My first pictures

Sleepy_Sentry · Nov 2, 2007

I got a Canon Powershot S3 P&S this week with the hopes of learning photography. I played around with the camera for a bit, and took some pictures from outside my dorm window.

What do you think? These are the first pictures I've taken with the camera. What can I do to improve them?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17423713@N03/sets/72157602853252082/

I want to get good sky photos. What are some things I could do to improve the sky photographs?

C.Lloyd · Nov 2, 2007

The firewall here at work is preventing me from seeing your posts, so I'm responding simply to your first sentence. I'm not intimately familiar with the Powershot, but "P&S" and "learning photography" is a bit of an oxymoron. From the looks of it, the Powershot is pretty automatic. You tell it what type of scene you're in and it decides how long to expose, what aperature and film speed. Go on e-bay and get yourself an old manual camera. Maybe I'm biased because I've been shooting an AE-1 for years, but I think that's definitely the way to get started. It gives you a much deeper understanding of what different aperatures and shutter speeds can do.

I guess a digital SLR camera can do the same thing for less per shot, but somehow it seems to cheapen the experience, in my mind. (Not that I'm not going out to get a D80 as soon as I can find the cash to get the camera and accessories!)

Sleepy_Sentry · Nov 2, 2007

C.Lloyd said:
The firewall here at work is preventing me from seeing your posts, so I'm responding simply to your first sentence. I'm not intimately familiar with the Powershot, but "P&S" and "learning photography" is a bit of an oxymoron. From the looks of it, the Powershot is pretty automatic. You tell it what type of scene you're in and it decides how long to expose, what aperature and film speed.

The Powershot S3 is a prosumer SLR-like camera. It can do automatic scene settings, but there is also a manual mode that lets you adjust all the settings. It has many of the features of an SLR, and I've seen it recommended here as well as in other photo forums as a good entry model for photography.

JCleveland · Nov 2, 2007

I think they're not bad at all. definately keep taking pictures, and you'll distinguish your own style.. I like the idea of beginning with an old manual camera to get used to the settings. I also like the idea of a point and shoot so you can focus on composition, subjects, angles.. etc. So i think it just really depends on what you're wanting to get better at first! My first digital camera was a point and shoot, and at first i used only auto\portrait\landscape and so on.. But as I got more comfortable with my actual photographs, I started putting it on the M, Tv, A type settings and doing one thing at a time.. That way I could really see what I was changing, and the different types of effects it creates. Anyway, I like the one of the lights, not so fond of the PP.. anyway, rambling aside, they're not bad, just keep shootin'!

bullshark · Nov 2, 2007

I like them, you def have an eye..

PS.. I added you on Flickr..

Sleepy_Sentry · Nov 3, 2007

Thanks for the feedback. Does anyone else have critique they would like to add?

LaFoto · Nov 3, 2007

A Powershot and "learning about photography" work very well together. Actually, if I were to recommend a camera to a newcomer to the hobby, it would be a Powershot. The fact that it is a compact camera does not mean it only offers you "AUTO"-options. Much to the contrary. You can go from fully AUTO via P-mode to Av, Tv, fully manual, you can even manually adjust the focus. It is all there.

And you put it to use and are asking us now to comment on it.
Well, there are five of your photos on Flickr right now, the first two being the same, with only a bit of Photoshop work applied to the first, and then come black and white ones of which I assume you set the camera to black and white but did NOT convert them into black and white in Photoshop later? Well, THAT is one thing I would recommend, for the camera - unfortunately - automatically produces somewhat bland, milky black and whites which lack in contrasts. You have much more control over the conversion process if you do it in PS later.

Of the five, there is one I like because of its shapes and lines and all, and it is the ... I think the third. Or the fourth? Forgotten...

I recommend you post your photos into the very thread, but make sure you don't copy the v?=0 after the .jpg-extension of the URL, else the photos won't show.