• Getting Better
    10 replies, posted
I've been messing around with manual settings on my D40, and testing the effects of each, and what environments I should use each in. I'd like some CC on my photos that I've recently taken, even though the background on some of them are kind of cluttered. [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/5788624107_9c0878e8d6_b_d.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5110/5789177482_c4c0c6ae95_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2612/5788623229_e704ca5130_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5308/5788622705_e79bc12575_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2254/5788622451_51b5ac1b5e_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5307/5788621899_ae2f7742ba_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/5788621425_4896bded63_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/5789174928_cac417e2da_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/5788620735_94861e09cf_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/5789174396_7728b246a1_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5261/5788620165_401e3345c1_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/5789173798_562fea8215_b.jpg[/img]
Find more interesting subject matter. Any teenage girl with a camera will take lots of generic pictures of flowers and pets, and that's what you've pulled off although perhaps more correctly exposed.
Also, think about composition.
My friend found this article useful when getting into photography, he has a point and shoot so he can't do much manual stuff. [url]http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules[/url] Example of elements would be the road sign shot of yours, it has the sky to balance it out which imo doesn't do a good enough job. Try re-taking the shot of the tree and hill, bring more of the tree into the frame and think how that balances out with the horizon of the hill and sky. Try not to 50/50 the ground and sky for more dramatic looking shots. You cut the bottom bit of the statue out, watch out for little things like that. Keep at it, I quite like the last shot of the flower!
Would you say that I have all the aspects that I need in the photo, like the ISO and the shutter settings? But of course with the exception of what is included in that article about the composition. And in what cases would I change the aperture? Since I leave it on the default of f5.6.
A few of the flower shots are a bit underexposed, if you shoot RAW and have decent image editing software (Photoshop and Lightroom have 30 day free trials DO IT) you could try brightening them up and generally mess about and see what results you can get. ISO seems good, no noise that I can see in any of them. It will be more noticeable in low light shots. Shutter speed is for freezing or blurring movement. A slow enough speed will show blurry images either because of you holding it or a subject moving it, these photos are fine in that aspect. What lenses do you have? A wider aperture of 2.8 or so is good for really blowing out the backgrounds. In your flower shots the backgrounds are blurred, with a wider aperture the bokeh (out of focus quality) can look very creamy and delightful. Wide apertures are useful in low light situations as well. 5.6 seems to be the sharpest point throughout for most lenses.
Picked up on Lightroom, and experimenting with the settings. [img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5142/5794843623_b5d7986b33_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3305/5795401436_73198c3c86_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2152/5795400706_a8bea84df3_b.jpg[/img] [img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3114/5795401000_3484f7f7f9_b.jpg[/img]
expand your vision. 'macro' is a beginner's deathtrap.
What do you mean by expand your vision?
don't limit yourself to one small corner of photography, try landscapes, portraits, candid shots, planed models shoots, time lapses, long exposure, night, street, the list goes on
I definitely agree with haze, but I also intended a more literal sense of "expanding your vision", try backing up a bit, 'zooming out', stop taking pictures of things close up. [editline]4th June 2011[/editline] I would kill for a scene like the 3rd picture in your most recent set of images.
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