First samples from my S2

I took my First shots with my new S2, IKELITE, DS-125, Nikon 60 mm macro, in Eilat Israel.

I'll appreciate your criticism and comments.

Dany

My second blenny

excellent first shots. Particularly good colour. Did you have to edit these photos much? i am particularly interested in what the colour of the original is like.

Would also be nice if you could put up some EXIF info.

The only thing i would say about improving the shots is to try and take it as a portait shot and close in, i know this can be a bit difficult with blennies sometimes.

Thank's for the critique MrFish,

I used just minimum edit : Digital Velvia plugin (intensity 2 of 10) crop out 10% and slightly unshrped.

The original shot is little less saturated, otherwise the same.

Here's the EXIF of the first shot:

Here's a tip:

There is almost no need to shoot in aperture priority for macro. If your shot is going to be lit completely by strobe, then set your aperture at f22 and your shutter at 1/60th. If you don't have enough light for that then go back to f16 or so. But you shouldn't have to.

Your camera metered and exposed for ambient light at f9.5 which didn't give you the maximum depth of field.

Cheers

James

Pardon my ignorance of how the S2 works, but in aperture priority mode with strobe does the camera meter to ambient, or does the shutter speed default to a 1/60th or higher synch with a strobe attached? In any case, I would have to assume that in this case, 1/60th was pretty close to ambiemtn metering because the background is still well lit . . .

It depends on the flash mode Mike. If you set the flash to normal, it will default to 1/60th or faster. If you set it in Rear Curtain or Slow Sync, then it will meter for the background light.

I got some really cool rear curtain sync'd pictures of turtles in Hawaii.

HTH

James

Assuming you are using "Front Syncro Mode":

In P or A shutter is set from 1/125 to 1/60 by the camera.

You might consider shooting at ISO 100. It may give you more saturation. Remember that Velvia 50 is widely used for macro.

I found M, 1/60, F22, ISO 100, to do well for me for macro. I tweaked it a little with exposure compensation by bracketting early in the trip. Then I didn't feel like it was necessary after I found the sweet spot.

If you shot RAW, you will be amazed at how much you can blow up that Blenny before it starts to lose detail. Nice shots BTW. You really had some patience to get that close.

Hi Biko,

firstn congratumations, nice shots !

What do you mean when you talk about "Digital velvia " editing...

Thanks for your answer.

This from Steve's Digicams

Digital Velvia (DV) AcTioN file for PhotoShop

Photoshop saturation algorithms are not very effective because they can often introduce (worsen) noise and shift colors on the image. This new action increases saturation without any noise increase or shift in color. It offers of a choice of 3 levels of saturation to increase to (Low, medium or high). For more info and samples click on the link above. Reasonably priced at $4.50.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/DRI/index.html

I must admit i have not heard of this one before but would be very interested as i find that photoshop can overcompensate with the reds. Might be worth trying.

Thank's guys,

James I'll try the settings you mentioned when depht of fild is critical, but for the specific case,

I believe that I had to use even wider aperture to isolate the blenny from the background.

Anyway, I should practice more with the slow sync\rear curtain and it's effect on the overall

lightning performance.

Thank's for the tips.

About the Digital Velvia, I think it work's very nice, this is the right link:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/DV/index.html

Dany

Hi, Dany

Good macros: sharp & good colors.

Next time, hope I'll can come ...

James I'll try the settings you mentioned when depht of fild is critical, but for the specific case,

I believe that I had to use even wider aperture to isolate the blenny from the background.

 

Anyway, I should practice more with the slow sync\rear curtain and it's effect on the overall

lightning performance.

Dany.

I like your pix and I would suggest that they could be enhanced by tight cropping. The first shot would benefit (imo) from rotating.

Using a Nikkor 105 may help get the subject to stand out and give a smoother blurred background -"Bokkeh"

I have just compared the 105 on the S2 and a N90X and the digital produces unwanted background detail for this type of shot which pushes you to use larger aperatures.

When I shoot with rear-sync I set -1 stop compensation on the background to keep the water/ambient light acceptable, this is with a Nik N90X with Kodak EBX100.

Hope this helps

PauP

Thank's for the critique MrFish,

 

I used just minimum edit : Digital Velvia plugin (intensity 2 of 10) crop out 10% and slightly unshrped.

 

The original shot is little less saturated, otherwise the same.

 

Here's the EXIF of the first shot:

Whoah! No need to post screenshots for EXIF data. USe a program like Breezebrowser and cut & paste.