Advice needed :-)
Discussion
just taken my olympus outside, round the corner, and need some advice. Out of a bunch of piccies, I need to know what can be done to liven up these piccies. I turned off flash, as it makes them look too bright, and a bit naff, and did the focus manually, (just a thought, but as I am shortsighted, would that make a differnce in the viewfinder?). Any advice, and tips would be greatly appreciated! 
(PS...I AM a complete novice, so please be gentle!)
(PS...I AM a complete novice, so please be gentle!)
I really like them, but they all appear a bit "cold"
What white balance setting are you using, or do you have a way to adjust them in Photoshop / Paint shop pro / etc?
The one of the fence I like, but it may just be me, but it appears to be slightly off square - or it may just be me!
Love the idea of the little chap and the hat pulled down, it's a shame about the "bag lady" in the background though...
All my 2p's worth, but keep up the good work. Never forget as GetCarter posted recently:
"the best camera is the one you have with you"
Chris
What white balance setting are you using, or do you have a way to adjust them in Photoshop / Paint shop pro / etc?
The one of the fence I like, but it may just be me, but it appears to be slightly off square - or it may just be me!
Love the idea of the little chap and the hat pulled down, it's a shame about the "bag lady" in the background though...
All my 2p's worth, but keep up the good work. Never forget as GetCarter posted recently:
"the best camera is the one you have with you"
Chris
I think they are fine.
My only observations would be a closer crop on the kid, and lose the adult growing out of his head
Also, with children and animals I think they almost always work better if cameras are at the same level. (99% of my dogs pics are taken at the same level as the nose!)
My only observations would be a closer crop on the kid, and lose the adult growing out of his head
Also, with children and animals I think they almost always work better if cameras are at the same level. (99% of my dogs pics are taken at the same level as the nose!)
Good that you posted the last one and didn't hide it!
You probably learnt right there a camera of any sort will only collect reflected light. Yes, you can frig about in PS or other, but it's better to get to have a good image to start with.
The others are quite acceptable, try a few of your handsome little guy from his shoulder level, it'll mean getting your knees muddy but
you'll see a difference.
You probably learnt right there a camera of any sort will only collect reflected light. Yes, you can frig about in PS or other, but it's better to get to have a good image to start with.
The others are quite acceptable, try a few of your handsome little guy from his shoulder level, it'll mean getting your knees muddy but
you'll see a difference.
Thanks for the advice chaps. Much appreciated. The wee chap in the pictures is actually a random little fellow in the park! He was kicking his wee footy about, and staring at the camera. I must say he's a very photogenic little chap. I seem to have a bit of trouble on manual focus. Could that be due to me being shortighted? not that much of a problem as I just plonk it on s-af. Does the job . Off to the docks, and the riverfront tommorrow to try it out a little further!
. Off to the docks, and the riverfront tommorrow to try it out a little further! Having had a couple of Olympus 35mm cameras over the years - Mrs. LongQ is reluctant to give up her much abused AZ200 - my feeling is that the Olypus metering and optical systems have always tended to be 'natural' rather than 'enhanced'.
My Pentax S5i (and my older daughter's Pentax S40) is much the same on the digital front although there are specific pre-programmed settings I can use to adjust for light conditions and subject matter. By comparison by younger daughter's Casio, despite using the Pentax lens system and looking very similar to the S40/S50 models, has a much, much 'warmer' look to the results and is generally brighter in all colours. Great for party shots, not so sure about other subjects.
If you want brighter colours it should be possible to use almost any photo editor to apply some suitable changes but I reckon they look ok colour wise as they are. Only the shots with large contrast variations - like the last one and the berries (?) - offer significant challanges. The Dark building/Bright sky is never going to be easy. The Pro solution would be either some smart editing or two shots, one exposed for the building, one for the sky, combined in an edit.
For the other some slight fill in flash (if you have a way to control the amount of flash) might work or perhaps something to the left of the subject but out of shot to reflect the light back into the shadow area to brighten it a touch. I have a foldable reflector that would do the job, though it's not something I would be likely to take on a walk! A white carrier bag might be enough (as an example) to do the job if you were careful with positioning and the light was in the right place. But realistically we have to accept that there are some images that will never match what we think we see since out eyes are constantly adjusting in a way that cameras struggle to start to emulate.
My Pentax S5i (and my older daughter's Pentax S40) is much the same on the digital front although there are specific pre-programmed settings I can use to adjust for light conditions and subject matter. By comparison by younger daughter's Casio, despite using the Pentax lens system and looking very similar to the S40/S50 models, has a much, much 'warmer' look to the results and is generally brighter in all colours. Great for party shots, not so sure about other subjects.
If you want brighter colours it should be possible to use almost any photo editor to apply some suitable changes but I reckon they look ok colour wise as they are. Only the shots with large contrast variations - like the last one and the berries (?) - offer significant challanges. The Dark building/Bright sky is never going to be easy. The Pro solution would be either some smart editing or two shots, one exposed for the building, one for the sky, combined in an edit.
For the other some slight fill in flash (if you have a way to control the amount of flash) might work or perhaps something to the left of the subject but out of shot to reflect the light back into the shadow area to brighten it a touch. I have a foldable reflector that would do the job, though it's not something I would be likely to take on a walk! A white carrier bag might be enough (as an example) to do the job if you were careful with positioning and the light was in the right place. But realistically we have to accept that there are some images that will never match what we think we see since out eyes are constantly adjusting in a way that cameras struggle to start to emulate.
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