Beginner needs help...

[snowbear]

One more question: are you using ant kind of filter on the lens?

 

[Lisa Chapman]

I feel sorry that I took the time to reply to this post...

You apparently ignored what was said by two of us,and are missing the point,entirely, and blowing off our carefully considered responses to you with an uninformed misconception about how one best shoots a sunset or sky photo.

You _need_ to process these types of photos. You can _NOT_ get what you want in-camera, or from a straight, un-modifed RAW-to-JPEG conversion, unless you use graduated ND filters, super-precise metering, exact exposure placement for the scene's DR and the camera's tone curve, and have some luck,etc.,etc..

You wrote that your images "don't seem to come out well and I have no idea why "; I just told you why,above. Digital images of sky-and-landscape scenes need to be post-processed, from RAW, with a few,specific adjustments.

I stated immediately I am a COMPLETE beginner to all of this. So yes, I have missed the point but no, I haven't ignored anything and you don't need to be so rude. My ignorance isn't deliberate. Jeez.

 

[Lisa Chapman]

You have a subject that has very bright and dark areas. That is exactly how I would expect your camera to capture.

When you set your camera to an automatic exposure mode, it will try to balance the two ... so it picked something between which is probably not how your brain saw the scene.
You have to work on setting your brain into camera mode ... how does the camera light meter pick what exposure to tell you, and also how the camera sensor renders it.

THAT^^^^ is what I think as well. I think there could be some Lightroom adjustments that might strengthen the final image's appeal...maybe a bit of highlight recovery, maybe a bit of shadow lightening, a bit of black point adjustment, the brightness adjusted "just so", and the overall contrast adjusted perfectly, you know, those types of things.

Oh sure I could go into Lightroom and improve it that way but, I also want to take a Good picture and make it Great in post. Not take an Okay picture and make it Good LOL.

Not every shutter actuation is going to result in something that can be made GREAT, no matter what you are capable of in post. Yes, the image you posted originally can be improved on, but only in a technical sense. An engaging subject, proper composition, an eye for the final image are what's needed to make something 'great'.

Makes sense, I will work on those other areas for sure. Thanks!

 

[Lisa Chapman]

Okay, a couple of points:
1. Almost any RAW file that is converted to jpeg will need to be sharpened. So converting from RAW to Jpeg with no other processing will usually leave you with a shot where you go "huh? Not very sharp or focused!"
2. The points that others have made about "what is your focal point?" is critical here. For instance, I think you've got potentially a very nice compositional element--a frame. You've got the clouds on top and the buildings on both sides. If you crop the top, you'd draw the viewer to what is framed by the building and clouds (think of those elements as a window frame). But with any photo (especially a landscape) you're deciding what it is the viewer will see. And you dictate with a series of choices. Right now (b/c of all the dark areas and then the bright sky), what most viewers will unconsciously do is focus on the sky to the left or right of the water tower. So chosing a focal point or subject for any photo matters. Otherwise, people won't see what you saw and will talk about stuff that to you was irrelevant or unimportant to the photo.
3. A lot of people, when they shoot landscapes just go "oh hey, that's a lovely scene-let me take a snapshot of it!" Ansel Adams, maybe the greatest landscape photographer ever once said (and this is a rough paraphrase) that you create a picture. So a photographer isn't taking a "capture", especially of a landscape. You're looking at the elements and deciding "what do I want to emphasize.
4. Based on what you said earlier, you've chose a scene that is going to be tough to meet your criteria. It has high dynamic range (dark areas and bright areas) so that means some areas will be blown out by the light and some shadow areas will be pitch black. That's the nature of the scene (unless you shoot multiple exposures and then do some HDR or layers to add detail to shadows and highlights). You have also have distance (which means that an f-stop of f8 won't put everything in-focus (which I gather you were attempting to do).

Thank you for going into more detail for me.
I am very new to RAW, I was advised to start using now while I'm new to get used to it but, I still don't know all that much about it and how it compares to JPEG. Good to know that some editing will need to be done on all of my RAW files. Which is pretty standard, I'm not expecting my shots to be perfect straight off the bat of course, but I'm just so disappointed in my images lately. I will make a note of all of these points.

 

[Lisa Chapman]

Oh sure I could go into Lightroom and improve it that way but, I also want to take a Good picture and make it Great in post. Not take an Okay picture and make it Good LOL.

Then you don't understand what RAW is. RAW is the basic data that lets you expose your image to you liking. The same thing has been done since the time of film. If you had your own dark room, you processed the image how you want it.

In camera jpeg is taking the RAW data and exposes the image the way it thinks it should be exposed. This is what happened when you dropped your film off to be developed at the 1hr photo shop.

If you do not want to expose you own images, then RAW is not for you and your images will never be fully developed.

Thank you for clearing that up in a simple way I actually understood when reading over it the first time! LOL

Honestly I really don't, In one of my other replies I mentioned shooting RAW because I was advised to, that's the truth and basically the only knowledge I have of it is that it holds more data than a JPEG? I have noticed I can do more in Lightroom and Photoshop with RAW files than my JPEG.

 

[Lisa Chapman]

Yes, this is spot on I think. I had a vision in my head that I thought was going to show on that LCD screen when I pressed the button and it didn't happen.

You have to watch out that the LCD may not give you exactly what you think you are going to get ... Life is Like a Box of Chocolates ...
Back in the old'n days we spent time looking at our negatives/slides to figure out "why" they did not come out as we saw it ... many rolls of film were sacrificed to achieve greatness, and much time was spent standing in the room of Darkness.

With scenes that have bright sky and dark foreground, they made graduated neutral density filters to darken the sky in order for the exposure to be more balanced before having to post process, it works best when there is a definite line between both ... though I don't use them.

Getting what's in you head onto what your camera captures is something that we spend a lot of time trying to get right ...
“First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule Daniel son, not mine” - Mr. Miyagi
Much work ... one day at a time.

Thank you for the feedback!

I will switch to viewfinder from now on and see how that changes things.

 

[dxqcanada]

Be aware that the optical viewfinder (which I am assuming you have) will not show how the camera will represent the scene. That is what your brain comes into play ... understanding shutter speed, aperture, ISO ... and how your camera works with them.
The LCD is a helper to give you something close to what it will get.

 

[Lisa Chapman]

Be aware that the optical viewfinder (which I am assuming you have) will not show how the camera will represent the scene.
The LCD is a helper to give you something close to what it will get.

Oh okay thank you, do you use them both? Do you choose one or the other? Do you have a preference? Like, do you switch between the Viewfinder and the LCD? With my camera it's a pretty tedious process so I try and choose one or the other but, if using them together will help then I certainly will.

 

[Lisa Chapman]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

 

[stapo49]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

I think the problem is when you are starting out you are bombarded with things like " you must always shoot in manual mode", " you should be that good that you never have to edit your photos after you have taken them". What you need to do is ignore all this and experiment with a bunch of different techniques and find what suits you. Perhaps find a style of photography you admire and a photographer and get ideas from them. If you enjoy it the technical skill will come.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[Trever1t]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

Whomever you are quoting is a royal buffoon.

Can good images be created in camera, sure but every really good photographer I know is highly educated in post process.

I suggest you relax a little, slow down. Photography is really very simple if you understand the principles of light and shadow.

Read “understanding exposure”
Lean about the exposure triangle. It’s so simple ONCE you understand that! Now I wish my camera had an exposure rectangle!

 

[SquarePeg]

Of course it’s ok to edit. They’re your images. Don’t worry about trying to please some other person’s idea of what makes a photographer great. Also, you mentioned a recent drop off in your quality - just wanted to say that when you go from iPhone or dslr on auto to Manual, A mode and are trying to get the camera to creat your vision not just record a scene, there is usually a learning curve where you get “worse” before you see the results of your new knowledge.

 

[Nwcid]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

Processing and editing are 2 very different things.

Processing is fully developing the image. Editing gets more complicated as it what constitutes "editing" varies greatly.

Well apparently whoever made that quote does understand photography. Also often times not only is editing not a problem, but necessary to create the image you want, or the vision you see in the image. Apparently none of these actual famous images were taken by "good" photographers, https://petapixel.com/2013/09/12/marked-photographs-show-iconic-prints-edited-darkroom/

 

[Lisa Chapman]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

I think the problem is when you are starting out you are bombarded with things like " you must always shoot in manual mode", " you should be that good that you never have to edit your photos after you have taken them". What you need to do is ignore all this and experiment with a bunch of different techniques and find what suits you. Perhaps find a style of photography you admire and a photographer and get ideas from them. If you enjoy it the technical skill will come.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Thank you for this. You are totally right. I need to stop and ignore it all. Start again and have fun with it instead of letting it stress me out like it is. I haven't yet found a style that has jumped out at me but, I do seem to like images that most people find over exposed? LOL. However I will try not to over expose my images!

 

[Lisa Chapman]

I was told and I quote "If you take your shot and use an image editor afterwards you're not a photographer, not a good one anyways" So I thought okay, avoid editing at all costs, if I can take a great shot with my camera, I won't need to edit my images and I CAN become a great photographer in time. Ignorance is bliss I guess. Ugh.
Now I know it's okay to edit my images, this could be fun!

Whomever you are quoting is a royal buffoon.

Can good images be created in camera, sure but every really good photographer I know is highly educated in post process.

I suggest you relax a little, slow down. Photography is really very simple if you understand the principles of light and shadow.

Read “understanding exposure”
Lean about the exposure triangle. It’s so simple ONCE you understand that! Now I wish my camera had an exposure rectangle!

I do need to relax, I am getting so upset and frustrated with the whole thing. Back to basics I go. Start again, have some fun. I bought a book from Amazon on Digital Photography. I am going to study it like it's the Bible. Thank you!