I'm new and would like some help please

Bambi'sThumper

Bambi'sThumper

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Jenny
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Hello there, I jenny and 18 and just getting in to photography. I was doing a bit of photography, just playing around, with my little samsung compact when i realised i had a bit of a knack.

So i got a Canon EOS 350D for my christmas 2009, but can't quite get to grips with it - indoors is fine and dandy but outdoors is totaly different - and i see so many FANTASTIC outdoor images with the same camera and wonder how you all do it? If anyone could help me out i'd be entirely gratefull.

Also how do you get night scenes with out the flash? When i do, it either doesn't show up or the colours all wrong.

Thanks - newbie Jen
 
If you could post up one of your outdoor images with a note of what you think is wrong with it, it will be a lot easier to try and give you help to correct the problems.

Welcome to TP by the way.
 
if you want dramatic images out doors like landscapes you just need to get hold of a tripod. put your camera onto TV mode which is shutter priority and leave the shutter open for a fair amount of time. By putting the camera on TV mode it will figure out the Aperture for you. If you new to the whole thing you may need to check out what aperture and shutter speed are and do. read through this link and it should help http://www.photonhead.com/beginners/shutterandaperture.php
 
Hello Jenny,
Congrats on buying your new camera, an excellent choice to take some wonderfull pictures with.
It sounds strange that you say you get good pictures indoors but not outdoors.
Normally I would expect the opposite.
I am guessing that you maybe using one of the manual settings as apposed to the Automatic option. Check that the big round dial on the top right of your camera is set to auto.(might be a green mark).
In this mode you should get good picture indoors and outdoors without you having to touch the manual funtions.
Trying to get good pictures at night is slightly more complex.
firstly you dont need flash for scenery as it will do very little, instead you rely on longer shutter times.
for this you need to set to TV mode or manual.
TV allows you to control the shutter manually whilst the camera still controls the apperature.
You will need a tripod or something to put your camera on, like a small wall in order to keep the camera still during taking the picture.
The longer you allow the shutter to stay open, the more light you let into your camera and your picture will be better exposed.
The amount of time you allow your shutter to stay open for depends on how much light is around you etc and what effect you are after.
Id say anything between 10 seconds and 45 seconds will usually achieve good night picture results if you are taking landscapes etc.
Often practice, trial & error is the best way to learn.
If you are taking night time pictures of friends then yes the flash will be needed but they will need to be reasonably close to allow the flash to have an effect.
There are many good threads on this site which will explain better than my brief ramblings but give it a go and see how you do.
On a final notes, its always worth while getting to understand your camera first before taking pictures.
Once you know how the camera works you will spend less time making mistakes whilst out shooting.

Carl
 
Hi Jenny

Could you provide an example of an outside shot you are not happy with?

Also which mode are you taking the shots in Auto, A, S, Manual etc?

The night shots you are referring too are likely done with longer shutter speeds as this allows more light into the lens meaning you can have a higher apature for more focus
 
Hi Jen, welcome :)

Well if you are getting indoor stuff Ok you can't be that bad ;) I usually find that trickier!

What seems to be going wrong with the outdoor stuff? What are you trying to shoot and how are you shooting it? If you could post an example of one you are struggling with we can see the data from the camera and should be able to sort it out for you.

Night scenes are usually done on a tripod with long exposures and that means you don't have to use flash. Flash is limited in the range it can light up anyway so is actually pretty useless for night scenes. I usually shoot either on M or A for those. Try camera on A, ISO 100, f11 and let the camera choose the shutter speed. (If it's too short it will be all dark so let the camera sort it!) Pop it on a tripod and see how it goes. (There are other little tricks that are more advanced but lets see if we can't get you started)
 
Thank you all for your great tips. I'll add a couple of photos to show you's all what i mean. I just think they seem really flat in colour and or have a blue hue/tinge to them. I usually shoot with AV or TV, usually go to the park to get images of the geese and swans, trees when i'm in Northampton, and when i'm home in Orkney mostly my 2 pet cats and lots of Landscapes - sunsets, beaches, and the hills and cliffs. At home with the sunsets i'm ok with i'll give you a few examples of that too.

Northampton examples:
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_1733.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_1762.jpg

Orkney examples:
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_0946.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_0792.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_0823.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab68/peediethumper/IMG_0923.jpg

Staff Edit: Images removed. (Links left in place). Pictures must not exceed current forum limits of 800 pixels on the longest edge, as per the rules.
Please feel free to replace with fresh/resized images and remove this text :)
 
You have not set the camera time correctly, so it won't know if it is dark or not. :lol:
 
Some nice shots you have
I note you set your whitelight to manual 1, I am not sure which setting is No1 are you shooting in RAW or JPG? are you doing any PP on them?
I love the image of the winch but shame not more in focus I note you have a very slow shutter on this was it hand held? as 1/8 is not good to hand hold.
 
None of the image's are croped only zoomed in on. I'm not sure about whitelights and RAW i do know the Raw is set to (sorry this bit will sound silly but im not sure on the proper name) L and the smooth not the step looking one so I think it might be JPG. Yes it was hand held as I unfortunatly dont have a tripod at the monent but looking in to getting one. Could that be one of the problems - not having a tripod? Thank you Jen
 
A possible problem with the flat colours in the first image, and is almost certainly the cause of the 'cool' colours in the swan photo, is that you have the white balance of your camera set to manual.

Unless you know specifically the colour temperature of the lighting conditions you are shooting under, you might be better off starting with the white balance set to auto.

eta. Having viewed the exif on all your pictures, I see that you have used manual white balance on all of them. Try using auto WB to start with until you become more acquainted with which manual wb settings to use for any given situation.

If you have photo editing software, what you already have can be tweaked to improve them. I had a quick go with your swan photo to remove the colour cast.

swan.jpg
 
The first few shots should be ok hand held but the ones where the sun is going down would be much better with a tripod.

The first shot you posted has an ISO of 1600 which is pushing the barrier for a grainy image. I would suggest lowering the ISO which will reduce grain but at the expense of shutter speed. The shutter speed is 1/1600 so lowering the ISO will still allow for a hand held shot as the light seems fairly good.

I would suggest reading up on Apature, Shutter Speed and ISO and how they all play a role in taking a photograph and different settings will produce different results.
 
Welcome to TP Jenny :)

There are people here with bags more knowledge than me who can give you tips and pointers to help improve your shots and technique. TP is great!

You seem to be doing well for a new DSLR owner, top marks for posting up some shots and asking for advice - it's the only way to improve :thumbs:

I found myself with similar results when I started out (surely we all did :thinking:) and by joining in here I learnt loads.

Keep it up :D

PS: I was also recommended a book by some on here - Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Brilliant guide to technique, easy to follow and a good read! It's £10.31 here
 
Thanks everyone. And thank you Derek (scarecrow) for the edit on my photo, looks so much better. I'll be sure to put these tips to good use next time i'm out.

Thanks Jen
 
Jenny, I've had to break the image tags on your shots as they are larger than the forum maximum size of 800 pixels on the longest edge. Feel free to resize and replace them :)
 
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