MillionVoltss Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Ok ive just come back from my first proper afternoon using my eos 500d, Ive taken some photo's of sky over a lake with trees and there not as there appeared. Any tips on what ive done wrong / right. How to make them stand out more with basic editing skills ( currently only using canon photo editor ). Using 18-55 standard lense. Feel free to comment on any other pics. Also what photo editing programme's come recommended and are reasonably priced. Heres my photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/mommentsintime/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FizzyChickenBroth Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Let me guess, you saw the skies and the trees and water, but your camera only sees the skies while the trees are black and the water's washed out? And you thought you'd be getting everything, right? Welcome to the world of dynamic range, my friend. Digital has less dynamic range than film. This shot is a typical mid afternoon shot with extreme contrast and extreme dynamic range. Even with film, this shot may not have turned out the way you wanted it. There's only one solution to get both trees and skies: HDR It will require a tripod, knowledge of metering for your camera, and good HDR software. Here's the gist of it: 1. Set your camera on a tripod so that it doesn't move 2. Adjust your camera to expose the trees and take a shot 3. Adjust your camera to expose for some of the trees and some of the sky and take a shot 4. Adjust your camera to expose for the sky and take a shot 5. Import the 3 images into a good HDR software and merge the details together 6. Export and you'll have your image that your eyes saw :) A good HDR shot usually has more than just 3 shots I listed. Somewhere around 5-6 variations is usually better. I suggest you google these terms to learn more about them: camera metering, HDR, photography highlights/shadows/midtones/dynamic range Nice shot of the sky at least :) Welcome to the world of photography! There's lots to learn, explore, and experiment! Have fun! Always remember, the more bad photos you take, the less bad photos you'll take later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Well for one, is the person on the left intentionally there? If so you should've focused more on her/him. I'm guessing you focused on the sky, because the trees seem out of focus, blurred. Now onto the shot per se, It flared quite nicely, though having a lake to shoot with I think you could've been more creative with your surroundings instead of ignoring them and shooting UP. Also, i'd would try to stay away from custom modes on the camera(flickr says you shot in landscape mode), they're alright for slight learning, but in the end they post process the photo and ruin any possibility of processing later. Try shooting Av or Tv. Or just Default to AUTO and build up from it. No idea how to use Canon's software though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Try not to shoot directly into the sun as that makes detail wash out both on the shadows and the highlights. If you choose to do HDR be very careful, most people overdo it and the images look like ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Candyman Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 And this is the problem with digital...people forget how to actually solve the problem in the first place. If you used a circular polarizing filter you could have greatly diminished the sun's direct light, giving you closer to the shot you desire. You could also have used a flat filter system (gel filters) with an ND filter ONLY covering the sky section or you could have used a graduated ND filter. If you wanted the top gear sky effect then you could have gone and done that with a blue filter. Yes, HDR could have also made this picture great. I personally don't edit my photos though and rely on the old film techniques I've used for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzy88ss Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 And this is the problem with digital...people forget how to actually solve the problem in the first place. or could be that this person only has had an SLR for a few weeks and doesn't have any other gear/experience? That's what's so awesome about digital; it opens up photography to many many people that wouldn't otherwise try it. I know it did for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Candyman Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 or could be that this person only has had an SLR for a few weeks and doesn't have any other gear/experience? That's what's so awesome about digital; it opens up photography to many many people that wouldn't otherwise try it. I know it did for me. I wasn't talking about the OP but of the growing trend away from avoiding the original problems but using digital imaging. Digital retouching definitely has it's place and can turn a good photo to a great one, but I firmly believe in order to have great photos, you need to learn the fundamentals of photography. If you can combine the two, you could make wonderful pictures. Some of the members who post in this forum prove that. I don't visit this section much anymore but when I come across a topic like this where somebody is looking for advice about a fundamental topic, I freely give my views on how to best accomplish the goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillionVoltss Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 Tonights project will be moon pic's. Just waiting for a resonable day and i can retry taking some pics, i dont mind dull but its raining and dont fancy getting my camera wet. Also going for the blurred water pic but came out over exposed so going to try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delete my account please Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Ok ive just come back from my first proper afternoon using my eos 500d, Ive taken some photo's of sky over a lake with trees and there not as there appeared. Any tips on what ive done wrong / right. How to make them stand out more with basic editing skills ( currently only using canon photo editor ). Using 18-55 standard lense. Feel free to comment on any other pics. Also what photo editing programme's come recommended and are reasonably priced. Heres my photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/mommentsintime/ The landscape shot is well done. It could have benefited from a polarizer but it's well composed and properly exposed. (edit= I would crop that person out. Having the frame so close their back detracts) In the dog photo, the line between the water and the land being close to the center of the frame detracts from the image. Even if it weren't for that the photo would have been more effective had you shot the dogs more from a side view instead of a top view. Sort of the same thing for the swan. I see that there is a little grass at the edge and the photo would have probably benefited from more of a side view showing more of bank there. If you think you may want to try HDR, don't. I've been a photographer for almost 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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