first few decent shots

[l0ser]

allo, I've taken a few shots and these are some of the ones i like.
first things first, I know I'm not good and I think I've had some settings wrong in the differant conditions.
So advice would be brilliant, try not to be offensive like "you're bad, kill yourself"
But just some advice as I'm trying to improve all the time, and i think some of these shots would be a lot better if I had more knowledge on the situations.
1.


2.

3.

4.

5.

go easy :$

 

[Juice]

You're bad. Kill yourself.

1. Cool effect, not digging the dead center though.
2. Dead plants are dead plants.
3. I like this! Underexposed though, needs to be brightened up a bit.
4. Meh. Not really much to look at here, and underexposed.
5. My favorite. That part right in the center is blown out, but I like it overall!

 

[l0ser]

1. Yeh, the dead centre thing really knocked me off. I was taking loads to get a really nice capture, but the problem i found with being int he dark is the long shutter which means it was difficult to capture it at the right time, and this was before i had my tripod so i was just sitting on a chair. I was trying to keep the 3rds rule in mind but that was the only one out of about 50 that captured the sparks nicely. Any tips for capturing things like that in the dark? when to flick it etc, sorry im not more clear

3. yeh, sadly i shot in jpeg though, i like to think im pretty good at photoshop, so Ill have a shot on that with the exposure.

5. i think this was my 3rd or 4th picture I had taken haha, I would have another go at it but unfortunately the lights in the background is a christmas tree which is packed up now.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[ToMaNyToYsJf]

Your camera should have a bulb setting on your shutter speed dial you cam try using that for the spark shot.
I like 3 but as mentioned Justed needs to be lightened up.
5 is nice I'll have to look at it on a bigger screen as my iPhone prob doesnt do it justice lol

 

[Juice]

If you don't get the composition just right with the shot, you can always try playing around with a crop. I end up cropping a lot of on the fly candid shots simply because there isn't enough time to setup and capture the moment just right.

 

[simonydes]

1. i like the effect i wish it was going from corner to corner.
2. i like this one actually i like the composition
3. i think this is my fav one. however it would b more dynamic if it was bit brighter, i think its unexposed.
4. i do like the contrast. maybe if it was brighter the tree branch would pop out more
5. i really like the composition in this one

 

[l0ser]

Your camera should have a bulb setting on your shutter speed dial you cam try using that for the spark shot.
I like 3 but as mentioned Justed needs to be lightened up.
5 is nice I'll have to look at it on a bigger screen as my iPhone prob doesnt do it justice lol

right, you're gonna realise how new i am here haha.
I've heard of bulb mode etc, but I can't find it on my camera, i read online that it turns on after a 30 sec shutter speed, but then that woudl be harder to do than what i did? which was a 3second i think.
But I cant seem to find bulb mode anywhere, instructions are at my dads too so I don't have access to them, any ideas?
thers the shutter dial and a manual exposure
and on manual exposure it says
"tip: use bulb mode to show trailing motion using a long exosure"
But i cant find it on that setting either!
Help would be great, as usual ;D

 

[Juice]

Bulb means the shutter will be open as long as you tell it to be, so that doesn't necessarily mean longer than 30 seconds. It's just after the 30 sec for convenience.

Do you have a remote?

 

[l0ser]

I don't have a remote but i hear there is a good ipod app for people without remotes, i could check that out?

 

[Juice]

That only works if you have a wireless transmitter for your camera, it works on your WiFi network.

 

[l0ser]

ah right, well in that case, I don't have a remote the only thing that appears to be changeable whislt on shutter
is just the shutter speed, 30seconds to 1/4000th
manual exposure doesnt appear to be any differant to the shutter interface...

 

[Juice]

What camera?

 

[l0ser]

it's a sony a390!

 

[godotgraphy]

love five

 

[l0ser]

Thanks, I also like 5, 1 is my favorite though, gonna have a go cropping it, see if i can get a better outcome.