The Frying Pan

I don't know what the correct French word for tripod is either, but they are not the kind of people to let a loanword sneak into their language unchanged.

ElendilTheTall

doesn't it have built in wi-fi? sure I saw that

you could probably set it up to auto-transfer the shots to your computer

Jolenealaska

Yes, I don't even want to go there.

rumtscho

wifi shots transfer? sounds great

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho trépied, says Google

Jolenealaska

9:35 AM

I'm sure it's great

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska fraidy cat

anyhoo, are you achieving the results you want?

have you adjusted the white balance?

Jolenealaska

I can be a bit of Luddite - I know.

ElendilTheTall

try also setting as low an ISO as possible, that will reduce noise

OH, SNAP! uk.businessinsider.com/…

Jolenealaska

I'm struggling there cause I take it off auto and I have no idea what I'm doing.

I switched to Av

ElendilTheTall

well, we are here to help

Jolenealaska

9:38 AM

I was just sitting down to consult the manual....

F4? Whazzat?

ElendilTheTall

that, in basic terms, is the size of the aperture

it's actually the ratio of the size of the aperture to the focal length, but for simplification: the smaller the number, the bigger the hole, the more light gets in to the camera

Jolenealaska

Got it.

ElendilTheTall

the bigger the hole, the faster the shutter speed or lower the sensitivity (ISO) can be

close the hole, and you have to have the shutter open a correspondingly longer time in order to get the same amount of light in

Jolenealaska

I find nothing that looks like an adjustment for that, the manual is probably the fasted way to find that.

ElendilTheTall

Set the camera to Av, then roll the wheel on the back

Jolenealaska

9:41 AM

ooh...that rolls!

ElendilTheTall

yes :)

so, if you set the aperture to f/4, you should see another number on the display expressed as a fraction

1/200 or the like

Jolenealaska

ok! Thats sounds like it might be important!

ElendilTheTall

now, to lower the ISO, press FUNC/SET in the middle of the wheel

choose ISO AUTO on the left, then set it to 100

now take a shot

it should be nice and crisp

Jolenealaska

Hold on....I'm just seeing these menus for the first time...

ElendilTheTall

(assuming you've focused correctly)

you can probably also choose the White Balance in that menu

'AWB'

Exposure compensation - lets you adjust exposure up or down if you think the camera is being fooled

Drive mode, that will let you fire off lots of shots at once or use the timer (probably)

ah, metering mode, that might be useful

Camera meters work by trying to make everything grey. If you point the camera at a white wall, it will underexpose to make it grey. If you point it at a black wall, it will overexpose to make it grey.

By default, most cameras are set to meter the whole scene and take an average reading. So if you have some food on a white plate, the camera will think 'Holy crap, that's white! Time to underexpose!' and your food will be a bit dark.

So what you can do is set the Metering to 'spot'. This lets you choose a specific, small point where the camera takes its reading. So you use that to meter for the food, ignoring the plate. The food should then be properly exposed.

rumtscho

9:51 AM

@ElendilTheTall great explanation, but does Jolene know what "overexposed" mean, and is she aware why you are talking about grey when she's shooting in colour? :)

Jolenealaska

Ok I've changed WB to Fluorescent for now, ISO is 100.

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho I'm trying to keep it simple :) Not that I think jojo is simple, just that there's a lot to learn in one go

@Jolenealaska sweet - how's your aperture?

Jolenealaska

I can't see anything changing or any menu for aperture.

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall sure. I'm just pointing out the words I wouldn't have understood back when I needed to hear these things explained

Jolenealaska

hold on..brb

rumtscho

9:52 AM

@Jolenealaska it may be called F number

or simply A

ElendilTheTall

@Jolenealaska if you're in Av mode, rolling the wheel should change the aperture

it's the number at the bottom centre of the display, after the F

Jolenealaska

I do know over and under exposed, I set meting to spot...OK...The F number is only giving me a range of 5.0 to 8.0

(1/3 is what follows)

ElendilTheTall

ok, that will be because of your zoom setting

your maximum aperture will vary depending on your zoom (focal length)

no biggy, just set it to F5

Jolenealaska

actually, let me zoom first as I'm sitting at the the puter now, not at my tripod stand

oooh we're getting somewhere

ElendilTheTall

well, don't leave us in suspense woman!

Jolenealaska

10:06 AM

At this level of zoom, my lowest aperture is 5.6. Should I back up?

it's just looking good...

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska keep the zoom if you like it

Jolenealaska

(relatively speaking)

rumtscho

you can experiment later with changing the position of the stand or cropping the picture on the PC

Jolenealaska

Ok, I'm going to take a few shots and we can see where we are.

rumtscho

but if you have something which looks good now, you can wonder how to iron out wrinkles later

ElendilTheTall

10:08 AM

yes - f/4 was just a guideline

essentially, as wide as it will go was what I meant

Jolenealaska

OK we're going to have to go to Gimp, the file is too large to upload,

ElendilTheTall

cool

let me fire it up

Jolenealaska

So while we're there I'll want to crop and edit the size of the file.

ElendilTheTall

sure

so, fire up GIMP - it might take a while the first time, because it looks for all your fonts

Jolenealaska

It's working

ElendilTheTall

10:17 AM

Ok, let me know when it's done

You will have 3 windows - 1 on the left, 1 on the right, and one in the middle

Jolenealaska

There is the shot, a menu to either side. Nice...I can pin them and still see the chat widow! :)

ElendilTheTall

ok. on the left, you have the tools palette

3rd column, 3rd row should be an icon that looks like a scalpel

Jolenealaska

The color looks accurate to me.

ElendilTheTall

yes?

sorry, 3rd row, 4th column

that's the crop tool - you can also access it by pressing SHIFT + C

(keyboard shortcuts are the way to go!)

Jolenealaska

got it... hold on

ElendilTheTall

10:21 AM

Now you just click and drag to draw the crop area. You can adjust it afterwards by hovering around the sides of the box and click-dragging

when you're happy, press ENTER/RETURN

Jolenealaska

Where is undo?

rumtscho

Ctrl Z

ElendilTheTall

Ctrl+Z, like every windows program ever :)

or Edit > Undo, likewise like every windows program ever :P

Jolenealaska

I've never used it....I always hit the little symbol :)

ElendilTheTall

Ok - happy with the crop?

Jolenealaska

10:24 AM

Ok, for playing I can live with the crop.

ElendilTheTall

Ok - to resize, go up to the Image menu

Then Scale Image

Your Width and Height boxes probably have values in the 1000s

Jolenealaska

yes

ElendilTheTall

multiple thousands

Ok, all you need to do is enter a new value in the width box

say, 1000. GIMP will automatically adjust the height to keep the proportion

Jolenealaska

do you know the biggest I can upload?

rumtscho

upload where_

Jolenealaska

10:26 AM

Chat for now

ElendilTheTall

A 1000px wide file will easily be small enough to upload

Jolenealaska

ok

ElendilTheTall

so just pop 1000 in width (if you'd taken a shot in portrait orientation you'd put it in height) and click Scale

Jolenealaska

and save?

ElendilTheTall

File > Save As, so you have your original

save a copy, in other words

Jolenealaska

10:28 AM

yes

rumtscho

No, you'll have to export

I mean, it's not wrong to save

but it only saves in its own format, which can't be uploaded as a picture

Jolenealaska

OK

rumtscho

for a .jpg, you go to the Export menu

ElendilTheTall

oh, that's true

I forgot GIMP was stupid like that

rumtscho

it works just like a normal save dialog, but you have to know where to go

ElendilTheTall

10:29 AM

File > Export As

Jolenealaska

got it

ElendilTheTall

Change the 'All Export Images' drop down to JPEG image

Jolenealaska

ok...i think

I;ll try to upload

ElendilTheTall

Jolenealaska

Yay!

rumtscho

10:32 AM

hey, looks good

ElendilTheTall

yay

that looks good

Jolenealaska

Yes :)

ElendilTheTall

focus is a bit far back

Jolenealaska

It's sharp

ElendilTheTall

the cookie at back right is sharper than the cookie at the front

Jolenealaska

10:33 AM

the color looks right (I had no brown sugar :)

ElendilTheTall

but for your first time in Av, I'd call that a win

Jolenealaska

and cropping, adjusting file size and exporting...easy

ElendilTheTall

Want to make it look even better? :)

Jolenealaska

sure

ElendilTheTall

Ok - image still open in Gimp?

Jolenealaska

10:34 AM

yep

ElendilTheTall

Ok click the Colors menu

then Levels

Jolenealaska

color tool?

ElendilTheTall

Colors menu at the top

then Levels

Alt + C, then L :)

Jolenealaska

yes

ElendilTheTall

Ok, on the right end of the histogram is a box with '255'

and next to that is a little dropper icon

click that dropper, then click on the plate, anywhere where there isn't a cookie shadow

you should see the image instantly brighten

Jolenealaska

10:39 AM

I don't see a 255

ElendilTheTall

Ok, well, do you see two droppers? One black on the left, one white on the right?

Jolenealaska

no, I see a single dropper, that didn't do anything...

ElendilTheTall

hmmm, where are you?

rumtscho

@Jolenealaska is this the window you see?

ElendilTheTall

have you clicked the dropper in the left hand palette?

Jolenealaska

10:41 AM

not there!

ElendilTheTall

Did you click Colors > Levels?

rumtscho

This is how you go there

Jolenealaska

elsewhere! Got it...

hold on

cool!

hold on...I'll upload it

ElendilTheTall

no!

wait

there's one more thing

Jolenealaska

ok

ElendilTheTall

10:44 AM

Click Filters menu > Enhance > Unsharp Mask

Jolenealaska

got rid of the glare! that's cool

ElendilTheTall

Put 0.8 in the Radius box, and 0.6 in the Amount box

then click OK

Jolenealaska

click ok?

ElendilTheTall

voilà, a sharper photo

Jolenealaska

export and upload?

Already (as in tonight) I can do 10X what I could yesterday :)

And I think that's enough for now :)

ElendilTheTall

10:49 AM

and now i want cookies

Did I tell you I'm on a health kick?

Jolenealaska

they are pretty good!

No! I just got off one.

ElendilTheTall

Yeah - me and the missus are losing some weight

I've lost 9kg (19lbs) or so in the last two weeks

rumtscho

let me guess, she said "it's time to lose the pregnancy cushion" and asked you to go along for moral support?

Jolenealaska

No way!!

@rumtscho My first thought exactly

rumtscho

wow, 9 kg in 2 weeks is a lot. even for a large man.

Jolenealaska

10:53 AM

That's my life goal! I'd be at my Army weight!

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho we've been planning it since before Xmas

She's doing a thing called Slimming World - a Weightwatchers alternative. I am tagging along in a more casual way

massively reduced bread, chocolate and sugar intake

increased vegetable intake

you can eat as much lean meat and veg as you like, so we do

Jolenealaska

I saved some of the pear slaw I made yesterday 'cause it's yummy, but not pretty. I'll take some shots of it in a bit, that'll give us something to play with for my next lesson in Gimp :)

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall that's how I've been living for years

ElendilTheTall

My main problem is that I can't eat fruit, so I find healthy snacking tricky

rumtscho

The good thing about it is that it's tasty, and one can keep with it

ElendilTheTall

10:56 AM

You are allowed a certain amount of 'syns' per day

rumtscho

@ElendilTheTall ah OK, then it's more restrictive than I thought at first. But you'll probably be allowed back to fruit when the primary weight losing phase is over.

ElendilTheTall

@rumtscho no, the 'program' allows you to eat as much fresh fruit as you like

I, personally, cannot eat fruit because I'm allergic to the pollen

rumtscho

Oh, this is a sad thing.

ElendilTheTall

it makes my mouth itch like crazy and my throat sore

Jolenealaska

When I diet, I find it works so much better when I emphasize what I should be eating...If I eat breakfast every day and a few fruit and veggie snacks it's a boatload easier. WOW...all fruit?

rumtscho

10:57 AM

You've mentioned it before. Doesn't it go away when the fruit is cooked?

ElendilTheTall

yes, but then the fruit is no longer 'free'

rumtscho

You could cook yourself low sugar apple butter or similar.

ElendilTheTall

Frozen fruit is fine, but it's A) expensive and B) usually sour as all hell

rumtscho

Frozen fruit is expensive? Here, it's cheaper than fresh fruit of the same kind

Jolenealaska