CC: First Photos Taken with the 5D-Mark II

smriddler

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Hello everyone. I am 21 years old and brand new to this beautiful hobby. Some of you might recall giving me advice in a post about purchasing this camera a couple of months ago, well, I finally bought my first lens, and went out and took some pictures this weekend. Let me start off by first saying that this is a very big deal for me. I've NEVER even held a professional camera, and when I finally saw this professional camera in use by someone at a relative's job, I knew that I wanted to get into photography. So I saved up and went for the gold and purchased this camera as my first professional camera, along with the 50MM 1.4 lens.

I know I definitely need improvement. I'm not posting these to show off, I'm simply posting them to receive criticism and wisdom about what I should do differently, learn from it, and hopefully become as good as some of you on this forum some day. All of the pictures you see here were taken in full-auto mode, just so I could get some practice. I know that I have a natural eye for this, all I really need to get down is the technical and scientific theory behind it. I do not know what the difference is between white balance, exposure, aperture, ISO or saturation, but I am on here to learn. I know that most of you would respond by saying "read some tutorials", or something similar, but just bare with me here, as I am a quick learner. If some of you could explain more in-depth, and "idiot-friendly", I'd be very appreciative, as you're time is invaluable to me. Like I said, I learn very fast, but I sometimes need that extra guidance from more experienced individuals to guide me in the right direction with the correct information. With all that out of the way, let me show you some of the photos I took recently. I'm unable to figure out how to size these down, so I'm going to post the links instead, so you'll have to open up each one individually in a new window:

1:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0094.jpg

2:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0097.jpg

3:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0098-1.jpg

4:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0105.jpg

5:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0114.jpg

6:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0116.jpg

7:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0119.jpg

8:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0120.jpg

9:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0124.jpg

10:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0125.jpg

11:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0126.jpg

12:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0129.jpg

13:
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w451/smriddler/IMG_0132.jpg
 
The first photo was 1.7 MB, and took so long to download that I have no interest in doing that with the rest. It's too much like being back on dialup in the 90's.

It's also 2048 x 1142 pixels. My monitor's resolution is only 1920 x 1080, and I don't have an interest in seeing them full screen even. I view photos in my browser window at about 1100 Pixels wide, at maximum, and find 900 pixels wide to be ideal for my viewing.

That said, I generally resize my photos for online viewing to 900 pixels on the longest side, then "save for web" at a compression of between 70 to 90 or so, to get file sizes of no larger than about 395 kb per photo, and much less whenever it's possible without losing quality. That lets them load fast for the viewers, and gives them a large enough view to assess or just enjoy the photos I've decided to display online.

Something to think about...
 
Thank you. I was trying to figure out how to resize them but I wasn't able to figure out anything quick. The only way I know of is to actually edit the image. I will re-do them.
 
After you resize them put the links inside here: [*img] link [*/img]

without the stars and spaces.
 
Admittedly, I have bad eyes. But, all of these, except maybe #11, give me the impression you are using too slow of a shutter speed and/or too large of an aperture (small f#). I often make these same mistakes...

Tips that may or may not be useful to you...

When hand holding. Use a shutter speed that is the same or slightly higher than your focal length... For example: if shooting with a 50mm focal length, ise a shutter of 1/60th or faster.

Use a slightly smaller aperture (larger f number) to get more in focus. For example; instead of shooting at f/1.4 try f/2.8 or f/4.0 or higher (experiment till you find what works best...). Remember, the higher the f number, the more of the image, in front and behind the focal point, will be in focus.

When shooting in low light, you;ll probably need to up the ISO or use a tripod or both.... I wrote this for myself to refer to... It may be helpful for you as well
 

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