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I recently got my first decent camera--the Canon DSLR (d40). I took it on a trip to AZ and in looking at my pics, the colors look quite muted. In fact, they look nowhere near as good as my point and shoot pictures. Clearly this is me, not the camera.
I was told by a friend to use a circular polarizing filter in AZ as the sun is so bright and strong there, and that's what I did. I am now thinking perhaps that was not the filter to use other than water shots (pics of kids in the pool did come out quite well).
Not that I'm heading back to AZ any time soon, but can someone give me a suggestion of filter to use when shooting daytime outdoors? The only filters I own are the polarizing and the UV filter. Should I just use the UV filter, or another one?
Always leave your uv filter on. It's acts as much as a scratch protector and doesn't really affect your pics. The circular is great to make blue skies bluer (put it on and then spin it slowly and on some days you'll see the sky turn a deeper blue).
My first tip would be to read your manual or buy a dvd that explains each feature of your camera and how it works.
Tip 2) Get your off of auto. Learn what f/stops and aperature are and how they affect your shots. Learn iso and white balance and shutter speed and then go play with them all. That's the great thing about digital cameras.... take a thousand pics if you'd like. Hope this helps.
Always leave your uv filter on. It's acts as much as a scratch protector and doesn't really affect your pics. The circular is great to make blue skies bluer (put it on and then spin it slowly and on some days you'll see the sky turn a deeper blue).
My first tip would be to read your manual or buy a dvd that explains each feature of your camera and how it works.
Tip 2) Get your off of auto. Learn what f/stops and aperature are and how they affect your shots. Learn iso and white balance and shutter speed and then go play with them all. That's the great thing about digital cameras.... take a thousand pics if you'd like. Hope this helps.
Yep, I'm doing that. Experimenting, reading up on it. Hoping to figure alot out by trial and error. However, my point and shoot is automatic (obviously) and the colors were much brighter, so I'm wondering if the filter could be the reason? I did put it on auto quite a bit b/c I did not want to risk missing pictures while I learn how to do this manually but I did miss quite a few (or at least the colors were not at all sharp).
Also, my UV filter is on as a scratch protector, I was wondering though if that's the only filter I should have on? I thought the blues would be brighter, etc. and in some cases the blues were bright, but the greens on the cacti for example, were very washed out with the polarizing filter on.
As a beginner would I be best off just using the uv filter and playing around and then "moving up" to a polarizing filter when I know a bit more what I'm doing?
First, congratulations on your new camera. The 40D is an outstanding camera. The UV filter does nothing for your digital camera, except to keep dust and other stuff from hitting the lens' front glass. That's all the UV filter will do for you. Never add two filters to the camera at once (just one filter at a time).
A circular polarizer is a different story, since what it does for the camera is similar to what a set of polarizing sunglasses do for your eyes. To make it real simple, this is what the polarizer does for your eyes: when you are by the seashore in Florida, fishing on a sunny day, you look at the water and the light reflected on it almost blinds you. You squint your eyes, but you still can't see the fish swimming just below the water's surface. Then you decide to wear the good quality polarizing eyeglasses, and immediately realize that there are are several fish in the water. However, if the light is not being reflected toward your eyes (or lens), then you don't need to use the polarizer by the water's edge. Finally, keep in mind that only one-half of the circular polarizer does its work, and the way you can tell is by rotating the moving-portion of the polarizer so that the white dot on the rim is pointing to the 12 o'clock position. Now the filter will block some of the unwanted light from the horizon, clouds, etc.
The polarizer blocks a certain amount of the light reflections on the water (or from the subject) and right into the lens. Also, set your 40D to take RAW images, and download them to your computer. Work on the RAW images with an application such as PhotoShop Elements (version 4 for the Mac, or 6 for the PC). Also, for now shoot with the camera set to "P mode." This mode is semi-automatic, but still allows you to manually change a few things on how the camera works.
The following instructions are for a Rebel XT, but you still can learn a lot from these tutorials. Canon may even have free online 40D tutorials you may want to search for:
Digital Rebel XT Lessons (http://images.photoworkshop.com/rebelxtlessons/interface.html - broken link)
Fabulous. That would explain my less than stellar results! Next time I'll remember to post before taking a trip so I'm not disappointed when I look at my pictures.
The UV filter does nothing for your digital camera, except to keep dust and other stuff from hitting the lens' front glass. That's all the UV filter will do for you.
Thats not true. A UV filter does what its name implies: it blocks UV light (i.e. cuts through haze, smog, etc). It definitely has an effect, and while many people do use them as a lens protector its not good practice. Also, most digital cameras are not as UV sensitive as traditional film so its not as necessary to begin with. A better option for that purpose would be a skylight filter, which does not affect the final picture and serves only to protect the lens.
Thats not true. A UV filter does what its name implies: it blocks UV light (i.e. cuts through haze, smog, etc). It definitely has an effect, and while many people do use them as a lens protector its not good practice. Also, most digital cameras are not as UV sensitive as traditional film so its not as necessary to begin with. A better option for that purpose would be a skylight filter, which does not affect the final picture and serves only to protect the lens.
You are correct to a certain point, in that a skylight filter is good for lens protection, but both haze and skylight are still UV filter variants. UV filters have a small effect on digital sensors, often not enough of benefit to the average photographer, although some professionals use them to correct certain conditions encountered in mountainous regions. Those who still want to use such filters with their digital cameras can do so, specially to protect the front glass from splash, dust, sand, etc. (there are more details on UV filters at the link below): Filter options for digital cameras
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Haze filters block more UV-A than regular UV filters but also take a bite out of visible blue. Skylight filters also cut some blue but are no more effective in the pesky UV-A band than regular UV filters.
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So much for theory. In practice, these theoretical UV filter benefits simply don't show up on the digital side. Under nearly all conditions and for nearly all cameras, UV filters are a waste of money and a potential source of flare for digital photographers.
Or you could leave filters off altogether, and use a lens hood.
To the OP, aside from using a polarizer (which is not necessary 100% of the time), I'd recommend paying attention to your white balance and exposure settings, as well as your shutter speed. As for ISO, the lower the number, the better. Unless you're shooting in low light, I'd leave it at 100.
Another important thing to do is to learn how to read your histogram. It will tell you whether or not your image is properly exposed.
I recently got my first decent camera--the Canon DSLR (d40). I took it on a trip to AZ and in looking at my pics, the colors look quite muted. In fact, they look nowhere near as good as my point and shoot pictures. Clearly this is me, not the camera.
I was told by a friend to use a circular polarizing filter in AZ as the sun is so bright and strong there, and that's what I did. I am now thinking perhaps that was not the filter to use other than water shots (pics of kids in the pool did come out quite well).
Not that I'm heading back to AZ any time soon, but can someone give me a suggestion of filter to use when shooting daytime outdoors? The only filters I own are the polarizing and the UV filter. Should I just use the UV filter, or another one?
its hard to give a sensible answer without seeing your photos. Can you post some?
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Hope this helps.
