first shots ever with SLR

[MoeRoadKill]

so my camera just came in today and im stoked. all day iv just been playing around with it, so much fun. there isn't a whole lot going on in my back yard so i took some photos of some flowers and edited them which i thought are really cool
umm i think they could be very big.. hope u like C&C

hope u like C&C

 

[Cooler_King]

I love that first shot. How did you achieve the colour on black and white?

 

[MoeRoadKill]

^^ well this probably wont make much sense ill to my best.
when i got my camera i got a editing program and it allows me to 'saturate' colours,
e.g, all the red in the photo i can make it turn into black or white, same with blues, greens, yellows, purples. pretty much the whole colour wheel.
so what i did with the photo because the background was all green i just turned the green all the way down (to 0%) until it was completely saturated

 

[Cooler_King]

Clever..another tool in my box. :thumbup:

 

[o hey tyler]

^^ well this probably wont make much sense ill to my best.
when i got my camera i got a editing program and it allows me to 'saturate' colours,
e.g, all the red in the photo i can make it turn into black or white, same with blues, greens, yellows, purples. pretty much the whole colour wheel.
so what i did with the photo because the background was all green i just turned the green all the way down (to 0%) until it was completely saturated

Er, you were desaturating things, hence why they were black and white. Completely unsaturated. And the technique is called selective coloring, which has been known to be one of the most cliche things in digital photography. Because everyone and their uncle does it.

 

[TylerF]

i somewhat agree with tyler, selective coloring can some off as very cliche. but if done right, it can look nice. it looks like you are using the on camera flash, which tends to be harsh. look into a different flash maybe or try to make some kind of diffuser out of tissue?

 

[bigtwinky]

Nice start, read up on basics of photography composition to help improve your photos. Rule of thirds, leading lines, shallow dof, lighting techniques...
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is a great read

 

[GFreg]

^^ well this probably wont make much sense ill to my best.
when i got my camera i got a editing program and it allows me to 'saturate' colours,
e.g, all the red in the photo i can make it turn into black or white, same with blues, greens, yellows, purples. pretty much the whole colour wheel.
so what i did with the photo because the background was all green i just turned the green all the way down (to 0%) until it was completely saturated

Ideally this isn't the best way to do it because sometimes one of the colors that you want to get rid of makes small appearances in parts of what you want saturated or vice versa. It does work in quite a few situations and is good if you dont have access to something like Photoshop. If you have Photoshop what you would do is create a layer and mask the area that you want saturated and then use the desaturate tool to get rid of all the color in other areas. Selective coloring is just like anything else, if you abuse it won't look right. There are many beautiful shots that use selective coloring but there are also many examples where is has been overdone.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

i somewhat agree with tyler, selective coloring can some off as very cliche. but if done right, it can look nice.

Like all photoshop filters/effects, beginners use them because they can, rather than because it's appropriate/effective for the image.

I R Rtist, I click button.

 

[Weaving Wax]

I don't think they look so bad.

 

[mostly sunny]

Love the look of the first one..

 

[MoeRoadKill]

Er, you were desaturating things, hence why they were black and white. Completely unsaturated. And the technique is called selective coloring, which has been known to be one of the most cliche things in digital photography. Because everyone and their uncle does it.

sorry took ages to get back. forgot about it.
i dont really use any PS or editing programs until now really. iv always kinda kept my distance with technology so i dont know any of the terminology
even if it is the most 'cliche' thing i cant argue with the results

it looks like you are using the on camera flash,

negative.

just so u know the first picture i only blacked out the background that was really it. and made the tips of the flower more lighted.

 

[Cooler_King]

...which has been known to be one of the most cliche things in digital photography. Because everyone and their uncle does it.

Well technically everyone and their uncle is also using a camera to take photos. And everyone and their Uncle uses the rule of thirds, or black and white or takes portraits....

Just because a technique is popular doesn't mean it should be discounted. I liked the image and the OP obviously enjoyed taking it.

Your post comes across as quite derogatory. I never realised that experimentation was that frowned upon.

...a beginner applying an effect is ''because they can'' whereby anyone else applying the effect is ''because it is appropriate''

.

How offensive is that? If the OP applied the effect it is because it was appropriate to him and that is all that matters.

 

[Nikkor]

I love that first shot. How did you achieve the colour on black and white?

Check out YouTube for a selective coloring tutorial. Its super easy and can really help your pictures pop.

These are pretty good. I'd just say easy on the selective coloring, a lot of people on this site are fans of just raw footage and shots.

 

[bigtwinky]

...which has been known to be one of the most cliche things in digital photography. Because everyone and their uncle does it.

Well technically everyone and their uncle is also using a camera to take photos. And everyone and their Uncle uses the rule of thirds, or black and white or takes portraits....

Just because a technique is popular doesn't mean it should be discounted. I liked the image and the OP obviously enjoyed taking it.

Your post comes across as quite derogatory. I never realised that experimentation was that frowned upon.

...a beginner applying an effect is ''because they can'' whereby anyone else applying the effect is ''because it is appropriate''

.

How offensive is that? If the OP applied the effect it is because it was appropriate to him and that is all that matters.

Well, then whats the point of asking for critiques, comments and so on if you believe that "it was appropriate to them so thats all that matters"?

Sure, a subject may be dead center of an image, it look horrible, but if thats what the photographer wanted, then thats all that matters, right?

I agree that the selective colouring does NOT help the images above, thus it should not have been used. Just because its something that is available and a technique that can be used doesn't mean it should, and alot of new people with cameras apply it left, right and center.

Nothing wrong with experimenting and trying things out, but people need to learn when to use and when not to use things. Google helps tremendously as the selective colouring topic has been discussed many many times on many many forums.

The one thing that drew me to this forum originally was the lack of sugar coating responses to make people feel good about their mistakes. It is sucks, it sucks. If it shouldnt be used, then say it and let people know.

If being up front and straight foward is offensive and derogatory, I'd suggest growing a pair or moving on.