New member C&C

el_loco_blanco

Hey there,

I have an interest in photographing beach debris and and landscapes with reflections. I would appreciate any feedback on how to improve my photography. Here are a few photo links.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54213961@N00/718929894/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54213961@N00/412937518/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54213961@N00/478808158/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54213961@N00/412937505/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54213961@N00/853769428/

Calina

Okay. I really like the coloured Mirror Lake 2 and the night scene in Tampere. Well done.

The beach debris I could take or leave. Mirror Lake 5 lacks a little contrast for my taste but I want to highlight that this is a question of taste more than anything.

The one I want to talk about is the beach car. There are a couple of things that I'd recommend regarding this photograph:

1) the horizon is not horizontal. I know it's a cliché to complain about these things and I used to be a terrible sinner in this respect.

2) it might be interesting to take it from a lower angle.

Welcome, by the way.

nilhg

I'm with Calina on this, mirror lake 2 and Tampere are the pick of those. The other lake shot would have been nice as well but the sky does not match its reflection, makes it look weird to me.

BTW you would probably get more reaction if you posted the shots in the thread rather than linking, theres a thread on how to do it here.

rahtkennades

I agree with the others mostly. I actually like the Beach Debris one as well though. Something about the tones in it. But it could do with more contrast I think. And crop the tiny bit of crooked horizon from the top right as well.
Good stuff.

teckoda

'tampere night scene' is my personal favorite. The colours are great

el_loco_blanco

Here are the pictures again in boards.ie

Thanks for the feedback. I don't know but I never seem to be able to get the same colours in a picture that I see with my eye?

Thanks for the link on how to put pictures in. Isn't it great that life is a continual learning experience.

Has anyone heard of GIMP? It is a photo editing package on freeware! So far after using it a day it seems to be quite like photoshop. I would be interested in hearing your views!

Calina

I used to use the GIMP for a while on an XP machine but found it to be somewhat of a memory hog and despite many efforts to customise it to my liking, just gave up. I now use PSE5 and ACDSee Pro to cover my needs because I can't justify the expense of a PS CS3 licence just yet. The GIMP does have some method of straightening horizonz though.

rahtkennades

el_loco_blanco wrote: »

...Thanks for the feedback. I don't know but I never seem to be able to get the same colours in a picture that I see with my eye?
...

One thing to think about is the calibration of your monitor. It may be that the factory settings that are on it are way to bright, so a lot of the colours are washed out. I noticed that a lot.

There seems to be a lot of opinions on how to calibrate your monitor, but the best way is to use a proper calibrator that connects to the pc.

In saying that, there are a few visual techniques that you can use. Adobe give Adobe Gamma with Photoshop for doing it visually. This guy has some good info on it too.

After that it's learning the techniques of Photoshop/GIMP/etc.!

AnimalRights

Welcome and while feeling like a newb from "I don't know hat a tracker mortgage is" wtf is a C@C?