My First DSLR - "Is 'Dunning-Kruger Effect' a Photoshop plugin?"

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > My First DSLR - "Is 'Dunning-Kruger Effect' a Photoshop plugin?"

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

There was an article about this in the Guardian just last week. Turns out you can even take food photography courses.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/mar/11/food-photography-is-it-ok?INTCMP=SRCH

And this is the original one with the actual debate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jul/27/manners-etiquette-modern-camera

Really I wouldn't bother with anything other than a camera phone with flash turned off.

sweek0 fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Mar 18, 2013

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 17:33

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 07:01

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

I've been really happy with my Nikon D5100 and 35/1.8 prime lens, and reading the Understanding Exposures book really helped me improve and think about my pictures. So ehh, thanks thread!

However, I'm really hoping to improve my indoor/evening/event pictures. Specifically, I do a lot of dancing and would like to take better pictures of dance events. So that's low light with moving objects. And I think I'm going to need some sort of soft/indirect/bounce flash for this, I think?
Here are some examples of what I want it to look like: http://photos.brightwood.ie/Dance/The-Mooche-2013/30084629_C3LBqN#!i=2586063286&k=RcHfcSj

# ¿ Jul 7, 2013 13:01

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Dren posted:

The pictures you linked don't have any flash at all they are lit by stage lights. You could get a similar look from flashes if you set up for off camera flash, gel them, and mimic the position of the stage lights but I don't think that's what you're after.

You want a real speedlight (nikon word for flash) that TTLs and articulates so you can use it as a bounce flash. The entry level model is the sb700. It replaces the sb600 and there are some tradeoffs between the two. Both will do the job you need so decide what is right for you. Here's a good comparison: http://speedlights.net/2010/09/16/nikon-sb-700-flash-specs-vs-sb-600-and-sb-900/. The sb910 (or the 900 it replaces) is the next step and it's an awesome speedlight so pick that up if you are bankrolled like Star Wars sex parrot.

Oh and I forgot to mention. Bounce flash is at its best with a white 10-12 ft ceiling. You will not get the best results if you are shooting at a stage with a high, dark colored ceiling. In that case your best bet is off camera lighting but I get the feeling that's a little more than you were bargaining for. Besides, with any of the speedlights I mentioned you can grow into it later.

Thanks very much for that, that's very useful.
My camera is not quite as good as his but having actually looked at the settings for some of those pictures, I'm going to take some test shots and see if I can get away with just using much higher ISOs in pictures. I don't think I've actually set it any higher than ISO800 at any point. I think that's just based on bad memories of trying to use high ISOs on old point and shoot cameras about 10 years ago.. The 5100 is supposedly pretty good at dealing with this so let's try that first of all. Otherwise, those speedlights do look pretty good and I'd definitely consider saving up for an sb700.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2013 10:13

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