How Am I Doing?

[Cuban]

Last weekend I was able to really go to town for the first time with the new
Nikon to see what we could do together.

Only minor Photoshop help to one or two images and of course, cropping on a
few including the final moon series as my 200mm is not powerful enough.

I appreciate the following are low res and small images, but how do you think
am I doing?

I've tried to shoot as many as I can in manual and have of course played with
filters and macro.

I do want to improve, so any thoughts good or bad are welcome.








































First Macro + 4 Shots







First Macro +10 shots, not so hot yet, but do check out my reflection in the
eye of the slug!






And finally, I've always wanted to shoot the moon, so here is a sequence from tonight.

1am - 2am


2am-3am

[CY88]

[quote=Cuban]



That sea is very blue!



I think I liked this one best, just the depth of field thing

Some of the other landscape shots looked a little washed out and could benefit from a touch of contrast maybe in PS?

[hawkaye]

very nice shots indeed, I really like the beach shots very much.

The moon is a nightmare to shoot, there's a nice site which tells you the settings you need for your camera depending on the cycle of the moon.

Here's one taken with my 400mm using the above site's recommendations

[Cuban]

Thanks for the kind words so far. I'd love to hear from more people if you have
a few minutes spare as I want to improve as I know I must.

My main problem with the moon shots is my lens is only 200mm, so I can't get
any closer at the moment.


I was interested in the comment about the beach shots being a little washed out
and to use PS? Naturally I know we all want the perfect shot first time, but I
have tried not to use PS unless I really have to, but in this day and age, is it
something almost everyone does?

[Cuban]

hawkaye said:

Here's one taken with my 400mm using the above site's recommendations

I love this shot so much, I aspire to take a shot like that.

[GetCarter]

Cuban said:

I was interested in the comment about the beach shots being a little washed out
and to use PS? Naturally I know we all want the perfect shot first time, but I
have tried not to use PS unless I really have to, but in this day and age, is it
something almost everyone does?

Most I think. I try and get the photo to look like how it did as I viewed it. If the camera (or me) is too stupid to capture it correctly, I tweak - usually adding contrast, and of course as one resizes for web, one HAS to sharpen to get it back to how it was.

Sometimes I KNOW that the camera won't keep the colour of the sky (even with a grad ND), so I take a 'stopped down' frame to digital blend the sky with the land. This is two phots: http://www.stevecarter.com/2005/ran1.jpg ... but it's how it looked when I was there.

Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 30th May 12:05

[hawkaye]

I wouldn't say the beach shots with the people playing were washed out, they look fine to me.

Having been a member of a Canon forum for a few months, I see that almost everyone (including professionals) use photoshop for some sort of post processing. It might be just to increase the brightness/contrast a little, clone something out which detracts from the main shot, or, in my shot of the moon, removing noise using noise ninja. I think that some newspapers & magazines are really strict on post processing, but it's not as if we are at that level yet.

p.s. to increase your 200mm, why not get a 1.4 converter? A cheap alternative to buying a larger lens.

Edited by hawkaye on Wednesday 30th May 12:05

[Cuban]

Thanks Steve, I was hoping you would reply as I love your images.
Maybe I have been too hard on myself with regard to PS and 'enhancing'.

Do you see any potential in my shots so far (although perhaps it's hard
given the size?).

I've always really liked the Gallery I use (for bands and car tours) but
maybe I should activate the 800x600 option so people can see the shots
in better detail, guess I have always been paranoid about copyright etc.

What do you think? http://www.aauk.biz/cuban 

Edited by Cuban on Wednesday 30th May 12:15

[Cuban]

GetCarter said:

Sometimes I KNOW that the camera won't keep the colour of the sky (even with a grad ND), so I take a 'stopped down' frame to digital blend the sky with the land. This is two phots: http://www.stevecarter.com/2005/ran1.jpg ... but it's how it looked when I was there.

And that is the difference, when I view your photos, I feel as though I am there
or at the very least, want to go there!

So far I think I have only achieved that on one or two images, but perhaps PS
will help me.

To recapture 'that' moment, do you get them onto the computer very quickly while
you recall how things looked, or is this where your talent and experience come in?

[TonyHetherington]

Really like the tree at sunset shot, really good indeed! I think your pictures will benefit from just an ever so slight tweak in photoshop with the colours/levels...really tiny, but just to make them slightly more vivid. Only a tiny amount though!

I like what you've done with the moon shots too. With a 400mm lens you'd have, of course, more clarity, but nevertheless I think they're really nice images (the total image).

"How am I doing?" In my exceptionally novice views, chuffing well

[GetCarter]

I think your images are too small. They are certainly easilly good enough to be presented larger. Also, remember some people are looking on monitors 1920 wide (or bigger) so your images will appear tiny.

Just make sure the file size is small if you are worried about people stealing to print. For web, I think you just have to make sure the photos are 'copyright you and can't be used without permission'. IMHO life's too short to get too wound up about who's using one's photo's where.

I will often go out first thing, upload 100 photos straight away, think they are all crap and go out again. Normally I'll get one decent photo a week that way. My daft 'picaday' site means I HAVE to get one each day. This I find hard as 6 days out of 7 I don't get a photo I think worth posting... but what the hell, they are the best I can do with the available light.

I've yet to find a photo that won't benefit from *some* PS. Mainly as my CCD is covered in dust!

Keep up the good work.

Steve

Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 30th May 12:44

[Cuban]

GetCarter said:

I think your images are too small. They are certainly easilly good enough to be presented larger. Also, remember some people are looking on monitors 1920 wide (or bigger) so your images will appear tiny.

I can add an 'Enlarge' option to each shot, so how would this look to you size
wise and for clarity of presentation? (File is 255kb)

[GetCarter]

miles better.

[theRossatron]

All nice shots!

I'd definately lose the red in the border though it, maybe just make it white instead.

[Cuban]

theRossatron said:

All nice shots!

I'd definately lose the red in the border though it, maybe just make it white instead.

Thanks for the kind words.

I thought the red border was a nice change, subtle as well - subjective maybe?

[windandwave]

Some lovely shots there. I'd agree though that some of the landscape ones are slightly washed out. I find this on some of mine due I suspect to lack of UV / polarising filter. Unsharp mask at a high radius & low percentage should do the trick.

The moon sequence is a nice touch (with an antique feel to it) - did you change the white balance between the shots?