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09/03/2012 10:08:49 AM · #1 |
just got back from vacation.
a very big complaint i have is that i don't have really any good shots of me AND my wife together. it seems that no one knows how to use a dslr. i did all i could including green box to get a shot taken of us.
a few days in i starting seeking out people who had a dslr to enlist their help taking a shot for us, still no luck. i would really hate to see what these people ended up with.
a couple of funny stories:
one guy took a picture of us and then asked if we wanted another shot of the lower half of us, apparently he puts portraits together in post panorama style :/
one lady told me i had no idea what great equipment i had, she was adamant about this for some reason, i told her i was pretty sure i was aware of what I had. she then berated me for using AF and not MF, i told her she was more than welcome to use MF for the portrait of us, all her shots missed focus, including those with AF, the MF ones were not even close but at least i could tell where the AF was focusing on.
one guy on the beach composed the shot with us all the way in the bottom left corner cutting off our lower half and if it wasn't shot in raw would have been blown way out.
by the end of the trip i was using a timer taking them myself, i turned away lots of folks who offered. i just knew they wouldn't come out.
i just don't get why its so hard for people to grasp using a dslr. it works the same way as a point and shoot, half press to focus and then full press to shoot, maybe the AF doesn't do all the work? should i have use live view since the viewfinder was a major cause of confusion.
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09/03/2012 10:28:56 AM · #2 |
thanks for the grins, mike!
what i've done to solve that problem is is this:
1) use a wide-angle lense
2) set my camera's focus button to a back-button so that they don't have to do a half-click to focus
3) get my subject (wife/family/etc) where i want them
4) get where i want the picture taken, frame up the shot centered, and then focus
5) hand off the camera and tell them all they have to do is point it right at me/us and push the button
6) get back to where i need to be
7) tell the "photog" to go ahead and take the picture
8) smile and pray
ymmv ;-)
btw, post up some of those misfires...this place could use a few grins.
Message edited by author 2012-09-03 10:31:27. |
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09/03/2012 10:32:37 AM · #3 |
That's hilarious!
I have sort of a different issue.......every time I'm somewhere there are people with cameras, they just assume that because I have this big, clunky DSLR that I'll know how to use their weird little mysterious boxes.
Live view gives me horrible vertigo, I have trouble even knowing where the shutter button is, and honestly........more than half the time, I can't tell whether the damn things have taken the picture!
I have a few times where we've asked for help, and half the time, people get the deer-in-the-headlights look when they see the camera we have.
Funny stuff!
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09/03/2012 10:44:36 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
more than half the time, I can't tell whether the damn things have taken the picture! |
That's easy - when you hear the electronic popping champagne cork sound. |
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09/03/2012 10:55:44 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
That's hilarious!
I have sort of a different issue.......every time I'm somewhere there are people with cameras, they just assume that because I have this big, clunky DSLR that I'll know how to use their weird little mysterious boxes.
Live view gives me horrible vertigo, I have trouble even knowing where the shutter button is, and honestly........more than half the time, I can't tell whether the damn things have taken the picture!
I have a few times where we've asked for help, and half the time, people get the deer-in-the-headlights look when they see the camera we have.
Funny stuff! |
I'm glad I'm not the only one. :) I will take a couple pictures just in case though which seems to amuse people.
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09/03/2012 11:10:04 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by mike_311:
... the MF ones were not even close but at least i could tell where the AF was focusing on. |
You both probably forgot to change the diopter adjustment on the viewfinder to compensate for the difference in your eyes -- those shots may well have seemed to look in focus to her when she took them. |
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09/03/2012 11:12:46 AM · #7 |
Thanks for the laugh.
Had to ask someone two days ago, first one focused on the mountain 5 k's behind us, second one cut off at the knees.
Worst is when they want to have a look with you and you have to pretend that it's the best ever. |
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09/03/2012 11:17:41 AM · #8 |
| I was having lunch at an outdoor cafe last week when two women asked this group of guys walking down the sidewalk if one of them would take their picture. As soon as she handed over the camera one of the other guys said "Quick, run!" Fortunately he was just kidding ... :-) |
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09/03/2012 02:55:34 PM · #9 |
Yikes! Thanks for the smile.
I usually compose zoom assuming they'll put my face in the middle and that I'll crop it later, get the focus right in AF, then tell them to just point the middle right at my face and click. |
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09/03/2012 03:01:07 PM · #10 |
A tripod and the self timer make a pretty good solution to the problem.
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09/03/2012 03:23:42 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
A tripod and the self timer make a pretty good solution to the problem. |
So does the flip/swivel LCD on some Canon models ...  |
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09/03/2012 03:28:44 PM · #12 |
I know what you mean... just got back from Seattle and I have no good pictures of me. Even my traveling companion sucked at taking pictures. Sigh.
Skip gave some good advice. I'm going to try what he says. |
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09/03/2012 03:35:23 PM · #13 |
I recently discovered a friend of mine can actually take quality photos of me.
Hence the new profile pic.
-CB |
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09/03/2012 03:35:31 PM · #14 |
When someone asks if I want a picture with me in it, I just smile and say "No, I already know what I look like, thanks!"
I'm the one who always has the camera, so I'm never in 'em. There's method to my madness...
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09/03/2012 03:39:08 PM · #15 |
Totally know what you're talking about... Took the family to Bushkill Falls last weekend. Here's what my M-I-L took for us...
I set aperture priority thinking that would be fine... I will have to go full auto next time!
Message edited by author 2012-09-03 15:44:04.
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09/03/2012 03:55:48 PM · #16 |
| it would have been... If you had only set the aperture to f/40. |
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09/03/2012 04:24:29 PM · #17 |
| My solution to this problem is to compose the shot myself by moving my AF point around the scene, then tell the person to put the little square around my face. Either use manual on the exposure or spot meter and know what the result is going to be. Works great! |
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09/03/2012 04:47:07 PM · #18 |
You guys let others touch your cameras and lenses? :-)
In the National Park, I am constantly asked to take photos of a couple or a group. Most of the time I comply, but not always. It depends on whether the light conditions will allow an acceptable photo result. People are sometimes surprised when I move and rearrange and reorient the people in the scene. |
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09/03/2012 04:59:36 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by hahn23:
You guys let others touch your cameras and lenses? :-)
In the National Park, I am constantly asked to take photos of a couple or a group. Most of the time I comply, but not always. It depends on whether the light conditions will allow an acceptable photo result. People are sometimes surprised when I move and rearrange and reorient the people in the scene. |
Tourist: Hi, that's a nice camera, will you please use our camera to take our picture?
Richard: No, the light isn't any good.
Tourist: Blank stare.
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09/03/2012 05:04:23 PM · #20 |
A couple of years ago I went to see a local celebrity at a book launch. A lady who was taking photos with a dSLR offered to take a photo of me with the celebrity, so I reluctantly handed over my camera. She was a bit confused over how to zoom with my Canon 50mm f1.8!
The other side of the story: At a recent meeting of our bonsai club a couple of people asked me to take their photos with the visiting foreign guest. One had a Nikon dSLR. It felt a bit weird, but I was able to get the shot she wanted. When someone else handed over his phone, however, I was totally lost.
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09/03/2012 05:19:46 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by Skip:
thanks for the grins, mike!
what i've done to solve that problem is is this:
1) use a wide-angle lens
8) smile and pray[/b] |
That about covers it in Africa...if you ever see your DSLR again... |
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09/03/2012 05:27:42 PM · #22 |
i always have my camera with me and sat chilling out at our recording studio /club and someone said let me take your pic, you always take ours and are never on any
i was like i dont need to be on any my photos are through my eyes haha, after some knacking you hand over your 5dmk2 1.4f 50mm and battery grip, 550 ex and then you get "why doesnt it take pictures like you do"
give me my camera back and go away haha |
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09/03/2012 05:38:28 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
That's hilarious!
I have sort of a different issue.......every time I'm somewhere there are people with cameras, they just assume that because I have this big, clunky DSLR that I'll know how to use their weird little mysterious boxes.
Live view gives me horrible vertigo, I have trouble even knowing where the shutter button is, and honestly........more than half the time, I can't tell whether the damn things have taken the picture!
I have a few times where we've asked for help, and half the time, people get the deer-in-the-headlights look when they see the camera we have.
Funny stuff! |
I know exactly what you're talking of. Happens especially when I have the 70-200 mounted with lens hood. I really would like to help those poor people, but does any body know where you set aperture on those toy cams ( not to mention control of focus) ? |
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09/03/2012 06:22:34 PM · #24 |
Friendly strangers used my 5D to snap this shot of  PennyClick and me :-)
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09/03/2012 06:37:37 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Friendly strangers used my 5D to snap this shot of PennyClick and me :-)
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You see! That camera takes lovely photos! :-P
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