Awesome man. Thanks for enduring my noobish amateurish questions. You’re right, it isn’t Backlighting that I want, it’s Rim Lighting. Thanks for clarifying the differences and explaining how they work.
I’m getting excited to try some things with my ghetto equipment. The foil recommendation in particular gave me ideas.
I think I will need to try some things before asking any more questions.
I dug up this link for ChairHome, because it has lots of excellent ways of manipulating light using an on camera flash like the 550EX.
Basically, it is a great series of blog posts dealing with ‘motivated light’ and how to achieve motivated light with on camera hot shoe flashes. He does all the photography with a hot shoe flash, a CTO gel, a stofen omni bounce, and a foam bounce card. More on his light modifiers here.
From what I have seen, I think that TheTian could take a lot from it. Most of the photography that I’ve seen from theTian lends itself to motivated light. Most ‘available light’ photographers, and shooters that gravitate towards slower shutter speeds take to motivated light really well.
For those that don’t know, motivated light is when you use a flash to add light to the existing light sources so that everything looks natural and correct. In most cases, when you use motivated light correctly, most people can’t tell that you used a flash at all.
some pix i took while on a cruise to mexico. some from the long beach pier, catalina island, and ensenada.
just a snap from a walk.
some of hte trash that people left behind after the rose parade.
those are nice 
like the street shots, bit more of the background blue wud have been nicer. for the sake of the DOF.
im considering a canon 40D, right choice? or nikon 300D ?
id love a canon 5D, but its 2k, plus being 2 years older than whats available now?
I assume you mean nikon D300, but to tell the truth, they are both great cameras. Here is a breakdown of differences.
D300: 12 Megapixels
40D: 10 Megapixels
D300 has only P,S,A, and M modes
40D has automagic modes like landscape, portrait, etc in addition to P,T(S),A, and M modes
D300 has af assist lamp
40D has preflash af assist
D300 X-sync 1/320
40D X-sync 1/250
D300 on camera flash guide number: 17
40D on camera flash guide number: 13
D300 has CLS commander capability, and can control Nikon flashes wirelessly
40D is not wireless flash capable. (Although you can buy attachments)
D300: $1799.00
40D: $1149.00
(according to amazon)
Aside from those few differences, they are very similar cameras.
However, the canon 5D is $2100 on amazon and actually has worse x-sync and less pixels than the D300. …but it has a full frame sensor, magnesium body, and all sorts of gaskets that keep the camera ticking in harsh circumstances.
As a pro, I can get $2100 dollars worth of value out of the 5D, and of the three, the 5D is the best choice for me.
However, the D300 really shines in multi-flash situations, and it would be my second runner up because it can control several flashes off camera wirelessly.
The 40D, however, is easily the best choice for those that want a single camera and no accessories. It is more consumer oriented than the other two, and also has a more consumer price.
Hope that helps.
Some random pictures I took when I was in Shanghai, China. Flickr really does weird things to the colors.
Derek Daniels
From New Year’s Eve, some of the shots look like set pics from Cloverfield, haha. Complete with shaky cam.
Needs some work, I know, I wish I used a tripod.
Oh, and Rei, thanks for all the help you’ve been giving. I wanted to join in your assignment, but the hard part is finding a friend that will let me shoot a portrait shot of them to post for this. It just feels weird for me to ask as an amateur. Don’t know if its the same for anyone else. I thought it was a good idea though.
What did you use to shoot with? If you’re using an SLR of sorts, then I have a couple of comments. If not, then those are good photos considering the conditions. The first image would be much stronger if the bike was more in focus. As for the other images, I feel that the reflections in the water are too distracting. Try using a circular polarizer to get rid of them. The last one is perfectly fine with me. 
I used a XTi with a 50 mm lens. I was part of a tour group when I took the first image. I just kinda ran up and took the picture, what can I say…looked in focus in the 1" LCD haha. Bummed me out when I finally saw it on my laptop.
You didn’t like the reflections? Shrug - i thought that was the best part haha. I kinda like the ‘circle’ that the bridge creates. Fair enough though.
Any comments are welcomed though. I think I have a decent ‘eye’ but my technical is god awful when it comes to photography. Still trying to learn
BTW - I uploaded the only other picture I took of the bridge with the bike. This one I took then kinda realized the bridge was interesting.
I was trying to frame it so you couldn’t see the crane and all that nonsense in the back and ended up having the lens focus on the pole in front by accident. sucks
Derek Daniels
http://lowfiece.blogspot.com
youve got your focus point in the center. thats why the bike is out of focus. i cant find the exif data on it right now but im gonna guess its set at 3.5-5.6. thats fine, nothing wrong with that, if youre trying to get a sense of depth. but since you were trying to capture them quick and doesnt seem like you were planning on spending more than a few minutes in each location as your bus stops, id suggest just keeping the settings as general as possible.
meaning:
-use all focus points instead of one. this will let your camera decide what is in focus. and since the camera normally either looks for the area with most contrast or subject that is closest, that bike might have been in focus. unless you knew that you wanted the bike in focus, then you want to specify the focus points accordingly.
-use a narrower /stop if possible. normally during the day, ill have it at at least 8. with ISO set at 100. which should still allow shutter speeds up to 1/600 or faster in most situations. also, at 8 you can still get a decent depth of field with the background/foreground of your subject, out of focus. this way, you wont have to worry about the shallow depth of field working against your snap shooting.
those are just a few of my practices during the day. im sure there might be better ones that others can suggest.
I like this one. I’m no photo expert, but as a ‘viewer,’ this one is cool. 
QFT
When shooting landscapes with lots of depth, f11 or better is the rule. Same thing with shooting large groups of people, f9 or better, because at about f8 you will start getting part of the group out of focus.
Beyond that, if you are in a hurry, when you half depress the shutter, the focus points that the camera picked light up red. If you want to quickly over-ride this, place your thumb on the upper right button on the back (the one with the + magnifying glass under it), then use the dial (while the button is pressed) to pick alternate focusing points.
blooper and rei: Thanks for the input, appreciate it a lot.
sasmasta: Thanks!
Derek
Hey Rei, this is probably off topic and if it is just let me know. I wanted to ask if the Canon G9 is a good camera to learn with. Pretty new to Photography and I’d like to buy a camera sometime to learn. I’d like to buy something simple, but at the same time when the time comes will let me toy around with manual mode. Thanks for your time.
G series is a nice high end point and shoot. i almost dont want to call it a point and shoot because of it. the G9 runs for about $500.00. is that your budget? have you looked into your other alternatives for that price range?
Lots of pros use that camera when they are scouting their shoots and/or to play with set-up shots. As an only camera, it is okay, but it is hard for me to recommend it over a used DSLR. The plus side is that it is good to learn with, and it is easy to carry around, unlike DSLRs.
Think I’m ok with the 500 price range, anything over might be a bit much. I wasn’t sure if buying a DSLR right now when I’m just learning would make sense. Specially after realizing that they don’t come with the lense (AFAIK). But I do want to be able to mess around some settings while still having some options available to me.
The only other one I saw was Nikon P5000 I think was the name. If it either seems to be too advanced I was thinking of just getting a canon powershot. Thanks guys.