Photography Log

[scatterbrains]

Heya, nothing new guys just testing my new camera and the forum's gallery and trying to figure out how the links work when added to a post.

My camera is a Canon M50 (mirrorless, APS-C sensor) with the stock lens (15-45mm F3.5)



This was shot on Aperture priority mode at iso 250

15mm F3.5, light coming from window on her right and lamp from top and left. Camera on the table.
I sent it to my phone, cropped it and used a "sharpen" tool on it ... not sure if it makes much difference and I have no idea what I'm doing.



This one iso was at 400 still on aperture priority but this time it was a higher Fstop to try to get more in focus (i think 6 can't remember though)
I sent it to my phone to crop it but didn't modify it further. Camera was in my hands so maybe I shook a little and light wasn't as good.



This one is the same but I sent a "reduced sized jpeg" when transferring the picture from my camera to my phone. It did'nt make much of a difference ...



And a picture from my phone (redmi note 8 48mp AI camera mumbo jumbo)


I'm posting these because I have no idea what I'm doing yet so I think I should write it down.

[scatterbrains]

further experimentation:

Same position same light, 3 different Apertures. 1 with the phone from the same position. What I'm learning so far is that having a decent camera makes color much more realistic than an OK phone.

The aperture used is in the picture's name to illustrate depth of field. The shutter was very slow in picture 3.

[gamer Mac]

What do I know, my old eyes are going, but I think your phone  works better than your camera

[scatterbrains]

Ya think? How so? The colors look more like reality to me with the camera but i guess you only see the pictures so you cant compare. The phone seems to add filters i didnt ask for.

[Blackwolf]

Interesting photos Scatterbrains. Just like to ask a few questions,and suggest a few things;
What setting are you using on your camera? The simplest would be aperture,then you can always fiddle with exposure while you do it.
Always set the iso a low as you can. Are you using the timer?
Take the photos as RAW files.
Use the viewfinder,not the screen,you get a much better sense of what’s going on with the photo.
If you can manually focus,and try different focal lengths,you could probably get it a bit closer too.
Try different exposure levels,and maybe use some card,foam whatever to bounce a little light around.
And if your camera has a macro setting,don’t use it! Only use aperture or manual.
It’s a good little camera,you should have no trouble at all

[scatterbrains]

Cool mate thanks for the advice!

If I use RAW do I need to think about software to get the best out of them?

I was on iso 250 but camera can go to 100 so I'll move that down and adjust exposure if needed next time.
I can't remember if I used the timer on all of them pictures. I think I did.
I shot all these on Aperture Priority, and definitely not in macro mode but there are a lot of different scene selections in the menue too and i am not familiar with all of them yet.

Viewfinder ok will try, I was using  manual focus but didnt notice there was a zoom(not actual zoom just to view a smaller part of the screen and focus on that) button to focus more precisely so maybe wasn't very precise with it!

Thanks again 

[Blackwolf]

Hope it helps
PS I always manually focus

[scatterbrains]

Ok here's the setup:
Shooting at 28mm (found zooming in at 35mm or 45mm gave the figures a bit of a halo effect for some reason)
ISO 100
RAW format (didnt do any editing though)
Exposure not adjusted (+/-0)
Shutter speed automatic (aperture priority)
Manual focus: i found with high Fstop number everything behind what i focus on is clear so decided to focus in front of the subject. Is that right or am i imagining things?
Tried 3 different apertures: 4.5, 10, 22

See if you can guess which is which

[Blackwolf]

Haha,easy peasy 
Nice,the first is the best,the bokeh (the out of focus bits) directs your eyes toward the minis whilst giving an interesting picture as a whole. Good stuff

[scatterbrains]

Thanks for your feedback and help Mr. Loup Noir!

[Blackwolf]

My pleasure mate 

[Codsticker]

Yeah, I think if I was taking pix of minis then the first would be perfect but if I was taking pix of a wargame in action I would use the second as the mins behind the first rank are a little sharper.