1st attempt of nature photo's with new cam nf

[oxcowboy]

hey folks, i had a snow day from school today and seen a coyote out from our house this morning and tried to snap a couple of pictures with our new camera, its nothing real special just a kodak 8mp c875 easy share. the pics are ok, but im open to any suggestions that might make them better in the future. after the coyote that got me in the mood to take some more so while i was feeding hay to the cows i took the camera with me and was lucky enough to spot some whitetail deer. they again were pretty far away and i had to use the maximum zoom which i think hurt the pic quality, but they turned out ok the other 2 are just of a small creek that runs through our farm and some ice on a rocky cliff. hope you can make out the wildlife, im just a very new rookie to this kind of thing lol.

thanks for looking.

jason

 

[GbayGiant]

You could pick up a 30mm lens attachment, for not to much that would make a big difference at those long shots. Bigger the lens the further you can shoot or zoom in.

Edited February 8, 2007 by GbayGiant

[Eddyk]

Very nice . Thanks for sharing.

[silveradosheriff]

Very nice - keep the pics coming!

[danc]

You seem to be on the right track Jason. All it really takes to get some decent photos is a desire to get out and do so. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. The last two scenery shots are very nice, but you'll probably have to upgrade your camera to get better wildlife photos, for the zoom factor alone. You mentioned that "they again were pretty far away and i had to use the maximum zoom which i think hurt the pic quality". This would only occur if you went beyond your optical zoom and into your digital zoom. As tempting as it is, don't use your digital zoom. Ever. Digital zoom only crops your photos in camera and basically throws away a lot of the pixels that you paid dearly for. You can easily accomplish what your digital zoom does with any basic (and free) photo editing software.

 

If photography really interests you, save up and buy a better camera with manual controls. You don't have to spend a fortune on this. 300 to 400 bucks can get you a nice camera these days. Practice setting your aperture, shutter speed and ISO manually and you'll get much better results. In other words, don't let the camera control you. You take full control of the camera. 10 or 12x optical zoom is great. I've seen some newer cameras are as high as 18x. You seem to live in a nice rural area with plenty of wildlife, so the world is at your door step as far as photography goes.

 

Good luck Jason. Photography is a great hobby that you can practice any time, any where. And it's rewards are many.

[oxcowboy]

thanks guys,

gbaygiant, about how much are we talking $.

DanC, ive messed a little bit since your comment, not really sure which way i need to go.

[Daplumma]

Good stuff Jason.Very pretty country you live in.

Joe

[danc]

Clampet, I'm planning on doing an article about photography, or most likely a series of articles in TJ's newsletter in the upcoming months. I'll most likely explain things much clearer at that time, but I'll give a brief explanation of what these things mean in the meantime.

 

It's actually amazing how your camera is like the human eyeball. It reacts much the same way in similar situations. Let's start with aperture settings. Those are the F2, F5, F8 etc. settings in your camera. When you walk into a dark room, your pupils open wider to let more light in. Your camera aperture does the same thing. It opens wider in dark situations to let more light in. F2 is a wider opening than F8.

 

Shutter speed is simply that. It's how long your shutter remains open to let in that light. My mid level camera has shutter speeds from 1/2000th of a second, all the way to 30 seconds. If I'm in very bright conditions and I want to freeze the action of a sports scene for example, I'll go all the way up to my 1/2000th of a second. If, on the other hand, I'm attempting to shoot lightning or the northern lights at night, I might go as long as my 30 second setting.

 

ISO is probably the most difficult to understand. In the days of film, ISO was called film sensitivity to light. Film packages that you bought might have said "ISO 100 for bright sunny days" or "ISO 400 indoor shooting" Now it refers to your cameras sensor chip sensitivity to light. In most cases you would want to take as fast a shutter speed that you can. So selecting a higher ISO would allow you to take a faster shot if the lighting conditions permit.

 

All these things go hand in hand but they also have downfalls if used to extremes. I'll attempt to explain them in my future planned articles. But at least you now know what they mean, and hopefully what they do in regards to photography. 5 or 6 years ago I didn't have a clue about any of this. But I got interested and took the time to read and experiment. It has become a great hobby.

[GbayGiant]

You might want to email kodak, I did a quick check on their site they have a lot of different lenses but I didn't see any for your model, you could ask them.

 

My sister just got a 37mm for her Sony and it makes a huge difference in quality, but your camera model may not be compatible for the kodak lenses that they offer, not sure.

 

They have different lenses for a lot of different things to (extra wide shots, close up shots, telephoto, etc..)

 

If your serious like Dan said you could get another high quality camera, ebay has tones of nice cameras for good deals.

Edited February 8, 2007 by GbayGiant

[Rattletrap2]

Great info Dan, as always! I have not seen it expressed that clearly before!

 

I'll be watching for your articles as well...great idea! You have already helped me out quite a bit and I can only learn more from people in the know such as yourself.

 

Thanks!

[oxcowboy]

thanks dan, i will look for that when it comes out.

 

i checked on ebay and didnt really find anything that fit, but i may check with the company.

 

thanks joe, its simply good ol rural america.

Edited February 8, 2007 by oxcowboy

[Rattletrap2]

Sorry Jason, excellent shots as well on your part. That does look like a very pretty farm that you live on!

 

I can't wait to try and take some shots of deer in the near future as well.

[oxcowboy]

thanks and no problem rattletrap2, im usually taking shots with the gun, but kinda like catch and release with the camera

[Carp]

Looks like you have the right idea oxcowboy.

 

I have a decent zoom on my camera, but can add different lenses if I want.

You definitely need good zoom for wildlife shots and Dan should have some

great info in his article. I'll be looking forward to reading it too.

[huntervasili]

Nice start... I like using B/W heres one of the shots i Like...

Fortunly you will get some practice on your farm though... It is really enjoyable especially in the winter

[jediangler]

Nice pics. I like the icicles best. Try that scene, or a similar one, with some direct sunlight. Maybe early in the day or as the sun sets. Light is the paint of your photographs. Sometimes the difference ten minutes makes can turn an ordinary shot into a beauty.

[Headhunter]

Great shots! Also, some very good info from Dan, I eagerly anticipate your articles.

One thought that came to mind was this; when you utillize the full optical range of your camera, be very sure that you keep the camera very still, when taking your shot. Even the slightest movement of the camera, with the zoom at it's peak, will cause your shots to look blurry.

A half inch movement of the camera, will result in the lense seeing a very large movementin the picture field.

HH

[mattyk]

nice photos! Looking forward to your future shots.

[Whopper]

Looks like you getting a good start Jason!

 

Thanks for the response Dan and I'm looking foward to your future articles.

 

Happy shooting Jason!

 

Whopper