Need Some Tips

[Frankf300]

I ended up picking up a Fuji Finepix S5200 to try some more advanced photography. Now, I need the tips from the veterans...I'm still trying to pick up on all these manual settings . I wanted to try some different things with time exposures. I wanted to try some time exposures of clouds, and waterfalls, and some other things. My aperture settings range from f3.2 to f8. My shutter speed ranges from 15 sec. to 1/2000 of a sec. ISO range is 64 to 1600. I picked up an ND2 filter hoping it would help limit the light, but didn't seem to be enough. What do you guys think about stacking filters? Maybe I'll pick up another ND4 or ND8 filter and stack it with the ND2 for things like cloud time exposures.

Also, what would you recommend for taking cloud shots, even if I were to use f8, 15 sec, and ISO 64 what would you say would be the minimum power on the ND filters to get a decent shot? I realized that ND2 filter barely cuts any light out, but I'm new to all this . As far as a nice waterfall shot, what would you say are good settings to get that nice soft, cotton looking water? One more thing, I took a lot of landscape shots today in auto mode and I wasn't happy with the quality out of any of them. Is it better to shoot in a manual mode and just mess around with settings until I get a nice looking shot? O yea, any tips/suggestion on sunsets? I'm getting overwhelmed/aggravated trying to get decent shots, but I can't seem to make 100% sense out of all these settings. Thanks for any help.

 

[ChrisA]

I ended up picking up a Fuji Finepix S5200 to try some more advanced photography. ......

Clouds: If you are getting 1/15th sec with now filter you get 4x longer exposure with an DN4 which is 1/4 sec. Still not long Better to wait until the wind picks up and the clouds move faster. Yes stacking filters works. You don't loose much quality and loose almost none if the filters are multicoated.

Manual vs, auto in landscapes. The only reason to go to manual mode is because you don't like what the camera picked. What is it you don't like. If the frame is under or over exposed then use some exposure compensation. If you want more depth of field choose "A" aperture priority. Or do both.
There are many ways to get to the exact same f-stop and shutter speed. It don't matter how you got there.

What's wrong with the landscape images? Hard to suggest a fix without knowing

 

[Frankf300]

O yea sorry, most of them seemed a little overexposed, problem was that I didn't realized they were overexposed till I saw them on my computer screen. One more simple question. To have an object focused and the background blurred, how does the aperture have to be set? I know it's simple, but I'm just not sure how to do it correctly.

 

[ChrisA]

O yea sorry, most of them seemed a little overexposed, problem was that I didn't realized they were overexposed till I saw them on my computer screen. One more simple question. To have an object focused and the background blurred, how does the aperture have to be set? I know it's simple, but I'm just not sure how to do it correctly.

A large aperture like f/2.8 will give the smallest depth of field. So shoot wide open.

Many point and shoots do over expose. Most people like over exposed shots, make the subject look brighter. Just dial in some compensations. Look at the histogram not the image. You want the graph to look like a small hill with no spike of either end

Don't trust your computer screen unless it is calibrated. With no calibrtion the image could be perfect but still look to bright or dark. With an uncalibrated scren you have to depend on the hstogram

 

[cgratti]

Keep the ISO low, like 64 or 100, shoot with the aperture topped all the way down. That should help you get more time in you rexposures.

 

[Frankf300]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm hoping you can give me some advice based on some shots. I have one shot here that I took tonight at a school near me. I just wanted to experiment a little with taking a few night shots since it was unbelievablely clear tonight.

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4230452
This was a 15 sec/f3.6/ISO 200/no flash. Seems to be a bit grainy, what would be better to do next time to get rid of that? Shoot at a higher ISO?

Also, here are some landscape shots from over the weekend.

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4230514
Shutter/Aperture: 1/450 @ f4.5
ISO 64 No flash

http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4230515
Shutter/Aperture: 1/600 @ f4
ISO 64 No flash

Anything you could suggest based on those shots even as far as composition, etc.? I'm still trying to learn the tricks of the trade here . One more stupid question, what's better to shoot in, 5M F or 5M N? They both shoot 2592x1944. I'm assuming 5M F for better quality, but figured I'd better ask since I'm new to this . Thanks again.