming late to the conversation, I have been away from PE...for some time.

Whilst I'm sure it will strike many of you as idiotically primitive, I remain a solid analogue man when it comes to photography. Whilst I have nothing against digital cameras (and indeed own one - a Sony), I enjoy the immediacy of photography with film, and think that teaches you better how to take a decent picture - not that I'm saying I'm any great shakes in the photography department myself!! If you're interested in my photographs, the please go and have a peruse of my Flickr page, which you can find here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97746179@N08/

Despite it costing me a bloody fortune in film processing (certainly one reason for going digital!), I update this page with great regularity, so it's worth checking in regularly if my photos pique your interest. As it is, I'm presently trying to scan in all of the pics I've taken this year. With the exception of scanning, these images have been subjected to no digital manipulation whatsoever. This isn't necessarily out of puritanism (though that does have something to do with it), but mainly out of ignorance of how to use digital image editing software, and not being particularly bothered to learn! The photographs uploaded here have been taken with a variety of geriatric SLRs and lenses (mostly either given to me or bought dirt-cheap on ebay) in locations around my home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, including:

Camera bodies:
Yashica FX-D
Fujica ST801
Fujica ST901
Pentax P50
Contax 139Q

Lenses:
Fujica 55mm f1.9
Yashica ML 50mm
Tamron 28-70mm zoom
Tamron 35-70mm zoom
Tamron 28mm wide angle
Tamron 2x converter
Tamron 75-250mm telephoto
Sigma 135mm telephoto
Prinzflex 70-162mm zoom
Cosina 35mm wide angle
Fisheye

Films:
Kodak, Boots, Fuji and Agfa 200 ASA colour print film
Ilford 400 ASA and 100ASA black and white

Anyway, please have a look and I hope you enjoy the images - for the right reasons!!