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[Ash Li]

So I just purchased a Nikon D40 and went out to shoot this weather, I had my ISO at 800 on this shot, what else could I have done to make the image better. It was dusk at about 8:30.

Thanks and all critique would be appreciated

[Anbesol]

Theres quite a bit of motion blur in the images, either being more stable with the VR or using a tripod would eliminate this problem. The images also look very oversaturated, are they this saturated out of camera, or did you add saturation in post processing? If the former, I'd turn your in-camera saturation down a bit.

The exif says those 2 shots were ISO 1600 as well. Unfortunately just depending on ISO and the VR can't really give you the best the shot could be, tripod and low ISO really is ideal in these shots.

[jetrim]

There are a few things that can be done pretty quickly and easily. I've looked at your EXIF data for the first shot and it says it was shot at f/3.73 ISO 1600 for 1/3sec. the second shot says it was shot at f/4.5 ISO 1600 for 1/5sec. SOOO the #1 thing you can do is invest in a tripod. The average person can hand-hold shots as slow as 1/125sec and if you're REALLY steady you might get a little more than that, but no way you're going to hand hold for 1/3sec without introducing camera shake - which makes blur. Once you have a tripod/monopod you can increase the Depth Of Field by moving the f/stop up from 3 or 4 to 9 or 11 which will increase the amount of things that are in focus within the frame. The next thing you need to do (first shot only) is to set your focus sensor/light meter on one of the lights, as all of them have "blown out" (the highlights have been clipped and there is no longer any color information available for that portion of the photo) You may need to make a few test shots to get the metering the way you want it by increasing/decreasing the exposure time. But the biggest thing is keeping the camera steady while it is exposing the image as no part of either of these shots is currently in clear sharp focus right now. That is an awsome sky and well worth trying a reshoot if the opportunity presents itself!

[Frog]

I see what you were going after. Storm light can be quite nice captured photgraphically.

What lens were you using?

The above advice is accurate. It may be a bit overwhelming for someone new to slr so just take it one step at a time and figure out one thing at a time. It'll come.

[Ash Li]

Okay I will address the first comment: Please remember title of this thread.. anyhoo what is VR?? Okay tripod, yes that would have worked and made the pictures stable.. maybe I need to be more prepares (saw the storm front coming and just grabbed my camera, started shooting)

The saturation is what the camera came set as, as I don't think I have changed that setting. I am taking the manual with me to work today and will see what I can learn

So it seems obviously that there was a whole lot of shake going on so investing in a tripod would be beneficial. I had limited experience with technical side of camera usage but had remembered that the ISO has to be set higher the darker it is outside. The remarkable thing was it was REALLY dark out as seen by this additional pictures I shot. The local news actually used my pictures on their evening weather segments

Thank you so much for your input and additional advise is also appreciated

[AgingEyes]

The next thing you need to do (first shot only) is to set your focus sensor/light meter on one of the lights, as all of them have "blown out" (the highlights have been clipped and there is no longer any color information available for that portion of the photo)

Actually, there's more to it. Ash has to decide if the bright lights are important in the final photos. Say it is a street lamp some distance away, it's not a good idea to base your exposure on that light as the rest of the photo will likely be under-exposed. Low light shots like these, the dynamic range is likely large. Unless the photographer is shooting HDR shots and relies on post-processing, he/she has to decide what is more important: the highlight or the shadow and based the exposure accordingly.

The first photograph looks like it's over-exposed. My guess is the actual scene looked darker to the eye than as presented in this photo.

[Ash Li]

Hey thanks for the reply, yeah it was really really dark (it was wild but the storm really had more bark than bite) I used like a 1600 ISO.

Now while I was not thinking in the mode "real" photographers do, I was trying to catch the clouds and how dark the sky was, With the street shots the buildings were in the shot because there was no way to get the image I wanted and not have them in it

Thanks again, I really am getting a lot of great advice from everyone with this thread

[Anbesol]

with a tripod, using super high iso's is unneccesary. With a tripod shooting that storm at 100-400 would work well.

[Ash Li]

Okay my next question for you all is, how do I focus when shooting something like storm clouds. My view finder has the focus boxes (that what I call them) and if the lens can't find a focus spot it won't shoot the picture. Now that is with automatic focus. If I use manual then the picture is ALWAYS messed up. That is with my regular lens

[Anbesol]

You can always set the camera to 'Spot focus', then place the center square on the focus area of high contrast such as cloud or building edge, or, of course - setting to manual focus. You can also set to shutter override, where the shutter will shoot the picture whether or not it has focus, once you fully press the shutter (half press will remain in focus find).

VR is "Vibration reduction", its a technology that allows minor movement within an element in the lens, thus reducing the effect of camera shake at lower shutter speeds. There are, of course, limitations to VR, and its said to give about a 3 stop advantage used properly. Thus meaning, if 1/60th of a second is the best you can do without VR, you should be able to achieve 1/8th of a second with VR. You can also turn VR on or off, when shooting at 1/125th and faster, I would keep it off.

But the bottom line ultimately, is that a tripod still trumps VR any day of the week.

[Frog]

What camera are you using?