New camera, C&C

Brutus · Oct 19, 2008

Yesterday I got a new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ 28. Today, I went out into my yard and took some pictures of some flowers, but I also set up a simple lightbox with some granite and dissapointingly not black posterboard, and these are some of the pictures I took. How do they look? If you want to see them bigger, here's my flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/29682929@N08/

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maulrat · Oct 19, 2008

#1
Too underexposed. The pooch blends in too much with the background.

#2
Again, a little underexposed

#3
Needs to be a little brighter. Probably a little additional saturation would help.

#4
White balance off. White parts look blue. Needs to be brighter.

#5
Needs to be brighter. The rock is conflicting with the flower. Try getting closer to flower and/or applying a shallower depth of field; bokeh that rock and background to really make that flower POP.

#6
Break or move that leaf away from the flower. It is causing a shadow casted upon the flower's pedals. Brighten this shot up some too.

#7
Again, photo seems too dark for my taste. Also, there is some wasted space below the reflection. You might want to crop that out of there.

Only minor adjustments and I think you'll have some pretty nice photos here. Most can be taken care of with decent processing software. One last note. Perhaps you should apply the Rule of Thirds to some of your photos to make them a bit more interesting. I have included a short, easy to understand, video link below. Keep on shooting soldier!

Rule of Thirds video
http://cnettv.cnet.com/9742-1_53-31856.html

Brutus · Oct 19, 2008

I guess I like dark photos? Weird. The underexposure should be easily fixed in post processing, as can the cropping. I do agree on the first one, though. Seems quite dark now that I look at it again.

Photog · Oct 19, 2008

You can bring the colours of the flowers out more by playing with levels/upping exposure. Also, when taking shots of flowers, try to find a nice specimen, preferrably one that's not dying (2/3)!

Brutus · Oct 19, 2008

Those were the only ones that were bloomed. I was just testing it out as far as colors and detail goes, the flowers were not as important at this point.

Brutus · Oct 20, 2008

Alright, how are these? I think the flowers' colors are much better this time around, and yes, these ones are quite fresh. Also, some spiders (the only species I can seem to find around here):

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I think the flash on this one washed it out a bit:

3312easy · Oct 20, 2008

professional technique

maulrat · Oct 20, 2008

Woohoo! I like the "in your face" color. Nice and bright

I liked #2 the best. Eww, creepy crawlies give me the heebies jeebies

Brutus · Oct 21, 2008

maulrat said:
Woohoo! I like the "in your face" color. Nice and bright I liked #2 the best. Eww, creepy crawlies give me the heebies jeebies

Yeah, on #1 I was going to have it contrasting against the blue sky, until I realized I'm surrounded by trees and above me was a completely grey sky...

chrisburke · Oct 21, 2008

nothing against it, and i guess a random question/thought i just had.... why is it that 90% of peoples first pics are either pets or flowers.. or both... just strikes me as odd.. i mean, i never even thought to take a flower pic... as i hate flowers (i'm quite allergic, so they make me sick) even still though.. my first shots i think were at the skate park.. but i've noticed almost every "first pics" thread on here is flowers.. odd...

Brutus · Oct 21, 2008

chrisburke said:
nothing against it, and i guess a random question/thought i just had.... why is it that 90% of peoples first pics are either pets or flowers.. or both... just strikes me as odd.. i mean, i never even thought to take a flower pic... as i hate flowers (i'm quite allergic, so they make me sick) even still though.. my first shots i think were at the skate park.. but i've noticed almost every "first pics" thread on here is flowers.. odd...

It's a good test of a camera's macro function, I think. It will let you mess with settings to get your camera having good colors, as well. Plus, there's not all that much to take pictures of around me house, so I figured I might as well.