Hefty for Handheld - 300mm f/2.8

Got the itch to use some of my manual focus lenses, so I mounted the arm-breakin' Tokina 300mm MF f/2.8 lens. Tough to hold it steady for a shot. Good light though when I took the shot below. The D300 allows one to use Manual mode, or Shutter or Aperture priority. It still uses Matrix Metering. Auto-ISO chose ISO-400; I chose f/8, Matrix Metering chose 1/500 sec.
Converted it to B&W in PSE7.

Fresco filter in B&W:

Got the 135mm f/3.5 prime on the camera now...

Noise Inside Main Street

Took this shot this morning inside the Main Street Diner; D300 with Tokina 12-14 lens sitting on the table. Delayed exposure, 1/30 sec @ f/8, wide open at 12mm. This is the original JPEG, but I shot RAW + JPEG. Auto ISO used ISO-720, so upon close inspection, you see some noise when viewed at 100%. In Camera Raw, I used Auto White Balance, but the neat thing I learned was from the Detail Tab, I used the Luminance slider under Noise, and it removed the noise remarkably!

I'll have to see what it does with a shot taken with ISO-3200. What a RAW deal!

Places I Go -- 2

Main Street Diner, 8 AM, it wasn't that bright as I saw it. The out of camera JPEG image is below. Working with my wide-angle lens, Tokina 12-24mm AF f/4. ISO-200, 1/5 sec @ f/4, 16mm.

SO, I opened the image in Camera Raw -- yes, you can open JPEGs in Camera Raw. I like the tools. Adjusted a few of the sliders, Exposure being one I remember. The sky was this dark, but probably not quite that blue.

Below I straighted the building a bit since the wide-angle seems to distort them. Perhaps could use a bit more straightening.

Places I go...

Places I go; the image on the top is straight out of the camera only resized to 1024x680 using Bicubic Sharper resampling algorithm in PSE7. I was surprised that resampling to a smaller image of lower resolution (tossing away pixels) gave me a sharper image than the original out-of-the-camera jpeg. (I shot the picture RAW + fine jpeg.)

The second image has been processed in Camera Raw, resized to 1024x680, and saved as a PNG file. I can see the difference even in the small images. I used several "sliders", among them Fill Light and Clarity, but I beginning to really appreciate the Clarity slider. It adds punch.

EXIF data & histogram

The histogram suggests that the scene has too much contrast for the sensor -- clipped right and left, but this was taken at dusk, and with the bright signs, this is expected.

Leesburg Falls from PSE7

Photoshop Elements 7, a recent purchase, displays more EXIF data than does version 6! Note below that the image data shows the lens data as well. (Camera Data 2 has more info', of course.)

Below you see the shot of Leesburg Falls taken 11/22 as described in the above EXIF data. "Saving for Web" with the re-sampling, softens the image -- loses sharpness. Saved this one as a PNG file for a change!

It was cold that day. This wasn't my favorite image of the day, particularly because of the hanging branch over the left falls.

One might also comment with respect to the composition, that the viewer doesn't know where to focus, left or right. What think ye?

3 Shots, 1 Lens

I've had my Nikkor 85mm AF-D f/1.8 lens on the camera for several days. Caught this red dawn the other morning. Had the D300's Vivid +3 on, Sunny White Balance to catch the sky as I saw it. Shot it through the window. Last night, I caught the last 4+ minutes of GCC versus Hiram. (GCC came in second.) ISO-2500, 1/400 sec @ f/2. Titled it "3 for 2"

Today I spent some time with the GCC Gun Club. They tried out my 380 auto. Fired high-speed to catch this one, my favorite of the day. I was shooting at ISO-200; aperture f/3.2 gave the nice soft background, but I'm surprised that the subject is not fuzzier -- the shutter speed was only 1/30 second.

Church Parking Spot View -- Raw Shot

Shooting Raw and processing in Camera Raw. No blowouts in the snow. Impressed once again by the D300 Matrix Metering -- gets it right. I adjusted the image a bit in Camera Raw using the Exposure, Blacks, and Clarity sliders. Clarity slider is great. I use Camera Raw and I don't typically need PSE6.

D300, Nikkor 85mm AF-D, F/1.8 lens, 1/50sec @ f/3.5. ISO-200. Program Mode. Auto WB.

Got to get back to Leesburg Falls in the snow...

Broad Street in December

Thought it would be more snow than there was tonight downtown. I wanted to try a Raw shot at night. Took this with Nikkor 20mm AF f/2.8, 2.5 sec @ f/22, matrix metering, manual mode, ISO-200, auto white balance.

In Camera Raw, I adjusted the clarity and used auto white balance, both of which were subtle changes. In Photoshop Elements 6, I adjusted the building's distortion due to the wide angle lens perspective using the Skew function. eh!

Fouled But Not Foul

This is the first time that I've used my Nikon D300 for a basketball game. (Used a D200 last season.) Two impressions: the auto white balance does a better job on the D300 than the D200; there is much less noise at ISO-3200 on the D300 than the D200, largely due to the CMOS sensor versus the CCD of the D200.

Above you see the original image; I always seem to "tilt" it.

I used Levels to adjust the exposure, and I leveled the image using the line across the top of the wall at rear.

Image data, D300, aperture-priority, matrix meeting, continuous-motion AF, ISO-3200, tungsten pre-set white balance, Nikkor 35-70mm AF at 70mm, 1/250sec at f/2.8.

I should have used my Nikon 70-200mm AF-S f/2.8 VR lens. Better reach, vibration reduction (VR), and AF-S is faster on the focus. Too many of the shots using the older 35-70 were soft.

Snow on my summer setting

Here's my summer setting on the back deck, which received a bit of snow last night. I shot this from my bedroom window overlooking the deck, first using my D300 with the Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 AF lens, but I couldn't get the desired composition -- too far a perspective.

So I put on my Nikkor 85mm AF-D prime lens -- just right. I'm trying to get a better feel in choosing a focal length when composing a shot in my mind.

Following immediately is the histogram for the above shot as indicated by Levels in Photoshop Elements 6. Note that I adjusted the dark and light sides.

This is the histogram for the same shot when viewing the Adobe DNG raw file in Camera Raw.

I used the black slider to adjust the dark side of the exposure. Seeing them side by side, I see that I like the first one better.

Geopic II, a GPS for my D300

This is the GeoPic II, a global positioning system (GPS) that works with my Nikon D300 and other Nikon camera bodies. You can't see the mount, but it fits in the flash shoe, and the cable that you see fits into the D300's 10-pin port.

It stores longitude and latitude data with the image's EXIF data -- cool, huh! If I store the pictures taken with this system using Google Picasa's gallery, double clicking an image will launch Google Earth and take me right to the location of the image on Google Earth's virtual globe.

I've been using Google Earth lately for trips taken, and this device will give me the exact location of each image. It's supposed to be easy on the battery -- we'll see.

Well, this is my last formal, official picture of the New Castle Camera Clubs November Challenge, but since I've been blogging before, I'll continue, but probably with less urgency.

I've enjoyed it though.

Nate's Place

This was the scene of our 2008 Thanksgiving gathering. Great food, fun, & fellowship. We are thankful!

The Girls -- Auntie and Niece

Here my morning star! Woke her up at ... ----- I won't say! BUT she was bright and shining!

I took this picture of my daughter and granddaughter -- two real beauties if I say so myself. I used software that I found on my son's computer: Microsoft Digital Image Standard 2006 Editor -- didn't know that it even existed. In any case, I blurred the shot (perhaps too much) and softened the border.

Shot the picture with the D300's pop-up flash, ISO-200, Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens @ 40mm, f3.5 for 1/60 sec.

Turkey Bowl Highlight

Macedon, NY is the venue. Annual Turkey Bowl is the event. I had my press pass, so I took a few (~200) shots. This shot was edited in-camera. The D300 has a number of editing capabilities in the camera -- Trimming or cropping is one I use a lot, as done in this one. Image data: Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-300mm AF-S-VR f/4.5-5.6 lens, aperature priority, 1/1250 sec @ f/5.6; image taken at 102mm on this lens, but as I said, cropped, but no other modifications.

He made the catch!

Through The Window

This morning, I wanted to post a shot before hitting the road for Thanksgiving travel. Since it's cold and snowy out, I decided to shoot through the screened window, a good task for a manual focus, longer lens. I chose my Nikkor 135mm f/3.5 MF prime lens, a $75 Ebay acquisition. It's tack sharp and reaches over 200mm perspective on my D300.

The shot was processed minimally in Adobe Camera Raw; altered the exposure (Exposure slider) by +0.6, a little more than half a stop. I still adjusted the Levels in PSE6, the dark and light ends, nothing on midtones. No sharpening was done.

"Saving for Web" in PSE6 deletes the EXIF data, I guess by design.

Data, however, is: ISO-1600 to get shutter speed 1/160 sec, hand-held, at f/3.5, thus wide open on this 135mm MF lens. If you look closely, you'll see an out-of-focus branch obscuring the view. The black window in the background is distracting. "Haste makes waste."

Route 8 Roadside

Driving down to Cabot, PA and back today, I decided to stop at an interesting building that I often see while traveling to Butler. So, I stopped on the way back and took four shots, three of which are posted here. If you look at the larger image (click on image), you can see that it was snowing. (#1: Auto White Balance, ISO-200, 1/160 sec. @ f/6.3 on Nikkor 24mm AF f/2.8 prime, hand-held, no flash)

It's nice to have a camera with decent weather seals, the Nikon D300 in my case. I took these shots without worrying about getting the camera wet -- and it did!

The building is abandoned. The window boards are obviously red, but the siding is a subtle green, not sure if you can see that in these pictures. They're straight from the camera, and although I shot them in Raw+BasicJpeg, I used the Jpegs here without modification. (#2: all the same setup except 1/125 sec @ f/5.6.)

(#3: 1/100 sec @ f/5.). I can see the green. The saturation was set to vivid, so the Red boards are a bit too much -- more than I remember.

Elements 6 Black and White Tool

Jogging past this corn field, I thought that I ought to come back and take a shot -- so I did. D300, Tokina 12-24mm AF-DX f/4 @ 12mm, 1/250sec @ f/4, ISO-200, hand-held.

Audrey had some great Black & Whites at the camera club the other night, so I asked her how she processed them. She told me about the B&W conversion tool in Photoshop CS3 with its R-G-B sliders and assorted filters.

As it turns out, I'm happy to report that Photoshop Elements 6 has a similar tool. AND the filters include infrared, which give you an pretty good result. I used the Scenic/Landscape filter above for the B& W. The tool is illustrated below:

Snowfield and Barn

This is the view of a barn as seen from my parking spot at church -- another good test for the metering capability of the Nikon D300. Snow often looks gray (less than white reality anyway) when metered by many cameras, especially when the metering system of the camera is influenced by a large field of it as in this image.

I did not alter the exposure itself appreciably; shot in Raw, I used Adobe Camera Raw and the Recovery Slider to remove a few blowouts in the middle of the field. I also used the Vibrance Slider to enrich the colors. It deepened the red of the barn slightly, but made the sky a subtle amount bluer, making it more interesting without it looking fakey. Note the settings below.

I just noticed that the EXIF data from Camera Raw includes the lens (35-70 in this case) and the image focal length. Cool!

MacDonalds, Metering, Manual Mode

Sitting inside MacDonald's munching on a breakfast sandwich, I wondered again how well the D300 would deal with snow. The children's playground, seen here through my window, was a suitable test: snow on top lit up by the sun; bright red, yellow, and blue colors; snow on the ground in the shadow. I've just shown 3 images here although I took more.

In the first one I used the Color Zone System (adapted from Ansel Adam's Zone System). I used manual mode, spot metering; metered the bright snow on the top and opened up 1.5 stops. Here's what you get:




This one I used a similar setup: manual mode, spot metering, metered the yellow section, and according to the Color Zone System, I opened up 1 stop. Judge for yourself. All of these images are straight from the camera:

This one I used Matrix Metering (pattern). The D300 uses the D3's 1024-cell zone system to match the exposure against the system's 40,000 image database to arrive at the desired exposure. This is the only one, according to the D300's highlight LCD screen, did not have blowouts -- the dreaded blinkies -- indicating that areas of the image are devoid of image data.

So, I conclude that except for special cases, I may as well use matrix metering. It's very smart on the D300 and cameras that feature the same system.

Snow-Laden Pine Branch & Stream

Wanted to get a shot or two of snow. This was taken near the Leesburg Falls late afternoon, after 4 PM. What's the name of that stream?

Tough scene for the D300 to meter -- high contrast with the dark shadows of the stream bank and the snow-laden pine branch hanging over. Shooting Raw + Basic, which I like, because I still have the flexibility of processing the Raw yet the Jpeg Basic gives me a peek at the image.

I had the D300 set on Vivid+, which made the image cold, but adjusted temperature in Adobe Camera Raw. Also used the Vibrance slider -- it's great. It allows one to make colors richer without making colors already vivid too much so. Adobe Camera Raw's Recovery slider didn't seem to allow me to pull in texture of the snow on the branch, so in PSE6 I used Shadows/Highlights, zero (0) on the Shadows, and toned down the snow in Highlights.

Details on the shot: Nikon D300 on Gitzo CF tripod with Bogen ball-head, aperture priority, stopped all the way down to get a long exposure, ISO-200, Nikkor 35-70mm AF f/2.8 lens @ 40mm, 5 sec at f/22, exposure compensation -.7.

This camera seems to meter long exposures better than my D70 or D100 did. (Don't remember about my D200. Seth has that in Turkey!) I like the effect.

Not a Raw Deal Afterall

Hmmm! Talk about Adobe Raw Camera -- this software could convert me into a raw shooter! Look at the control it gives you, all without modifying the "digital negative!" You have the EXIF data right under the histogram. And as advertised concerning raw files, you may alter the white balance as desired, even if you didn't get it right during the shoot. OK, no big deal, although the auto is pretty smart. The tools (sliders) give you big-time control. They are dynamic, so you can watch the effect of each on the histogram & the image. Play with the Exposure slider and watch the histogram; adjust the "dark side of the force" without affecting the white side (Blacks slider.) The Fill Light slider is great -- so much more efficient that Shadow/Highlights -- at a glance, anyways. Recovery slider lets you adjust the white side without clipping the dark side -- excella-mundo (-- is that a word?)

Below is the original JPEG shot out the window of my office:



Here's a quick and dirty raw file, converted from NEF to DNG using Adobe Raw Converter (batches a whole folder, thank you!), and then massaged in Adobe Camera Raw:

I took this shot from my office window of the parking lot during a mild, snow whiteout. Shot raw+normal jpeg. These aren't winners at the Club, BUT, I'm learning and having fun!

The Homestead -- Raw Deal

It's been a long time since I've tried to do anything with a raw file, NEF for Nikon. But I shot a few shots of the old homestead using the D300's quality setting at Raw plus Fine, thus a NEF file and a large jpeg. Boy, will that chew up a memory card in a hurry. (I can take 32 images on a 1 GB card on that setting!) Here's the straight jpeg:
For the life of me, I could not get Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements 6 to read the NEF format -- gave me a parsing file error. A search on the Web described fixes beyond my motivation level (I'm really content with jpegs -- life is too short) so I took the easy way out and downloaded Adobe DNG converter, the latest version. It allows one to convert a folder of NEF images, in my case, to DNG format, Adobe's digital negative format. That format enabled me to "Open as raw" in Elements and play with the "raw deal." Don't remember exactly what I did to the image, but here it is. I'll be more methodical next time.

By the way, Nikon D300, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens, ISO-200, 125 sec. @ f/5.6. Love that lens!

Low Light Rapid Fire!

It was 6:32 AM; light snow had fallen, so I wanted to capture a shot that included the snow and the antique tiller that my wife had purchased. I goosed up the ISO to 1600 and even though using a fast lens, the Nikon 50mm AF f/1.8 at f/1.8, my shutter speed was only 1/10 sec. That's too slow for hand-held; this is not a vibration reduction (VR) lens.
So, I put the Nikon D300 on high speed, and fired off four (4) shots, realizing that your body "settles down" and typically one of the shots will be sufficiently sharp. The sharpest is above, actually the third taken. Numbers 1 and 4 here were about the same.

This one I adjusted with levels a bit. I thought these were a bit too light compared to what I saw.

This one was the softest, actually shot second.

Try it out sometime. Of course, your chances are improved if your camera is quick, or you have a VR lens; the D300 is rated to do 6 frames/sec.