New and kinda lost,.

D

dazzalin

Suspended / Banned
Messages
17
Name
Darren
Edit My Images
Yes
hey guys ill try keep this short,.

im currently using picasa 3 to edit, as im new i actually though this was rather good but after seeing what you guys are doing im guessing its not,

also i have a sony alpha 200, only got 2 lenses, 3.5-5.6, 18-70 and a 4.5-5.6, 75-300,

any ideas as to what i can get,. to improve my shots, i tend to be shooting animals and scenic shots at the mo put planning to develop other areas.
 
Might be an idea to put up some pics to let folks see what you're doing and give advice.
 
Hi Darren

I have an A200 with a few lenses and have been taking photos as a serious hobby since 1977. The kit you have will let you tackle most subjects, except real close macro stuff. What do you like about taking photos?
 
concentrate on getting great shots in camera. Add a little lift in pp, boost contrast, sharpen etc, will make the pictures better. In time you may want to buy say light room or photoshop, although there are some great free utilities like Gimp.

The upshot is, and I may get flamed for it, is the likes of photoshop add the finishing touch to a good photograph, sharp and well exposed and well composed. It will not make a sows ear a silk purse.
 
String said:
concentrate on getting great shots in camera. Add a little lift in pp, boost contrast, sharpen etc, will make the pictures better. In time you may want to buy say light room or photoshop, although there are some great free utilities like Gimp.

The upshot is, and I may get flamed for it, is the likes of photoshop add the finishing touch to a good photograph, sharp and well exposed and well composed. It will not make a sows ear a silk purse.
Click to expand...

PP should be the icing on the cake, unless one is creating a montage or artistic work 'pseudo' photograph of some kind. Lots of PP can't really recover a fundamentally poor image.
 
dazzalin said:
as im new i actually though this was rather good but after seeing what you guys are doing im guessing its not,
Click to expand...

Like people have said, what you have is fine, and its more about improving your technique. Picasa will cover the basics and is simple to use. Photoshop is very powerful to say the least, but comes with a steep learning curve. But concentrate on getting the best out of your camera (image wise) before you consider what PP to do. Dont PP just for the sake of it either. If you already have good contrast out of the camera, dont squash it to s*** just because you feel you must do some PP or else it aint 'all professional like'.

Keep at it and pretty soon you be producing images like the ones you talked about seeing. You'll always find someone/something better than you though, thats human nature and should be motivation for you to learn new techniques, i know it is for me.

Welcome to PT:thumbs:
 
Hi dazzalin - having now got a DSLR, it cost you nothing to take all the images you want (apart from charging the batteries) so, experiment, on the same scene, take multiple shots changing the parameters each time, exposure + or -, increase or decrease the aperture (while maintaining correct exposure), move around, change your point of view, move closer, further away (using zoom and or feet).
Then look at the results, what do you like or dislike, which one do you think looks better etc
you can check the settings in the EXIF information or write it down as you take each shot.
Throw away anything you don't like.
There are some(can't remember the site I was on) who advocate using the camera bracket function to take 3 (or more) exposures on every shot, each exposure at a different exposure compensation setting i.e + or - 1EV, then pick the best and throw the other two away. I don't necessarily agree with this technique but each to his/her own.
What I am basically saying is 'experiment' and learn, as we say in Yorkshire - 'it cost nowt'
 
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