Introductionalization? (Nah, introduction...)

[A-Spot]

Hiya.

New here, so I thought I'd post some of my recent shots. First of all, bear over with my language - English isn't my mother language. Well, I like macros and I damn right love nature shots, but unfortunately I'm stuck with a lousy compact digital camera - Sony Cybershot DSC-W40, or 'Da S***tiest Camera in the World. Only thing it does right is macros, which it hardly manages, even though the objective is very small and the lenses are poor, so the pics' edges are all blurry and stuff, especially in macros.

Anyway, I'm not here to tell you that. I'm here to introduce myself via some shots.

My beloved iPhone. Nice macro subject.

... and my beloved army sneakers. They're pretty old, but they make for some great shots from time to time.

Aarhus GF's goalie, Rasmussen, after we just defeated our arch-enemy, Brøndby IF. :lmao:

A day at the sea... actually, this mast was not on a boat at all - it was mounted at a sailing clubhouse.

Though, this mast was on a boat. A nice one indeed.

I dunno why, I just loved the look of the water on this photo. Do you?

My favourite shot ever. I love the sky, the colours, the subject, the foreground, and the softness of the shot. Whatcha' think?


Please, I'm new here and as you've probably already guessed and seen, I could do with some advice. What do you think of the shots, and what could be better?

Last, may I remind you that all these were shot with that lousy Cybershot W40 compact-bloody digital camera, which has a huge impact at the quality of the shots.


Cheers,

A-Spot / Thomas

 

[Nolan]

I think they are very good considering what you are working with! My only suggestion is in regards to the iphone shot. There seems to be dust or something on the phone, its kind of distracting. But it is easy to fix, just wipe it off.

 

[mikemicki]

They're all pretty nice shots. I like the sneaker shot the best.

 

[Nolan]

This might be a dumb question(yes, i am an amateur), but what kind of background/backdrop did you use for the sneaker and iphone photos? I would really like to know!

 

[MattxMosh]

#2 - This is my favorite of the bunch. Though the flash/lighting is quite visible in the buttons. I'd like to help on that, but I know squat about flash.

Oh, and maybe a lint roller too, ha!

#4 - Way too much sky.

The last one, your favorite, no offense, I'm not a fan of. Its too soft for me, and the sky is a bit blown.


I'm not familiar with your particular camera,but if there are any manual settings, try them out, experiment, read up, you'll be amazed at how helpful everyone here is. And more amazed at how fast you'll learn.

 

[Anubis]

This might be a dumb question(yes, i am an amateur), but what kind of background/backdrop did you use for the sneaker and iphone photos? I would really like to know!

Nolan, check this link out Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio I built one and the photos I took using it have been accepted onto a few stock photography websites.


Love the sneaker shot A-spot. As someone above said, great photos considering the camera your working with

A.

 

[A-Spot]

First of all, thanks for all the comments. I'm definitely not used to getting that many comments, so thanks again.

Nolan, you're right about the dust. I just didn't think of it at the time being, as I couldn't see it on the bloody tiny screen. Anyway, the macrobox is built out of an old cardboard box, fitted with another piece of white cardboard paper, and last, two holes covering about ½ of the box side areas were cut and fitted with two layers of parchment paper for the side lighting. BUT. I didn't use any kind of artificial lighting, flash or anything. All natural, baby - all natural. That's why the light may be a bit off.

MattxMosh, you're right too. I should probably have used some kind of lightbreaker or dimmer to get rid of the bad light spots. There isn't (is that right?) a lot of manual settings on my camera - it only lets me control ISO, WB, Color, Focus (what part of the picture to focus on), Focus Metering (Spot/Multi), quality, burst shots, contrast and sharpness, so I can't control either aperture, shutter speed, exposure or manual focus.

To show what I'm working with, here's my camera and lightbox: (Both taken with my iPhone, so lousy pic quality)

As I said, built out of things that were to be thrown out anyway.

Sony CyberShot DSC-W40.

 

[mylo]

Hi! welcome to TPF!

The army sneaker macro shot is he winner! Loving your green sneaker with those badges

Cheers!
mylo

 

[A-Spot]

Thanks, mylo! I'll be doing a little shoot with it again soon, and definitely some more when I get my DSLR - when the economy allows me to buy it. Haha..

 

[polymoog]

I also think the sneaker shot is cool, don't worry about the quality because I think you are getting some good results anyway, considering you are using a compact.

 

[A-Spot]

Thanks a lot for it, polymoog I'll probably do a reshoot some time soon .. keep your eyes open.

 

[mustang6tee8]

we all have to start out somewhere dont we? i started with a casio point and shoot, then an olympus ultra zoom, now i have a nikon D60. it just takes time!

good pics though! you should get some more shots of the 3 boats and of soccer matches once you have a SLR

 

[A-Spot]

I probably will too .. the boats are just lying around, it'll be a bit harder with the match. I'll get myself a 55-200 or a 70-300 and shoot some action shots IF I CAN

 

[UUilliam]

i am curious as to what you used to take a photo of your camera, and nice setup, the shots arent too bad compared to how you describe your camera...

 

[A-Spot]

Well thanks As stated in the same post, I used my iPhone's camera to snap my own cam. It's not a good camera, but it works.