[mobike008]

A few pictures of two magnificient white tigers at the nehru zoological park in hyderabad. They are kept in a small island with water dividing them between the mainland.

But, a few times they waded through the water so ferociously, it seemed easy for them to leap out into the mainland.

I would not like to be there whenever that happens

[sps]

Ready to be blown off !

[shajufx]

Another parrot !

[Torqueguru]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

What a modest reply!

TG, with so many autofocus points of D3s, would it not be difficult to focus for you.

It can sometimes get really difficult for me to focus, especially in the dark. I was refering to that particular shot when I said focus was easy there.
You can get exactly the same kind of focus with a D40 or D60. The 51 points of the D3s really come into play only when shooting quick subjects. That there, was not the case. The dad and daughter were very much still and steady. So, the question of number of autofocus points aiding the photographer do not arise here.

Also, in confusing or low light, some times even the 51 point autofocus points of the D3s just give up. So, I constantly practice manual focusing too, since I shoot a lot of night stuff. It is foolish, to not try to master manual focusing, no matter what camera you are using. Just yesterday, I went out at night with my friend's d60. The reason was because my beloved buddy accused his camera of being a useless one and was constantly making comparisons with the D3s, and he was planning to go for an upgrade. So I told him, lets see if its the camera thats a problem for sure and went out for a midnight stroll with his camera.

I thoroughly enjoyed the lightweight little champion, its simply awesome for the money! And here are a few shots form it. This time, all focus done manually. No Noise reduction applied.


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1600


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1600


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1600

The point is, good focus can be attained with minimal number of focus points. Just that, you need to bend your habits and try focusing manual when the need arises.

Regards,
TG.

[NomadVagabond]

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

Just that, you need to bend your habits and try focusing manual when the need arises.

That was so very well explained/displayed TG.

Some shots I took yesterday. Got very bored at home so went out for a shoot after months. These are some of the results.


Little Buddy. Flickr: More detail about Little Buddy.

Larkspur. Flickr: More detail about Winter Is Retreating...Summer Is Here...Finally!!!

Regards,

Anirban.

[shajufx]

TG: Nice shots there. Mine is a D60 and I was feeling the need of upgrade right from Jan 2010, until I talked to a D700 friend who wants to upgrade too. So, its more like a 'want for more' than the photo quality or features ! Therefore my plans are on hold until I find a solid reason.

Anirban, its a long time. First one is so cute !

This bird was telling me (as I was fiddling with the manual mode):
"Hey shoot it in auto, I cant hold for long"

[manolin]

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

It can sometimes get really difficult for me to focus, especially in the dark. I was refering to that particular shot when I said focus was easy there.
You can get exactly the same kind of focus with a D40 or D60. The 51 points of the D3s really come into play only when shooting quick subjects. That there, was not the case. The dad and daughter were very much still and steady. So, the question of number of autofocus points aiding the photographer do not arise here.

Also, in confusing or low light, some times even the 51 point autofocus points of the D3s just give up. So, I constantly practice manual focusing too, since I shoot a lot of night stuff. It is foolish, to not try to master manual focusing, no matter what camera you are using. Just yesterday, I went out at night with my friend's d60. The reason was because my beloved buddy accused his camera of being a useless one and was constantly making comparisons with the D3s, and he was planning to go for an upgrade. So I told him, lets see if its the camera thats a problem for sure and went out for a midnight stroll with his camera.



The point is, good focus can be attained with minimal number of focus points. Just that, you need to bend your habits and try focusing manual when the need arises.

Regards,
TG.

Cool. I had asked the question since i have very rarely managed to get the focus so precise that the foreground and the background are blurred (best seen in snaps of fields of flowers or grass as in the present case). Or maybe i am not understanding what is at work there.

I guess i have to keep shooting. Will eventually figure it out.

[Samurai]

In my camera, despite having 11 AF points, I have enabled only one. I don't want the camera to pick the focus. If the object is off-center, I focus on it first, lock the AF and then re-frame.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Are the tiger pictures #: 1 & 4 from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, Mumbai??

Where has pic #: 3 been taken?

All the pictures are from the NY Bronx zoo; and those are the Siberian tigers which are much more bulkier than out Indian ones.

I stay so close to National Park Borivali, but never got time to actually see the tigers there. Are there white tigers present?

P.S.: Can you Imagine There is actually a glass in between all the pictures of the tigers

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Samurai

In my camera, despite having 11 AF points, I have enabled only one. I don't want the camera to pick the focus. If the object is off-center, I focus on it first, lock the AF and then re-frame.

The normal click button will auto focus in any of the AF points which camera thinks is right, but there's another button to force the center AF point alone to get focused. So in some shots I point the center of the frame at the object I want to focus, press this button to focus, and then re-frame and click. This is very useful while clicking portraits with a zoom lens.

Anirban: Wow, cool shots... what colors!

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by vaisakhr

The second one is awesome. Which cam you are using?

Thanks! I am using a Canon 350D.

Originally Posted by Fraz33r

The parrot pic is awesome, though a bit hazy but capturing at the moment is crucial.

Yep, it's a little hazy. I was using a lens meant for macro and not birding and I was having a tough time with autofocus :(. Will give birds a try again with a normal telephoto.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

@HellwratH Did you try the orton effect on the last one?

Yep, orton effect. (Duplicate layer -> Gaussian blur -> blending changed to hard light -> master opacity set to 75 -> duplicate the layer again with blending as hard light).


TG,
Shooting at 1600 and almost no noise? Hmm, how did you do that without losing sharpness?

[preetam_KORG]

Amazing shots Anirban!
Vibrant colours make them so very beautiful!

Looks like you were pretty close to the puppy when you clicked it.
Caught your reflection in its eyes!

[TSEA]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Another parrot!

Fantastic Shot shajufx.

[Torqueguru]

@Shajufx
In your parrot shots, I have been noticing a small issue with focus, since it looks like the focus is not on the eye. Apart from that, even in the previous shot, I feel you are choking the composition, giving more room around the subject , while still keeping up with the rule of thirds, will surely help. Just my 2 cents.

@Anirban
Good shots, but I have seen much better compositions from you. It looks like your eye is a bit rusty after the wedding eh ?

@Hellwrath
I have not devised any particular way of shooting to avoid noise. There is plenty of noise, but generally, noise in Nikon cameras pack well together when image size is reduce. Also, they are mostly monochromatic noise. Since I had disabled noise reduction within the camera, I think it did not end up softening the image and hence probably detail is retained. I had to take care that I shoot only at peak of action. So that momentary stoppage of movement signals my finger to press the trigger, and that's how i managed blur free images, despite manually focusing. I think it's a matter of sheer practice and nothing else. I could not manually focus and shoot at low shutter speeds a couple of years back, but incessant practice has made it a little easier now, yet I do mess up a lot of times.

I like to shoot things out of focus sometimes Like this one. I call it a Bokeh Painting.

Regards,
TG.

[hkanitkar]

Awesome pics there TG !

One from me :


No editing whatsoever. Just added the black frame on canvas.