Beginner shots from the weekend

FreeAnd..

I have attached links to some shots taken over the weekend. These are the very first shots of a beginner so any feedback would be much appreciated. The weather wasn't great hence the lack of animals out in the zoo and the overall gloomy look in powerscourt. Feel free to maul these if thats your thing but if you have any advice/reccommendations then even better...


Powerscourt

Dublin Zoo

Howth

CoolBoardr

Pretty good photos for a beginner! Nice composition overall, especially in the Powerscourt set.

FreeAnd..

Thanks for the feedback CoolBoardr. I was hoping to get some nice close ups out there but the weather was a bit miserable and there were not as many decent flowers etc. Lots were dying/off colour too. Any suggestions on good places for photos would be welcome also. I am meaning to head up to the botanical gardens but would be more interested in heading up the mountains (or any interesting sites) for some nature/outdoor photography. I'm in the dublin area with use of a car so most places should be accessible.

ChityWest

I liked the zoo ones particularly. The red panda and the tiger ones stand out imo. The panda one is a really good capture and the colours are very striking.
The tiger one could probably do with a crop at the bottom of the picture - but is still a very good capture.

Dimy

Very nice sets, I love the bird shot in Howth 03! I've done a couple of flying bird shots myself and they're pretty hard to get right. Added you as a contact on Flickr.

Flipflip

Pretty good stuff man, keep it up!

crosstownk

Hey that bird in flight shot is pretty cool - well done!

Wibbler

Very nice photos. I especially like the ones from the zoo. I'm pretty sure you must be well pleased with your 350D.

FreeAnd.. wrote:

I was hoping to get some nice close ups out there but the weather was a bit miserable

I know how you feel. I've purchased a Nikon D50 - my first DSLR - last week and so far there has been a shortage of good weather coinciding with my free time so I can put it to work. I managed to squeeze a few shots out of it at the Malahide boat show this weekend. The image quality is excellent, but my composition isn't good enough to make them compelling for others.

Keep up the good work!

FreeAnd..

Thanks for all the feedback, i have always been dying to get into photography and getting the 350d was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.

As for the bird shot Dimy, i was just lucky there was someone there throwing stuff down to the birds so they had all gathered and i got to wait for that bird to leave the rock.

FlipFlip, I see you're from Carrick, Hows that working out for you?

Fajitas!

FreeAnd.. wrote:

FlipFlip, I see you're from Carrick, Hows that working out for you?

Some great shots there, keep it up. Some very nice colours on the flower shots.

Flipflip

FreeAnd.. wrote:

FlipFlip, I see you're from Carrick, Hows that working out for you?

How do yo think?:D

****ing place isnt exactly the most photographer welcoming town in Ireland!

Why where you from?

FreeAnd..

Wibbler - I know how you feel. I've purchased a Nikon D50 - my first DSLR - last week and so far there has been a shortage of good weather coinciding with my free time so I can put it to work.

I know how you feel wibbler, i was going mad taking photos around the house. I though the weekend was going to be lovely especially after Friday but what can you do. Hopefully this weekend will pick up and we can put our cameras to good use....

FreeAnd..

I have the misfortune of being from the place myself, living in Dublin with the last few years though..

Flipflip

FreeAnd.. wrote:

I have the misfortune of being from the place myself, living in Dublin with the last few years though..

Any chance I might know ya? Whats yer name?

FreeAnd..

Doubt it, have been gone since you were aound 10. PM me if you want, dont like throwing my name around the net...

Fionn

some really nice shots there,

that duck looks familiar!! i'm sure i've seen him someplace before

really like the blur (bokeh) in the background in the sleeping bear one and the big cats photo is pretty good, pity about the lower right corner some obstruction or something or is it intentional?

would anyone know what kind of settings would be needed to have the background totally blurred in the tigers photo?

i also recently became an owner of a Canon 350 D manuals are in german and french and that so haven't clued up to all the operations of the camera yet. But delighted with the camera so far!

anyway well done!

FreeAnd..

Hey Fionn, not sure how to get the background fully blurred think it more depends on the distance from the background. Those tigers were a alot closer to the background than they were to me and the option of getting closer to the tigers wasn't really viable:D The thing in the front was a log that should erally have been cropped out but in other shots i was focussing on that and blurring out the tigers. Looked awful though, who wants sharply focussed logs and blurry tigers?

I spent most of the weekend trying to get nice DOF, near focusing and getting close to a subject. Thats about the depth of my knowledge, there are some good 350 manuals online though that should make up for having the german manual..

Dimy

The larger your aperture (smaller f-number) the thinner your depth of field. Prime lenses usually allow for larger apertures then zoom lenses. Zoom lenses are of course more flexible and allow for a better range, of course you can always use the blur tool in photoshop to manually blur the background after taking a shot, but that's more of a workaround fix.

Fionn

ok
yeah i've been reading about depth of field, i get it now i think!

oh and i got a manual online
nice one

FreeAnd..

Yeah, i got a lot of good ones online myself while I was waiting for my camera to be delivered. Probably got too much stuff infact, i had an overload of information before I even had my camera. It was all good though, i wanted to know what I was buying and what it could do and the 350 seems to be well covered online..

fw

just saw your work, if you're for real and they are some of your first photos with a digi SLR - give up the day job .. I work as a photographer and have been taking photos since I was 12 - those images are v.impressive.

Carrigman

FreeAnd.. wrote:

These are the very first shots of a beginner so any feedback would be much appreciated.

Really good shots for a beginner. Very well done.

Carrigman

FreeAnd..

Thanks for the compliments fw and Carraigman, wasnt expecting anything like that, definitely think i made the right decision moving to SLR. I have a few more from the weekend that I must put up, nothing special just a few from around Dublin.