First photographs (ie, flame me)

Fenster

My brother is a passionate aviation photographer and its rubbed off on me somewhat. What has my interest though are building ruins, of all things, heh. I've put two pictures up here of Menlo castle, outside of Galway (its up near Lough Corrib on the Dyke Road).

I'm using a Casio EX-Z50, a credit card type camera. Its not exactly made for professional work, but as everything I'm taking pictures of is close at hand and stationary, it does the job quite well. Only problem I've had so far is slight blurring from me moving.

As far as editing the pictures goes-I use the Gimp for the most part-all I really do is crop them down to size.

Praetorian

The images seem to be a little fuzzy, but I'm sure it's the camera, or you might have moved a bit

Not bad though, not bad at all

Rhyme

I love the second one, im making a mental note to visit there sometime. The slight fuzz is a problem though, ive got a bit of a wobbly grip on my camera too and i solve it by kneeling down or squatting to steady my aim (or just using the automatic setting). Nice stuff though... id wait for Shrimp to place a verdict though (my experience with photography isnt all that extensive)

Enygma

Here's a good article on photographing ruins:
http://www.photo.net/architectural/ruins/

The best way to reduce wobbly hands is to rest the camera against your brow (never use the LCD as a viewfinder) and keep your elbows in. You should be able to adjust the shutter speed if you still get it. A tripod and a time delay is the best option though.

I like the second pic too.

Fenster

Well some good points were made about holding the camera still, so I went out and took some pictures of old scaffolding in Terryland. Picture came out pretty dark, so I touched it up in the Gimp. Going to go back tomorrow in full light and get a better shot. I'm happy though, as there was no bloody blurring:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/Bhalash/cimg0206.jpg

The whole shot looks nice, imo, but pretty dull becuase it was late in the evening.

Rhyme

I like it... my monitor is a piece of crap but it still catches my eye, very nice.

Fenster

Rhyme wrote:

I like it... my monitor is a piece of crap but it still catches my eye, very nice.

What I plan to do is take the picture with the scaffolding to one side. I think it'd work much better than with it being the focus of the picture.

Rhyme

Or perhaps the setting sun glinting off the top corners of it... other than that the shot id take would be the sun centred.

Fenster

Rhyme wrote:

Or perhaps the setting sun glinting off the top corners of it... other than that the shot id take would be the sun centred.

Well I took that picture near to sunset, and it came out horribly dark. A flash would run it, imo.

I pushed the brightness and contrast right up in the Gimp, and it looked a lot better, but the sky was just a washed out glare.

Fenster

I went back at lunch time today-alas that it was overcast again. It was a much brighter picture though. I touched it up in the Gimp, blurring the entire picture, except for the "101" plaque, slightly:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/Bhalash/101-2b.jpg

Rhyme

Ok, i really like that pic... im sure it looked great before the blur but its really nice. Has a lonely touch to it, good work.

...*mumble* might put up some of mine *mumble*...

Fenster

Rhyme wrote:

Ok, i really like that pic... im sure it looked great before the blur but its really nice. Has a lonely touch to it, good work.

...*mumble* might put up some of mine *mumble*...

Holler if you want the original or one of the other versions I've put out so far.

Rhyme

Have you considered a deviant art account? You could put your originals in your scrap work pile and the others in the finished work for all to see and compare.

Fenster

Good idea.

http://bhalash.deviantart.com

Rhyme

Comments made... still love that pic, ill drop by when i can.

Fenster

I took advantage of the weather today, and at the expense of raking my legs in a patch of nettles (as ow as it sounds), I got what I hope is a decent picture of Terryland castle. Its right next to the Quincentennial Bridge, on the Menlo side.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/20788381/