Day 1: Early Experiments

[Adour]

Hi all,

Yesterday I bought a Nikon D40, and in the past 36 hours have taken some 500 photos of which most I have deleted, but in the interests of improvment I offer these for comment & critique should you wish.

Thank you in advance.

Adour

1.

2. (have used PS to enhance the contrast here)

3.

4. and finally, again with PS curves to enhance contrast, I can post original if people think it would help me to do so? It was taken at the same time as the above picture which I feel is a little washed out, even with exposure turned down 2/3.

 

[Yahoozy]

*gasp*
no offense intended here but i felt the first three were slightly sub par
but then i get hit with #4 and i just get smacked in the face
absolutely breathtaking that
the center composition works well for it too, i think
great work =D

 

[Adour]

No offence taken; I am yet to work out what 'par' is, so I am happy to post and I expect to be dissapointed.

I actually now feel worse because I used Photoshop curves to enhance photo 4 from this:

and what I would really like to do is inprov the orginial shot.

Thank you for yor comments though, this really is day 1 for me so i am just looking to see what to expect.

Adour

 

[Yahoozy]

my friend, photoshop is never something to feel guilty about
whatever helps make a photo better is always appreciated

hell, not one of my photos that i take doesnt have something about it enhanced with photoshop

in digital photography photoshop is just another tool that photographers use to convey their purpose in a photo

so all in all great work =D

now if you want help with the original are you using a polarizing filter?
those really help to deepen the blues in the sky and make it stand out more

but all the same, for your first day your off to a great start =P

 

[tenlientl]

While I was scrolling down with #2, I said "wow.. this is gonna be nice" but then thats it. i felt like i was cut off. the colours are nice though. exposure was nice imo.

the first one seems pixelated. around the pole.

now with the third one, i think itd be better if the bird+sand was darker. maybe up the aperture a stop, or the shutter speed.

thats just my opinion though

 

[mrodgers]

my friend, photoshop is never something to feel guilty about.....

.....in digital photography photoshop is just another tool that photographers use to convey their purpose in a photo

What he said. Don't think of using Photoshop as editing. Think of it as "digital developing". What you stated you did in your post is just what film users would have done in developing and printing the film photos.

Photoshop can be used to extensively edit a photo to the point it no longer looks like a photo, but it can also be used with suttle edits to "digitally develop" the photo as well. This is what I do in Photoshop and I would consider it is what you did in your photos as well.

 

[STICKMAN]

#4 came out great!!! And don't feel bad about do some post work onit. Its all part of the game..........

 

[SlimPaul]

I quite like photo #3 although it's a bit overexposed and underexposed in some parts. The bird calms me down As to photo #4, I find the colors too warm and too dark.
But hey, it's just your first day and you managed to get some interesting shots. So congrats and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work

 

[MohaimenK]

Hey Adour. I'm new here and I was wondering what you did w/ photoshop. I came up w/ something like this. Hope you don't mind for me using your picture. Let me know what you think.

 

[Adour]

Thank you all for your comments; good and bad!

I appreciate the Photoshop feedback and I will feel less of a fraud improving contrast with it now

MohaimenK: I used the curves adjustments, but rather than talk ou through it here, I used this website for all of my advice so far (including how to use PS), http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm

I hope h doesn't mind me linking his site but it was very useful for an absolute beginner like me.

I will try a get some more pictures at the weekend and post, again, my thanks to all.

Adour