Hey I'm new.

fadingaway1986 · Feb 4, 2004

Hey there. I am new.
My name is alecia and I am 17 from Queensland, Australia.

I was just wondering if anyone could have a look at a few photos and tell me what you think...

Please keep in mind I'm 17, and therefore have close to no experience.

Thanks,
here's a few...

There are also more photos on my website - ohsixohsix.com, but the best of them are in http://www.ohsixohsix.com/images/photos

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks.
Alecia

LaFoto · Feb 4, 2004

Hi Alecia,

I hope you're not 'fading away' so soon again, once you have joined this forum.

Since I'm quite new myself (only joined in the 1st), for days I all overlooked the "Welcome/Introduction Forum" well down on this site, it does require some scrolling, and many a newcomer doesn't see that one right away.

However, now that I've told you, you might want to say "Hallo, I'm new" down there once again, and meet us there, too. What do you think?

As to your photos - you say you're just experimenting with your new digital camera? I suggest you try to get closer to the object you want to show, and leave out more of the surrounding things. And if that doesn't work with the photo in the first place, you can still cut it out on the computer. That's just my idea...

Anyhow, feel at home

bogleric · Feb 4, 2004

You are off to a good start, just don't be afraid to "get outside your box" and take pictures from all sorts of angles. For example the cat picture is nice but could have been better if you got down on the ground in front of the cat (perhaps laying on the ground).

Experiment and see what fits your style, you will know once you find it.

I look forward to seeing more.

wdawson · Feb 4, 2004

i like the cat shot..............that shot made me get up too see if my cat was still in canada........thought she went south for the winter.....lol

mrsid99 · Feb 4, 2004

Welcome aboard Alecia!
Not a bad start and I liked those first two cloud shots on your site.
Keep shooting and have fun.

vonnagy · Feb 5, 2004

kewlies another aussie to torment!! just kidding alecia! great to have ya on board here! first of all thanks for posting, you live in QLD so half of the southern hemisphere is jealous of you already

You've got a really good start here!

i'll start in reverse, from shot number 3:

shot number 3
you've taken this shot it looks like in the midday sun, that a really tough time of day to take shots, especially in a hot state like QLD. Tell the boatie to come back when the sun is setting

.

The water is a wicked blue and sparkly, thats my favourite part of the photo. Actually, if you saturated the colours a tad, the blue and the orange banks would look wicked together

One other thing it looks like the horizon is a tad crooked.

Maybe a portrait shot would work best here for this one, zoom in on the boat a bit. A portrait shot would match the vertical sails:

here's a quick crop and saturation job i did so you get the idea:

shot number two:
Just noticed the cross on the cat. hehe a god fearing cat eh?

I love the idea behind this shot, a cat hiding in the bush. Looks like you were able to sneak up on the feline as it was about to ambush something! cool!

Here the colours look a bit washed out especially on the twig on the foreground. What I did in the photo below is crop it a bit, saturate the colours and ad a touch of sharpening:

shot number 3:
This is my favourite! realy cool shot alecia :thumbsup: you've captured the 'cross cat' on the prowl in fine fashion!

here again the colours are a bit washed out. I've saturated the the colours here quite a bit (+40 in photoshop), cropped it slightly. I've also changed the colour balance and removed some of the blue colour so the yellows could come out more in the highlights (makes the yellow eyes stand out more too).

Don't worry if you don't have photoshop, whats important is the actually photo itself. You got some good stuff here. I think you have alot to offer to this forum and hope to see more shots in the future

fadingaway1986 · Feb 5, 2004

Hey
- thanks for that...

I will write a bit more later, but right now I have to get ready for work...

Thanks again - I will show you some other shots a bit later... If you look in the themed section under birds - I posted one of a kookaburra - it is my favourite shot of mine so far...

Thanks again.
Alecia

luckydog · Feb 5, 2004

Yay another Aussie in the group

What is left to say? Vonnagy has given a great run down on your shots and actually given a visual presentation!! Well done Vonn.
Just remember that everyone will give you tips on how to improve your shots, but don't get too stressed trying to apply everything at once. I would say
1. "play with your camera". Get to know what it can and can't do.
2. "Try and picture the end result". Depending on what you are photographing, try to think about what you are trying to show in the shot.
3. "Get dirty". You obviously love your cat, and the best way to take most animal pictures is to get down on their level. Heck i've layed on the street, railway tracks, climbed trees, gotten in the mud (two days ago and took me fifteen minutes to get out).
4. "Take heaps of pictures of the same thing". Move around taking shots from different angles and you will see what works and what doesn't really work (you're using digital so it won't cost you a cent

)
5. "Have fun and enjoy the whole experience". Don't forget to take a step back sometimes and just look; because if you spend too much time looking through the viewfinder you'll be so caught up trying to get THE shot that you will miss the event or moment.

And i'm spent

fadingaway1986 · Feb 5, 2004

To tell you the truth...
I am kinda afraid of getting down on the floor with my cat, because when i do... I get photos like this:

Wow - those photos look excellent now... Thanks for letting me know what you think.

the boat shot:
I wasn't exactly trying to get the boat in this photo, I just thought it looked good, because it bought a bit of life into the photo rather than having a scenic shot... And I wish I could tell them to come back later - or even closer - but I wouldn't have a clue who they were (and I did manage to get closer - but they looked at me funny, so i ran away) heres the one i took portrait... It's not as good quality because I had to record it at 0.3MP so that I could use my digital zoom... I had digital zoom - but thats the only way i could get it closer.

I really like the way you changed the first photo - it does look quite good... With the one i just posted, I sharpened it, added some blue, and added more saturation...

Cat Close-up
I really like this photo... And it looks even better from what you did to it... The cross on the cat is just a stupid joke my dad was having... A teacher at school gave it to me in my last few weeks at the school... I came home one day, and it was around my cat's neck. I just haven't gotten around to taking it off him. We wonder what our neighbours think (because we have only just moved, and my dad put it around his neck not long after we got here)...

How did you get it so that the tree wasn't so washed out?
I'm glad I managed to get this photo - because i caught him in there the day before (these trees have been cut down, and are lying on the floor)... but when i went to get my camera, he ran away...

I am using paint shop pro - because i can't afford anything, and i downloaded adobe photoshop, but it corrupted...

lucky dog
Thanks for your comments - I agree with what you said about the animals, and getting to their levels... One of my great attractions are the tigers at a nearby themepark... I have sat on the ground in front of them taking photos of them... (later to find out the reason he looked like he was posing was because he was actually considering me as a meal).. It would give me great pleasure in saying the following photo was taken by me, unfortunately it wasn't:

I also go to a lot of concerts (or at least try to), and i generally spend most of my time looking through them. Last year I managed to sneak my camera into a silverchair concert... I got caught, and when i got home to look at my photo, i had some very, very bad photos... I tried to get my camera into a train & live concert a couple of months ago - but they had metal detecters... So i took lots of photos of fire hydrants...

Anyhow - thanks for the advice to all of you...

- Alecia

captain-spanky · Feb 5, 2004

fadingaway1986 said:
To tell you the truth...
I am kinda afraid of getting down on the floor with my cat, because when i do... I get photos like this:

- Alecia

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaaahahaha :lol:

i just spat my crisps all over my monitor.
that shot is cool. 8)

captain-spanky · Feb 5, 2004

love this shot too...

bogleric · Feb 5, 2004

fadingaway1986 said:
To tell you the truth...
I am kinda afraid of getting down on the floor with my cat, because when i do... I get photos like this:

Wow - those photos look excellent now... Thanks for letting me know what you think.

the boat shot:
I wasn't exactly trying to get the boat in this photo, I just thought it looked good, because it bought a bit of life into the photo rather than having a scenic shot... And I wish I could tell them to come back later - or even closer - but I wouldn't have a clue who they were (and I did manage to get closer - but they looked at me funny, so i ran away) heres the one i took portrait... It's not as good quality because I had to record it at 0.3MP so that I could use my digital zoom... I had digital zoom - but thats the only way i could get it closer.

I really like the way you changed the first photo - it does look quite good... With the one i just posted, I sharpened it, added some blue, and added more saturation...

Cat Close-up
I really like this photo... And it looks even better from what you did to it... The cross on the cat is just a stupid joke my dad was having... A teacher at school gave it to me in my last few weeks at the school... I came home one day, and it was around my cat's neck. I just haven't gotten around to taking it off him. We wonder what our neighbours think (because we have only just moved, and my dad put it around his neck not long after we got here)...

How did you get it so that the tree wasn't so washed out?
I'm glad I managed to get this photo - because i caught him in there the day before (these trees have been cut down, and are lying on the floor)... but when i went to get my camera, he ran away...

I am using paint shop pro - because i can't afford anything, and i downloaded adobe photoshop, but it corrupted...

lucky dog
Thanks for your comments - I agree with what you said about the animals, and getting to their levels... One of my great attractions are the tigers at a nearby themepark... I have sat on the ground in front of them taking photos of them... (later to find out the reason he looked like he was posing was because he was actually considering me as a meal).. It would give me great pleasure in saying the following photo was taken by me, unfortunately it wasn't:

I also go to a lot of concerts (or at least try to), and i generally spend most of my time looking through them. Last year I managed to sneak my camera into a silverchair concert... I got caught, and when i got home to look at my photo, i had some very, very bad photos... I tried to get my camera into a train & live concert a couple of months ago - but they had metal detecters... So i took lots of photos of fire hydrants...

Anyhow - thanks for the advice to all of you...

- Alecia

This is quite unique and entertaining too.

I must also agree that the enhancements have really helped the photos alot, I like them twice as much as before.

Keep it up and you will only get better!

Big Mike · Feb 5, 2004

Welcome to the site. You are off to a good start. Your pictures look good.

Tips for landscape (and other) photography. Make sure that your horizon is level. Try to put the horizon 1/3 from the top or bottom of the frame but not in the middle. Decide which is more important, the sky (background) or water (foreground). With your boat picture, I'd say that more water and less sky would be better.

Same goes with placing your subject horizontally in the frame. Try to place them 1/3 from either edge.

This in not a hard rule, rules were made to be broken but it's a good start to get you thinking about composition while you are shooting.

A tripod is a photographer's best friend. It should be one of your first accessories.