Need feedback - pictures at White Sands, NM

[kowalczyk86]

New to photography. I took these with a Rebel T1i. The landscape pictures are terrible (dark blue colored) - I think I may have had to slow down the shutter a bit to bring in more light...? The white sands pictures that came out looking good, only did because the sun was shining brighter.

Any feedback is appreciated - some of the pictures of my daughter came out nice (to my standards I guess)..

Still trying to figure out whether its best to use Tv, Av, completely manual, etc. I read the manual, but seems like I get confused when I am taking pictures - can't quit remember what everything does.

Shawn

 

[tirediron]

The main issue I see with these is exposure. You were dealing with some fairly complex exposure situations and unfortunately, your camera's light meter isn't terribly bright; it gets confused easily, and knowing how to deal with such situations is what separtes the photographer from the snap-shotter.

There is no 'best mode'. The one to use is the one that will get you the result you want. If you're shooting sports action, you'll likely want shutter-priority/Tv to freeze or control movement.

For portraits and landscapes, Aperture Priority/Av is generally preferable as it allows you to control the degree of focus of the background.

The strong blue cast in your imags is a combination of two things: One is the use of auto-white balance not selecting the ideal temperature and second is exposure. Using #3 as an example you have a very bright area in the sky and where the sun is rising. This is 'confusing' your meter resulting in underexposed, blue sand.

My first suggestion would be to read, and then re-read your camera's manual. Once you've done that, head to your local library and pick up some general photography books. Even if they're older, no matter. Exposure theory hasn't changed.

Keep practicing!

 

[kowalczyk86]

Sounds good - thank you for taking the time to give me some feedback - it is much appreciated.

Shawn

 

[MrBarney]

tirediron has covered it all. I just thought I'd have a go at correcting some of that blue cast. I hope you don't mind.

edit: I seem to have introduced a good deal of digital noise. :meh:

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

The main issue I see with these is exposure. You were dealing with some fairly complex exposure situations and unfortunately, your camera's light meter isn't terribly bright; it gets confused easily, and knowing how to deal with such situations is what separtes the photographer from the snap-shotter.

There is no 'best mode'. The one to use is the one that will get you the result you want. If you're shooting sports action, you'll likely want shutter-priority/Tv to freeze or control movement.

For portraits and landscapes, Aperture Priority/Av is generally preferable as it allows you to control the degree of focus of the background.

The strong blue cast in your imags is a combination of two things: One is the use of auto-white balance not selecting the ideal temperature and second is exposure. Using #3 as an example you have a very bright area in the sky and where the sun is rising. This is 'confusing' your meter resulting in underexposed, blue sand.

My first suggestion would be to read, and then re-read your camera's manual. Once you've done that, head to your local library and pick up some general photography books. Even if they're older, no matter. Exposure theory hasn't changed.

Keep practicing!

++1

 

[subscuck]

A little Post Processing can save a lot of pics, unfortunately, not all, tho. Taking sunrise/sunset pics is a tough nut to crack without HDR. There is far more dynamic range then a digi cam can handle. In evaluative metering, the sun looks like a super nova to your meter, and to properly expose for it, everything else will be under exposed. Expose for the fore ground, and the sun will be over exposed to the point of being completely blown.

Here's an edit I did on your daughter(beautiful little girl, btw), to show you how a WB correction in camera RAW and a small curves adjustment can give you the pic you saw thru the view finder. Mr. Barney's may be a little better.

I was in the Air Force from '84-'88 at the now decommissioned K.I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan.

 

[j-digg]

A little Post Processing can save a lot of pics, unfortunately, not all, tho. Taking sunrise/sunset pics is a tough nut to crack without HDR. There is far more dynamic range then a digi cam can handle. In evaluative metering, the sun looks like a super nova to your meter, and to properly expose for it, everything else will be under exposed. Expose for the fore ground, and the sun will be over exposed to the point of being completely blown.

Here's an edit I did on your daughter(beautiful little girl, btw), to show you how a WB correction in camera RAW and a small curves adjustment can give you the pic you saw thru the view finder. Mr. Barney's may be a little better.

I was in the Air Force from '84-'88 at the now decommissioned K.I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan.

I personally like this edit, just may need a touch more contrast to deepen the darks some, mainly in the eyes.


Also you want to watch the horizon line in the viewfinder, and be sure to keep it as close to level as possible ( for those that you dont want tilt to, generally, i.e. landscapes ) its off in a few of them. You can correct it in post but its much easier to do in camera.

 

[reznap]

This is where I'd go with the processing:

The image quality got wrecked in the edit a bit, but I did this only as an example.

Beautiful location, nice shots.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

She is very cute...

I was thinking,,, if your going to put her in the center of the frame... maybe a vertical framing or a 1:1 crop like.... (I also spent 20 seconds in PP to adjust the white balance... not perfect but it shows what a few extra seconds can do...)

 

[kowalczyk86]

That looks great - did you use photoshop? I have CS4, but I am only a novice at that as well....

tirediron has covered it all. I just thought I'd have a go at correcting some of that blue cast. I hope you don't mind.

edit: I seem to have introduced a good deal of digital noise. :meh:

 

[kowalczyk86]

I think my step-dad was stationed there... Do you know any Pfiesters?

A little Post Processing can save a lot of pics, unfortunately, not all, tho. Taking sunrise/sunset pics is a tough nut to crack without HDR. There is far more dynamic range then a digi cam can handle. In evaluative metering, the sun looks like a super nova to your meter, and to properly expose for it, everything else will be under exposed. Expose for the fore ground, and the sun will be over exposed to the point of being completely blown.

Here's an edit I did on your daughter(beautiful little girl, btw), to show you how a WB correction in camera RAW and a small curves adjustment can give you the pic you saw thru the view finder. Mr. Barney's may be a little better.

I was in the Air Force from '84-'88 at the now decommissioned K.I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan.

 

[kowalczyk86]

I know what you mean about the horizon line... A lot of the pics that I took I had to somewhat chase my (2 1/2 year old) daughter through the sand to get a natural picture - she wasn't "posing" in any of the pictures, so that made it a bit more interesting..

A little Post Processing can save a lot of pics, unfortunately, not all, tho. Taking sunrise/sunset pics is a tough nut to crack without HDR. There is far more dynamic range then a digi cam can handle. In evaluative metering, the sun looks like a super nova to your meter, and to properly expose for it, everything else will be under exposed. Expose for the fore ground, and the sun will be over exposed to the point of being completely blown.

Here's an edit I did on your daughter(beautiful little girl, btw), to show you how a WB correction in camera RAW and a small curves adjustment can give you the pic you saw thru the view finder. Mr. Barney's may be a little better.

I was in the Air Force from '84-'88 at the now decommissioned K.I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan.

I personally like this edit, just may need a touch more contrast to deepen the darks some, mainly in the eyes.


Also you want to watch the horizon line in the viewfinder, and be sure to keep it as close to level as possible ( for those that you dont want tilt to, generally, i.e. landscapes ) its off in a few of them. You can correct it in post but its much easier to do in camera.

 

[kowalczyk86]

I think what you did looks great! Is this with photoshop as well? Is there a simple way to fix a lot of these problems, are is it a pain? It'd be nice if there were an automatic buttom that fixed my screwups... I have not really shot in RAW - at this point, I am not really sure what I am doing to be able to digitally process (if that makes sense)..

This is where I'd go with the processing:

The image quality got wrecked in the edit a bit, but I did this only as an example.

Beautiful location, nice shots.

 

[kowalczyk86]

"vertical framing or a 1:1 crop"

I will have to read up on that..

She is very cute...

I was thinking,,, if your going to put her in the center of the frame... maybe a vertical framing or a 1:1 crop like.... (I also spent 20 seconds in PP to adjust the white balance... not perfect but it shows what a few extra seconds can do...)

 

[kowalczyk86]

I was just messing around in Photoshop. I guess I might be able to make SOMETHING of the BLUE photos. I did this in a sec, and although not perfect, I think it looks better than navy blue sand..