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Breaking my cherry...

tsipma

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Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
I have been lurking for a few days, but I think I want to post some shots for some C&C. I have owned a camera for all of about 60 days and make no claim to anything more than a hobbiest, but look forward to helpful criticism.

 
The exposure is lacking a bit and I find the crop really tight. It's important to keep your subjects in frame. So if the subject is a cougar's head/face, make sure to get it all in the frame!

There are some great ways to learn right on here! I've been at this for about a month.
 
I see what you are saying, but my subject in my head was the cat's eyes. How do I express that?
 
The best way to make the eyes the obvious subject of the image is to have them look directly into the lens. Nothing grabs more attention than eyes looking right at you, especially the eyes of a predator.
 
That makes sense. I would assume getting that shot involves more than a little luck. That is unless you have the cajones to tickle the kitty's chin to get her to look at you! ;)
 
A tigher crop around the eyes and better angling, and like said above, getting them to stare right at you.

An example from some of mine..... This was taken after only a few weeks so bear with me if the image isn't great....

PB170421.jpg


PB170408-2.jpg
 
Angling can be difficult with a dangerous animal compared to your pet sitting on your couch, as I have noted previously that with wildlife, I would suspect luck has a lot to do with your shots. I know that you can crop with editing software, but for some reason, I feel inclined to not edit my photos. I can't tell you why, but right now, that is my position. With my shot, that is my limitation with as close as I could get and my equipment.
 
Angling can be difficult with a dangerous animal compared to your pet sitting on your couch, as I have noted previously that with wildlife, I would suspect luck has a lot to do with your shots. I know that you can crop with editing software, but for some reason, I feel inclined to not edit my photos. I can't tell you why, but right now, that is my position. With my shot, that is my limitation with as close as I could get and my equipment.

Yeh I know it's not the same... just showing an example of an eye portrait.

About being reluctant to edit....
I felt this way when I first got started... you get over it :lol:
 
LOL, we will see....:sexywink:

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Also, when photographing eyes (people or animals), you want to do everything you can to get a catchlight in them. That really brings the eyes to life.
 
Redessa, now that you mention that, I know exactly what you are talking about. I will keep that tip in mind.
 
Don't be ashamed of being a hobbiest. I don't believe that title is indicative of skill. There are hobbiests that are excellent, and there are pro's who don't know what they're doing.

I don't dislike the composition. I think it could be stronger, but I think a little post work will make this image much more closely represent what you saw when you were there. Notice how the overall image is very blue. and the whitest whites are kind of gray. The green of the foliage is brighter than the yellow in the eyes. If you want the eyes to pop, you have to do some additional work.

I know you said you don't want to do post at this point, but this is probably a result of a misunderstanding. Cameras are not capable of capturing anything the way our eye captures. So if you want someone to see what you saw, you MUST do post. In fact, if you shot this in jpg, your camera has already bypassed you and done post work for you, behind your back. Does that piss you off? It would piss me off.

Why wouldn't you do everything possible to make your image closely resemble your IMPRESSION of the scene as possible?

Does this look more familiar to you?

IMG_0737.jpg
 
One more thing... the image is fairly soft. I saw that you shot at 300mm. First off, I presume, being a "mere humble hobbiest", you are using a relatively inexpensive 70-300 or 75-300 zoom? If so, avoid shooting at 300mm if you can. These wide range zooms get really soft at there widest and longest FL's.

Check out this link. Here is a 300mm f/2.8 II L @ f/5.6 vs. a 70-300 f/4-f/5.6 @ 300mm and f/5.6. Hover over the chart to see the 70-300. I compare this to a very sharp lens so you can see how drastic the softness of the 70-300 is at the longest end. If you're using the 75-300, I expect that to be even softer.

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens Image Quality

Also, you can compare the same lenses at different apertures and/or focal lengths so you can determine where your lens(es) perform the best and what settings you want to avoid like the plague. This is good info to be familiar with. I'm not trying to say your lens sucks. ALL lenses have limitations. It's your responsibility as a photographer to know those limitations so you can work with them, around them, or even exploit them.
 
I see the difference, and maybe the light! That does make a world of difference in the photo. I was using a Canon EF 75-300 1:4-5.6 III. I am still not clear on what all that means, but I am sure there is a forum around here to help me get through all of that.

As a little background, I bought an EOS 20D from a friend of mine that is a professional portrait photographer and with it came an EFS 15-55, and he had the 75-300 that he never used because it was too slow for his liking. I thought everything would be perfect for me since I didn't want to start dumping $1500 on a lens if I wasn't going to really get into photography. In a year or so, I think if I still enjoy it as much as I do and I start learning more about the equipment, I think I could justify the expenses that come with it.
 
Just work with what you have. It's perfectly fine. At some point you will find it is holding you back. Then you can start shopping for an upgrade. You may find that point to be much sooner than you expect, but that depends on how fast you progress.

Let's take apart all the gobbledegook that identifies your lens.

75-300 1:4-5.6 III IS

75-300 is the range of focal lengths that this lens covers. Focal length is measured in mm. Technically it's the distance from the rear "nodal point" to the plane of the sensor (or film). In practical terms, it determine the field of view of the lens on a given camera. 75mm is zoomed all the way out. 300mm is zoomed all the way in.

1:4-5.6 OR 1:4-1:5.6 OR f/4-f/5.6
This is a range of fractions that are the maximum size of the aperture, or the opening in the lens. The "f" is a variable for the focal length. Let's look at a simpler lens to make this easier to understand.

50mm f/1.4
This is a prime lens, meaning it does not zoom. It has a fixed focal length of 50mm. It has an invariable MAXIMUM aperture of f/1.4. This does not mean that the aperture is always f/1.4. It means that the widest that the aperture can be set at is f/1.4. So what does f/1.4 mean? I mentioned the "f" is a variable (like algebra) for focal length. With this lens, the focal length is 50mm. So, the physical size of the aperture is 50mm/1.4. 50mm divided by 1.4 is ~36mm. This means that the maximum physical size of the opening in the lens that lets light through, is about 36 millimeters across (diameter). You do not need to know this, but it might help things "click".

So why express it as a fraction instead of just saying max diameter of 36mm? Because the aperture is dependent on the focal length of the lens! A 100mm at f/1.4 is ~71mm across. This is why a 100mm f/1.4 lens must be physically wider than a 50mm f/1.4. What about a 600mm f/4? 150mm across. That's why long lenses also must also be large lenses. And why the faster lenses (f/1.4 is faster than f/5.6) must be wider than slower lenses at the same focal length. There are other things inside of a lens housing besides just the aperture, so you can't say EVERY fast lens is larger than it's slower equivalent. Image stabilization takes up a lot of room, creating "fatter" lenses.

So why does your lens have a "range" of maximum apertures like f/4 through f/5.6? Bottom line, to keep the lens affordable and/or small. It's easy to do f/4 @ 75mm because the aperture only has to be ~18mm. But if we try to keep f/4 at 300mm, the aperture would have to be 75mm! That means larger pieces of glass, more expense, more weight. So the aperture is restricted to ~56mm (300mm/5.6) across which is significantly less.

So, as you zoom from 75mm to 300mm, the maximum aperture changes from f/4 to f/5.6 incrementally. On more expensive zoom lenses, the aperture changes linearly as you zoom in so you get a constant f/# like f/4 70-200. The actual maximum size of the aperture still changes as you zoom in, but the f/# stays the same.

So who gives a crap? How does any of this relate to me taking pictures?

The f/# is a constant amount of light. f/4 on a 100mm lets in the same quantity of light as f/4 on a 70-200. Only the physical aperture size changes with focal length in order to compensate. The amount of light stays the same. So, the higher the f/# (f/1.4 is higher than f/4 because it's a fraction, this is where terminology gets confusing), the more light is let in. Which means you can get faster shutter speeds. Which means less motion blur. Also, the wider your aperture, the narrower your depth of field becomes. This can be desireable, or not, depending on how you want the photo to look.

Finally, IS means image stabiliziation, but you probably already knew that.

And sorry for the book. I hope that is accurate and understandable. If I made any errors, someone please correct me.
 

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