C&C: Brand new to photography.

[Raian-san]

Hello, I'm new on here. I just got my Nikon D5000 with 18-55mm VR lense a couple of days ago. I just found this place today because I wanted a place I could get help and see others photography to get inspired. I went to SF with my girl and took some shots and try to play with the manual setting. I don't know much about it except adjust it on the go and snap a pic and change it until it look good on the LCD. Anything comments
is appreciated like which iso, aperture, shutter speed and etc at these different setting. I've included bright, a little shade, indoor places. I know outdoor I use low ISO, 200. shade/cloudy I use around 400-800 iso and indoor I used 2000 iso I believe. I still don't really know what aperture does but low light I usually have it low and it came out okay on my LCD otherwise it's not bright enough.

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[er111a]

I like 1 the most the rest seem to bland to me

 

[Raian-san]

Thank you for the reply. I agree that the first few were very bland. I just wanted to mess with the setting and hope that people would give feedback on how to make it better. I start messing with some more and went to take some new photos today so I thought I'll update. C&C is welcome, I would like to improve.

#1

#2

 

[Naphtali14]

First Set:

1. Cool picture. It's a tad crooked; you need to adjust that. What sort of post processing did you do if any? It almost has an HDR feel to it.

2. This one is also crooked and extremely boring.

3. Good depth of field. Boring subject matter.

4. Much to dark. I can't tell what she's doing. Check the histogram and you'll see all the black part in the picture (eg. lower left corner and the hair) you do not want these (especially in regards to the hair, you want the camera to pick up at least some data.)

Second Set:

1. This one looks crooked as well. (crooked photos is among the top mistakes beginners make) Also, I don't think the vignette suits this. Did you add that in post processing? It makes the bottom much to dark.

2. It appears as if the stalk on the left hand side is in focus while most of the flower is severely out of focus. Typically in a shot like this one would want the flower to be the main point of interest and therefore in focus. I like the bokeh though.

 

[Raian-san]

Thanks for the reply.

1. The picture itself look kinda like HDR itself, I just add 1 diffuse glow to make it a little more HDR feel.

2. Yeah it's a very boring picture.

4. My first time using it indoor with yellow lighting. I wish I capture the picture better because that's my favorite photo. It has sentimental meaning to me. I will try to PS it because I haven't done any edit for all my first attempt of pictures.

1. Yeah I did it post processing. I will try to make it less darker and see how it look.

Thanks for the advice I will try to make sure my photo balance from now on without being crooked. Greatly appreciated.

 

[cletusjermal]

First Set:

1. Cool picture. It's a tad crooked; you need to adjust that. What sort of post processing did you do if any? It almost has an HDR feel to it.

2. This one is also crooked and extremely boring.

3. Good depth of field. Boring subject matter.

4. Much to dark. I can't tell what she's doing. Check the histogram and you'll see all the black part in the picture (eg. lower left corner and the hair) you do not want these (especially in regards to the hair, you want the camera to pick up at least some data.)

Second Set:

1. This one looks crooked as well. (crooked photos is among the top mistakes beginners make) Also, I don't think the vignette suits this. Did you add that in post processing? It makes the bottom much to dark.

2. It appears as if the stalk on the left hand side is in focus while most of the flower is severely out of focus. Typically in a shot like this one would want the flower to be the main point of interest and therefore in focus. I like the bokeh though.

Im gonna guess that he doesnt know what alot of the terms are if he is just starting. If you do im not trying to insult your inteligence. I just didnt know what any of that stuff was till i read about it.

3. Good depth of field. Boring subject matter.
Depth of field is how much of the picture is in sharp focus. You adjust this with the aperture

Check the histogram
The histogram is a graphical depiction of the picture. The far right side is pure white and the far left side is pure black. The hight of the histogram is how many pixles in the image are of a certain color.


I don't think the vignette suits this
vinetting is the black circle that appears around the picture. It makes the 4 corners darker then the rest of the pic.

Langford's basic photography 8th edition is a very good book in my opinion. I read it when i got my camera. It helped me alot with understanding everything about cameras and basic photography. ie. how the aperture and shutter works. What changing them effects and so on. I would recommend getting some books and reading them to learn the basics.

 

[Raian-san]

First Set:

1. Cool picture. It's a tad crooked; you need to adjust that. What sort of post processing did you do if any? It almost has an HDR feel to it.

2. This one is also crooked and extremely boring.

3. Good depth of field. Boring subject matter.

4. Much to dark. I can't tell what she's doing. Check the histogram and you'll see all the black part in the picture (eg. lower left corner and the hair) you do not want these (especially in regards to the hair, you want the camera to pick up at least some data.)

Second Set:

1. This one looks crooked as well. (crooked photos is among the top mistakes beginners make) Also, I don't think the vignette suits this. Did you add that in post processing? It makes the bottom much to dark.

2. It appears as if the stalk on the left hand side is in focus while most of the flower is severely out of focus. Typically in a shot like this one would want the flower to be the main point of interest and therefore in focus. I like the bokeh though.

Im gonna guess that he doesnt know what alot of the terms are if he is just starting. If you do im not trying to insult your inteligence. I just didnt know what any of that stuff was till i read about it.

3. Good depth of field. Boring subject matter.
Depth of field is how much of the picture is in sharp focus. You adjust this with the aperture

Check the histogram
The histogram is a graphical depiction of the picture. The far right side is pure white and the far left side is pure black. The hight of the histogram is how many pixles in the image are of a certain color.


I don't think the vignette suits this
vinetting is the black circle that appears around the picture. It makes the 4 corners darker then the rest of the pic.

Langford's basic photography 8th edition is a very good book in my opinion. I read it when i got my camera. It helped me alot with understanding everything about cameras and basic photography. ie. how the aperture and shutter works. What changing them effects and so on. I would recommend getting some books and reading them to learn the basics.

^^ Yeah I did not know about those terms, I had some ideas but after reading it I try to google it and search on this forum. I don't mind people giving me those terms because at least I know the word and I could look it up. Because in the end I will have to learn those terms somehow.

I will check that book out by the way, I will need it. I try to register for a basic photography class at my school but it's all full. If only I got this camera a week earlier I would had register on opening day. Dang but I will try my best to learn on my own and with help from others. Practice makes perfect. Thanks for all the kind replies.

 

[Early]

I think I'd like the first one if it was taken at street level.

 

[AdrianC]

I went to SF with my girl and took some shots and try to play with the manual setting. I don't know much about it except adjust it on the go and snap a pic and change it until it look good on the LCD

Your camera will have a light meter which will guide you towards a perfectly exposed picture. You don't have to do this trial and error thing every time. Read your camera's user manual!

 

[KmH]

Have you studies any of the visual arts? Have you studied anything about color theory and composition?

Making images with a camera is something the vast majority of people have to learn how to do.

I can tell you, your learning curve will be a lot steeper if you rely on critique only, and don't investigate what has been proven over and over again to work, and not work, in the visual arts.

Beyond that is understanding how to use light in your images. Basic precepts like - Light advances, dark recedes, were proven hundreds of years ago as essential to pleasing looking images.

Don't reinvent the wheel by making the same mistakes so many 100's of thousands of others have made before you.

Here is a place to start: Advanced Composition -- Part I

 

[KmH]

I don't know much about it except adjust it on the go and snap a pic and change it until it look good on the LCD.

That won't work. The LCD is to small, cannot be calibrated and is to strongly influenced by ambient light.

If you only shoot JPEG, you can use the histogram that can be displayed on the LCD to get youin the ballpark for exposure.

Otherwise the LCD can only be used to check general compostion, framing, rough focus, and if the subject blinked in time with the shutter.

Be sure and read through your camera's users manual several times. You will learn somehting new with each subsequent reading.

Do you know how the viewfinder works?

 

[Raian-san]

Thanks for all the replies. I just went to my homegirl house who's a pretty good photographer for years. I learned a lot from her on what aperture, ISO, shutter speed and how to use the light meter. Before this I never know about the light meter. I will read my manual more thoroughly this time. I know there's a lot more to learn and read upon.

Regarding when I used LCD until I get it right, I went straight to SF with the camera after I picked up the camera in the morning since I had a date with my girl to SF and did not have time to read and learn more about the manual setting. Now that I learned a few things, I can at least know how to adjust without trial and errors. That was annoying trying to do that and a lot of pictures came out bad.

Thanks for all the advice guys, i appreciate it. I got much to learn and hopefully my quick learning ability work with photography so I won't keep making rookies' mistakes. I have 4 and a half weeks until school starts and I will dedicate my time to learning. Once school start it'll be hard to juggle between school, work and photography. And of course hopefully you guys will keep helping me.