Some of my last photos taken in 2011 (Non Christmas)

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

Taken at a fire scene on 12-29-2011. Description: 1 story side-by-side duplex that had a fire in one part. These are some of the photos that I took while on the scene / location using different settings on my camera. C&C Welcome. Thank You

1. Photo that I took as I got closer to the fire scene. Rear of Engine 1 and Front of Medic 2 shown.

2. Engine 2 (Front), Engine 1 (Behind)

3. Showing Fire / EMS units and Police Dept. on the location as well as the street sign as a marker

4. Engine 1 (Front), Medic 2 (Behind)

RichardsTPF · Jan 1, 2012

Good story, bad pix. All of them are underexposed.

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

I used different setting to see how they would look. I have a bunch that were even darker than this is you want to see them. I kept getting told on here to use more than Auto so I did. Thank You for your response.

cgipson1 · Jan 1, 2012

photo guy said:
I used different setting to see how they would look. I have a bunch that were even darker than this is you want to see them. I kept getting told on here to use more than Auto so I did. Thank You for your response.

They are all AUTO but the last one.. so what has changed?

Desi · Jan 1, 2012

Hey Photo Guy, been reading your posts. Lots of drama, wish it weren't that way. Looks like you are trying and I certainly do appreciate that. I think your camera is really holding you back, especially for night-time shots. Maybe you should work more on composition and not worry too much about exposure and different camera settings for now. Your camera probably just doesn't have the capabilities to give you full control over your night-time shots. You need to use a tripod for these, but that is probably very difficult to do while working.

I don't want to get involved in any drama, but I did want to wish you a happy new year. I hope 2012 brings you (and me) growth as a photographer. Keep posting.

oh, btw....#2 brings me a sense of tension. Could be framed better and exposed better, but it does give me an emotional response.

The above represents a noob opinion, please interpret with caution.

Desi

blackrose89 · Jan 1, 2012

I think, and I am no expert just my personal opinion, you need to learn what a properly exposed photo looks like. Almost all of your photos I have seen have been very underexposed. I think you should focus on exposure during the day, and the you'll be able to discern better when taking photos. I think you need to learn about general exposure before you attempting strong nightshots. Nothing wrong with practicing at night, just wish I was seeing more day shots.

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

Thank You Desi.

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

Thanks blackrose89. I have a ton of day shots from the last 2 years of all different things that I can post if that would help.

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

cgipson1, I just went through the master photos (prior to the shrink to fit ones) and checked them. Only 2 are were taken while on Auto (#1 and #3). The other two were taken on Manual (#2) or Shutter Priority (#4). Furthermore, I thought you said you gave up and weren't going to follow my posts or even going to post anymore on my threads? To make it easier on me and everyone else on this thread please don't follow or post. Thank You

photo guy · Jan 1, 2012

Almost forgot. Happy New Year to you to Desi.

gsgary · Jan 1, 2012

photo guy said:
I used different setting to see how they would look. I have a bunch that were even darker than this is you want to see them. I kept getting told on here to use more than Auto so I did. Thank You for your response.

Sorry but your camera is not upto the job

bazooka · Jan 1, 2012

photo guy said:
Furthermore, I thought you said you gave up and weren't going to follow my posts or even going to post anymore on my threads? To make it easier on me and everyone else on this thread please don't follow or post. Thank You

You are the source of your own drama. Stop posting things like this and it will go away.

C&C as requested:

#1 There is a LOT going on here... I count 6 vehicles, a few trees, a house, a garage, random things sitting on the lawn.... the composition seems completely random. Other than it's level, there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the shot. What in this shot were you drawn to? Isolate that and leave out the rest.

#2 Strictly compositionally speaking, it's not bad. There are two trucks, and they are "organized" in the photo... it makes sense and is easy to digest. To tighten it up, I would crop out most of the black space around the edges. Of course, the scene itself has a HUGE dynamic range so there is no way your going to properly expose it all. I see that you took this shot in Manual... what did you meter on? I probably would have exposed for the truck bodies and let the lights blow out more.

#3 This is a photo of a stop sign stuck through the roof of a cop car. Let's pretend it's not there. Why include the trailer house? I don't see any link to the photo. I know what you're going to say already.... "that was where the fire was, it is integral to the photo". But it's not because there isn't any fire coming out of it. As far as any viewer is concerned, it's just a random building. You could have shot lower and used it as a backdrop to outline the form of the car or not include it at all.

Photographing a black glossy car at night with nothing but an on-camera flash with no ambient light on it is going to be nigh impossible. Try to position yourself so it has some lights reflecting off the finish. The on-camera flash works well enough to illuminate the white paint.... albeit not gracefully, but better than no flash.

#4 I think this is a nicer comp than #1. It's simple, understandable. However, the same exposure issues are the problem here. ISO 100 isn't going to cut it. Bump that up to 400 or maybe even 800. You'll need to balance between noise level and exposure. It's going to be a compromise as most journalistic type photography is.

The bottom line is that we need to see at least the outlines of these vehicles, and some detail in the tires/wheels... otherwise they could be floating through outerspace.

So my talking points for next time would be....

1. Expose for the subject.
2. Avoid wide "scene" shots for now. Focus on tight simple compositions.
3. Watch out for too much black space.

I look foward to seeing your progress.

thereyougo! · Jan 1, 2012

Hi PhotoGuy, I hope you had a good NYE.

You are always going to struggle to get night shots with such a small sensor. I really would suggest you get a DSLR even if it is a fairly old model like a Canon 30D or a 400D which you should be able to get for a fairly cheap price. Even with a kit lens you would get better shots than these.

You say you used manual settings for the majority, but what made you choose the settings you did? 2, would have been so much better had you picked a slower speed or upped your ISO a bit more - although this would have led to a noisier shot at least it may have been properly exposed. I've suggested it before, but try out composition in the daylight. night time shots can be a struggle even with a great camera. Even with my medium format 645D a night shoot takes me a lot of time, in preparation and also in trial and error to get the ideal exposure time when using bulb setting.

Do have a look around for a good second hand DSLR. The number of megapixels isn't important so a 30D or 300/350D will do just fine, you just need something with more control and a larger sensor to give you more dynamic range. Dynamic range is very important for the kind of shots you normally do as some of those shot had they been correctly exposed certain parts would have been very over exposed. Do have a think about it, and also please try and give respect to people taking time out of their day to give you advice by trying out what they suggest.

thereyougo! · Jan 1, 2012

photo guy said:
cgipson1, I just went through the master photos (prior to the shrink to fit ones) and checked them. Only 2 are were taken while on Auto (#1 and #3). The other two were taken on Manual (#2) or Shutter Priority (#4). Furthermore, I thought you said you gave up and weren't going to follow my posts or even going to post anymore on my threads? To make it easier on me and everyone else on this thread please don't follow or post. Thank You

Sorry PG, but you are your own worst enemy sometimes. To learn you have to be hard on yourself. You won't learn a single thing with the attitude you're showing. Nobody who knows a thing about photography is going to say that these images are wonderful, which is what you want to hear. To get respect, you have to give respect. I find it disrespectful when people give you advice and you repeatedly ignore it and then say everyone is picking on you. No-one is picking on you. One or two are being firm, but with your attitude you are creating a rod for your own back. You're creating a drama and that just gets spectators and people want to see what you say next and try and provoke you.

You're 31. Old enough to vote, old enough to fight and die for your country. That means you are old enough to take responsibility for your own behaviour and destiny.

Honestly, now, how much do you REALLY want to learn? If you REALLY want to learn, then you'll grow a pair and take criticism on the chin. Post less and read and practise more. You don't get more credibility by how many posts you have but by the quality of what you input. Until you take yourself less seriously and take other people's advice more seriously, you won't make any progress either with your photography or with your relationship with people on this site.

I'm an idealist. I want to see the good in everyone and I'd like to think that no-one is beyond redemption. Please don't continue to prove me wrong.

jterry85 · Jan 1, 2012

I have been sitting back and watching the threads from photo guy unfold and have gone back and read through his old ones and it is clear to me that he is just becoming an attention whore. The constant posts with little to no improvement show that he either thinks he knows photography already or he just doesn't care enough about photography to improve but either way he's just demanding positive attention and settling for negative when he doesn't get it. I have to deal with this all the time when I get new 18 year old Army Privates in my platoon. C&C his photos but stop feeding his need and eventually he'll take it seriously or go away. Drama queens feed on drama and we've just been helping it along.