Pictures- good or bad?

[bighit8]

Originally Posted by Red Hot Sloth

Must be referring to my thread?

??? do tell

[Red Hot Sloth]

Originally Posted by bighit8

??? do tell

RR: La Costa Trails?

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by Red Hot Sloth

RR: La Costa Trails?

Don't read too much into it. I'm not vindictive like that. I would've posted my views on that in your thread if I had any.

[MTBMaven]

Originally Posted by PacMan

I've found that if I shoot a ton of pics, the quality starts to suffer a bit. Maybe when I'm more selective I get better shots? Just a thought.

I disagree. Take more photos. What's the harm? You don't have to get them developed and disc space is cheap.

When my wife and I travel we take gigs worth of photos. Some suck but amongst the crappy photos are some real gems.

Case in point. These photos were all take with a P&S and I have NO training at all.
Machu Picchu, Peru:




Yunnan Province China:

[kanga]

I agree with Maven... more pics equals more chances for better pics, and more room to experiment. Use the preview function to take a pic and check it out right away. If it didn't come out try taking it again a little differently.

If your camera has any bracketing functions, try using them (impossible to do for action shots though). That's where the camera will take 3 pictures (or more) at different exposure settings so you can pick the best one.

If it has "modes" that are specific to landscapes, sport, portraits, pets, fireworks, etc.... try to use the appropriate mode for the appropriate picture. They've done all the guesswork for you, and biased the settings for those typical situations. You'll end up with more consistent photos in those situations. The "fully automatic" mode just uses averages for all situations that won't work well in extremes.

Lastly, if you're concerned about the quality of the photos, also consider the composition.... There's a rule of thumb called the Rule of Thirds (google it and you'll find lots of references).

[wheezy]

Ohh Ohhh me too. I love showing off my photo skeeels. Enjoy!

[MTBMaven]

Originally Posted by wheezy

Ohh Ohhh me too. I love showing off my photo skeeels. Enjoy!

No fair you know what you are doing. Mine are all luck. Beautiful photos.

[foofighter]

totally agree, up the number of photos and you will capture that one special shot that you did even "see". if you dont like them later, delete no biggie fire away.

and we have some serious photogs on here w/ some mad skills

[Bryguy17]

woot calpoly! sorry, just representing.

As far as taking good pictures, I find two things to be very important: lighting, and composition. You could have the most beautiful lighting, but frame it badly and end up with a not-so-good picture. I recommend reading up on composition theory, or just looking at a lot of photography to get an idea for the type of angles, shapes, position of things.

For lighting, there are a few things to consider:
1. try not to backlight a subject. its really hard to make it work.
2. overcast skies make for relatively crumby lighting a lot of the time (not all, as I'll point out in a minute)
3. Different times of day will give you vastly different feels to your pictures. mornings seem dramatic to me, mid-day shots are good for capturing very vibrant things, and give you good color, and sunset/twilight give you a peaceful sort of light that can also be very dramatic. just things I've found, and you may not see it the same way.

btw, wheezy, are a few of those pictures (notably, the rainbows, and the lighthouse) HDR? If they are, they look very good, and not like a unicorn sneezed on the picture

But I might as well share a few (rather random) pictures of my own. As the last few show, overcast can be used to good effect, but that's one of the only situations I've been in where it worked. The rest are just a mix of different lighting and compositions. art breeds art, i suppose











cheers,
Bryan

[bighit8]

I took all you're advice and came up with these today. They are also in my RR.I didn't really look for cool shots, just more focused on the lighting and messing with camera settings.

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[jeffj]

Wow. The difference is like.... night and day!

[allison]

Originally Posted by PacMan

We gotta get this camera thing figured out so you can be the official group photographer for the Moab trip!!

I take cash. Just saying.



There are some amazingly beautiful shots on this thread.

[Abui]

Originally Posted by Bryguy17

btw, wheezy, are a few of those pictures (notably, the rainbows, and the lighthouse) HDR? If they are, they look very good, and not like a unicorn sneezed on the picture

cheers,
Bryan

He did say photo skills, not necessarily photography skills. Pretty, but unnatural.

[KeepsWhatHappens]

My bits of advice...from a professional....when shooting digital ....

SHOOT ALOT!!!!! WHY NOT!!!!!

Happy accidents are every photographers best friend!

Shoot with a Canon!!! Seriously!!! Not only are they GREAT cameras but their service center is in Irvine at the Spectrum.

Always use the cameras flash. Over-ride if needed.

Hold your breath when shooting.

Get a Joby.

Have fun!!! and Experiment!!!

KeepsWhatHappens

[TCB]

What works for me but may not work for everyone, steady even breathing, just as if you are shooting a gun and gently squeeze the shutter without jerking the camera, camera shake is the number one cause of blurry photos.
As far as which is better Canon or Nikon, in my opinion they are both excellent cameras, I shoot all my commercial and architectural accounts with a Nikon D3 and D2x and I have never had a client complain about the quality.

I agree, photograph as often as you can, it’s the best way to get to know your camera.

Here is a website with some good information http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/