My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome

Location : Nr Sleaford Spotter Watch Member : No

Took over 300 pics and this one is my best so it only goes downhill from here lol

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962986814_dcafbf3196_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962986814_dcafbf3196_o

Now some of you will remember i took advice on choosing my camera and the reason as to why i had too from THIS thread. Before i went out i had some research to do because before i got the camera i had no idea what shutter speed, aperture, or ISO was nor with how they related to each other. Having spent a good few hours on youtube watching some tutorials i sort of get the idea. The rest of my top 9 pics (couldn't make 10) are as follows.

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962214367_6b74601d68_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962214367_6b74601d68_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962987780_d3031206d5_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962213491_42899c7a90_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962987418_8c6ac57512_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962212421_9c5a610a03_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962213795_2a70f58355_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962214045_d449b6013a_o

My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 3962989396_44428ecd28_o

You'll be better judges than me not only on knowledge etc but also by way of my monitor not being calibrated properly so its hard for me to judge which one has good or poor light & colour settings.

Finally as it was my first attempt i was obviously trying different settings out etc and seeing what i was finding difficult and, if any, what was easy.

I struggled with the focus purely on how small the margin is. Would this be down to only using the kit 75mm lens at full length? Or is this the case with the focus on every lens?

With the shutter speed, what is generally the range i should be in between? I know its only my first time with it but i struggled to tell any difference between 1/250 and 1/4000 other than the light. I wasn't experiencing a harder-to-get shot with any speed but at no setting was i getting a consistently good picture either. The majority of the above was at 1/1000 which to me seems a little too high (going from what i have learnt).

Thanks for looking Smile

Moderator Location : Between Coventry and Leicester

With photobucket dropping the quality down , and the crappy weather and light,
you have not done to bad for a first time.

Location : Durham. UK Spotter Watch Member : no

There not bad at all for your 1st attempt. Open up another stop, that will help. A few minutes on Photoshop and they will be just fine. If you haven't got the full version of Photoshop then get yourself Photoshop Elements, it will do all you want in terms of adjusting levels and colour etc.
Practice makes perfect!

Location : Bristol

Well done Chef My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 687308

Good photos for your first atempt - and never easy with grey skies. Your helicoptor and Herc shots are very good, as you have avoided the usual beginners mistake of having a too fast shutter speed and freezing th props (though from what you say your shutter speeds were more likely on auto setting). They were certainly no more than 250 in those photos - which is ideal.

Location : N E Jockistan Spotter Watch Member : No

There ain't much wrong there that you can't fix with PhotoShop or similar.

What camera/lens did you opt for in the end?

Location : Oxfordshire Spotter Watch Member : no

A great start keep them coming. My first DSLR Aviation pics - Help & Advice is very welcome 698488

Location : Nr Sleaford Spotter Watch Member : No

Thanks guys, wasn't expecting that response so quite pleased now :)

Highlandsniper; Sony A200 + 18-75mm. Planning on getting a 300mm at the end of next March in readiness for the new season.

The Phantom; Just checked the Exif info and those two were on auto :( so i guess i can't take the credit for the prop blur but by looking at that info i can start to see how the settings used on auto affect the photo. The Harrier was fully manual though so i'm happy with that.

The Bossman; Yes i have photoshop (an old version though), but is irfanview as good for editing? I'm just so used to using it for editing images rather than photoshop. If Photoshop is the only way to do it then no probs.

Location : N E Jockistan Spotter Watch Member : No

Irfanview is a great little programme - I've been using it since the mid-nineties. Although I don't use it myself, there's a great freeware image editing programme called Gimp which you may like to try, I think some FC-members use it.

Location : Near Grantham Spotter Watch Member : No

That's a very good 1st effort indeed. Don't worry about only getting a few good shots from 300 pics that will rise as you get used to the camera.
I use Picasso 3 for editing and get good results.

Location : Durham. UK Spotter Watch Member : no

I have used Photoshop for years now starting with version 5. For me it is still my favourite editing software. Paintshop Pro is also very good and very close in operation to Photoshop. All photo editing software is derived from Photoshop anyway.