C&C for my favourite few recent photos?

SdoowSirhc

So I have already done a C&C thread for my first round of photographs on my el cheapo bridge camera but I've gotten used to it and it's not too bad :P
So I'm looking for a bit of C&C on my best (IMO) few pics. Be HARSH (or be nice, I don't mind..) :rolleyes:

dazftw

Number 1 & 2: These are fine shots! This is one of those times where a better camera makes the difference.

Number 3: Nice shot. The water droplets in the back add depth to the photo.

Number 4: It's a bit soft but your composition is good.

Number 5: I don't usually like bird photos but this has nice framing. It's a bit different.

Number 6: Square crop helps but its just a sunset/sunrise photo to me.

Number 7: Just a photo of a sheep. Does nothing for me.

Overall I just think the camera you have is probably holding you back a good bit.

SdoowSirhc

dazftw wrote: »

Number 1 & 2: These are fine shots! This is one of those times where a better camera makes the difference.

Number 3: Nice shot. The water droplets in the back add depth to the photo.

Number 4: It's a bit soft but your composition is good.

Number 5: I don't usually like bird photos but this has nice framing. It's a bit different.

Number 6: Square crop helps but its just a sunset/sunrise photo to me.

Number 7: Just a photo of a sheep. Does nothing for me.

Overall I just think the camera you have is probably holding you back a good bit.

Thanks, what you said is good advice and I can see what you mean about the beach shot not being sharp enough and the sheep being a bit boring. I only have one of those cheaper bridge cameras for the last 2 weeks and I already feel as if I have outgrown it, but I'm only 15 so a DSLR is waaay out of my price range Hopefully I will get some work or something for the summer then I would definitely invest in a good camera. The only problem for me really are the lenses. I could pick up a used body only for under €200 but then the lenses need to be bought, and for me macro shots are a must! Believe it or not photos 2 and 3 are taken on my phone :P it has a surprisingly good macro setting on it's camera. Could you recommend a well priced dslr that I could maybe aim towards buying? One that wouldn't be too pricey, although I know they all start at a high price

Mountainsandh

Bridge cameras are great for learning because most offer good manual settings. Why not keep the bridge for another while ? I had mine (Fujifilm S5600) for 2 years or more, and loved it, before I moved on to a Pentax K-x, which is a cheap DSLR. But you do need all the lenses with the Pentax.
I knew my bridge by heart, and learned so much with it.

SdoowSirhc

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Bridge cameras are great for learning because most offer good manual settings. Why not keep the bridge for another while ? I had mine (Fujifilm S5600) for 2 years or more, and loved it, before I moved on to a Pentax K-x, which is a cheap DSLR. But you do need all the lenses with the Pentax.
I knew my bridge by heart, and learned so much with it.

Yeah I find it is okay for the manual settings, especially for learning but it did not come with an actual user guide or manual so I learned it just by use, I have a long way to go before I make the jump to a DSLR. Does the Pentax have it's own lenses or is it cross compatible with another make? I really only would want a DSLR to give macro and wide angle options and better focus/bokkeh

Mountainsandh

Careful with that, it never turns out that way...
Before you know it you'll want something else !
The Pentax is great in that you can use old film lenses with it, so there are a lot of lenses available on Ebay, very cheap, that are compatible with and adaptor. But you won't get any of the technical frills with them, they're manual focus only for example, and if you're like me and don't mind too much, and get the right cheap ones, they could come with dust or fungus, or be a bit rickety. But if like me you just want fun, they're great, and dirt cheap for lenses. For the bokeh there's dozens 50mm film lenses on Ebay, I got mine (with complimentary mold, but they're only tiny spots in the bokeh, like the moon ) for ... I think it was 42 euros, delivered, that was a while ago.
Other than that Pentax have a good range of lenses, pretty good quality, and "normal" prices, and yes, some others are compatible (not Canon or Nikon though).

A lot of the user manuals are actually available online, have a Google for yours, it's boring to learn from the manual, but you do discover lots of things.

edit : this for example http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pentax-M42-thread-mount-50mm-macro-Takumar-/261041216495?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3cc744dbef don't always trust the write up though, fungus and dust are common.

SdoowSirhc

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Careful with that, it never turns out that way...
Before you know it you'll want something else !
The Pentax is great in that you can use old film lenses with it, so there are a lot of lenses available on Ebay, very cheap, that are compatible with and adaptor. But you won't get any of the technical frills with them, they're manual focus only for example, and if you're like me and don't mind too much, and get the right cheap ones, they could come with dust or mould, or be a bit rickety. But if like me you just want fun, they're great, and dirt cheap for lenses. For the bokeh there's dozens 50mm film lenses on Ebay, I got mine (with complimentary mold, but they're only tiny spots in the bokeh, like the moon ) for ... I think it was 42 euros, delivered, that was a while ago.
Other than that Pentax have a good range of lenses, pretty good quality, and "normal" prices, and yes, some others are compatible (not Canon or Nikon though).

A lot of the user manuals are actually available online, have a Google for yours, it's boring to learn from the manual, but you do discover lots of things.

Thanks for the advice If you don't mind me asking, how much was your Pentax? Did you buy it body only?

Mountainsandh

No it came with 2 kit lenses, you could buy body only also, but the kit lenses with it are usually better value. Husband got it in the States, and I think at the time it was probably 600-700 $. But that's at the start of the K-xs.
Now they're old news, because the K5 is out, and other user friendly upgrades to the K-x (K-r I think).

I bet you if you look around you would come across good second hand ones, from those that are upgrading to the K5 ! (like I planned to do so at one stage, but my little K-x is doing such a good job, I'll keep it for another while).

The K-x takes standard AA batteries, it's great as you can buy them anywhere, no need to plan and plot to charge enough batteries for a photo session. But you do use a good few of them. (You can of course get the rechargeable ones).

zero19

I'm using a 30 dollar 50mm lens on my KR since I got it, the results are great and I'm learning a lot more than I did with my bridge.

SdoowSirhc

zero19 wrote: »

I'm using a 30 dollar 50mm lens on my KR since I got it, the results are great and I'm learning a lot more than I did with my bridge.

I have a Nikon lense from a film slr so I wonder would it work with a dslr hopefully it does Anywhoo... can I get more c&c from you guys?

Mountainsandh

Best are 3 and 4 in my opinion.
I'm no pro by the way, just a hobbyist.

The bird pic, shutter speed and exposure are OK, but bird is too far, leaves in the foreground are too much in the way, it might not have been possible there if tree was high, or bird just popped there once, but... You could set up a bird shot, great way to learn how to make a photo instead of a snapshot, that is, you pick a spot you want the birds hanging around in (bird feeder, seeds/peanut butter on the spot in the tree, that could take several days, weeks, to get the birds used to using that spot), plan angles that you could take your shots from, and remove leaves that would then be in the way, leaving enough for birds to still use the spot. See how close you can get to the birds with/without zoom.
Wildlife photographers don't just "happen" on the shots, they stalk, and probably go out for days, learn all about the species, learn about the specific animals they're shooting, so they know their times, routines, habits, favourite spots...
That's easy enough to do with garden birds, and fun if you have time. Imagine the shots you'd get after a while.

Don't want to lecture, it's just that this is obvious, that wasn't quite that obvious to me at the start when I became interested in photography. I thought the scene just had to be there, but it's not always the case. Sometimes, you just have to make it happen, you have to manipulate the environment to your liking, then you take the shot you wanted.
To give you a silly example, if I was taking a shot of a friend on a bench before, I wouldn't have paid attention to litter under the bench. Now I do, and if necessary, I'll remove the litter, to get a nicer shot. See what I mean ?

Sunset is pretty nice, but the sheep on its own to me is not very interesting.

Have you heard of the rule of thirds ? Google that, it's not a 100% rule, but it helps give flower shots a more artistic look, rather than the flower slap bang in the middle.

Hope you don't take the C&C wrong, these are things people told me before for my own shots, and still trying to achieve "the good shot" myself.

SdoowSirhc

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Best are 3 and 4 in my opinion.
I'm no pro by the way, just a hobbyist.

The bird pic, shutter speed and exposure are OK, but bird is too far, leaves in the foreground are too much in the way, it might not have been possible there if tree was high, or bird just popped there once, but... You could set up a bird shot, great way to learn how to make a photo instead of a snapshot, that is, you pick a spot you want the birds hanging around in (bird feeder, seeds/peanut butter on the spot in the tree, that could take several days, weeks, to get the birds used to using that spot), plan angles that you could take your shots from, and remove leaves that would then be in the way, leaving enough for birds to still use the spot. See how close you can get to the birds with/without zoom.
Wildlife photographers don't just "happen" on the shots, they stalk, and probably go out for days, learn all about the species, learn about the specific animals they're shooting, so they know their times, routines, habits, favourite spots...
That's easy enough to do with garden birds, and fun if you have time. Imagine the shots you'd get after a while.

Don't want to lecture, it's just that this is obvious, that wasn't quite that obvious to me at the start when I became interested in photography. I thought the scene just had to be there, but it's not always the case. Sometimes, you just have to make it happen, you have to manipulate the environment to your liking, then you take the shot you wanted.
To give you a silly example, if I was taking a shot of a friend on a bench before, I wouldn't have paid attention to litter under the bench. Now I do, and if necessary, I'll remove the litter, to get a nicer shot. See what I mean ?

Sunset is pretty nice, but the sheep on its own to me is not very interesting.

Have you heard of the rule of thirds ? Google that, it's not a 100% rule, but it helps give flower shots a more artistic look, rather than the flower slap bang in the middle.

Hope you don't take the C&C wrong, these are things people told me before for my own shots, and still trying to achieve "the good shot" myself.

Thanks for a proper answer I know the sheep is pretty boring, not too much to the shot really. I really did want to get more into photographing that particular bird as it was nesting and had four or five fledglings ready to go pretty soon when I took that shot, but... within an hour of that my lovely cat walked around the corner with the poor wee bird in her mouth and dropped it at my feet :mad: The only birds we can get anywhere near my house are extremely shy crows and doves, all the song birds are terrified of our garden. Hopefully I will have more time during the Summer to get out there and get some shots of the local rabbits. My goal is to get a photo of a hawk catching one, I've seen it happen a few times near by :rolleyes: Guess I'll be getting a tripod and staking out the rabbit holes for a few days

Mountainsandh

I know exactly what you mean, my cat is the same ! I tried at one stage to do as I said above, bird feeder, had the perfect smallish tree that birds visited already, used to sit for ages with tripod, trying to move a little closer every day... until really, with the rate of dead finches and blue tits my cat brought back, I just had to stop. I haven't fed them in ages. Now the birds are still around, but I'd be very very lucky to manage to shoot one (with the camera), they're well aware of the predator.

If you have the time, the rabbits would be brilliant to shoot allright, early morning, same again though, you'd want to find the spot, and lay low, and give it plenty of time/repeat days ... it's hard to get motivated to do these things ! but once you get going it's nice and exciting to decide on a project like that.

SdoowSirhc

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean, my cat is the same ! I tried at one stage to do as I said above, bird feeder, had the perfect smallish tree that birds visited already, used to sit for ages with tripod, trying to move a little closer every day... until really, with the rate of dead finches and blue tits my cat brought back, I just had to stop. I haven't fed them in ages. Now the birds are still around, but I'd be very very lucky to manage to shoot one (with the camera), they're well aware of the predator.

If you have the time, the rabbits would be brilliant to shoot allright, early morning, same again though, you'd want to find the spot, and lay low, and give it plenty of time/repeat days ... it's hard to get motivated to do these things ! but once you get going it's nice and exciting to decide on a project like that.

I have the perfect place for rabbits. Its an area of high up sand dunes and flat fields right on a cliff face along the coast, just walking past you can see a few rabbits popping up and hopping around :P I need to get a small tripod! And I plan to bring my camera to Porto in a few weeks to get some shots of the old part of the city, it looks quite beautiful from what I've researched about the city.

thatsnotmyname

#3
is the best for me.

SdoowSirhc

thatsnotmyname wrote: »

#3
is the best for me.

Taken on my phone