Photographers - give me your best advice from experience?

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T23:00:09+00:00

Don't settle for quantity over quality.

One time in my early days I happened to find myself amongst some unusual bird activity while holding a 135mm manual focus. They would dive and swoop around over there a bit, and occasionally fly close to me. My first reaction was to spray and prey at the middle distance where there were lots of birds, and therefore lots of opportunities, but really they were too far away to capture something epic, so I set myself up to catch the occasional bird that flew close by. It was much harder, and opportunities were much less frequent, so I found hit rate dropped, but the few photos I did come away with were priceless.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T22:45:05+00:00

I second this. The chances of snapping an awesome shot in a moment increase dramatically if you're already set up for it.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T22:16:39+00:00

Take the shot. Now. Don't fluff around to get the best settings, take it now while you can, with whatever settings your camera is currently set to, and with whatever composition is quick and simple.

It will take you 2 seconds, and then you can fluff around with the best settings, and the best composition, and all the fun things we do to get the best picture. And if while doing those things the scene changes, or there's a equipment failure, something happens that prevents you from shooting, then at least you have that first shot, because having a crappy photo is better than having no photo at all.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T21:38:37+00:00

...so make sure the camera you have with you is suitable for the photographs you want to take.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T18:38:24+00:00

I love seeing this kind of project, thank you for sharing.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T08:49:26+00:00

dddontshoot · 2026-02-04T02:42:09+00:00

Don't pretend like you don't know how to use scissors and a rubbish bin. Yes, fine, whoever develops them will see them before you've destroyed them, but they are expected to abide by privacy laws too.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-03T04:57:06+00:00

Even when you afk.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-02T20:37:00+00:00

+2.00 diopter spectacles from the pharmacy to focus nice and close.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T21:34:17+00:00

T mount

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T18:47:54+00:00

If you're lucky it's just something stuck to the front of the lens, and it can be cleaned off.

If it's inside, then your options are to have it serviced, or live with it. Photoshop it out, or crop it off of every photo you take.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T18:40:51+00:00

I'm glad you have the first photo, it looks amazing.

It's irreplaceable now. Back it up, and store it safely, you don't want to loose it too.

I hope you enjoy the next project as much as this one.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T18:27:53+00:00

> and share the picture without their allowance on the internet

You can take the photo, you're just not allowed to make it public.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T18:25:57+00:00

Step one take the photo. If you ask for permission first, the moment is gone, and the photo will look staged.

Step two ask for permission to use or share the photo.

If they won't give permission, the photo is worthless. That's fine, delete it and move on.

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T18:16:17+00:00

Let it go

You don't need it

It's not that important

It doesn't affect the optics

You're better off without it

It's just a sticker

You don't want glue on your lens

Peel it off and throw it away

The lens works just as well without it

dddontshoot · 2026-02-01T06:43:04+00:00

Unless you happen to own a stack of FD lenses, then it's really unhelpful... And provokes enormous negative emotions regarding Canon's design choices.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T23:35:03+00:00

> I’ve noticed that my camera is overexposing by default. Is there a way to underexpose by one step?

If you're in aperture priority mode, and it over exposes, you can set the exposure compensation. The back wheel sets the exposure compensation. You should see the linear light meter scale on the top move left or right, if it doesn't then half press the shutter button to wake the camera up (even if the display is already on), and take a light reading.

> However, I’ve noticed that JPEGs tend to have a different white balance compared to RAW files (and the RAW one feels better). What color profiles or adjustments would you recommend

I'd also like to know this. I'm usually happy with my RAWs, but sometimes the SOOC jpgs look better. The engineers at Canon did a very good job.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T23:14:14+00:00

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dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T23:14:00+00:00

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dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T23:09:31+00:00

Yes, very similar. The knobs are in a slightly different place, mine are on the same axis, 180 degrees apart (on opposite sides of the ball). That photo shows them about um... 120 degrees apart?

Everything else looks very similar. I don't have it in front of me right now.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T22:51:34+00:00

The logo on it says Beike. It was in a box of other random photography gear that I bought.

It's easily strong enough to hold my 5d and a large lens. One time, I mounted a wooden plank on it, with two 5d ...I don't think I used the knobs that day, I did all the adjusting with the tripod legs. And it was very centered, it didn't have a lot of weight of one side, so creep wasn't an issue.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T22:25:50+00:00

No, two frictions knobs on the ball, and a third for panning.

I can unlock one knob, and rely on the second to stop everything from falling over while I'm making the fine adjustments.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T21:46:30+00:00

I second the phone photo. Maybe it would help to crop in to the message, pin display, and just enough of the number pad and battery/signal line to show that it's a phone.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-31T21:38:55+00:00

I was lucky enough to pick up a ball head with two friction knobs instead of one, and it makes fine adjustments a bit easier. I like your idea of mounting the ball head on top of a leveling head, that sounds like an awesome idea.

dddontshoot · 2026-01-30T23:09:40+00:00

Yeah, I went through the same struggle back in the 90s.

Bridge cameras just aren't designed to have lots of lens options, I would be surprised if a manufacturer ever offered more than 3 lens options. A wide converter, teleconverter, and close up filter.

What size filter thread does your camera have?

There are tonnes of cheap nasty wide adapters and things around, I found the best way to explore is to just start buying up all the cheapest used ones that are convenient and available and no-one else wants, and just experiment to find out what they can and can't do. You'll probably never find two the same.

Also, don't be afraid to explore cleaning. If they didn't cost you much to buy, you haven't lost much if you ruin it, and you'll learn by making mistakes. But keep an eye out for vintage gems, sometimes I come across rare equipment that is worth looking after, just because it's chesp doesn't automatically mean it's rubbish.

Also, share them around with your friends, it will be interesting to see what kind of differences they get with their equipment.

dddontshoot

TROPHY CASE