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Here’s a shot of a squirrel I got while trying to get a shot of the birds around our place… The birds were too shy, but this little guy didn’t mind me too much. How could I have improved this photo?
Specs on the photo:
Camera : Sigma SD14
Lens : 70-300mm
Focal length : 168mm
ISO : 400
Aperature : f/5.6
Shutter speed : 1/800 secAttachments:
Oh my goodness, this is adorable! =D The only thing I see is that the fur is a tad but out of focus, but I had to really search for it, so it is not a big deal. Great shot!
WOW, that is a prize-winning picture! I would love to get a picture like that.
One thing that I try to do when photographing natural stuff like animals and flowers is to get down low. I mean really low, like on your stomach! I know that’s not always possible, but it will result in a much more ‘appealing’ picture, because you’re not “looking down” on the subject. Once you’ve gotten a few shots, then you could try to get a different, lower angle.
BTW, I notice you’re using a Sigma DLSR! I use some Sigma lenses, but I’ve never even seen a Sigma DLSR before, although I have heard of them. Have you ever done a comparison between Sigma and one of the big name brands like Nikon or Canon? I know Sigma’s strong point is their Foveon sensor which is supposed to be ‘legendary’ in it’s color and dynamic range capabilities.
Did you edit this picture much? I like the coloring of this photo, and I just wondered if there’s a bunch of ‘post-processing’ going on, or if the coloring is a result of the Foveon sensor. I see from the Exif data that you used Shotwell from which I deduce that you’re using Linux. Have you ever tried Darktable? I have heard that it is an open source alternative to Lightroom that is made for Linux and Mac OS.
Sorry it took so long to get back on this… we’ve been busy with very many things.
Yes! The Foveon sensor is certainly the selling point on the Sigma. It performs very well in certain circumstances – especially the colour on wildlife in strong light – like this squirrel, on which I actually did very little post-processing. I don’t really feel qualified to write much about it, however, since I’m using a Camera from about seven years ago. Sadly, however, the Sigma that I’m using doesn’t perform well indoors or on sunrises and sunsets.
As for comparing with Nikons and Canons, I am not actually a Sigma user by choice – it’s a pass down camera since my father and sibblings got Nikons. At some point if I start doing more serious photography I’ll need something somewhat newer that can perform better in adverse lighting conditions and on spectacular landscapes. Recently I’ve actually been favouring Pentax because, like Sigma, most of them have in-body vibration reduction, reducing the cost of lenses.
Like I said, there’s actually very little post-processing on this picture, and actually, I only used Shotwell to resize the photo for posting; the actual processing is done in Lightroom on Mac. I never have tried Darktable, but I have used RawTherapee, another similar program to Lightroom. Thanks for the suggestion – I’ll have to try it sometime!
That seems a little strange, you would think if the Foveon sensor was so good at colors, then it would be especially good at sunset/rise!
I would agree with you on Pentax though, I’ve heard very good things about Pentax cameras. The sensor-shift stabilization would be nice to use with my old manual lens which is lacking the modern built in “4-stop” stabilization.
I have heard of both RawTherapee and Darktable, and I tried both of them before I finally took the plunge with Adobe Lightroom. If I could go back, knowing what I now know about RAW editing, I could probably get by with one of the Open Source options, but back then, it was VERY hard for me to figure out what controls did what. If anyone was interested in comparing them, I would recommend trying to find some video tutorials on how to use the specific software and learn to use them before committing to any specific software. That’s how I learned to use Lightroom, I don’t know how I could have learned otherwise.
Instead of referring to color, perhaps Frazer Family is referring to the sensor not doing so well in terms of ISO grain and general image quality under low light conditions (such as indoors, sunrise and sunset)?
Please let me emphasize that I am referring to the Sigma SD14 – what I am saying probably doesn’t apply to newer Sigma cameras. I know the Foveon sensor is worth enough to certain people so that they will get a Sigma camera and remount it so it will take Canon lenses.
Yes, James is right about it having lots of grain in low light – something actually improved by the recent firmware update. However, I have attached a few pictures to illustrate what I mean about colour. They’re not the most awesome pictures; it’s just to illustrate colour.
The first photo is a spectacular sunrise I tried to shoot a few months ago. This is totally un-editted except cropping.
The second picture is to illustrate the good colour I get in flower close-ups – also uneditted.
I don’t seem to be able to attach a third photo, but if you plunk this last photo into Lightroom, you will quickly discover that the colour is there, it’s just very faint unless you increase the saturation.
Any suggestions on how I could counteract this problem on this camera? Or should I just leave it to post-processing?- This reply was modified 55 years, 2 months ago by .
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Any suggestions on how I could counteract this problem on this camera? Or should I just leave it to post-processing?
Now by problem are you referring to the noise, or the faint colors? If it’s the coloring, most cameras allow you to set a saturation ‘preset’ that can increase the saturation in-camera without extra processing.
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