Just getting started

Phatboy

TPF Noob!
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Jan 16, 2007
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The Windy City Area
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
Well this is my first post here,(Edit :Ive already notified staff that I think this is the wrong area for this thread so please no bashing.) I am as stated just getting started in this wonderfull hobby. I have 8 pics for you to see today, 3 of which are situational(correct terminology?) photos that I had very little control over. The others are all still shots.

I dont have one genre to speak of that I prefer to take photos of. I am more of a see something nice, snap a pic type person. I am looking for hits or tips if you so choose to say so. I would like some feedback on what you think. Here is a breif description of the pics. All photos are digi, and have been edited in PS CS2.

All these have been resized to close to 1024x768 but they still look huge on here. Sorry if I break any rules, I will abide by any that are brought to my attention.

Phatboy

1. My pooch trotting in the snow. I like the contrast
2. A cemetary entrance I dubbed ''The Gate"
3. Skyline a few weeks ago just after a large snowfall.
4. Just a candle. Playing with macro.
5. A plant pod of some type I call "Grabbie". Again macro.
6. Pink and White flower...macro
7. Baby rose flower, lots of contrast, and some softening. Wanted that emotional look.
8. My first attemp at fluid capture. I got the focusing backward, I wanted the foreground to be in focus. Oops


1.
chevysnowresizedca3.jpg


2.
gateagedot8.jpg


3.
skylineresizedee9.jpg


4.
candleresizedko0.jpg


5.
grabbieresizedst4.jpg


6.
pinkflowerresizedfd3.jpg


7.
roseresizedvs6.jpg


8.
waterresizedxq0.jpg
 
Hiya Phatboy.
Welcome to ThePhotoForum :D.
Good to see you here.

I found you in Photo Critique, which is where most of our newcomers post first, since Photo Critique is part of "Foundations of Photography", but you have already found out that it is a very specific forum ... so I decided to move your first post over to our General Gallery. I think this is the better "home" for the 8 photos with which you come to introduce yourself.

And I can tell that you are apparently enjoying your new-found hobby and the camera very much! You are not afraid of anything and take photos of about everything. Nicely uninhibited approach! :D

A word on why I edited your post and another on the best presentable photo size for our forum: I put spaces between the photos since they seemed to run one into the other, so next time you post, make sure to put at least two spaces between each link that you put up. And when you post ... say ... more than 4 pictures, please number them. Makes commenting on them a lot easier, so we have found out through experience.

And a maximum width of 800px has proved to work fine on just about everyone's monitor. 1024px is a bit wide and some may have to scroll quite a bit to see all.

Your dog looks cute and sure is enjoying the snow.
Hard to take photos of all black pets, isn't it ... and with all white snow as the background the dynamic range becomes so wide that I am surprised we still see so much detail in your dog's face and fur!

I like the cemetery gates best, I think, but am wondering forever where those vertical lines come from!?!?!? Since you say you use a digital camera, it cannot have been caused by scratches on the negatives ... :scratch: Your post procession works!

That sky was magnificent.
The candle is a nice experiment but does not do too much for me.
That flower close-up of "Grabbie" :)biggrin: ) is nice, just a bit centred ... and it would have been ok to use some fill flash here, I guess, to make the snow grabbed by "Grabbie" glitter more and to bring it out of the shadows. See: the background is all sunlit but your subject itself is in the shadow.

The close-ups taken indoors had too little light.

And I don't understand the last...
 
Sunset and the water look great! :mrgreen:
 
Thank you for the responsed guys, and I will definitly take more care in composing my posts. In reponse to some of your critique LaFoto:

1. The pic of my pooch was just a omg hes playing in the snow, the wind blew just right, and even in zoom it came out clear, settings on auto, luck shot. But your right, I enjoy the detail of it.

2. I have had tons of experience with photoshop, and I was trying to get that aged look without destroying the crispness of the photo. Old films had those vertical lines because as you stated the film got scratched over time. Thank you, I like this one more than most.

3. You could literally see the sky changing, had to run inside grab the cam, run outside, up a ladder, on the roof, in the snow, in board shorts and no shirt, and try to get a good shot off before the sun set...I think I got it.

The candle doesnt do much for me either. Just trying different settings.

On the grabbie, I dont know what fill flash is or if my camera is capable of this. I do think that there should be more light on the subject than the background in this photo.

The closeups are proof that I need to practice on still subjects, and concentrate on settings.

The water pic is of a eye washing station at my workplace. It shoots water in a fan pattern up into your eyes from both sides...I just thought it looked cool from the top. I have another pic that can illustrate.

Thank you both for the tips again.

water2resizedvn5.jpg
 
"Fill flash" is just the use of flash in broad daylight (and your camera does have an inbuilt flash, they all have, haven't they?) to fill in some light where under the given circumstances there would only be shadows (like in the case of Grabbie here). If you play with all the menu settings of your camera - with or without manual in tow, I am more the hands-on person, others are more the manual readers - , you might come across one that says something like "Flash exposure compensation" (or abbreviations that mean it)? Or "Flash Output"? (On my Canon Powershot A95 I get to there when in M = manual mode, and when I switch the "Functions"-button ... but then I don't know what camera you use). That should give you possibilities you let your on-camera flash be really bright or less powerful. And then, using it outside in the sun to fill in shadow parts, you can use that flash as "fill flash".

And hey, thanks for explaining to me what Photo 8 is. Now I recognise it a lot better.
But why does there have to be an EYE WASHER at your place of work?
I have NEVER EVER seen an eye washer anywhere before in all my life!
 
Hey I wasnt expecting a response so quickly...I cant believe that I left out what camera I am using...stupid me. Its a Sony DSC-H2, I wanted the H5 but I couldnt afford it at the time.

Yes it has a flash, and yes the flash is adjustable. I find that sometimes it is way too powerfull so I dull it with a ply of tissue and some tape. I haven't had alot of time to dedicate to photography so I havnt played with the settings a whole lot.

As for the eye washer. I am a mechanic. Allthough I am a small engine mechanic right now, my trade is helicopters. We deal with all different types of fuel, oil, hydraulic fluids, glues, cleaners, etc...the list just goes on and on. They supply us with eye wash stations just as a safety precaution in case we get something in our eyes. I notice you are in Germany, its possible that they are not a mandate in your country for saftey concerns. Here in the US alot of places are required to provide them for employees.
 

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