Photo Tips
supermoto said:
Thanks for posting, Photo-John, your work is truly inspirational. I am a new dSLR user (Canon Rebel XTI) and have read 2 books and your tips, but am not yet happy with my results. I know this way too big a subject for you to address here, but can you give me some basic starter settings and I'll go from there? For example; should I choose shutter priority, AWB, partial metering, AI servo, ISO 100 (for daylight) and just pick the fastest shutter speed? Or should I just go to Sports mode and let the camera figure it out? I have read your helpful tips on prefocusing and panning and am anxious to try those out. Any help is greatly appreciated - Thanks
My first suggestion is for you to post a question on the
sports photography forum on PhotographyREVIEW.com. That ensures I keep my job and it's really better for you to post there. You'll get more informed answers and it's better for me to post my photo answers there. That said, I'll give you a little info and keep my eyes open for you on my sports forum.
I almost always shoot in manual exposure mode because that's how I learned. The auto modes work well, though. If I was shooting auto, for sports, I'd recommend shutter priority and the lowest ISO you can use and still get a good shutter speed. I tend to push the limits and lose a lot of photos. For instance, for the big drop photos, even 1/800th of a second wasn't fast enough. That surprised me. But I'll remember next time. Panning is a good idea because it introduces a sense of motion and helps keep your subject sharp. I almost always shoot RAW and use auto white balance. No reason not to use it if you're shooting RAW and can change your white balance later. And even though there's a bit of a learning curve, I encourage everyone to shoot RAW. It gives you a better original, archivable image file and you can do a lot more with that file, even if you don't know what you're doing now.
Hope that helps. You've got a great camera. It will only limit you for sequences. I shot with an XTi all last year and I just replaced mine (too much rain, I think
) with a
Canon EOS XSi / 450D. The race day rock garden photos were taken with the XSi. I have an EOS 40D, too. But most of my non-race photos are shot with the XTi or XSi because it's better for riding with. Last but not least - it's just like riding - practice, practice, practice! The more you shoot and experiment, the better you'll get.
