Posted by Barry Southon on November 17, 2008 at 11:13 AM
I'm trying to implement advice and critique and maybe my interpretation isn't spot on. Please feel free to critique and advise as you see fit.
I need also to ask a question on the view finder set up I tend to aim central as with a firearm using the central autofocus indication. What advice do you have in respect of any variations?
Whilst I struggle with the technical jargon I think I lose colour quality in the re-size compression or maybe my monitor is too bright not sure which.
Unless I ask I just fumble on not knowing. This subect provides a good working example IMHO.
Posted by Ian Mason on November 17, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Barry
I was having similar problems with colour as I wasn't converting the JPEG properly. What I now do (don't know if it's right!) is edit: convert to profile: sRGB (under "destination space") then save for web again. That keeps the colours the same when you post it.
Some people vary the focus rectangle to anticipate where the eye will be in the frame - but I find that very hard to do. I suppose it's all about practice, and there's never enough time
This is a nice image, a riot of colour. I would crop a little from the left to keep the bird less central.
Posted by tony flashman on November 17, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Barry, I tend to use just the centre focus area. I focus on the eye, press the focus lock button (custom set on the rear of the camera) recompose and take the shot......
Tony
Posted by Tim Gregory on November 17, 2008 at 11:54 AM
If you resize from a full frame image of several thousand pixels high and wide, to just 700-800 on a longest side for the web, the downsampling does kill a lot of sharpness.
When putting stuff on the web I generally use a low pass of sharpening once i've resized it.
Regarding focussing ever since Canon allowed the use of the microcontroller to move the focus point around, I use it all the time to set the focus point depending on the composition.
Posted by John Chapman on November 17, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Hi Barry, what I do in focusing is in fast moving objects I use centre Focus. On slow creatures like bears I shift the focus to get good comp. When you reduce your file size you have to re Sharpen again. I hope this helps. John.
Posted by Rene de Heer on November 17, 2008 at 3:51 PM
Centre focus is for sure the way to go. Nice setting and great colours on this pheasant.
Rene de Heer
Posted by Major Gilbert on November 17, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Barry Pheasants make great colourful subjects but if it must be in its enviroment then I feel it would be better to see the bird in its entirety. Because of the close proximity of the vegetation it tends to compete for attention as its not blurred enough in this example where as if the Pheasant had a distant back ground it would be blurred at f5.6 nicely and the bird would be the focus of attention. As for focus point central works quite well for lots of birdy subjects but not for Mr Pheasant when you capture him in full as the focus point generally falls mid way down the body. As a result the head is usually out of focus or you try to compensate and finish up chopping the birds tail off. So you have to look at other ways like focus lock and recompose as one example already mentioned.
Major.
Posted by John Robinson on November 17, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Barry.
Most has been said , but its practice !
Centre focus- finger on button - move camera and recompose and fire !
I know a lot of folks that have a problem with this but its the way to go ! They alter the focus viewfinder point position and end up in a right mess. OK you will get some shoulder in focus and head not shots, but generally it evens out.
Cheers
JohnR
Discussion
7 repliesI need also to ask a question on the view finder set up I tend to aim central as with a firearm using the central autofocus indication. What advice do you have in respect of any variations?
Whilst I struggle with the technical jargon I think I lose colour quality in the re-size compression or maybe my monitor is too bright not sure which.
Unless I ask I just fumble on not knowing. This subect provides a good working example IMHO.
Canon 1D3 sigma 50mm-500mm HH ISO320 226mm f/5.6 1/200sec
Thanks for looking.
Barry
Eastbourne
I was having similar problems with colour as I wasn't converting the JPEG properly. What I now do (don't know if it's right!) is edit: convert to profile: sRGB (under "destination space") then save for web again. That keeps the colours the same when you post it.
Some people vary the focus rectangle to anticipate where the eye will be in the frame - but I find that very hard to do. I suppose it's all about practice, and there's never enough time
This is a nice image, a riot of colour. I would crop a little from the left to keep the bird less central.
Tony
When putting stuff on the web I generally use a low pass of sharpening once i've resized it.
Regarding focussing ever since Canon allowed the use of the microcontroller to move the focus point around, I use it all the time to set the focus point depending on the composition.
Rene de Heer
Major.
Most has been said , but its practice !
Centre focus- finger on button - move camera and recompose and fire !
I know a lot of folks that have a problem with this but its the way to go ! They alter the focus viewfinder point position and end up in a right mess. OK you will get some shoulder in focus and head not shots, but generally it evens out.
Cheers
JohnR