[Joey158]

Hello Pentax World, My name Is Joel and I own a White Pentax K-x for about a 1 year and a Half now. I bought for it the Pentax AF-540 Flash and recently I bought The Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC macro zoom LENS for it as well. I got the Lens from B&H photo in New York. I would like help Because I still a beginner but not every single shot that I take comes out looking good like I want it to. I rarely get great sharp shots. Im looking for a professional Shot everytime. I use my Camera for a lot of things like Modeling, party events, and more. Some of my Pictures sometimes the focus is way off and some look a little fuzzy and instead of being sharp and clear. Also the lighting sometimes is to dark or to bright. I recdntly bought a good book on exposure that teaches me a lot. Can someone please help me and give me tips ???? I also need help shooting in HDR mode I can never get it perfect it comes out looking really blurry and weird..










As you can see some of my images, I put in one with my little girl cousin that looks good but the rest dont. Some look fuzzy and not sharp and I dont know what it is...

[Joey158]

Hello, My name is Joel and I own a White Pentax K-x for about a year and a half now so Im still a beginner. I have a Pentax AF-540 Flash for it and I recently bought the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC macro Zoom LENS for it. I always have problems shooting With my camera because if I shoot 20 shots I probably get 2 shots that I like. Usually my photos are coming out with a fuzzy look and are not sharp. Somtimes I can shoot in the same mode without changing anything and 1 pic would come out dark and another pic to bright. I really want professional shots that look really sharp and well focus on my objects. I use my camera for a lot of things like modeling, party events, and more. I just cant seem to get this perfect like I see others do. Can someone please help and give me tips please ??????? I also Have problems shooting in HDR mode I can never get it. The pic always comes out looking to blurry and weird.

As you can see how most of the pics look fuzzy and not sharp and the lighting is bad except the one with my little girl cousin.

[crf529]

It's a bit hard without the EXIF data, but seems that you are shooting a reasonably high ISO most of the time? Have you got some more info like shutter speeds, aperture and mode you are you using as well?

[adpo]

learn the basics: shutter speed, aperture and iso. all three control exposure, but each has different side effects based on usage
shutter speed controls the duration of an exposure. The shorter the shutter speed, the less time light can hit your shutter and the darker your photos appear. The side effect is that a short speed will "freeze" motion whereas a slower shutter speed causes motion blur, something you may experience in auto modes in the dark.
aperture controls the the maximum amount of light entering through the lens at any moment via a series of blades that come together to "stop down" and restrict light or come apart to let in more light. It's measured as a ratio of the opening to the focal length. The larger the aperture, the smaller the f number (ever notice people putting it as f/#?). The result is that you get more light in with a larger aperture and vice versa. The side effect is what is commonly referred to as bokeh. This is because some physics magic (circles of confusion and whatnot) cause out of focus objects to blur when using larger apertures. So that fancy portrait you got up there with the blurred out background probably was shot using a relatively large aperture.
last is iso. This controls how much the camera amplifies the signal from the sensor. The higher the amplification, the larger the signal will be and the brighter your image will be. Because you are amplifying a signal, there's always a chance for some noisy electrical interference to be picked up, hence digital noise. These are the weird blots of colors and dots that occur when you shoot in the dark, since the camera tends to automatically boost the iso if you shoot in auto.

learn how to use these three to create a nicely balanced exposure. Set a goal with each exposure and see to how to manage it. For example, when shooting in broad daylight, you're going to have a lot of available light. Whenever you don't have to struggle with a lot of light, you can set a lower iso to avoid that ugly noise. The rest is really up to taste. If you're doing a portrait, set a larger aperture (smaller number) and compensate with a faster shutter speed until your meter is about right. If you hit a wall such as the scene is still too bright despite max shutter speed of 1/6000 and 100 iso, compromise and give up a little aperture. getting a good exposure is all about balancing those three effectively

good luck! have fun playing around in the manual and semi manual modes, they'll help you learn a lot!

[Joey158]

Thanks a lot guys I apreciate it !! Good tips !!

[samtr87]

How are you using your camera? Are you shooting in Auto?

[Ira]

For now...and for a long time to come...forget HDR when there are human subjects involved. It's basically impossible for you to freeze human subjects in the exact same position to do either an automatic HDR image in camera, or to manually shoot 3 to 5 images of varying exposures and assemble them as an HDR photo later.

So again, forget HDR for now. HDR requires a tripod, and TOTALLY non-moving subjects. (And 6 drunk guys trying not to move doesn't count.)

Your outdoor shots look FINE (except for the first shot taken outdoor at night), but for your indoor shots, it looks like you're just trying to get the shot, and you're letting the camera choose a ridiculously high ISO to give you proper exposure--but those ridiculously high ISOs are giving you annoyingly grainy shots.

Your exif data doesn't come through in your links here, but my guess is that for those indoor shots, you're shooting at 3200 to 6400 ISO, which is impossible to achieve really clean images with.

---

Last edited by Ira; 08-06-2011 at 03:58 PM.

[Joey158]

How are you using your camera? Are you shooting in Auto?

well I been using it on manual mode lately becuase Ive been reading a book on exposure that is teaching me a bit but Im still not getting what I want and I dont get that perfect flash from my flash either lol...

[Joey158]

For now...and for a long time to come...forget HDR when there are human subjects involved. It's basically impossible for you to freeze human subjects in the exact same position to do either an automatic HDR image in camera, or to manually shoot 3 to 5 images of varying exposures and assemble them as an HDR photo later.

So again, forget HDR for now. HDR requires a tripod, and TOTALLY non-moving subjects. (And 6 drunk guys trying not to move doesn't count.)

Your outdoor shots look FINE (except for the first shot taken outdoor at night), but for your indoor shots, it looks like you're just trying to get the shot, and you're letting the camera choose a ridiculously high ISO to give you proper exposure--but those ridiculously high ISOs are giving you annoyingly grainy shots.



Your exif data doesn't come through in your links here, but my guess is that for those indoor shots, you're shooting at 3200 to 6400 ISO, which is impossible to achieve really clean images with.

Thanks Ira !! I only tried the HDR on non moving subjects like I had my friend taking shots of me doing a little modeling but they still came out bad. So I guess I have o keep the ISO low.

[twitch]

The shots you don't like look to be high ISO ones. Using manual mode isn't going to help, but a good understanding of the exposure triangle will.

[Joey158]

The shots you don't like look to be high ISO ones. Using manual mode isn't going to help, but a good understanding of the exposure triangle will.

Ok thanks twtch

[Ash]

Start learning here: Learning basic photographic techniques - PentaxForums.com

Then ensure that you have read and understood the camera manual.

And viva la difference.