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Photography gurus, give me some tips! *PICS*

Lots of photo people from here post at these forums. Money is tight and I don't have a good camera anymore, otherwise I'd be over there all of the time. Be careful though. When you go, it'll make you want to drop $1500 on photo stuff. (That's why I don't go 😀)

I think those a pretty nice, but some of them seem too dark. There's a lot of juxtaposition of light and dark.
 
You'd grab the viewers attention more if your photo's were more interesting. We've all seen green grass and trees.
 
Originally posted by: jsbush
You'd grab the viewers attention more if your photo's were more interesting. We've all seen green grass and trees.
Agreed. But if the subject matter is not more interesting than that, what do you do?
 
Originally posted by: jsbush
You'd grab the viewers attention more if your photo's were more interesting. We've all seen green grass and trees.

See, I like grass and trees. It's stupid, but I like to do different stuff with trees. Like this.
 
Personally, I like pictures when there taken from an awkward of perspective. To make them a little more interesting

Like your last couple of pictures they (at least it seems like that) were taken lower to the ground looking up. Which I find is nice, especially when taking pictures of animals.
 
Originally posted by: isekii
where the hell do you live ?
which golf course is that ?
That's my backyard. 🙂

I don't live anywhere near this place. These were taken in a park in Woodridge, NY. The golf course is just the one that happened to be across the lake. I have no idea what it's called.
 
Not bad. I find that some of the detail is a bit dark, but you probably couldn't do much to control that. Other than that, there's not really much to say given the subject matter. I mean, you can't do much with the DOF -- it would look wierd some of the pic was out of focus; and you can't do much with the shutter speed either since there's no motion to stop/blur.
 
1) expose for the shadows, in this shot it would be hard to expose for the backgrtound and forground because they are so differently lit
2) try to keep distracting things out of the frame, the branch and grass take away from the subjuct, is there a subject?
3) good job frameing the right side with the tree, foreground is dark again tho, try to avoid shooting from shade - sun and sun-shade, it messes up th emetering
4) good pic, can be cleaned in PS to have more "pop" to it
5) well taken but of what?
6) same as teh others, a Nutural Density filter will help with exposint the sky better and getting teh color and not just haveing it washed out

overall good pics if this is you first time useing a camera, which cam BTW do you now have? best thing is to shoot and shoot as much as you can, also post on shutterboard
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
1) expose for the shadows, in this shot it would be hard to expose for the backgrtound and forground because they are so differently lit
Help me out here. What does expose for the shadows mean? Again, I am a complete n00b.
2) try to keep distracting things out of the frame, the branch and grass take away from the subjuct, is there a subject?
I had heard that when taking a distant shot, it's better to get something close up in the shot to show prespective. Any truth to that?

6) same as teh others, a Nutural Density filter will help with exposint the sky better and getting teh color and not just haveing it washed out
I have no idea what a natural density filter is. I got alot to learn.

overall good pics if this is you first time useing a camera, which cam BTW do you now have? best thing is to shoot and shoot as much as you can, also post on shutterboard
I just got this camera on Thursday, I've never had a digital camera before. It's a Fuji S3000.
Thanks for looking. 🙂
 
I'm guessing these were taken with an digital automatic. The first pic suffers from the (wrong?) focus. It looks like your camera set the shutter speed too fast. That is why the pic is too dark. The trees in the others look too blurry. This might just be due to your cameras MP limit, but try holding it steadier or use a tripod. Finally, and probably most importantly, what are you trying to convey with your photographs? Is it the lake? The trees? The peaceful scenery? I'm afraid I don't know what you were trying to photo. If it was the lake, you might want to try a different angle, or try a closeup of shore.

To me, the best pic out of all of them is the first one, even though the foreground is way too dark. It looks like the flowering plant is your subject, so next time, try increasing the aperture size (smaller number) and increasing the shutter speed (if that is possible with your camera). Once you find the right combination, the flower subject should be illuminated and the focus will be on the flower (making everything else blurry). In any case, best of luck.
 
Originally posted by: OulOat
I'm guessing these were taken with an digital automatic. The first pic suffers from the (wrong?) focus. It looks like your camera set the shutter speed too fast. That is why the pic is too dark. The trees in the others look too blurry. This might just be due to your cameras MP limit, but try holding it steadier or use a tripod. Finally, and probably most importantly, what are you trying to convey with your photographs? Is it the lake? The trees? The peaceful scenery? I'm afraid I don't know what you were trying to photo. If it was the lake, you might want to try a different angle, or try a closeup of shore.

To me, the best pic out of all of them is the first one, even though the foreground is way too dark. It looks like the flowering plant is your subject, so next time, try increasing the aperture size (smaller number) and increasing the shutter speed (if that is possible with your camera). Once you find the right combination, the flower subject should be illuminated and the focus will be on the flower (making everything else blurry). In any case, best of luck.

That's exactly the kind of post I was looking for. Thanks. 🙂
 
try to adjust your depth of field to force focus on a more specific subject.


i smaller aperture (higher "f" number) will make more of the frame in focus. a larger aperture will keep everything not at the set focal length out of focus.

best advice is just to shoot a lot, and fiddle a lot.

-Vivan
 
1) expose for the shadows means that when you take the light reading for the shot, you point the camera at an area of shadow and meter for that, really only dooiable with a camera with manual controlls, mi9ght be hard with a point and shoot

2) yes and no, sometimes it works sometimes it does not

3) Neutral Density Filters is a filter that even out the expostur of shots the have large areas of light and dark, usially with land and sky read this
 
Originally posted by: vshah

best advice is just to shoot a lot, and fiddle a lot.

-Vivan

You forgot "and remember those settings!"

I really suggest reading and researching the online literature. It will at least save you some time and hassle 🙂
 
Originally posted by: OulOat
Originally posted by: vshah

best advice is just to shoot a lot, and fiddle a lot.

-Vivan

You forgot "and remember those settings!"

I really suggest reading and researching the online literature. It will at least save you some time and hassle 🙂

yes but that hassel lets yo ufind out what you like personally not just what a book says, it also teaches you that thoes "RULES" can be broken all teh time
 
the beauty of digital cameras is the view as you shoot componet. Also, it's a good way to take advice (forums, websites, word of mouth) and apply them when you go out to shoot again.

All you other questions were answered already. But remember. All the beautiful and amazing pictures you've seen on the net, personal galleries, and magazines are from shooting many rolls and rolls of film. Many photographers would say they only get 3 or 4 very good pictures from a roll of film.

Also, you're your own worst critic. I have boxes and folders full of pictures. Some i don't like but when people see them ,they like them. it's an odd feeling.

HAVE FUN!
 
Yea.. learn how to play with your cameras settings. Turn it off auto.. better yet get a totally manual camera so you learn how f-stops and arpetures work. Experiment. Take pictures of things you wouldn't normally take pictures of. Learn how to use light to your advantage. A picture can come out totally different on different settings example:

1 Picture looks ok.

2 What a little more shutter does for you

Some more:

3
4
5

The good thing about digital is that you can see your results immediately. I just bought myself an old seagull 205a. Totally manual and doesnt even always work right, but man the pictures... totally saturated and bursting with color. Thing is only like 10 pictures of a 36 roll are any good. Play around and have fun. Get yourself a kr3 filter for daytime shots. Makes things so much warmer. Try black and white too.
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
1) expose for the shadows means that when you take the light reading for the shot, you point the camera at an area of shadow and meter for that, really only dooiable with a camera with manual controlls, mi9ght be hard with a point and shoot
Should be possible with his. If you hold down the button partially, you should be able to see and hear the lens focusing on the circle (or whatever is in the center of your viewscreen). That way, you can focus on the shadows, and while still holding the button halfway down, turnyour camera to the subject then press fully. This should be only necessary if the lighting for the background is a lot greater than the lighting for the subject. Even then, you might overexpose (too bright) the picture by doing this, because what you are doing is making the camera think that your subject is as dark as the shadow. So always take two pics, one normally and one focused on the shadow.

3) Neutral Density Filters is a filter that even out the expostur of shots the have large areas of light and dark, usially with land and sky read this

Filters are luxuries, so don't spend money on them yet. For most things, it will look fine without a filter. However, as you progress, you will need filters for those other occasions. Ie, trying to eliminate reflections on glass or water (hard unless you have a polarized filter)
 
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