First Question

sillyphaunt

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I posted my intro in the Welcome section (go say Hi to me!! :p ) and I'm gonna jump right in with a question.

I recently got a Fuji Finepix S7000, and am VERY new to aperature and shutter speed. I've done most of my shooting on Auto mode. I know WHAT they are, but I'm still working on figuring out how to adjust them and pick the right combo for shots.

My problem is that even when I use the Auto mode, I usually end up lightening/brightening the photos in Photoshop. Its frustrating becuase I don't feel like i'm really taking good pictures, it seems like cheating to me. :lol:

Is this normal that you have to "tweak" your photos, or do I just need to get better at lighting and I'll be able to not have to do that?

I have read my manual and a "photography for dummies" book, but I'm still having trouble getting the aperature/lighting right. Any tips or hints would be awesome. Thanks! :)

Oh yeah.. last thing.. I noticed many people have a banner in their sig.. what is the size that is acceptable for that? I dont want to bug anyone with a too big sig banner :p

Thank ya Thank ya! :D
 
sillyphaunt said:
Is this normal that you have to "tweak" your photos, or do I just need to get better at lighting and I'll be able to not have to do that?

A little of both. It is normal to tweak or manipulate photos, although with proper lighting and exposure you shouldn't have to tweak them much.
 
I'm not expert, but I find that brightness, contrast, and color usually end up being changed +/- 5%. Sometimes you need a lot, other times there's nothing I could do to make it better.
 
Most digital cameras will do something to the image when they capture & save the file. Whether it's sharpening or adjusting contrast & lighting. You should be able to change the settings to compensate for any effects that you don't feel are right.

Also, the monitor that you are viewing the photos on...may not be calibrated the same as the camera.

Yes, it is quite common to adjust digital photos with some post processing. What most people don't know is that there is often quite a bit of post processing of their photos taken on color negative film and printed at a lab.

In fact, pro level digital cameras are designed with the idea that there will be post processing, while consumer models are tuned with the notion that most people don't know or care that adjustments cam be made. This is why there are so many consumer (lower level) cameras that can send the files right to a printer...with out even looking at them on a computer.
 
Another little thing to keep in mind, is that when working in the darkroom on your own photos, there is quite a bit of "tweaking" that goes on also. so it really shouldnl't feel like cheating
 
Purists don't like tweaking - it should be done straight. But nobody is perfect and sometimes you don't get the result you thought you would so tweaking is fine (actually any manipulation is OK as long as that is what you had in mind to start with. If you have to keep doing major amounts of retouching on every photo then you are doing something wrong when you take the pictures. I once knew someone who used to produce a dozen brilliant pictures a year - but to get them he would shoot of some 2-3,000 rolls of film! That ain't photography - that's just luck ;-) )
 

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