# Taken this evening



## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

When I saw this sunset whilst out in the back garden having a *** (cigarette to our US members  ) I rushed in to grab the camera (my new EOS 400d). Looks kind of menacing. Really pleased with how it came out.

(when resizing it to post here, I noticed that the 400d doesn't have a 4:3 aspect ratio, but 3:2 - hmm)


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## banditbarron (Sep 1, 2007)

What are the black bits at top left?


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## Johnnyopolis (Oct 25, 2005)

banditbarron said:


> What are the black bits at top left?


Cloud I would have said....


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## banditbarron (Sep 1, 2007)

Johnnyopolis said:


> Cloud I would have said....


Lol not the clouds looks like specs of dust on the blue sky area?


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## BlueZero (Sep 14, 2007)

My guess would be dust on the sensor or lens.

How do you like your 400D? I've been thinking about upgrading my 10D.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

banditbarron said:


> Lol not the clouds looks like specs of dust on the blue sky area?


Birds - crop from the 3888x2592 original :


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

BlueZero said:


> My guess would be dust on the sensor or lens.


Better not be, the 400d has a sensor cleaning system.



BlueZero said:


> How do you like your 400D? I've been thinking about upgrading my 10D.


Nice, although I haven't really had time to use it much - just moved house.


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## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

cool pic


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## 190Evoluzione (Jun 27, 2007)

parish said:


> Better not be, the 400d has a sensor cleaning system.


Not infallible, at all.
Otherwise, Pro DSLRs would have them - and they don't.
Get yourself a Giottos Rocket Air blower, lock the mirror up and give it a very gentle blow in a clean environment. Be careful and you'll be alright.
A professional 'wet' sensor clean will cost you about £25+VAT from www.fixationuk.com


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## tcsteph99 (May 29, 2007)

The only way to keep a sensor clean is to either never change lenses, or to regularly clean it properly.

The sensor cleaning systems may help keep some dust at bay, but are far from perfect. As 190Evoluzione said, the pro dSLRs don't have them.

The best tool I've come across to date to keep sensors clean is the "Arctic Butterfly" by Visible Dust. I'm using one of the 724's to keep my EOS 5D in a usable state. It works wonders for 95% of the time, and on the odd occasion that something's left behind one of their sensor swabs does the trick.

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/photo/cleaning/visibledust.html#sl700

When you get tired of cleaning stuff up in Photoshop give sensor cleaning a go. Trust me... the first time you have a go is by far the worst!!


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

Yeah DSLRs have a different aspect ratio.

Nice pic. Do you have photoshop to post process your photos?

I'm just tweaking it a little myself now.. I PP all my shots... even if its just to resize and add a little sharpness


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## GlynRS2 (Jan 21, 2006)

A nice pic of a menacing sky


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

a very quick... slightly oversharpened... effort


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

actually this is a little better.


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## streaky (Dec 2, 2006)

Nice pictures fellas


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

jedi-knight83 said:


> Yeah DSLRs have a different aspect ratio.


I've realized that it's the same aspect ratio as 35mm film, which figures.



jedi-knight83 said:


> Nice pic.


Thanks. That's the beauty of digital, just fire off several shots when you see something that looks like it might make a good picture.



jedi-knight83 said:


> Do you have photoshop to post process your photos?


I have The GIMP, since I run Unix, but I do often tweak them a little.



jedi-knight83 said:


> I'm just tweaking it a little myself now


I like the result - even more menacing. Actually, when I first saw the pic on screen it made me think of the Fires of Mordor in LOTR (probably because it had been on TV the other day).


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Thanks for all the tips re. sensor cleaning but, in this case, the specks are birds and if there's sh1t on my sensor then it came like that from the factory. I put the lens on when I got the camera and it's not been off since.


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## visor (Sep 8, 2007)

banditbarron said:


> What are the black bits at top left?


aliens :lol:


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## Skodaw (Mar 19, 2006)

That's a cool photo -- photography is half luck - you've got to have the camera available at the time -- I've quite often been out and about and thought that would make a cool photo - -but the camera is back at home..


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## DeWalt Dave (Aug 12, 2006)

Ive got the 400D but Im finding the indoor shots are quite poor. Ive tried all sorts but if I use the flash it wallops the subject and casts deep shadows. Can anyone suggest alternative WB, ISO etc to get good shots in poor light.


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## The Apprentice (Nov 22, 2007)

I thought you can take a picture of white card to get a template of specs and put that in photoshop which can be used to remove them automatically? Not had to do it so not 100% sure :thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

The Apprentice said:


> I thought you can take a picture of white card to get a template of specs and put that in photoshop which can be used to remove them automatically? Not had to do it so not 100% sure :thumb:


If you are referring to White Balance, then you can do that with the camera - take a pic of a white card (everyone has one of those in their back pocket, don't they  ) then select that pic for Custom WB :thumb:


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## vicky (Dec 20, 2005)

Very nice pic


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

DeWalt Dave said:


> Ive got the 400D but Im finding the indoor shots are quite poor. Ive tried all sorts but if I use the flash it wallops the subject and casts deep shadows. Can anyone suggest alternative WB, ISO etc to get good shots in poor light.


the only way not to cast shadows when using flash, is to not have the light directly hitting the subject....tough (close to impossible really) with the little onboard flashes in many dSLR's.

You can either try and diffuse the flash using something as simple as tissue paper or even a white plastic milk container, but this is also going to reduce the light available and only do a little better, or the only decent solution is to get an external flash and a connector cable and hold the flash away from the camera and light the scene.

The key with flash photography (assuming you are NOT going for the obvious flash look) is to get the flash to simulate natural light eg come from a direction other than the camera and be diffused. Holding an external flash at 90 degrees from the camera for example will simulate a window to the side of you etc, although it takes a little more skill than that to do it well . At the very least you want to bounce the flash off the wall behind you, beside you, the ceiling etc to soften the light, although you have to be careful with coloured surfaces as this will give a colour cast to your images.

A web search will give you loads of resources about the effective use of flash :thumb:


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