# Newbie With A 20d



## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

Okay guys,

I'm putting myself out for you to critique. Here is one of my better shots this past weekend. I just purchased a 20d and am learning the ropes.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

Welcome aboard TunnelVision. 

Good action, good color. A little soft on the focus. (My 20D is always a little soft also. Think it's built in to the camera on purpose). I would have tighten the main action by cropping out excessive empty space on the sides then sharpened a little with USM. Kind of like this.

Keep up the good work.


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## GreatWhite4591 (Sep 7, 2005)

Look at the determination on those faces! Great action shot.


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## Pod (Dec 11, 2004)

Great shots tunnelvision! You can get some cool pics on the soccer field. My kids don't play anymore but I still love to look at the old action pics we have of them.


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## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

this is a newbie question. When you say sharpen with USM what does that mean? The lens I shot with is a 17-85 IS USM. I am using adobe photoshop (old version) with a noise ninja plugin.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*My 2 cents*

Ray's right. Too much dead space on each side of the frame. I think for this sport (and I'm no soccer expert) you might be better off shooting with the camera in a portrait orientation (longways) rather than landscape. This way you won't have to lose those important pixels to cropping and you'll have a better image to work with.

I can't see your exif information, but it looks like you needed a little faster shutter speed and less depth of field to help the subject stand out from the background a little more. One way to do this is to shoot in an aperture priority mode with the lens either wide open or stopped down one increment. That way the camera will always be shooting at the fastest available shutter speed while minimizing dof.

Looks light it was overcast when you were shooting which gave the image a slight bluish cast. If you're already using a UV filter then then image can me warmed up a little in PS pretty easily.

You must like challenges. Shooting fast action is certianly challenging with a new camera. You did a great job of timing and expression capture. If you care to post the shuuter speed, aperture, ISO and shooting mode we can talk some more. Good job.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*Definition*



TunnelVision said:


> this is a newbie question. When you say sharpen with USM what does that mean? The lens I shot with is a 17-85 IS USM. I am using adobe photoshop (old version) with a noise ninja plugin.


He's referring to using the unsharp mask to sharpen the image filters/sharpen/unsharp mask in PS.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

TunnelVision said:


> this is a newbie question. When you say sharpen with USM what does that mean?


After I process my photo, the last step I do is sharpen it with USM (Unsharp Mask). It's found under Filter-> Sharpen-> Unsharp Mask. That brings up the Unsharp Mask dialog box. I always leave the Amount set at 300 and the Threshold set at 9. I only adjust the Radius. Normally .3 is all you need. On a full sized Raw file or jpeg, I may have to adjust the Radius up to about 1 but never more than that. Play around with it because you can watch the changes in the dialog box.


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## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

That's great feedback guys - thank you. I can't get the exif information to upload when I copy my photo's to my harddrive. I've been just using the copy function so that is maybe the problem. Copy function meaning XP automatically recognizes my card and I just copy them to a folder I didn't load any of the disks that came with it as I haven't had time to play with them yet. 

I was playing with the AV and TV functions on the camera. A photo guy at my work said I should try and get my shutter speed down to around 1/250 so I was playing with the aperatures until I could get them that level. On a previous occassion I was using a 2.8 fstop (other lens) and was getting very high shutter speed and narrow dof. So I understand what you are saying. I just wanted to try something different this time.

I don't think my adobe version has the USM option, but I will check. Thank you very much.


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## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

The USM works great! Is there anyway to sharpen the focus just on the camera itself? 

Also, how do I get the exif information uploaded into the picture properties when I transfer the files from the card to the computer?

Thanks for your help guys.


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## Cutter (Jun 23, 2004)

the exif should be embedded in the file when you copy it. if you are using the rightclick->properties method of viewing exif, sometimes it doesnt work (dunno why, Ive experienced that in the past). However, when you bring the photo into photoshop, you should be able to view it (File-> File Info)

The 20D does have custom parameters to apply sharpening and apply contrast. You can reference the manual to learn more.

Also above you commented on getting adequate shutter speed.. Here are a few points to keep in mind.

When in Aperature priority (Av), if you increase your ISO setting your shutter speed will double (2x as fast). 
eg _ISO100_, f/2.8, *1/100sec* can turn into _ISO200_, f/2.8, *1/200sec*

The nice luxury with a dSLR is you can actually manipulate the ISO without degrading quality.. point and shoots rarely allow ISO400+ to produce quality photos (ISO200 is pushing it on some)


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Man I love this forum. Great info.......


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## Saltwater Soul (May 31, 2005)

I like this discussion. I learned a few things. Thanks


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## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

Yes, I am learning a lot. Thank you for all of the info - again.

Is it always best to try and shoot at the lowest shutter speed to reduce the granularity of the picture? I was manually moving down to an ISO100 and shifting my aperature to get to the lower shutter speed. I guess this is all a matter of finding the best combination and will take time.


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

Another helpful trick in PS is once you have found a setting you like and use often, record it as an action. There might be one set of USM parameters you always use - for instance, on all images straight off the camera. In the actions panel, you can click the record button, go through the USM process, then click stop. You can name the action and assign a function button to it. When you want to use that process on a photo in the future, you can just hit that button and your USM settings are applied without having to go through the entire process again and again. Once you have saved this action, you can go to file->Automate->batch and apply that process to an entire directory's worth of images without having to open/apply/save each one. You can do this with any process in PS. It comes in handy if you have specific color corrections you are making to a group of photos that were all shot in the same lighting for example. I have generic actions/batch processes set up to sharpen/duplicate/resize my images as they come off the camera. If you go to Adobe's site, there are a ton of actions people have set up that you can download and use. Same goes for styles.


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## Cutter (Jun 23, 2004)

Well, if you are hungry for more technicals, stay tuned to the next installment of RustyBrown's, _Guide to Photography_. I read the first draft of it and he does a great job of explaining the nuts and bolts. His next article is where the rubber hits the road in photography.

Whenever you venture into the manual or assisted (Tv/AV) modes, it all becomes a juggling act. Shutter Speed (measured in seconds), Aperture (f-number) , and Light Sensitivity (ISO) all provide a unique element to the photograph, and all 3 factors must coordinate in order to properly expose the photo.



TunnelVision said:


> Is it always best to try and shoot at the lowest shutter speed to reduce the granularity of the picture? I was manually moving down to an ISO100 and shifting my aperature to get to the lower shutter speed.


Typically you dont want too slow of a shutter speed. when the shutter stays open (eg slows down) for longer periods of time, you risk shaking the camera and blurring the photo (not including long exposure photography shot from a tripod)

It *IS* best to shoot with the lowest ISO (light sensitivity), but not so low that your shutter speed is too slow. Dont compromise your shutter speed (and risk a blurry photo) in order to get a cleaner photo with lower ISO. A general rule of thumb is to not shoot any slower than 1/focal_length secs. So if I shoot at 70mm on my 24-70mm lens (eg zoomed all the way in), my shutter speed should not drop below 1/70th sec. Personally, if I have enough light, I'd like to shoot way faster than that (1/125th or 1/250th sec). but 1/70th sec is the slowest "recommended" speed that you can successfully shoot hand held (tripods are not considered at all in the above advice)

On a dSLR, ISO200 and ISO400 can shoot photos worthy of magazine covers. Even ISO800 can perform well in some circumstances. ISO1600, ISO3200 are going to be used when your circumstances require very low-light and/or fast action performance. Bottom line is, a little grain is preferred over a little (or a lot) of blur.



Tunnelvision said:


> I guess this is all a matter of finding the best combination and will take time.


Exactly









That was pretty long winded, hopefully it answered more questions than created. I basically only addressed shutter and ISO.. Aperture wasnt even thrown in there yet!


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## Cutter (Jun 23, 2004)

oh, also, if you use photoshops "Save for web" option, it will strip the meta data (eg exif). Not sure if that step took place somewhere along the way for the above photos.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

*It IS best to shoot with the lowest ISO (light sensitivity), but not so low that your shutter speed is too slow. Dont compromise your shutter speed (and risk a blurry photo) in order to get a cleaner photo with lower ISO. A general rule of thumb is to not shoot any slower than 1/focal_length secs. So if I shoot at 70mm on my 24-70mm lens (eg zoomed all the way in), my shutter speed should not drop below 1/70th sec. Personally, if I have enough light, I'd like to shoot way faster than that (1/125th or 1/250th sec). but 1/70th sec is the slowest "recommended" speed that you can successfully shoot hand held (tripods are not considered at all in the above advice)

*My camera has limited manual settings, sunny, cloudy, ect....so setting to cloudy on a sunny day will slow the shutter speed? or am i thinking wrong


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## Cutter (Jun 23, 2004)

I'm not sure how those internal settings work. But I think the sunny/cloudy settings have more to do with white balance.

now, if there is a landscape, action, portrait setting, these will effect the shutter/aperture values.

portrait = priority is placed on achieving a *shallow depth of field *(eg f/2.8) to keep only your subject focused, and the background blurred
landscape = priority is placed on achieving a *deep depth of field *(eg f/16) to keep as much as possible in focus
action = priority is placed on achieving a *fast shutter speed *to freeze action


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

I'm learning a lot too! Thanks guys, and nice pic TV.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Yes, There is a landscape,ect.......Thanks for the info.


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## Ditto (Apr 18, 2005)

Is that your son in the orange? Was that picture from the 3v3 tournament this past weekend?


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

My camera has limited manual settings, sunny, cloudy, ect....so setting to cloudy on a sunny day will slow the shutter speed? or am i thinking wrong

Actually these are your white balance settings, which is something different about digital from film. It does not have an effect on your shutter speeds. It has to do with the color temperature of the light your shooting in. Drop me a pm with your camera model and we can work through it.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Thanks Rusty, I sure will. I live so far out the only way to the internet is dial-up.... is awefuly painful. LOL. So I will bring the book in to the office monday and will send ya PM. Thanks for the time and info


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## TunnelVision (Aug 16, 2005)

*3v3*



Ditto said:


> Is that your son in the orange? Was that picture from the 3v3 tournament this past weekend?


Yes, that is from the 3v3 but that is not my son. It is one of the other kids. My son is also on the orange team but he is #14. Were you there?


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