First Photos C&C/Advice?

[07nelsonm]

I picked up a Canon 10d from a friend and decided to go out for the first time and see how things work. A bit of trial I guess. If it isn't any trouble I would like any advice from any one. I'm currently reading up on exposure, still trying to get a clean grasp of depth of field and pretty much the basics.

These were taken walking around Chicago and a somewhat cloudy day.

1. All my skies are over exposed, I'm currently searching for a solution, people have said to get a filter, but I'm sure there are ways with out it.

2. Same deal with the sky, and I tried my best to get all the trees in my focus area.

3. I just like this picture :blushing: That's my sister and her fiance.

4.

Thank you in advanced, I'll keep reading, hopefully I can find my answers here on this forum.

Thanks again!
Mike

 

[kows]

Wow, thayre all really great, number 4 is my fav.

I would say 3. is your weakest photo, it would be better if the couple were by themselves on the path, or perhaps if you could see their faces.

 

[KmH]

It looks like the sky had a solid oveercast which makes for relatively flat lighting.

The easiest way to get both your subject matter at or near the same density is to make 2 exposures one that is correct for the sky (based on spot metering) and the second a correct exposure for eveything else and then merge the 2 using image editing software.

In all your photos the fore/middle ground is underexposed to one extent or another.

I agree that photos of the back sides of peoples head's is less than optimum.

Great subject in #4. Like the others, a digital camera's metering system has difficulty when there are both bright and not very bright parts in a scene.

Unfortuantely, until very recently Canon did not offer any cameras that had color-aware metering, which Nikon has had for some years now.

 

[robertwsimpson]

Study up on proper HDR... Just don't abuse it.


Also, when photographing buildings, beware the evil keystone distortion!

 

[robertwsimpson]

keystone basics

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Also, when photographing buildings, beware the evil keystone distortion!

What's that?

Google it.

 

[KmH]

4.

Thank you in advanced, I'll keep reading, hopefully I can find my answers here on this forum.

Thanks again!
Mike

A couple of plays:

And a quicky more conceptual approach:

 

[07nelsonm]

Thank you all for your comments! I'll play with that keystone effect hopefully tonight, I always wondered how they got straight shots like that from those tall buildings.

And I'm reading up in HDR as I type this, a lot is starting to make sense now too. I'm off work tomorrow so maybe I'll test some of these new ideas out.

Thanks again, I appreciate the help .
Mike

EDIT: Quick question, I'm using a kit lens right now, but I'm headed back to Michigan which has some great Metro Parks. I want to try my hand at shooting birds/nature photography. Would any lens in the 300-400mm focal length work well for shooting small animals from a distance, and for these lenses would a tripod be necessary.

 

[KmH]

Mike

EDIT: Quick question, I'm using a kit lens right now, but I'm headed back to Michigan which has some great Metro Parks. I want to try my hand at shooting birds/nature photography. Would any lens in the 300-400mm focal length work well for shooting small animals from a distance, and for these lenses would a tripod be necessary.

Shooting small animals from a distance and having any subject scale requires more than 300 mm. Serious nature photographers tend to like 600 mm prime lenses, but the good ones cost around $10,000.

Sigma makes a couple of decent APO zoom lenses that have image stabilization. A 150-500 mm ($1000) and a 50-500 mm ($1400) that work for daytime shots.

A tripod with a gimbal head is the best way to stabilize a long focal length (and heavy) lens.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

My two cents... If you want it... I adjusted the White Balance a little, changed it to B/W, and cropped it a bit...

PS - this was my least favorite of the ones you posted. I just thought it would look better as a black and white.

 

[Derrel]

Look at what was lurking in your 4th shot, as seen in Post #10 of this thread !!!! The "solution" to the ugly,bald gray skies is called June-July-August.

 

[robertwsimpson]

I have a 55-250mm lens with IS that makes images like this:


not the best lens int he world, but for the price, a great one to learn on!