New to DSLR's

[davo]

Alrighty, where to begin...
I've always been a P&S kind of photographer, portraits, macro, landscapes (I will have a flickr account up and going in a few hours that I will repost for you to C&C).
Then I was given two SLRs a canon 100EOS and a Practika (some cheap SLR, old school). They were nice and easy to use.
Now I've jumped in and bought a D90 (not the best I know, but for the price range I was looking within, it had some good reviews). Now I have a whole new world of post-processing. And that's where I'm starting to hit a bit of a wall. I've noticed alot of people taking photos of water with a purple hue. How is this done?

Now I'm just starting to experiment with HDR photos, the D90 allows for bracketing, but once they are compiled as a HDR they basically come out as a perfectly exposed shot, so I'm a little disappointed considering what I've seen. Now with HDR is concerned I don't like the pictures that look like cartoons (more or less they are). I'm just wondering what you guys suggest doing? Or what you do yourselves?

Like I said, I will try and get a flickr account up and going so you can have a better understanding, but until then, I'd still appreciate some advice.

Cheers.

 

[WesternGuy]

Some points...1) if you want C&C on an image, post it here, as most people will not go to flickr to review an image. I do not like to do this because of the potential for viruses - not that you would put one in your flickr site/postings, but it isn't worth the risk...2) if you post images here, please number them so a reviewer can refer to them correctly...3) if you post here for C&C, post only 3 or 4, maybe 5 images at most and give us some ideas on why you think the shot is good, or not - most people do not have the time to review a lot of images, as it is a bit of work.

As far as your HDR is concerned, why are you disappointed that they come out like "a perfectly exposed shot" - that is really what they are supposed to look like, after all that was the original intention of HDR. When I do HDR, I for one, want my final product to look like a perfectly exposed image.

Water with a purple hue..not sure what the context is, maybe the images are the reflection of a sunrise/sunset...if not, I am curious where the purple colour comes from and why you would want "purple" water?

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[davo]

Www.flickr.com/photos/d-waltphoto/

I'm more concerned about the images comming out as a cartoonish like photo as I have seen in alot of HDR's.

And in regards to the purple water it's more the purple highlights that the pictures possess. I've seen it on a few, maybe it is just reflections from the sun, but trying to capture that, has really got me stumpted.

I will try and upload a HDR of a lizard on the property I took today VS one I took with out bracketing, and C&C if I'm doin anything wrong?

 

[DiskoJoe]

good colors come from good timing. You have to go out when the sun is in the right position to change the color spectrum of the light rays. Just sit outside one day and watch a sunset from a water front. You will see how the suns position will change the color spectrum of the sky.

as far as hdr. if you do not want perfectly exposed or cartoonish effects then why bother with all the trouble. for now i would say just focus on normal exposures and tap into HDR later once you have some more experience with your camera. Plus with good hdr you would want to bracket photos from -2 to +2.