man that was a awesome detail of the trip
and I am really curious on what Camera did you use?
I used to run around with a small Canon Elph 300 HS and a Nikon D7000. The D7000 takes really nice pictures but it's a bit bulky. Then I started using my iPhone 6+ but it's a bit cumbersome too and limited. So I bought a used Sony a6000 that came with a 18-55mm and 55-210mm lens. Then I picked up a 35mm f1.8 lens as a primary lens. Most of these shots were taken using the 35mm lens. The only exception are some of the shots at Crazy Horse, closeup bust of the Chief being one of those.
As Jock will tell you, you can take great pictures with just about any camera. The camera is not the main driver in good pictures. However, to get some of the effects such as DOF, depth of field, you need to be able to operate the camera a bit beyond simple point and shoot. Here's what I find helps the most.
1. Take lots and lots of pictures. I took nearly 600 pictures with the Sony. I posted 200 pictures. Normally I only post about 10% of the pictures I take. Normally I take a 1000 pictures and might post 100.
2. Take shots from different angles and perspective than the obvious. Shots like the staircase at the Badlands .. not something most people would capture.
3. Framing or composition is something that you'll understand and get better at over time. I still work on it every time I shoot. I don't know that I can explain it but it's a matter of balancing foreground, background and the surroundings. You don't want people with lamp posts coming out of their heads. You don't want a big mountain without seeing some sky. How would you know the size of that mountain if there wasn't a point of reference such as the sky and the meadow in the bottom and top of the shot to give it a point of reference.
4. Every shot, even of the 200, is not going to be perfect. Be prepared to throw a lot of pictures into the data dump. Also, I used Google's Picasa to straighten pictures and sometimes crop them to get the right framing.
Sorry .. getting carried away. Point is that you should practice, practice and practice some more. With today's technology we have the benefit of taking 1000's of pictures and just deleting the ones we don't like. A vast improvement over the cost of film and printing of only a few decades ago. We live in wonderful times.
Simon
Author
Topic: Sturgis 75th Annual Motorcycle Rally - 2015 (Read 21825 times)