Photography advice: What am I doing wrong?

[zimm]

the first one is a grey sky. you can mess with exposure, but grey is grey is grey. and you centered the shot.

the next two you centered the shot and really didnt do anything to tell a story. they look "there" because thats all you took the effort to present.

youre using a point and shoot. i went that route on a whim, and then i threw it in a river. they are good for get togethers and parties.

most pictures people take just to remember something, and it doesnt have to look good. but say, theres a landscape you want to look good, you have to be a director to the viewer, and the picture is an instruction. where is the road going? do you want a mystery? do you want it to express how small we are? if its to lead the "reader" it has to lead the eyes in a sequence you design thru the photograph. and as noted, do thirds in the composition.

stills, its how you fill the frame.

it aint rocket science. i had classes in college, but any book will do.

i used an slr with a 28-200 macro as a sole lens and it did great. flowers with bokeh, landscapes, portraits, not great for architecture, but you can learn most stuff with that combo, then move on from there. you really need to ditch the PS to learn.

 

[Rattler]

Here is an example comparison of what Lightroom can do. This took me about a minute to do.

 

[nwoods]

Zimm, have you ever posted a photo?

 

[zimm]

Zimm, have you ever posted a photo?

in my last trip report.

 

[photoman]

the first one is a grey sky. you can mess with exposure, but grey is grey is grey. and you centered the shot.

the next two you centered the shot and really didnt do anything to tell a story. they look "there" because thats all you took the effort to present.

youre using a point and shoot. i went that route on a whim, and then i threw it in a river. they are good for get togethers and parties.

most pictures people take just to remember something, and it doesnt have to look good. but say, theres a landscape you want to look good, you have to be a director to the viewer, and the picture is an instruction. where is the road going? do you want a mystery? do you want it to express how small we are? if its to lead the "reader" it has to lead the eyes in a sequence you design thru the photograph. and as noted, do thirds in the composition.

stills, its how you fill the frame.

it aint rocket science. i had classes in college, but any book will do.

i used an slr with a 28-200 macro as a sole lens and it did great. flowers with bokeh, landscapes, portraits, not great for architecture, but you can learn most stuff with that combo, then move on from there. you really need to ditch the PS to learn.

No offense but this doesn't make any damn sense. :smilies27

 

[Old Sarge]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned a circular polarizing filter being used, with the filter attached rotate it so that you can see the changes in the blue skies, water, etc. It makes a world of difference.

 

[nwoods]

in my last trip report.

I went through your last 150 posts and didn't see anything related to a trip report. I searched in Completed Adventures for threads started by you and didn't find anything. It's a big forum, can you save me some time and post a link? You are all over the photography section lately, I'd love to see your images!

 

[Chazz Layne]

youre using a point and shoot. i went that route on a whim, and then i threw it in a river. they are good for get togethers and parties.

There's nothing wrong with a point and shoot, as long as it's a decent one. The shooter, and post, are more important than the hardware used.



(for reference, most of my trip reports and gear reviews were done with a point and shoot until late-2012)

 

[stioc]

There's nothing wrong with a point and shoot, as long as it's a decent one. The shooter, and post, are more important than the hardware used.

I couldn't agree more! I admit I know nothing about photography beyond the most basic stuff. However, I've seen some point&shoot pics that rival the DSLR pics- as the old saying goes "it's not the equipment it's how you use it"

Check out some of these 'customer pics' of the older Cannon S95 P&S on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B003ZSHNGS/

 

[Rattler]

I have to say some of th new point and shoots look to have some incredible performance but it seems to be reflected in the price too.

 

[seeNik48]

You don't want to invest a lot of money on camera equipment at this point. As is often said, it's the photographer, not the camera. Ansel Adams, Tom Till, Jack Dykinga, etc. could probably shoot great images with a pinhole camera. Canon's G series are good: you can shoot RAW which gives you more info than jpg. Jpgs, when opened to post-process, lose info and quality each time they are opened as there is some algorithm to fill in the missing info that a RAW capture has. Learn how to shoot in manual mode for better control of depth of field, exposure, etc. If that is scary, try aperture priority first. Learn about exposure: F stop, ISO and shutter speed and what each contributes to the process. Or, get an entry level DSLR camera and learn to use a tripod.

Look at photographers' work you admire. I like Galen Rowell (excellent hiker/climber/photog, unfortunately dead), the above 3, Elliot Porter, Franz Lanting, Kevin O'Neal, John Caponigro. Check "Outdoor Photographer" magazine for galleries and how to articles.

Photoshop Elements is cheaper than Photoshop Cloud or CS or whatever incarnation and has many of the same features. Shooting at midday will yield flat images. Shoot with the sun at an angle to the object for contrast and side lighting which will reveal angles and crevasses that won't be so evident in something shot head on with the sun behind you. Then, you can learn to shoot with back-lighting for amazing silhouettes. Use a circular polarizer for enhancing a cloud-filled sky and for cutting glare and reflections. A circular polarizer is used with the sun at a 90 degree angle to where your camera is pointing.

Shoot lots as memory is cheap. Have fun and don't take yourself seriously.

 

[nwoods]

Here is a chart of the things you should think about as you are composing your photo:

 

[Chazz Layne]

Check out some of these 'customer pics' of the older Cannon S95 P&S on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B003ZSHNGS/

The S95/100 is still my all-time favorite travel camera. Printable quality (just), with a no fuss size and ease of use.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Here is a chart of the things you should think about as you are composing your photo:

That is great!

 

[Rattler]

Add to thhe Canon P&S thing that there is also that Canon hack thing. I did it with my 5 yo p&s and it allowed me to shoot RAW with it and control a bunch of other aspects. Its just that you had to go through and open that specific menu every time and they aren't the easiest thing to read on those smaller displays either. This was taken using the hack. The camera never liked to take good concert photos until then.