New sans DSLR...here's what I got

[jcooley]

Hello!

I have no dslr yet. I am just learning about all the aspects of photography, even though I have always had an interest I never took the time to learn until now. All I have right now to shoot with is my Sony Cybershot. Until I can save up some cash to get a dslr this will have to do. I figure I can at least learn some perspectives and such with it. It has a manual mode, but it's quite limited...I think. LOL I took these photos about 6 weeks ago. Some I use auto, some I use manual. I can't remember what I did on these. Sorry. They were edited in photoshop....which I know a little about, but I'm not an expert yet. There wasn't much editing done though. Just a few small tweaks. On these I didn't use my tripod. Of course my few friends tell me they are great....but I would like some unbiased opinions/critiques please. Thanks bunches!

1

2

3

4

 

[Ajlista]

Honestly non of them i think are "good" but than again, you dont have an slr, But i do like the idea in 2 and 4
To me, 1 is just a house, nothing special, as for 3, theres no other subject to it other than the clouds, which in just my opinion, makes them boring
4, i like, seems like a little hiking trail, but, with what you're shooting with non of your pictures are going to be what you want them to be, you're limited
And if i may ask, what are all the things you can adjust on manual ?

 

[Gaerek]

I'll give a go at some C&C here.

1. Interesting idea. First notable thing I see is that I think the BW conversion was done a bit poorly. Remember that B&W is Black and White. You have lots of grey, a good amount of white, and almost no black. A levels or curves adjustment in your favorite editing program could fix that right up.

2. I think you might have missed focus here. It's hard to tell on the small image, but if I see hints of it on the smaller image, it's almost certainly on the larger. In addition, the colors appear pretty dull on my monitor. I'd also try cropping it a bit. Your subject is smack dab in the middle of the frame, which makes it uninteresting. Read up on the Rule of Thirds to understand what I'm talking about.

3. Cool looking clouds, but we have no context here. When you're trying to shoot the sky, you need something to "anchor" them in your frame. If you're at an airshow, that would be an aircraft. For something like this, you really need to have some land showing in the frame. Hopefully, the forground elements will add interest, and not take away from the shot, however...

4. Simple, and well, simple. That's not a bad thing. Your composition here is actually quite good. The major issue I have is all the green everywhere. I know you can't control what's in your subject for something like this. But some wildflowers, a deer, actually being able to see the river, or things like that would really bump it up a notch.

Honestly non of them i think are "good" but than again, you dont have an slr

Camera doesn't matter, only operator. To the OP, use what you have, and own it! Learn the idiosyncrasies of your camera. Learn it's strengths and weaknesses and take advantage of them. A DSLR makes things easier, and will give you a wider range of options, but a P&S in the hands of a great photographer will still produce great photographs.

All in all, keep up the good work, and keep shooting. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

 

[Kerbouchard]

1 and 4 don't seem very sharp and in #2, the bee isn't very sharp.

For #1, the B&W conversion is a bit drab. Need to up the contrast and let some blacks go black and some whites go nearly white. The grey that you have here isn't really working for me.
#2 is a picture of a flower with a fuzzy bee on it.
#3 I actually really like. Cool shot, I like the composition. Colors are good. It was a good capture.
#4 is a blurry photo of a bridge leading to nowhere? The lighting is a very flat, nothing seems really sharp, and nothing in the photo is particularly interesting.

 

[jcooley]

Thank you for all the input, it helps. As far as manual mode on my Cybershot, I can select an ISO speed, then I can choose a shutter speed. With almost (if not all) shutter speeds I get two aperture options, either F3.8 or F8. In both auto and manual mode, I can set metering and focal point to either spot or multi, as well as change the white balance. Changing the settings in manual mode is slow, but I am getting faster at it. Quite often my shot is gone before I am able to change the settings through the camera's menu's. Also, I am still learning when to use the different aperture/shutter speed/iso combos. I'm getting there though, slowly but surely! Focus is a big problem I have. The tripod helps, but again, none of those pics above were taken with a tripod. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Forkie]

I actually really love #3 as well. I thought it was a reflection in a lake at first until I noticed it wasn't symmetrical! What is the dark horizontal line through the middle? Was that just the natural shading of the clouds? Either way, I think this one has worked the best. The rest are kind of snap-shotty. But as someone else said, the composition is not bad in #4, you just need to work on what the subject is and how you can give it context and interest.

Keep it up!

 

[jcooley]

Yep! That dark line in the middle of the clouds is just how they were. I'm always on the lookout for cool cloud pics (well at least what I think is cool)....whether or not I am able to catpure them all is another story! LOL

 

[nickzou]

I agree that the 3rd one is pretty damn awesome. Reminds me of Tree of Life. Not a big fan of the movie, but I loved the interlude in the middle.