HERE WE GO > THE BEGINNING

paulpippin29 · Nov 7, 2008

OK FOLKS, HERE WE GO, MY FIRST OFFICIAL POSTING OF IMAGES ON THIS FORUM. I WANT YOU ALL TO PLEASE SMASH, BASH, AND CRITIQUE THEM UNTIL YOU'VE TORN THEM INTO LITTLE BITS OF NOTHING, AND I MEAN THAT, LITERALLY

THE CAMERA IN USE HERE, IS A CANON A590 IS... AND FOR THE BUCK, I JUST COULDN'T BEAT THE BANG. IT'S FULLY FEATURED FOR THE PRICE, AND ACTUALLY, HAS MORE GOING ON THAN SOME OF THE MORE EXPENSIVE MODELS, BUT, I KNOW IT'S NOT THE BEST CAMERA OUT THERE, BY ANY MEANS, SO, IT IS WHAT IT IS, AND DOES WHAT IT DOES, TO THE BEST OF IT'S ABILITY. IT'S A COMPLICATED LITTLE GADGET TOO, WITH TONS OF OPTIONS AND SETTINGS, ALOT OF WHICH, I'M CLUELESS TOO. I'M READING THE OVER 200 PAGE MANUAL DAILY, PAGE FOR PAGE, MAKING SURE THAT I FULLY UNDERSTAND THE CAMERA AS BEST AS POSSIBLE.

NOW, ON TO OTHER THINGS...

AS I POSTED IN MY ORIGINAL "WELCOME" POSTING, I'M HEAVILY INSPIRED MY ARTIST SUCH AS SCOTT HANSEN > http://WWW.ISO50.COM AND AKIF HAKAN > http://WWW.HAKANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM THESE GUYS REALLY KNOW HOW TO SHOOT, IN MY OPINION ANYWAY

SCOTT HANSEN SEEMS TO BE A BIT MORE ABSTRACT WITH HIS WORK, AS HE SHOOTS SUBJECTS OF ALL KINDS... AND HE MANAGES TO IMPRESS THE HELL OUT OF ME WITH HIS PHOTOSHOP SKILLS, THOUGH HE IS A GRAPHICS DESIGNER AS WELL, AND WOW, SOME BEAUTIFUL WORK HE DOES INDEED.

AKIF ON THE OTHER HAND, PHOTOGRAPHS WOMEN PRIMARILY, WHICH I THINK MAKE FOR SOME OF THE SINGLE BEST SHOTS IN THE WORLD. WOMEN ARE JUST BEAUTIFUL TO BEGIN WITH, SO TO PHOTOGRAPH THEM THE WAY IN WHICH HE DOES, JUST BLOWS MY MIND. I LOVE HOW HE SETS UP THE SHOT, HIS BACKDROPS, HIS EVERYTHING. THE IMAGE COMES OUT GOOD TO GO, WAY BEFORE HE EVEN BEGINS TO EDIT IT IN ANY WAY.

NOW, THE IMAGES I'M DISPLAYING HERE ARE VERY BASIC ONES, WHICH I TRIED TO MAKE AS NICE AS POSSIBLE. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN EDITED IN ANYWAY, AS I DO NOT HAVE PHOTOSHOP, OR ANY PROGRAM LIKE THAT AT ALL. THEY WERE TAKEN, STORED, THEN TRANSFERED TO MY COMPUTER, NOTHING MORE. I USE PHOTOBUCKET, AND THE IMAGES WERE TAKEN IN 1600X1200 RES, BUT YOU'VE TO PAY TO UPLOAD AN IMAGE THAT LARGE ON PHOTOBUCKET, SO, THEY'VE BEEN RESIZED, KEEP THAT IN MIND.

THE SETTINGS USED FOR THESE IMAGES VARIED FOR EACH ONE, BUT THE MOST GENERIC, ACROSS THE BOARD SETTTINGS THAT I USED WERE:

SHUTTER SPEED: 1/1000 - 1/2000
APETURE: F8.0 <- AT ALL TIMES
ISO: 800 TO 1600
ZOOM: NONE
QUALITY: SET TO "SUPERFINE" <- SUPPOSED TO BE THE BEST THE CANON CAN DO

AS FOR THE FLASH... WELL, THAT'S AN INTERESTING TOPIC. I'M USING MANUAL MODE ONLY, PERIOD. I REFUSE TO SHOOT IN THE PRESET MODES. WITH THE SETTINGS THAT I LISTED ABOVE, WITHOUT THE FLASH ON, NO MATTER WHAT I TRIED, THE IMAGES WOULD COME OUT VERY DARK, ALMOST BLACK REALLY, AS YOU JUST COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING AT ALL. THE FLASH MADE FOR SOME GREAT LOOKING EFFECTS I THINK HOWEVER, AND I HAVE IT'S POWER TURNED DOWN TO MINIMUM, WHICH IS AS LOW AS I CAN GO WITH THE CANON.

ALSO, IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHY ALL THE IMAGES ARE OF THE SAME TYPE, THIS IS THE KIND OF PHOTOGRAPHY THAT I ENOY THE MOST, OTHER THAN THE FEMALE PORTRAIT TYPE. I LOVE IMAGES SUCH AS THE ONES BELOW. THE SUBJECT'S WERE NOTHING MORE THAN ONE TREE, AND TWO PLANTS. THE TREE AND ONE OF THE PLANTS ARE AT WORK, THE OTHER PLANT IS IN MY HOUSE. ALL OF THESE SHOTS WERE TAKEN AT NIGHT, WITH ME JUST GETTING RIGHT UP ON THEM, NO ZOOM IN USE, AND I PLAN ON DOING SOME DAYLIGHT, OUTDOOR SHOTS TOMMORROW, AS I'M OFF FROM WORK, SO, SHOULD HAVE MORE TO POST SOON ENOUGH.

ALSO, ON THE LAST IMAGE, THAT IS THE PLANT THAT'S IN MY HOUSE. I WAS IN A LIVING ROOM, WITH A BRIGHT OVERHEAD LIGHT ON, BUT REGARDLESS OF THAT, I STILL HAD TO HAVE MY FLASH ON IN ORDER TO PREVENT A BLACKENED IMAGE. I REALLY THINK IT'S AN ISSUE OF ME NOT KNOWING WHAT I'M DOING YA KNOW?

ANYWAY, HOW COULD I IMPROVE THESE IMAGES? WOULD PHOTOSHOP BE THE WAY TO GO? SHOULD I FORK OUT THE 700 DOLLARS ON IT? I REALLY DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY TO SPEND ON SOFTWARE, BUT, AS INTO THIS AS I AM, I JUST MIGHT ACTUALLY DO IT. HOW COULD I HAVE SHOT THESE IMAGES BETTER? I'VE GOT THIS ACCOUNT HERE SET UP TO WHERE YOU FOLKS CAN EDIT MY IMAGES, SO FEEL FREE. I'DE LOVE TO SEE WHAT THE PRO'S CAN DO TO THEM.

OK, ON TO THE IMAGES, AND I'M SO SORRY FOR THE EXTREMLY LONG POST, I JUST BELIEVE IN EXPRESSING, AND EXPLAINING MYSELF IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS. TAKE CARE EVERYONE, HOPE YOU LIKE THE PICS IF THAT'S POSSIBLE, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR ADVICE.

Chris of Arabia · Nov 7, 2008

OK. I guess first I should say welcome to the forum and as a first piece of advice, I'd suggest taking the 'Caps Lock' off. Capitals are considered to be the digital equivalent of shouting at people, though in your case, as you've made them bold as well, perhaps screaming would be a more apt description

Secondly, the images are a bit on the large side, try reducing them to no more than 800px on the longest side, so we can get them on the screen.

paulpippin29 · Nov 7, 2008

Ooops... sorry about that whole capitalized thing, no yelling was intended, just thought it looked better, but uhmm... nevermind.

Anyway, seems as if Photobucket is now performing maintenance, as the images are not showing up anymore

Jeez... the first night that I post, and look what happens. Guess I should expect it, it's just my luck.

Also, is 1024x768 to big? I thought that would be too small? Sorry about it all, no harm intended. I posted these images to Photobucket, then linked them here. I run a monitor res of 1600x1200, so, they fit perfectly here, but apologies delivered to all who can't see them clearly.

In other words, I did NOT mean to shout at, nor distort the monitors of anyone willing to view this post. It's the first, no harm intended.

Thanks for the input however

pugnacious33 · Nov 7, 2008

I'll admit, I don't get these pictures at all. I'm not sure what you're going for here. I think the first thing you should do is soften the flash and work on the depth of field.

BTilson · Nov 7, 2008

I like what you're trying to do here, but my two biggest complaints are what pugnacious33 has already mentioned. Try to find a way to soften the flash (tissue paper or a business card works wonders) and work on the depth of field. Some of the images seem to have too little in focus.

No problem about the caps lock, but it does come across as yelling.

An excellent and (legally!) free photo editing package is The Gimp. In a lot of ways it rivals photoshop. Has full support for layers, filters, etc etc... I used it for a long while before I finally jumped into photoshop and it is a pretty excellent piece of software.

Brutus · Nov 7, 2008

The flash is quite harsh, the focus seems off, and the photos are a bit boring. Also, you seem to have some shadows from the lens of whatever camera you're using, so try getting a bit further away from the subject on a couple of those.

tsaraleksi · Nov 7, 2008

These really are a mess. You'd be wise to reshoot with daylight available, or some other form of artificial lighting. You can photograph whatever you like, but if you're going to shoot stuff that is generally 'dull' then you really need to nail everything about it, and find interesting and engaging compositions. These are not. The flash in particular really makes these hard to look at.

So what do you do? You would be well advised to try out using a tripod for this kind of work, and considering how light your camera is, you could probably get away with a very inexpensive tripod. That will let you get sharper photos even in low light. At the same time, you would really be well advised to get out of your backyard and find some other interesting subjects. Staying in your house is quite limiting photographically, although it is true that sometimes you can find interesting things to photograph within the bounds of your own property.

Also, the way your images are looked at is a result of the way your colors and tones guide the eye along the composition. Even a great composition with light in all the wrong places will not make a strong image. Try using a free image editor like Gimp to improve the images in post production. Do not spend the money on photoshop-- you would be much better off investing that cash into a camera set up better suited to the kind of photography you seem interested in.

paulpippin29 · Nov 7, 2008

Well damn, just when I thought I was doing good! lol I got exactly what I asked for here, and I do appreciate it greatly.

Now, to address tsaraleksi...

You're review was the most constructive, critical, honest, and helpful of them all, and I thank you. It's caused me to feel as if I should address some points, and ask you some questions as well, so, here we go...

As for the tripod... what sort of benefit would I recieve from it? Better image stabilization? Would my camera even adapt to a tripod to begin with? And if I were to continue with this type of photography, would I still be able to get in close like I love to do, while using a tripod? The zoom on my camera is 4x optical, and 4x digital, but both present quite a bit of grain when used, though that might be my fault, but needless to say, I enjoy not using my zoom.

Also, as far as the location of my shootings, the backyard, etc... it should be understood that I haven't had this camera but for a few days now, had to work all week, had today off, but felt a bit under the weather, so, didn't get much shooting done today at all. However, I have no plans of photographing in my backyard only, it just happens to be a good practicing point for me, and not to mention, it does provide some good shots for the type of photo's I like to do.

Also, I have plans of shooting some actual people next week at work, some females to be exact, who've agreed to let me practice, while using them as subjects, so, maybe then, I can produce some better imagery.

Anyway, thanks again for your wonderful advice and review, as it is greatly appreciated.