in a mess with my lens

garymicheal

garymicheal

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gary
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hi people firstly iam not so new to picture taking but well photography thats a different story I seem to take just pictures while you guys take cracking shots i feel its my lens to blame rather than me but ive been wrong before:lol: i havecanon 50mm prime/ canon ef_s 18-55 mm image stabilized /sigma 55-200 /canon ef 75-300 /sigma 170-500mm i like to go out doors taking what ever fungi landscapes birds iam a nature buff i think i take a reasonable pic but feel somethings wrong should i dump my lens collection and start again if so name me the best lenses for fungi /walk about/ and birds i know this is a big ask but its doing my head in i have a tripod and remote switch but iam ok hand held ( i think )many thanks
 
Garymichael

I think you should really not do anything in a rush...dumping lenses etc...take a good look at your technique first.

Now I have no experience of any of the lenses you mention but I would dump the EF 75-300 and use the money to get the EF 100 macro...

Will go have a look at your gallery first...

HTH
 
Garymichael, I had a look at the images in your gallery and they were all taken with your 350D...absolutely nothing wrong with that but it is the lens info that interests me...the flies shot was the 17-55 IS @55 right?

I'm guessing both the squirrel shot (@500) and the cygnet shot (@170) were done with the Sigma 170-500?

Are you OK with others fiddling with your pics? If so, tick the "image editing OK" block if you have not yet done so...(My bad...you have already done so...

Cheers
 
You do have some crossing over on your lenses, and as Anton says, the 75-300 seems surplus to requirements. However, I would suggest start getting organised on the picture front. Before heading out, decide what you plan to take pics of that day and concentrate on that, taking only the lens[es] you will need and work hard within that range to improve your ability and technique. Its hard to say where you need to focus your attentions [pun only half intended] without seeing a good range of your existing shots, you might be much better than you think, but that would be my advice, make a plan and stick to it, you will soon start to see improvements, especially if you post results here and act on the feedback from that :thumbs:
 
Yv said:
and as Anton says, the 75-300 seems surplus to requirements.
Click to expand...

:$

I must immediately come clean and confess that I simply have a huge personal dislike in this lens. IMHO it is just cheap & nasty.

Do listen to Yv though, she knows her stuff

Garymichael, your squirrel image seems a bit soft but before I proclaim your Sigma to be a soft copy it might be worth noting that your shutter speed there was only 1/250 and it should really have been around 1/500 or faster IF HANDHELD...were you on a tripod maybe?
 
Hi Gary,
Dont be so hard on yourself. Now I know VERY little about photoshop, but just by sharpening a little, This one has improved nicely.

From:
IMG_53921.jpg


To:
IMG_5392.jpg




Now sharpening is to each individuals taste. Some like a lot, some dont. I would agree with the comments made already and say just take a step back and think about what you want to capture and compose accordingly.
I hope you dont mind me saying, but these tend to look like shots that you just happened to come across. ie snapshots.
Set your stall out, bait some birds etc and sit and wait. That way you will be prepared for the shot and have time to think about it. Then have a play with the shots on an editing programme and try try again.
Most of all keep at it and enjoy it mate. Its 2009 soon so make it your resolution to enjoy togging and maybe change some glass... ;)

Kev.
 
thanks for the help guys i have loads of pics but some posted on here well they just blow me away. like i said i think in need to learn a lot more and try harder ive posted a few new pics if you care to look thanks
 
I don't think its the gear that's the problem. Composition is one area you could look at.

Here's some immediate thoughts on the shots in your gallery.

Heron, the bird is too centered. Crop away from the left (lose equally from top and bottom) so the bird is on the left looking into the tree.

Butterfly, I know it's tricky but if the shot had been taken from the other side and more from above you would have had a better shot of the wings. The 3 stalks of grass are also distracting and could be cloned out.

Gull, move the bird to the left of the frame so it has "negative space" to fly into. It's normally better to have the subject looking/moving into the frame not out of it.

Mushrooms. Over-exposed. The strong light has made the exposure tricky, using a reflector to bounce some light back in on the right or waiting for a cloud to pass by would have given much more even light.

Squirrel, you've cut the tail off.

Duckling(?) - think about your viewing angle. This shot was taken from far too high which immediately gives it a snap shot feel. Get into the habit of viewing the subject from it's level and not that of a standing person.

Flies - really needs a tighter crop and certainly needs to lose the distracting leaf/bud on the left. The fly on the left is really at the wrong angle. Again easy to say and hard to do but waiting for a shot were both flies were position to tell a story - facing each other, following, etc. would give a better shot.

Aside from that post work is something you can fix easily. All shots need sharpening after being re-sized for web to get the most out of them. The scaling down makes them soft because the pixels that form edges have been averaged out so you lose contrast between them. But also watch that you don't over sharpen, each shot is different but as a guide keep increasing the sharpening amount until it looks too much, then drop it back down a bit.
 
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