Please check out my bio

pahl · January 30, 2007

I took some bit and pieces of other members bios that I liked to make up my own.

Tonight I just added the last line about contacting me if they want photos on cd/dvd.

As I read it over and over I am not sure it sounds right.

Could I word it better?

This website is going to be great for downloading all my sporting photos for other parents to view too.
I thought it would be the answer to all. No making dvds for everyone that asked for photos. Everyone can see the game photos the next day and not wait for the end of the season for me to put them on dvd and mail them out.

It was going to be great!

Well at the last basketball practice we start giving out my smugmug site address.

Tonight at basketball practice I get some feedback.
They tried to view the site, but there internet is not working that great on there computer and they are on dial up too so things are slow loading.

They asked if they can get the photos on dvd.

I will be happy to put them on a dvd for them at the end of the basketball season.

So smugmug is not going to be a cure all for me as I was not thinking of all the rural people around here that are still on dial up.

I am still really looking forward to using it. I think once baseball and soccer starts this spring word will get around to take a look at my smugmug.

More people will get highspeed someday, right... lol..

Scott_Quier · January 31, 2007

Your bio is more an introduction to your site than to you. Were it me, I would warm it up a bit by injecting a bit more of your personality into it. By way of example, check out what I've written on my web-site about myself (here). I'm not saying it's anywhere near great, but it does tend to convey a little bit about me and why I think I might be the right person for the job. In PM you said you're not looking for a job. Cool, I think though that your bio should provide a glimps of who you are. It will add interest and may/should increase traffic to your site.

Can I mention something about the BB pictures? I looked at the shots from the last two games. I see at least two major things I believe you need to work on:

They are almost all under-exposed, by at least 1/2 - 2/3 a stop. You have stopped the action nicely and, on at least one shot, you have your lens nicely wide open. You might want to try fill flash to add just that little bit more light to the shot.
Your shots are very centered, especially your action shots. You seem to have a tendency to "cut them off at the ankles". Try lowering the angle of your camera just a bit to get all of the primary subjects feet into the shot.

I hope this helps. I think brightening up your shots a bit will have a significant, positive, impact on your print sales as will improvements in your composition.

Best wishes,

Scott_Quier · February 1, 2007

From an PM:

pahl wrote:

Me again,
I have been thinking some more about what you said on my photos being under-exposed, by at least 1/2 - 2/3 a stop.

Could you help me a bit more with that.
I have been using the custom white balance setting in the gyms and aperture priority setting.

When doing it this way your saying my photos are darker then they should be correct?

At one point I played around with off setting the exposure +or - 1/2 stop to see if I could get some higher shutter speed being in aperture mode and keeping it around f2.0-2.8

I looked at some of your sports photos and there awesome!

How would you suggest I set up my camera for taking indoor basketball photos.

I am using a pentax istDL and for lens have the 10-17fisheye/50mm 1.4 and the kit lens.

I really like shooting without the flash, but maybe I should start using it more. All I have in the on camera flash right now.

I am looking at getting some kind of med range f/2.8 zoom this spring for soccer and baseball photos.

Thanks
jp

CWB will not significantly impact your exposure. I say significantly because I don't know that there is zero impact from changing the CWB - there might be.

In looking at your shots, I notice that there are significant sources of bright light in your backgrounds - not your fault and there is nothing you can do to remove them. But, you do need to compensate for that. What is happening is your camera is "seeing" these bright lights and is reducing the exposure to partially compensate for that light.

So, what do you do to allow for that?

The best thing you can do is figure out what ISO/shutter speed/aperture settings you need to properly expose your subject (the players) and set that in manual mode. The nice thing about most gyms is that the light can be, while dim, quite consistant. You can almost set it in manual mode and forget it. Nothing is always, things are always going to change one you.

OK, you don't want to play with manual mode just yet. Well, then you need to pay attention to your background in each shot and use your exposure compensation.

Or, you can set your metering mode to a tighter setting. I guessing you are in "Evaluative" mode. This does an weighted averaging of the entire frame. Instead, use a "tighter" metering mode - check you owner's manual for a better description of your options. This will help to reduce, but not eliminate, the impact of the bright, non-subject, light sources.

Or, you set your camera to Av mode, just like you've been doing, and set the exposure compensation (EC) to +1/2 or +2/3 stop and see what you get. Check your histogram. It should be pushed to, but not all the way to, the right. Setting your EC as indicated will lower your shutter speed. That's not what you want. So, you increase your ISO setting. Your camera will keep the aperture you set, it will increase exposure above what it "thinks" is right by whatever your have set your EC, but the shutter speed will increase in response to the increases ISO setting. The downside? Most cameras (there might be an exception to this rule) will generate more noise in the image with higher ISO settings. But, if you keep your exposure to the right, as indicated above, the impact of noise will be reduced.

About the BB/soccer lens. If there's one available for your camera, you might find a faster (f/1.8, f/1.4) prime (85mm, 100mm, etc) more useful for BB than the f/2.8 zoom. For field sports, most mid-range zooms will provide less than satisfying reach. A 200mm reach might do the job. But, longer will be better. Just some ideas to keep in mind.

pahl · February 1, 2007

Great reply,
This will give me some more things to try.

Thanks,
jp

Please check out my bio

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