Im very happy with these,

mumof2

but I know theyre not perfect! It was fun and I just love the colours and learning how to use the editing facility in Flickr.
Sunrise was taken as Jpeg and Sunset was RAW and converted.

Any comments? Go easy on me :Dits my first time:pac::pac:



AnCatDubh EDIT: The following has been removed from inline display due to size; Please click to view;

Sunset:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/3046125425_e33151a31e_o.jpg

AnCatDubh

love the colour in both. My monitor aint the best on the laptop but they look somewhat dark - i know time of day on both so i shouldn't expect them to be bright. All the same they just look a little dark. The silhouetted are in sunset also appears to lose all detail in the black area - would have preferred a little detail of the silhouette area. Given this i think i'd crop 1/4 of black off the bottom of the image. I love the concept, and the colour. Did you bump the saturation on sunset? Sunrise is nice. There is some detail in the silhouetted area which i like. Nice feel to it. Good stuff.

l pearse

One of the main things is to have Fun mumof2.

Two lovely shots.....Post up your Flickr so we can have a nose at some of ur other pics.:D

mumof2

When I try to lighten the picture, the hue of the sky changes too much, so I need to play around for a while till I get it right. I was also playing around with the iso settings to see what happens!

As for the rest of my pics, be patient, as im lacking in the confidence department yet..........:o

Need some more practice. Mind you Im heading out with the camera tomoro again.:D

Thanks for your tips and comments!!

mumof2

AnCatDubh wrote: »

love the colour in both. My monitor aint the best on the laptop but they look somewhat dark - i know time of day on both so i shouldn't expect them to be bright. All the same they just look a little dark. The silhouetted are in sunset also appears to lose all detail in the black area - would have preferred a little detail of the silhouette area. Given this i think i'd crop 1/4 of black off the bottom of the image. I love the concept, and the colour. Did you bump the saturation on sunset? Sunrise is nice. There is some detail in the silhouetted area which i like. Nice feel to it. Good stuff.

Just to add, yes I played around with the saturation, but I did so many things to try them out I can't even remember if the setting changed back or whether I saved it!!!!!! I agree about the darkness of the pic, and it would look better cropped. Thanks.

GhostInTheRuins

I like the sunrise picture, very nice.

The sunset is a bit too dark , maybe if you cropped out a lot of the dark area in the bottom it would be better.

superflyninja

I love the first one.....looks so peaceful

mumof2

Cropped!!

City-Exile

Nothing is sharp in either picture.
What aperture did you use?

superflyninja

City-Exile wrote: »

Nothing is sharp in either picture.
What aperture did you use?

I think that works fine in the first,it gives it a dreamy quality. The bluriness in the second looks processed to me. Looks like when you add a layer,gaussian blur it and set the blending mode to screen.

mumof2

City-Exile wrote: »

Nothing is sharp in either picture.
What aperture did you use?

I havn't got that far yet. Shooting in 'P' mode, Auto White Balance, with iso 400 for that pic only, aperature F5.6, rear flash and in RAW format. I saw that myself that it looks very grainy - is that the apperature? If i increase the aperature does the sharpness of the pic improve?

mumof2

superflyninja wrote: »

The bluriness in the second looks processed to me. Looks like when you add a layer,gaussian blur it and set the blending mode to screen.

Can you explain the terms please? Thanks (im blond btw):D

City-Exile

mumof2 wrote: »

I havn't got that far yet. Shooting in 'P' mode, Auto White Balance, with iso 400 for that pic only, aperature F5.6, rear flash and in RAW format.

You should have a much smaller aperture.
I'd use at least f/11
That would give you much more of the scene in focus.
Of course, that would probably require a tripod, for shooting in such conditions.
In daylight, I would often use an aperture in the 20's.

mumof2 wrote: »

I saw that myself that it looks very grainy - is that the apperature? If i increase the aperature does the sharpness of the pic improve?

The grain will be down to the ISO.
What camera do you have?
Usually ISO 400 is fairly good, in terms of grain.

Don't be afraid of grain, by the way.
It can add to an image.

AnCatDubh

I love the second crop - i think it looks about 200% better ! What do you think yourself in comaparison to your first posting of it.?

superflyninja

mumof2 wrote: »

Can you explain the terms please? Thanks (im blond btw):D

hahah a guess i was utterly wrong !!!!!! shockin! gaussian blur is a filter in photoshop.to blur things!!!
do u use photoshop?
(nowt wrong with blondes, my daughter is one )

kgiller

+1 to what City-exile has said. in that light you will need to use a tripod and have a smaller aperture, having a onger shutter speed. The smaller the aperture (size of the hole to let light into the camera) the more will be in focus from foreground to background in the picture. However, this requires a longer shutter speed (leaving the hole open for longer to let light in). Therefore you need a tripod to keep the camera still, or else because of the long shutter speed it will be shaky.

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/part1/1B.html

This website is brilliant for explaining all these basic photography skills. Its a must read for beginners. All will be explained from ISO to aperture and shutterspeed etc.

Enjoy

mumof2

City-Exile wrote: »

You should have a much smaller aperture.
I'd use at least f/11
That would give you much more of the scene in focus.
Of course, that would probably require a tripod, for shooting in such conditions.
In daylight, I would often use an aperture in the 20's.




The grain will be down to the ISO.
What camera do you have?
Usually ISO 400 is fairly good, in terms of grain.

Don't be afraid of grain, by the way.
It can add to an image.

Thanks a mill for explaining. I was out today trying different aperature settings, and will compare them. Im using a Sony Alpha 200 with 18-70 lens. God I could do with the 70-300 lens though!!

Coming back to the sunrise/sunset pics, im sure I had the iso settings really high, so that could explain the grain effect......I did that to get in as much light as it was fairly dark. Then again, im not sure if it was the right thing to do:o

mumof2

AnCatDubh wrote: »

I love the second crop - i think it looks about 200% better ! What do you think yourself in comaparison to your first posting of it.?

Definately much better, but sharpness has to improve - could that be the iso settings were too high? If I remember correctly, I had it set high to allow extra light because it was fairly dark.

mumof2

superflyninja wrote: »

hahah a guess i was utterly wrong !!!!!! shockin! gaussian blur is a filter in photoshop.to blur things!!!
do u use photoshop?
(nowt wrong with blondes, my daughter is one )

No cause I wouldn't know what im doing yet, so I just play around in Flickr with editing in Piknik (or something like that).......
Ha ha, my daughter is blond too!:D

City-Exile

mumof2, are you hand-holding the camera?
You might want to invest in a small tripod, if you haven't already done so.
Look for something sturdy, but light.
You don't want to break you back carrying too much gear around with you.

When you want a lower ISO, for quality and a smaller aperture, for landscapes, you will need to adjust the shutter speed to control your exposure.

If you're using the light meter in your camers, meter off the light above the sun, but do not include the sun. That way you'll get the correct exposure for the glow in the sky.

superflyninja

mumof2 wrote: »

No cause I wouldn't know what im doing yet, so I just play around in Flickr with editing in Piknik (or something like that).......
Ha ha, my daughter is blond too!:D

give it time(twice as long if you blonde)..im only doin it about 8months...sooo muhc to get used to!!! wot fun!

mumof2

City Exile, thank you so much for your tips - they were just the ones I needed.

superflyninja - its great fun, im enjoying it and thats what its all about. Thanks for helping out!:)