Ok here goes, my first group of photos: Malta

DeVore

Ok, I have a Canon 350D camera for work which is perfectly suited to my abilities, mostly it does the work but I can tweak it when I feel adventurous.
Usually its used for snapping poker players but I took it on a holiday to Malta with the intention of trying my hand at some photography and here are the results.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78645925@N00/sets/72157594284065002/detail/

I'm quite happy with them for the first time out and felt I improved from the first day to the last (though what you see there is the best out of about 400 shots!). I've learned a huge amount about light, exposure, a steady hand not to mention determination to get the shot you have in mind!!

Have a look and comments welcome but please bear in mind that these are the first fumblings of a rank amateur who is trying to get better!

DeV.

CrowdedHouse

Well I think it's a great start.

(Now please give it up before you show the rest of us up )

mikeanywhere

Some cracking pics there Dev. I agree with CrowdedHouse - best not carry on anymore

Zillah

Quite good, the fountain, blue lagoon and shadow casting especially so. Keep snapping and you'll keep getting a better feel for what looks cool.

DeV wrote:

I havent mucked with the colour on this pic (I rarely do that and I never digitally erase or smooth over blemishes)

Don't be afraid to photoshop stuff a little, digital cameras have all sorts of inbuilt stuff that they do automatically. Capturing an image that is true to life as the human eye sees it is actually quite a complex process (look up HDR photography if you're curious). Boosting the colours so it looks like it should or sharpening it to tighten the focus and lots of other stuff actually make the image more like what the human eye would see. And removing an errant bird or awkward branch is fine too, its not like you're creating an impossible image or anything.

positron

Good job!! I really like these two (first two sunsets), would look nice on the wall! how big you can get can you get from these 350D?:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78645925@N00/243474673/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78645925@N00/243485632/

Flikr metadata (?) server is down - couldn't comment there.

Valentia

A very consistent set of shots Dev and rellly excellent for a beginner.

I know you mention that you don't "muck" about much but, without starting the PS v noPS rubbish again, every pic from a digital SLR needs some post processing just like every film needs adjusting when it is being printed. Some of the shots, though really good as they are need slight levels adjustments and sharpening. A little saturation on some too. You wont believe how a few SMALL tweaks totally transform the photo and make it jump out.

Digital SLR's are manafactured to output a flat neutral image which is meant to be developed (procesed).

Here are two interesting threads on the EOS Forums: 1 & 2. The second one refers to the 30D but the points are relevant to any DSlr.

Fajitas!

Some nice shots there,

Pool@Midnight, Goodbye to Malta and Flowers & Sandstone would be my favourite.

As Val and Zillah mentioned, some quick play abouts in Photoshop could work really well

DeVore

Where it was obvious that a touch up in Photoshop (or Picasa2 which I have fallen totally in love with) would add a lot then I did it (Colour, Contrast, Gamma and Crop). I dont like the idea of doing pixel manipulation beyond that, not to mention I am not terrifically well versed in PS

Thanks for the feedback, I really agonised over some of those pics. Funny how people have commented on certain photos, I like them all but those wouldnt have been the ones I would have expected comment on! (Dont ask me why!)

Nice to hear the encouragement, despite your wishes I'm fairly addicted to this now (I was driving my mates bonkers constantly seeing shots everywhere and trying to get them just right!) and I'll be doing a lot more of this I think!

DeV.

rymus

DeVore wrote:

Picasa2 which I have fallen totally in love with

here here.. Very good for organisation, batch jobs and quick processing tasks. Nice set of photos; I can't add much to whats been said already. Like the pool shot and really like the fountain.

Ruu_Old

Loverly shots, DeV. Keep posting, you'll be advising us soon enough. There are heaps of neat plugins for PS out there to help you out as well as the built in stuff.

melekalikimaka

the one of the wee girl with large arms is really excellent

DeVore

Funny to see a few people mention the fountain. It was the first shot I took that wasnt "I want to remember this place/people/time etc".

After I took it I started criticising myself thinking "what a totally corny obvious shot, really Tom you'll need to step up the creativity beyond that". Then when I saw it I thought, well I like it and clumsy as it is, its mine and its my first step but I doubt anyone else will give it the time of day. Lol... goes to show I guess, stick to what your gut tells you!

Smiler was another opportunistic shot and I wish the sunset had been full on behind her. Again I didnt think much of the shot but she was such a giggler and she LOVED being photographed too... lol!

The sunset with the railings to the left (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78645925@N00/243474564/) I think would make a nice poster and I'm going to look into getting it printed I think. I'd like it on my wall but I'll need to go back to the original image to get as high a detail as possible.

DeV.

Zillah

DeVore wrote:

Funny to see a few people mention the fountain. It was the first shot I took that wasnt "I want to remember this place/people/time etc".

After I took it I started criticising myself thinking "what a totally corny obvious shot, really Tom you'll need to step up the creativity beyond that". Then when I saw it I thought, well I like it and clumsy as it is, its mine and its my first step but I doubt anyone else will give it the time of day. Lol... goes to show I guess, stick to what your gut tells you!

Theres a reason cliches are so common. Photos of fountains are so popular because they usually look fairly cool.

DeVore

Yeah, thats what I was thinking as the camera seems to have a very good shutter speed (something I have played with a good bit with some success and some disasters! ).
I revisited that kind of idea (a moment frozen in time) with the pictures of the lad diving from the pier (looking like super man) and the wave crashing while the couple are watching the sunset. I was a LOT happier with that as it wasnt as posed or as corny.

I really enjoyed it and if anyone is thinking of getting into this hobby I highly recommend it. After poker this is my new addiction!

DeV.

Fajitas!

Ever think poker was expensive?

Prepare to lose all your money

Zillah

DeVore wrote:

Yeah, thats what I was thinking as the camera seems to have a very good shutter speed (something I have played with a good bit with some success and some disasters! ).

Actually most cameras (and especially a fancy DSLR likes yours) will have shutter speeds well beyond what you'd ever really need. I have a D70s which is fairly comperable to yours and it goes to 1/8000th of a second. Thats the kind of thing you need if you point it right at the sun, and it'd capture an unblurred meteor if you needed it (what an opportunity that would be...).

The only limiting factor with quick shutter speeds is the amount of available light, because quicker shutter means less light getting in. Anything from 1/100th or faster is likely to get that "freeze the moment" feel.

Fajitas! wrote:

Ever think poker was expensive?

Prepare to lose all your money

This I am quickly realising. I'm really getting into the fun of judging lenses and getting cool kit. Just last week I walked into a camera shop and had a ten minute conversation using complete camera techno babble about focal lengths, macro, f/stop and such; I was amazed afterwards that I understood what was going on.

I went with the cheap macro angle, only about 80 euro for a set of macro converter lenses.

311

Great shots dev ,nice one for sharing them !

Brian.

Borderfox

Excellent shots, Malta looks really nice

DeVore

Malta IS very pretty but it was the quality of light that amazed me. The sky really WAS that deep intense blue and often gradiated from dark azure to almost white on the horizon. The sunsets, well you can see them there. They were stunning and very fast. From start to finish I wouldnt say it took more then 10-15 minutes because its so near the equator. At the end of a sunset you can see the sun quickly dipping and then be gone.

I'll go back down again to shoot Mdina (the silent city) at night and see it when its covered in greenery in feb/march/april.

DeV.

Takeshi_Kovacs

Yeah great shots Dev, really like the dome with the blue sky... great colour in it..




p.s.. thanks for mentioning Picasa... just downloaded it and it is one damn sweet app so it is!!

Fajitas!

DeV, bring a polarising filter with you when you're heading back, trust me

DeVore

Fajitas! wrote:

DeV, bring a polarising filter with you when you're heading back, trust me

A what now?

I'm thinking about getting a decent zoom lens because the 18-55mm jobbie is fairly crap imho.

What will that doohickey do for me?

DeV.

Fajitas!

It basically screws into the top of your lens (Yours is a 58mm diameter)

From there, you'll automatically lose 2 stops of light...ish. And if you were to blow it up REALLY big there'd be a minor loss of quality.

BUT.

It saturates colours like you can't imagine, gives you great skies, gets rid of annoying reflections (even so you can shoot through glass), and gives your front piece of glass an extra bit of protection! Should cost you no more than 30 quid...ish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizing_filter#Polarizer is the wiki for it...the polarizer is about half way down.

If your in a rush... First picture without, second picture with:

DeVore

not sure what a "stop of light" is or what will happen if I lose 2 of them but I like the results.

DeV.

sionnach

yup a polariser is a must for places as sunny as malta. I´m out in spain at the moment and have the polariser on pretty much all the time to get rid of the bleaching harsh sunlight.

Some excellent pics there DeV and as already mentioned don´t shy away from taking a photograph that you somehow feel like taking even if when you coldly analyse it you think it to be cliche, if your subconscious is telling you to take a picture, listen to it and take that picture, it will usually turn out to be a great shot. I always find that the shots that i seem to take on a whim are better than the ones i spend ages composing.

Fajitas!

A stop of light is basically a measure of how much light you are letting into the camera - more light = faster shutter speed. Stops can be affected by any variables in photography if you get me... It's kinda simply complicated!

DeVore

oooook.... /me backs away slowly.

Yeah I kinda get you. I'm still working on the whole light vs shutter speed thing but I'm definitely getting the hang of it.

I'm going to be looking for a zoom lens soon so I'll look out for a polarizer while I'm looking.

DeV.

Fajitas!

It's very complicated when your first coming into it... Trust me, in a while it'll be second nature

A polarizer will cost ye about 30 - 40 quid for your kit lens, and you'll be able to use it on other lenses of the same size!

(While we're here... you DO have a UV filter on your lens... right?)

Zillah

DeVore wrote:

oooook.... /me backs away slowly.

Ah its not as bad as all that... You have two main methods of controlling light with the camera: Aperture (how wide or narrow) and shutter (long time open or short time open). Each step on each is a light stop.

Theres also ISO, which in film is the speed of the film. Faster means more grainy. I'm not sure what it means with digital but the effects are pretty much the same. Each ISO step is also probably one light stop.

DeVore

Fajitas! wrote:

(While we're here... you DO have a UV filter on your lens... right?)

A what now??

Dude, I took this thing out of the box and started pointing it at stuff I liked the look of. Thats as far as I have gotten !!!

I guess I'll add one of those to the list (which also now includes a monopod and a zoom lens of some kind! I can see how this gets expensive...)

Zillah, I get you. I've yet to get enough practise with ISO and what have you to orverride my cameras auto function or no-flash option but I am going to experiment with them and see. I guess theres no better way to learn!

DeV.

DeVore

Hang on, do these things stack or how do I use a polarizer AND a UV filter?

DeV.

Fajitas!

Lol, next purchase, UV filter. It'll protect your precious glass and cut out some UV light...which you wouldn't want anyways

Sorry to pop this all on you, but UV filters are...VERY handy. Means you don't have to splash out on a new lens!

They screw into the front of your lens. Putting the 2 of them on wouldn't make much of a difference at the longer end of your lens, but the shorter end, you'll have some vignetting. (black bits at the corners)

What Zillah said is spot on about stops of light. It really does take a while, but keep checking out different sites. I'd highly reccomend www.photo.com and check the tutorials there, and be sure to read the comments on them too.

Valentia

DeVore, you will find that the polarizer has a mechanism can be spun around. You will need to look through the viewfinder when doing this to get the maximum effect. A good way to really see it working is point at the window of a car. By turning the polarizer the reflection will almost completely dissappear. Sunny days are a must and working with the lens at 90% to the sun gives optimum results.

As far as ISO goes there is a stop increase for each of the following: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 if your camera goes that far. You are lucky you have a Canon in that regard because the noise levels are way better than other makes at high ISO's.

Sure 'tis great craic.