Some pictures I have taken while biking! - General

While I don't really consider myself a photographer by any means, I like taking pictures (which is a little contradictory but whatever) None of these are edited, because I don't know how. They're more or less for documenting where I've been as opposed to beauty, But I choose the most reasonable looking ones to share with you guys. I'm using some cannon powershot thing so I don't really own a great camera, but Is try to use my best judgement of what to capture and what not to. kay here we go [quote] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Zn1Vb.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/efNpp.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YsgVR.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/i7npv.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/k065B.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ob6pO.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/yIJVG.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0uRoj.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wcWoq.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/s5DBk.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/kEHl1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3GIUA.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/m6A6k.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/gKprr.jpg[/IMG] [/quote] The shots including the abandoned railway is in Acton, Massachusetts, on the abandoned New Haven Framingham and Lowell line. I plan to go back and take more pictures with snow on the ground, because I like the sort of metaphorical bliss you get from white snow combining with abandoned items. Anyway enjoy. If there is an criticism on how to take better pictures that I should note, I will definitely appreciate them.

I don't know, maybe it's the way I post process my photos. I kinda find some of these shots are quiet bland, not much colour. But as you mentioned, you don't know how to process photos. So I don't put forth the blame on you. Other then that, it's decent shots that can be improved with some editing.

What exactly does editing entail? Is it simple modifications of color balances, or is it something really indepth?

The way I see it, the photos look kind of bland. The way I like to use post-processing is to make my photos looks more real, enhancing colours, contrast etc. It can take you 5 minutes, and can make your photos come to life. [editline]28th July 2012[/editline] I should say by the way, that I don't find the photos bad at all. Some of the simply lack a motive, but many of them have some interesting perspective and definitely potential. :)

You need more contrast and a little darkening.

These are pretty bland, try toying around with manual settings if your camera supports them - if you want to develop your skills and understand the relation between light amounts and the final picture then Manual is the way to go. While photographing a forested area, you may want to go for a mysterious feel in your pictures - a darker atmosphere that creates an eerie feeling in the pictures. In your shots, everything's revealed by light and there's nothing that makes me ask a question like "what's in that shadow?" subsconsciously. You can darken your pictures by using manual settings and/or in post-processing. Composition-wise, you should try to have a definite object in each of your pictures - in some of them I don't know what to look at and it automatically puts me off.

Eh, I feel bad but here's some basic exaggrated editing I did on your photo. One thing I noticed for sure is that your white balance is off. [img_thumb]http://i.minus.com/iSYgA0Lrn5Sbx.jpg[/img_thumb] Do you have the ability to shoot RAW? If you do, use it. File sizes are huge, but worth it as you can compensate your camera's downfalls using editors.

All information has been taken note of and looked into. thanks guys [editline]28th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Jookia;36975937]Eh, I feel bad but here's some basic exaggrated editing I did on your photo. One thing I noticed for sure is that your white balance is off. [img_thumb]http://i.minus.com/iSYgA0Lrn5Sbx.jpg[/img_thumb] Do you have the ability to shoot RAW? If you do, use it. File sizes are huge, but worth it as you can compensate your camera's downfalls using editors.[/QUOTE] So I assume the right one is edited. I like that. Would a program such as GIMP be good to edit pictures in? Can you define RAW for me? I'm not too sure what you mean. I'm using cannon powershot sd1300 IS camera (which i guess is just a simple little thing)

[QUOTE=Little Robot;36975896]Composition-wise, you should try to have a definite object in each of your pictures - in some of them I don't know what to look at and it automatically puts me off.[/QUOTE] My taste is that of open landscapes, sort of "viewy" things and the such, so I'm really not focusing on one object, and rather a large picture. My opinion, I don't think the type of pictures I'm looking to get really needs the focus of one object. That being said, if I was looking to document a single object, say the bridge i was on, and just the bridge, I would be JUST focused on that.

[QUOTE=gerbile5;36978266]So I assume the right one is edited. I like that. Would a program such as GIMP be good to edit pictures in?[/quote] I use a program called RawTherapee which allows me to save the processing paramaters instead of the edited image, so I just archive those with my RAWs. You can't really do anything in it that I'd consider editing, just correction. [QUOTE=gerbile5;36978266]Can you define RAW for me? I'm not too sure what you mean. I'm using cannon powershot sd1300 IS camera (which i guess is just a simple little thing)[/QUOTE] High end digicams, mirrorless cameras and DSLRs can shoot RAW, which is basically a digital negative containing all the information from the sensor. It doesn't look like your camera shoots raw, which means you can still edit the photos, but you have less ability to correct things like white balance as the raw data is destroyed. I suggest just trying RawTherapee and seeing what you can do. Try and set the white balance to 'auto' to see what I mean. If you don't like RawTherapee, you can use Lightroom or GIMP I guess.

I shall give it a shot. Thanks for the help so far!

I would suggest you try and get [URL="http://lifehacker.com/387380/turn-your-point+and+shoot-into-a-super+camera"]CDHK[/URL] into your camera, which adds the ability to shoot raw + some other cool stuff