Technique:.

Noticing an interesting subject doesn't necessarily mean that you're already in the best location to take that shot. If it's a somewhat static scene, consider walking around. Consider vertical changes, too, like shooting from below eye level, or standing on a convenient staircase or balcony. Maybe you should vary the time, depending on light and other elements in the background. Don't be rushed into a shot..

If you don't have a tripod or monopod with you, don't forget that you can brace against fences, pillars, furniture, et al..

Don't forget about multiple-shot panoramas (note: lock exposure settings and focus), and crops..

When there's a large light range in an image, shoot raw. Shooting JPEG will force the camera to compress the range into 8 bits per channel. There's a pretty decent chance that the camera will not make the same decision you did. This is also a reasonable thing to do when there's a strong color cast, because the WB the camera chooses might be 'wrong'..

Have fun. If thinking too much about the perfect shot is getting in the way, put the camera aside and have fun..

Gear:.

A circular polarizer is handy to have on bright days with clear blue skies. It's also useful to counter the specular highlights from sun reflecting on waves. The light loss is significant, however, which limits it's use in worse light..

A graduated neutral density filter is one way to reduce the contrast range commonly found in a sunset or sunrise shot..

A neutral density filter may be useful for long exposures of water coming in on a beach, and other situations where a long exposure seems useful but there's a fair bit of light..

Bring enough storage capacity that you don't feel constantly pressured to make keep/delete decisions in the field...

Thank you very much. I have never done the multi shot panorama, but I will try it out. I have seen the AE/L button, but never used it. Only question is without a tripod, what do you do? just do the best you can by hand (or leaning against something while panning?) also how do you stich them together?.

Also I have never shot RAW - but you just gave me 2 great suggestions which I will try on my trip. I do not have Photoshop, just Elements (been using 2 just ordered ver. 5) and their Album software..

Grazie,.

Gary..

Bracing against something maybe a column or table on which you can 'pan' the camera would help. And shoot more frames than you normally would, overlapping more, because the odds that you'd align perfectly are lower..

One thing that's easily portable, but won't work as well as a tripod or a monopod a nylon ribbon, with a 1/4"-20TPI screw in one end (for the camera's tripod socket) and enough length that you can step on the other. Maybe enough to be able to loop around a foot, when you're standing. The idea is to step on one end and pull it taut, so the camera is somewhat constrained in it's motion. Not super-effective, but if there's nothing better around... *shrug*.

Looks like your D80 can superimpose gridlines in the viewfinder. This might also be good to do if you haven't already, assuming that non-level horizons annoy you...

Some thoughts-.

-leave the 18-35 home the 18-200 covers the same range-consider buy a wideangle zoom, the 12-24 from any maker..

-go to photostore or internet and get a small tabletop tripod(they are cheap) to put in your suitcase..

Below I am including some things I wrote on these forums in the past on raw(note that I am not pushing jpeg or raw, but giving some iseads to consider) and panoramas(this is what you need the tripod for)..

First I shoot jpeg all the time. I use a pentax *istD dslr. have tried raw and got no improvement in my pics, though before my little jpeg vs raw test I thought that there would be a difference. there wasn't FOR ME. the reason I concluded was that my pics as shot in the field require almost zero processing. the great rpt great rpt great advantage of raw is the amount and type of post processing the picture taker does in the pc.

I am currently pp about 5% of all jpegs I shoot. also, I currently crop in the pc 0% of what I shoot. I do it in the camera, it's called composition..

The two great areas that raw absolutely shine in is when you have no time to properly set up the shot. the other is when the lighting is so odd or undetermined that you have no idea what it is and you have to rely on pp to give you the proper color and white balance adjustments. a possible third necessity for post-processing would be that if the camera or scene has something that you have to correct for on virtually every picture..

In other words, it all depends on the quality of pictures you are delivering to the pc. if you consistedly shoot pics and they are such that the pc is used for sorting storage and printing, like me, then you can go to the convieniece of jpeg..

But, if you find yourself adjusting correcting or fixing the iso, exposure, white balance, color, and cropping THEN you should be using raw. only you know your photographic abilities and what type of pics you are taking. for this reason, the decision to shoot raw or jpegs is yours alone based on your needs..

For me jpegs work, BUT that might not work for others. raw for others could be the way to go..

The ONLY rpt only rpt only time the shot is a jpeg is when it is brought to the computer. it is either discarded or changed(i tend to have small tweaks) on the pc in some way, then it "save as" a tiff. the jpeg is never "save" or "save as" a jpeg ever. the original jpeg is stored in a jpeg folder that is a holdall..

This keeps the as shot quality intact..

With a raw file you have to convert the file to jpeg or tiff to use it for any other purpose. you cannot print a raw file, for example. with jpegs they can be used immediately as soon as they are downloaded into the pc. as far.

As batch processing is concerned, yes it speeds up the raw conversion process, but it eliminates one of the advantages of the raw process. this is the individual care and effort an individual raw pic gets when it is not batch processed. the individual raw file gets the maxium care it needs to give it's best picture. with batch processing this is gone, you are not achieving the max from each shot. and this is the reason you are shooting raw in the first place. to me if you are batch processing, you might as well go with jpeg..

Yes, I have pe3 and cs2 and can use both..

My view. gary..

For panoramas-.

-use tripod. you must keep it level with the horizon. if your tripod does not have a level builtin then buy one that slides into your flash hotshoe..

-for exposure. set the exposure by pressing halfway and noteing the fstop and shutter speed. you are trying to find the brightest part of you panorama scene to be. once you have found the brightest check the fstop and shutter speed. put camera into manual metering mode and use those settings. do not change them for any part of the panorama..

-lens selection. I shoot mine with a 20mm. tried a 35mm didn't work, the individual shots didn't overlap. the angle of view wasn't wide enough. note: SHOOT THE LENS VERTICALLY. this is the only way to get some vertical scene, otherwise the panorama will be shaped lik a hotdog.

In vertical you are cutting your angle of view way down. my tripod has degrees engraved in the mount, I was shooting at only a 15 degree spread and looking at the shots before stiching there wasn't that much overlap..

-determine in advance the center point of the scene and try to go X number of shots on each side of it. for me with my setup a 120 degree scene is 7 shots; the center and 3 on each side..

- I stick my hand in front of the lens and shoot, then shoot the panorama, the 7 shots, then put hand in front of lens and shoot. later I know that everything between hands is the panorama..

I have used cs2 or the panorama factory software to make the panorama. for either couldn't be simpler simply select the shots and it does the work. this is where using a level pays off. the software is leveling the scene to make the long rectangcal, but if the scene was not as level as possible in the first place the vertical becomes less and less(you end up with hotdog shape). so having the tripod and camera level is very important. also when mount and shooting vertically make sure the camera really is vertical, carefully check by looking threw the viewfinder.



-be sure to use a cable release or the selftimer..

-on focusing-.

What I do is to simply preset the 20mm lems at infinity, because of depth of field everything from 5.64ft to infinity is in focus at f11.0 distance 200ft..

You can also use a hyperfocal focus setup. but thanks to the DOF table, just setting the lens at infinity is simpler..

I left WB alone, that is set at AWB. you can also use a preset seting like sunny or cloudy; but ledt it at 1 setting for the whole panorama..

Online depth of field calculator available here-http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html.

For panoramas, the software I use is either panorama factory or cs2...

Gary,.

Thanks for the tips. I will go and buy a small table top tripod... that is a very good suggestion. I have to go to the store tomorrow anyways to buy a 4GB SD card..

I am looking forward to trying to make some panorama's (and being that I will be on a small island in italy there should be some great oppurtunity). I like your using your hand shot to bracket the pano... great idea!.

Grazie,Gary..

I almost forgot to ask..... when shooting a Pano during the day, do I keep the VR on or turn it off? ( I have the 18-200VR )..

Turn vr OFF if on the tripod. using vr/is/sr on a tripod will actually make the shot worse; the vr will try to correct the shakes that are not there and you end up seeing the movement of the vr mechanism is the pics..

Also do not underestiimate how much you are going to shoot for the duration of the trip. buy your memory cards accordingly..

I use cf. I have a combination sandisk cf cards and hitachi microdrives. together they are a total of 20gb. I use the microdrives all the time, never had a problem been using them almost 4 yrs...