2010 26 Challenge

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Ali

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So this is it for my 2010 challenge.

I want to learn how to use my camera to take better pictures. Not every pic will be a stunner - but that isn't to be the point. My challenge is to improve my technical ability of taking pics and then of processing them. I have a LOT to learn :thinking: so I will be setting myself a task each fortnight and I will alternate between a 'camera' task and then a 'processing' task. That way I might even get around to processing some of the shots that are lurking in my hard drive.

I am thinking along the lines of the following for my 'camera tasks':
1-3 Aperture; wide, narrow, middle
4-6 Shutter speeds; fast, slow, medium
7 Bracketing
8 Long exposures
9 Night shots
10 Lighting (nothing fancy - just onboard flash, natural or whatever is in the house/on the street)
... and then see what crops up for the last 3 tasks. I suspect I will find it hard to restrict myself to one aspect for two weeks - but I really think that I will learn a lot from it - practice makes perfect etc.

Keeping my processing tasks so clearly defined will be more of a problem for me as there is so much that I want to try and I keep getting drawn into things that are far too complicated for me and end up crawling back to the 'how to' help pages at adobe.com :bang: And what I do try often looks like it's been attacked by a child with a great crayon selection :(

So, a start with a couple of processes may be the way to go for me:
1 Initial fixes - contrast, brightness, tone, sharpness
2 Fixing blemishes, getting rid of clutter
3 Selection tools
4 Layers (I WILL get those overblown skies right someday!)
5 Layers
6 Layers
7 Mono
and the rest to be made up closer to the the time. If some tasks get merged because I get the hang of them sooner than I think then that's OK, but I am really going to try to not rush ahead to the 'good stuff'. I think it will be interesting to see how a photo develops as each task comes up and then I can add a new 'effect' to it. I'm thinking that I could really get some of my older pics through a bit of processing.

The order of tasks may change - depending on what comes from each fortnight - I may need to stick with something to get it right, or skip to something to be able to fix a problem that has come up for me.

So, my main focus is improvement and with any luck this challenge and a bit of structure will get me going. Anyone is welcome to join me along the way - and any C&C is always gratefully received and will be reciprocated. I aim to start this over the weekend and the first part goes until the 14th of Jan for me.

Circumstances of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, BFs, GFs, OHs, SOs, children, pets, physical/mental/financial/social health, technical ability, confidence (over and under), insecurities and work commitments are all expected to influence the challenge from task to task.

However, ranting is permitted and screaming, cursing, head-banging and numpty-moments are inevitable and will be enjoyed to their fullest capacity :D.
 
Ali

This sounds fantastic, you are obviously focussed (pardon the pun) on improvement. I look forward to seeing how you progress though, as I'm sure you'll be exhibiting your ever-increasing skills for us all to see.

I feel like I need to do something similar but probably can't be that regimented at the moment. Best of luck with it...:thumbs:
 
Thanks Elastoman. The theory is all well and good, but we will see where it goes.
 
Well, day one of this year's project started overcast and grey. I optimistically took my camera with me but the light was too flat to do anything useful during the afternoon.

However, I was determined to at least try to start to explore the first part of my challenge which is, incidentally, how the aperture works. I figure that I will start just using a wide aperture and seeing what else happens. As evening fell, the Christmas lights etc. beckoned and so ...

Now, I know that the smaller the number the wider the aperture (:shrug:), so quite why I spent the first 15 minutes whacked up in the 10+ range I just don't know :bang:. However, this did help me to remember that when your shutter speed gets slower, you do really need a tripod to get unfuzzy pictures :D

I thank the good camera fairy for digital, because this meant that I could just take shot after shot at different apertures and see what this did. I must admit that I didn't help myself too much by doing it just after sunset - when lights etc. meant there were perhaps more variables than strictly necessary. Yet, this did let me see the crucial effect of exposure speeds on sharpness, and colour. Differences that it would take my brain longer to see in normal daylight I think. For example, seeing a white light come out orange immediately on the LCD was a bit of a no-brainer even for me.

Plus, I think that I saw the adjustments that it was necessary to make to match the conditions a bit quicker than I might have. Too much light, then the aperture or speed needed to change (not forgetting that the ISO was a bit of a factor too :bonk:).

One thought that came to me was to 'just take the picture and see what happens - stop trying to get A GOOD SHOT'. This is a hard one because aren't we all after the elusive 'WOW' picture. But, if I'm honest, I've spent too long trying to get a good picture without really learning how to maximise my chances of doing just that!?!

One major plus for me is the fact that I am now beginning to realise when it is just plain wasting time to try for a shot that WILL NOT TURN OUT HOW I WANT IT TO. Also, I figure that I can only make the same mistake so many times before I learn something.

So, I have started to see what not to expect from my pictures and, perhaps, what I can start to get better.

Now, all I have to do is figure out how to put a picture or two in here!!!!!
 
Let's see if learning curve 452 for the day, i.e. how to upload pics, has worked

This one was one of the first - and gave me the "DUH' moment about my ISO.



And this was one of my last of the evening, when I think that I was starting to get the hang of enough shutter speed not to over-expose or to have too much camera shake fuzziness.



Hmmmmm, nope that didn't work. 2nd time lucky.
 
:wave:

How's it going now Ali? Learning curve getting any easier?
 
Elastoman said:
:wave:

How's it going now Ali? Learning curve getting any easier?
Click to expand...

Ha, Ha, Ha ... clunk.

This is the sound of me laughing my head off at how much fun I am having :'(:'(:'(

If I say that my latest crawl up the learning curve has been to realise that it is better to upload any photos I might want to use in a post before I actually start posting rather than risk losing an hour's worth of a post, then you can see where the tears are coming from :(.

However, it also means that this update will probably sound less bitter as I had offloaded some of my angst in my first attempt :).

I wonder if digitalisation has made taking pictures more complicated than before. Before, I swear that my camera would remind me when my ISO wasn't good for a shot, or if my apperture was too wide - as I could see through the viewfinder that the shot was under or over exposed. It was a while before I realised the benefit of putting the histogram up on the review screen so that I could check this. Yes, my review screen shows me masses of information - but it is v. complicated and I have a lot to learn about it all.

The weather was pretty grim for most of the 1st week of January. While you have all been struggling with the snow and ice (albeit with some beautiful sunshine and great light) it was murky, grey and wet here.

It is amazing what you can learn with 2 bottles of olive oil and a computer. I struggled with the lighting until I realised that the different rooms in my flat have different types of light. My study has got something akin to Tungsten but the kitchen has flourescent. :thinking:

But then i also found out that as long as I am shooting in RAW my clever computer will change it for me when i process the shots. :D

So, practice sessions 2-3 taught me to check my ISO, WB, Picture style, and Metering presets.

At times, I felt overwhelmed by how much everything interacts and how easy it is to get one thing 'wrong' which then screws up the whole effort. I know that it will get easier as I progress and each session sees me running between the camera manual, my 450D for numpties book and 28K bookmarked webpages :).

I see that I had been too focused on the influence of AV on the DOF, when it is so much more than that. I love texture and form and structure and I now think that this emphasis of mine had taken my attention away from the pure basics of light and exposure.

For example, January 6th is 'Los Reyes' over here - which celebrates the arrival of the 3 wise men - and there is a big parade through the centre of town. I duly took my camera with me and managed to 'learn' that it is pigging hard to get a decent shot at night of anything that is moving :bang:

If anyone has any handy tips about that I will be very grateful. I did learn when I can't use AV. I also learnt that what I see in the viewfinder isn't always what comes out on the computer screen - as many of my shots looked OK at the time, but were staggeringly bad in reality.


I think this wasn't too bad (yes I know it is OOF) as at least he stood still long enough.

Overall, the first week felt very much like a 'how to take really bad pictures' experience. Each glimmer of understanding was quickly overshadowed by a dunking in a trough of camera sludge.

My main learning points during the first 10 days or so are ...

1. Remember to put the display to histogram.
2. NEVER, EVER, EVER TRY TO PUT YOUR SD CARD INTO THE SD SLOT WITHOUT LOOKING CAREFULLY. YOUR DISC DRIVE IS VERY CLOSE TO YOUR SD SLOT.
3. KEEP THE TWEEZERS CLOSE TO THE COMPUTER IN CASE YOU FORGET NO. 2.
4. Check my ISO, WB, Picture Style (feel free anyone to explain those to me - I get the ones about portrait, landscape and mono, but the rest look fairly similar), and Metering.
5. You don't get any DOF if the picture is under or over exposed.

6. :D RAW is my forgiving and helpful friend

BUT THEN

The sun came out for a day and I got to go out and about.

I'm not saying that I suddenly transformed into pro-tog of the year - but at least I felt that I could practice under much less trying conditions. And, at least, some of my pictures look like they might be OK with a bit of processing - but more of that once I've had a cup of tea.

ps. Sorry Elastoman but you did ask ...
 
ps. Sorry Elastoman but you did ask ...
Click to expand...

That's quite alright - sounds like you needed to offload!

If you feel like you spent a week taking bad pictures, look on the bright side - at least you recognise that they are bad pictures! Conscious incompetence, I think it is called. Better than not knowing they are bad and only one step away from knowing they are good!

I can relate to some of your comments though, particularly the bit about getting one thing wrong and screwing everything else up. I don't have as much time to learn how to get the best out of my kit as I would like, so I decided to enter some of the competitions on here as a way of making myself get the camera out and try something different. Having spent too long trying to get a shot for the POTY comp, fighting with getting enough light at high shutter speed to get a decent DoF, it was only lying in bed that this voice in the back of my head whispered "ISO". A bit of a "D'oh" moment - I had been so engrossed in trying to get the thing right it hadn't occured to me that changing to a higher ISO would help! I tried again the next morning and got a shot that at least has some of the image in focus. It's not got a chance of doing well against the other entries but I feel I learnt something from it and that's what I wanted to get out of it.

I'm looking forward to the day I take a picture and think "Wow!". As you are on the fast track curve, I think you'll get there first!


2. NEVER, EVER, EVER TRY TO PUT YOUR SD CARD INTO THE SD SLOT WITHOUT LOOKING CAREFULLY. YOUR DISC DRIVE IS VERY CLOSE TO YOUR SD SLOT.
3. KEEP THE TWEEZERS CLOSE TO THE COMPUTER IN CASE YOU FORGET NO. 2.
Click to expand...
:lol::lol::lol:
 
Exactly.

You know you're getting something wrong, but you can't think what.

I am glad that you had your lightbulb moment and that you managed to get a picture closer to what you wanted.

Once the sun came out I was able to take to the streets and try out my new mistakes in the real world.

It was really great for me because I was able to make the sort of mistakes that showed me something useful.

For example, I saw this bloke sitting in the sunshine with his newspaper and a cup of coffee outside a cafe. "Great" methinks, "a perfect opportunity to take a shallow dof pic with a wide app".

:):) and I learnt that it is very difficult to get the right focus point in a picture when you are trying to keep a lot of it in focus.

I thought I had chosen a good focus point - but obviously not as it was woefully out of focus.

Then I was trying to get some 'interesting' shots of different buildings. While they are not dreadful - I should never had tried to take them with a wide app and the lens (18-55) that I had because I would never be able to get the sort of detail that I thought I would get.



So, learning points this time around:

1. Just because the picture has a shallow dof, wide app may not be what I need as detail in focus may not be too great.

2. Don't be tempted to go too wide as I may overexpose the pic.

3. Choose the focus point wisely and as accurately as possible.

4. Sharpness on RAW digital images is something that always needs to be tweaked (thanks to other threads for that info) so don't cry until I have had the opportunity to PP them a bit.

5. Sharpening in PP will never be able to compensate for a far too slow shutter speed and camera shake.

Will post this now - and add a couple of pics in an edit because I don't want to lose it.
 
And these are a few that are beginning to get a bit closer to being tolerable.

Who knows, once I spend the next two weeks learning a bit of Photoshop I might even be able to tart them up a bit :):):).







p.s. Cropping is my friend. I have learnt that I can sometimes find a little something in a shot that is a) in focus and b) salvageable with a bit of a quick fix when uploading - so not every missed shot is a complete write off :clap:
 
Hi Ali,

You seem to have it all mapped out in such a concise programme, and yes I would be game to join you in that programme (all being if I receive my equipment in time).

There is one thing though, and that is there may be times when perfect opportunities present at which (i hope) i will be armed and ready to shot (for want of a better expression) :lol:

I truely hope you stick to your programme and look forward to seeing the results here.

Take care

Dawn :)
 
Looking at your pics, I really like No2, the way you got all the shadows to line up is great (and I am no expert) so from an ameture, I think it is good.

Would be interesting to hear from the experts their opinions on this one. I may be wrong, but in this 'action' shot so to speak, perhaps a bit more focus on the forefront (not too much though), especially bringing out LCD sign and crop out the bumper of the car because it distracts from the whole shadow effect.

I am also on a learning curve, so please don't be offended if I use your photos as a guide to learn. That is the beauty about a forum like TP, we all take pics, share them and learn from them. You were fortunate to take this shot and perhaps I will be in a position to take a similar or apply any learning in the near future.

You definitely have an eye for composition and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Afterall, TP is the place to learn, and I am on a roll!

I am waiting for the day when I get some serious critique from a professional on a photo i post (but that will be some time off)

All I can say is enjoy! enjoy! enjoy! what you do now.

Look forward to more pics and comments.

Dawn :)
 
Thanks Dawn. Do feel free to join me. I will be posting pics all the time as I either take new shots or try out different techniques to change the ones I have, so fire away. I will also be taking pics as I go along so that I don't forget what I have already learnt.

Hopefully, the weather will stay nice this weekend - and I will go with my wide app in hand and try not to make the same mistakes :). This photo-taking business is so interwoven that I can't just learn one thing at a time - but I do want to try not to overload myself with trying to learn too much at once.

'Cos then I just get disheartened and cry ... :'(

And thanks for the feedback. I will fiddle about with the no. 2 shot as I haven't done any PP on them so far. I did look at a couple of crops but haven't found one that I like yet. Didn't realise the bit about the shadows - lucky coincidence with the sun I guess. Do ask away until you get what the equipment you are looking for - and feel free to 'edit' any of mine if you want to play around with them.
 
Thanks Alison for the invitation..... like I said I don't have any serious equipment at the mo, but once I do, watch out world I will be here! And it would be fantastic to compare notes of learning experiences!

I don't feel experienced enough to 'fiddle' with anyones photos! But I must say my fingers and eyes are itching to have a go at the 2nd pic (I would hate to deform it in any way, but would love to be able to show you what I mean .... from my eyes) Not that it would mean much...... but then at the end of the day it is the person who is viewing and appreciating the photo that counts and means more than any professional critique! (Once again I may be wrong there)! But heyho,. I say it as it is!

Dawn :)
 
Well, I have planned to spend most of the next couple of weeks concentrating on PP. I'd thought that I'd start with some basic tweaks. Hmm, on second thoughts, I'm not sure that anything I'm trying to learn at the moment is 'basic'. Exposure - what's a good exposure look like? Sharpness - how much is too much?

Lot's of times I hear "until it looks right" but I worry that I won't know when it looks 'right'. For goodness sake - what is RIGHT :bang: :shrug:

:):) Seriously though, I know somethings are a matter of taste and judgement - I suppose that doing, looking, getting feedback and looking again is probably the only way to get the hang of knowing what to look at, and what to look for. I know that the graphs etc. are there to help me - but I haven't a clue what they do - or what they mean. Here's hoping that I soon will :)

Donna - I have done a fix on that picture - it was overexposed and I took your point about the car on the side. However, I couldn't find a crop that would leave the picture wide enough to give the couple the perspective that I wanted. The reason I took a picture of this couple is that (for me) they are representative of older people here - and I couldn't find a crop that left that perspective in.

BUT - I did find the 'recompose' tool in Photoshop and that let me stretch the picture to the same size so that the couple stayed the same, but without the car. I guess I could have done the same with the clone tool but a) the recompose tool is so cool I wanted to give it a go and b) I'm not getting on very well with the Photoshop clone tool. For some reason I can't get a good sample.

I did try blurring the background even more, but I couldn't get the couple cut out well enough to make it credible.

See what you think. I'd now be tempted to clone out the car's shadow - but it's too big for me to do it well.

Before:




After
 
Hi Ali,

Well done :thumbs:

I think the edited image is a marked improvement, and the focus is now is on the main subject, i.e., the elderly couple without the distraction of the car bumper.

There is also more colour clarity and I think it looks great.

As I said, I am no expert, but I think you have done a good job.

Look forward to seeing more of your photos soon.

I have finally bought a camera, Canon EOS 1000d (which I should hopefully receive this week). I am so excited and can't wait to start snapping :lol:

Hope you had a great weekend.

Take care

Dawn :)
 
:clap::clap::clap: well done on getting a camera.

Charge up your battery and get out there :)

Thanks for your comments. I have been playing with some other images today - but I am never quite sure if I have overdone things or not. Plus, some of the pictures have significant problems with them so it seems a lot to have to tweak.

Not to worry - that is what this is all about.
 
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