My first camera with manual controls (C&C?)

[lynchnaut]

I bought a Canon S95 a week ago and have been learning a little about photography - more just experimenting with different settings and viewing the results.

I don't know much because all my cameras were point and shoots but I decided I wanted to take better pictures. DSLR was out of my range so I bought another point and shoot! - but with manual controls,

I took many pics yesterday morning before the sun came up and here are a couple results. They were raw so I uploaded to my computer and tried to edit the images then I converted them to jpg.

I had little knowledge what I was doing so maybe someone can tell me what is wrong with these photos in the way of composure(sition), exposure, and the use or misuse of the image editing software. I appreciate your help and knowledge.

I think I should have used a smaller aperture for these two.

Just before sunrise

Sun is rising

I can't post my images unless I have more posts? This is the reason I joined - for feedback and to learn.........not to make random useless comments to get my post count up.

edit: I put them in the member gallery but I imagine it won't get viewed much as it would in this forum.

 

[psyclop]

Just go critic some picture, and youre post count will rise quick.
I am new also and this what I had to do, Critic is always welcome , even from a
new person.
But watch out, some people here bite really hard

 

[lynchnaut]

I wonder why there is a post minimum. Maybe some time ago a troll posted pictures of Goatse.

 

[safeshot]

I would say it is to help control spammers, get one more post and lets see those pics

 

[lynchnaut]

I find it difficult to critique someone's photo when I'm just a beginner myself.

 

[dxqcanada]

Watch out for background shoreline that may appear to be unlevel.
Not bad exposure on the clouds.

The sky in the second does not have much impact. It would have been better to concentrate on the lower portion of the shot.

 

[aaneiros]

Hi. I like your pics, especially the second one. The only thing I see is there are some underexposed areas which would have needed more light.

Cheers.

 

[lynchnaut]

I don't know how to get more light in the foreground without overexposing the sunrise. I took a series of the same shot ranging from ISO-80 @ 15" to ISO-1600 @ 0.6" most at F2.0.

 

[itf]

It seems that there is a lot of noise in the 2nd image. Maybe try a lower ISO and use a tripod with a longer shutter speed to brighten up the image.

 

[Opher]

I like them aside from the crooked horizon on the first.
I noticed an ISO of 800 on the second, where they hand held? If not i would probably drop it down a bit just to reduce noise

 

[lynchnaut]

ISO-80 @ 15" is as low and as slow as this camera goes but I have recently discovered CHDK!

I'll have to keep the horizon in mind next time. I didn't think of that...thanks.

I shot the whole range of ISO (well, up to 1600) but in the editing software I just picked by thumbnail what picture to edit, because i'm not familiar with the software and don't know where to find what settings I used for each photo. It seems that I picked the wrong one!

I used a tripod

 

[FransD]

I like the light, but the blue stripe is a bit distracting. The horizon seems lower on the left (easy fix?) The clouds are also nice, i like the contrast between them and the smooth water.

 

[lynchnaut]

Do you mean the plane? Otherwise, it's a break in the clouds.

The two trees in the water seem to be standing more upright in the second photo.

 

[lynchnaut]

How about this one? - which was taken a few minutes later. It's just the JPG of raw+jpg.

 

[HVVega]

Well looks like you have taken the first real step from snapping to becoming a photographer. With a point and click you get exactly what the camera wants to give you. But, with the manual controls a lot of creative options start opening up for you. Now you control depth of field and a load of other interesting things.The trick is to now learn how to use those great toys. Have fun and do not give up. Its all about experience and hard work until you get to the point the camera is just a tool to get what you see in your head on paper.