First photos - what went wrong

[waday]

Not the hardest thing I've ever shot.

Did you try to shoot a butterfly?

 

[nerwin]

Not the hardest thing I've ever shot.

Did you try to shoot a butterfly?

Dragonflies too, but I got lucky once!!

 

[soufiej]

You've received good explanations but, IMO, not so much when it comes to instructing you how to take a better photograph.

On the other hand, all you asked for was an explanation, not a lesson.

Sort of like learning how to play, let's say, tennis.

First shot ever hits the net.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Throw the ball higher."

"Put your left foot more forward."

"Get on the ball of your foot more."

"Shift your weight earlier."

"Don't take your eye off the target."

etc.

Second shot goes out of bounds to the right.

And then comes the inevitable, "Buy a better racket."

"Buy better shoes."

"Buy better tennis shorts."




Obviously, I have no idea how skilled you became with your earlier photographic experiences. However, let's now say you had played the piano when you were young and you've decided to play again at age 68, after a lay off of some forty years.

Yes, the keys are all in the same place and you can name the chords in a Major chord progression but you probably cannot play even as well as when you stopped playing all those years ago.

You are out of practice and, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Maybe you learned the piano by only learning where the keys are located for each song and never really learned how to read music or understand the construction of music. Maybe that's your current approach to re-learning photography.

If so, have at it.



Otherwise, don't be concerned about your first song or your first few photographs. Rather than asking why your first shots weren't perfect, simply dedicate yourself to a re-learning process that will educate your memories and provide a few insights into the particular, and sometimes peculiar, aspects of digital photography.

More than likely, your technique for shutter release could use some brushing up on. Your ability to hand hold a camera for longer exposure is probably not as good as it once was.

Maybe your grasp of the exposure triangle doesn't inform your memory of how the three legs work together.

Your new camera has many more features and functions than your last camera and, if you do not comprehend their operation along with how to quickly and accurately set them (or defeat them in some cases) into the camera's operation, then you are not going to succeed at your new hobby. Look at where your focus points were vs where your subject was.


And, certainly, digital ISO is no where near as simple and as confining as it was when film was the only available medium.



As if you were learning to play piano once again, pull out the most basic lesson plan and start afresh. Realize your first attempts will not be the best by any standard.

Look through the archives of the forum for suggestions on how to acquire the skills and knowledge required of a decent photographer. If you knew the basics at one time, they aren't that different now.

What's changed is you.

But asking for advice on one or two shots is only going to help if you could go back and redo those shots. And you can't do that.

Each shot will be unique and that's where your learning process should take you. You can make the same mistake numerous times, but each shot is not the same as the last or the next.

Gaining an explanation of what went wrong then is not as useful as knowing - on your own - how to make the shot better the next time.

Patience is a virtue. How's your patience?

 

[table1349]

Not the hardest thing I've ever shot.

Did you try to shoot a butterfly?

Me thinks I have seen that photo before.

 

[table1349]

Frankly if the issue is sharpness you have probably gotten as close as you are going to get with that lens. It is a consumer grade lens and not one of Canon's better consumer grade lenses especially at 300mm. F5.6 to F11 is generally the best aperture range for sharpness with that particular lens as is shooting closer to the 70mm length. There are times when equipment can be part of the issue. If you know someone with a 70-200 see if you can borrow it for an hour our two and see if that helps the sharpness issue.

 

[Didereaux]

Most of the problems have been addressed by earlier comments, so I will get to less specifics. 1. Before I spent another dime on anything to do with photography I would save my money and buy a Canon 55-250mm USM lens. I shoot a lot of birds, and early on that lens on a T2i(not as good as your T3) produced some very good photos ( go to the earliest date of my albums link in signature). Best non L lens Canon makes for wildlife and such. Your 75-300 is arguably one of the worst lens produced and sold in that range.
2. As for shooting birds and wildlife I suggest you find a flock of pigeons, sparrows, starlings, gulls whatever is handy and always around and practice shooting them. This si particularly valuable in learning how to shoot flying birds. Along those same lines dogs, cats, squirrels in the park are animals too. It;s the locale and conditions that dictate the how you take the shot. You do not 'set up' a wildlife shot...you try to catch the dam thing!

 

[beagle100]

I agree with some of the other posters, do yourself a favor and spend $50 on a 55-250IS or $100 on the newer 55-250 STM - makes a difference !

8 years ago with a digital Rebel XSi and 55-250IS

 

[dannylightning]

bird photos, ill give you my quick run down..

shutter speed 1/500 or faster for birds on the ground or in trees,

with a 300mm lens 1/500 should work just fine with out image stabilization . 1/500 should be enough to stop motion of birds on the ground and eliminate motion blur when hand holding the camera with a 300mm lens.. a little faster would be even better, generally i stay at 1/1000 or faster on the shutter speed for birds on the ground or setting in trees

flying birds or fast moving animals you want 1/1000 minimum shutter speed. 1/2000 would be even better.

your iso, well the higher it is the more noise you have in the images, find out what the highest iso you can use is and try not to go above that. how much iso is too much.. well that depends on how much noise you are ok with.. test out different iso settings and figure out where it starts to get too noisy for your liking and try not to go above that..

aperture. generally you want to stay at or below f/8 for this kind of shooting IMO my lens is usually set to f/6.2 and that is as wide as my big lens goes on the aperture, it gives me sharp images at 6.2 and i can get some nice blurred backgrounds too. at f/16 and f/18 you are really limiting how much light gets in the camera and you will have less background blur or bokah is what we call it.

generally i set my shutter speed between 1/1000 and 1/2000 depending on if the day has good or bad light..
i set my aperture to f/6.2 since that works with my lens, not sure where you lens will be the best but you want to figure that out.. but i would generally try to stay at a lower number than f/8

so i have the shutter speed and aperture i want for my bird photos, to change the exposure the iso is adjusted.