Newb C&C Please

[CyclonePWR]

Some C&C Please. I am still very new to my DSLR but I like to see how I can improve.

I just got a polarized filter which should really help photos like these but these are with out it.

1.

2.

3.

Thanks

 

[Samanax]

Some C&C Please. I am still very new to my DSLR but I like to see how I can improve.

To improve, start with the basics: Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

How To Improve Your Photography - Five Easy Tricks

Get to know your camera really well. Read the manual and know what each and every button and knob is for.

Take control of your shots. Get off the green box AUTO mode (or any of the other Basic Zone modes) and get into one of the Creative Zone modes (P, Av, Tv, M).

#1 - It's a nice shot...subjects aren't centered but you could have gotten closer to have them fill more of the vertical space in the frame. Right now it looks like the main subject of this picture is the trees and snow and not the girl with the dog.

It's nice to see her looking into the frame. Exposure is good.

#2 - Shutter speed was too slow (blurry dog). Sun on the face of the girl is straight on and making her face look flat. Better to have light come in from the side a bit to help give structure and volume to the head and face. Or have subject go into the shadows.

Subject is centered in the shot. This makes them look static and boring. Compose the shot with the subject off-center. You might want to try shooting in the portrait orientation too just to see what it does for the image.

Background is distracting. Using a bigger aperture (small f/stop) will give you a reduced depth of field (DOF) and keep the subject in focus but put the background out of focus...this helps to isolate the subject.

#3 - Looks cold.

All the pictures look a little soft. Could use a little more sharpening.

 

[CyclonePWR]

Yeah thanks,

I do know what everything in my camera does and I mostly dont shot in the auto modes. I read a separate book on my camera to help me out with that.

I think I did try to use a small Fstop F4 maybe and that's only how blurry the background got.

I think the blurry dog in the second one is kind of cool bc she is still trying to hold on but the dog is trying to go somewhere. So it shows movement. But I see what you are saying about centering, the background being a distraction and it also lacks perspective.

What do u mean by soft, just more sharp? I did add sharpness with the software that came with the camera but if I add a lot I start to get noise and I took the photos with iso 100. I dont get it a lot of my photos seem to have noise. And they dont seem to be as sharp or as bright.

 

[CyclonePWR]

I also like #3 like this, even colder looking.

 

[Samanax]

Yeah thanks,

I do know what everything in my camera does and I mostly dont shot in the auto modes. I read a separate book on my camera to help me out with that.

That's good...knowing your camera well will allow you to concentrate on your shooting instead of fumbling around with the settings.

I think I did try to use the largest Fstop and that's only how blurry the back ground got.

According to the exif information in the first two pictures the aperture was f/7.1. There are several factors that determine how much blur you get in your pictures with aperture only being one of them. The distance between you and the subject and the distance between the subject and the background are important as well as the focal length used. You want to use a large aperture opening, get close to the subject, make sure the subject isn't too close to the background and use a longer focal length...wide angle/shorter focal lengths increase depth of field. Longer focal lengths will reduce depth of field.

I think the blurry dog in the second one is kind of cool bc she is still trying to hold on but the dog is trying to go somewhere. So it shows movement.

That's cool. Just wanted to let you know that a higher shutter speed would have eliminated the blur...but blur to show motion is a technique used all the time in photography.

What do u mean by soft, just more sharp?

Yes.

I did add sharpness with the software that came with the camera but if I add a lot I start to get noise and I took the photos with iso 100. I dont get it a lot of my photos seem to have noise.

Digital Photo Professional (DPP) has noise reduction function in it, but I'm not sure if it only works with RAW images and not JPEGs...I have a XTi and use DPP but I only shoot in RAW and don't remember if the noise reduction worked with JPEGs too...it might. But too much noise reduction will decrease the sharpness of details and you have to resharpen them later. It's a balancing act.

I dont get it a lot of my photos seem to have noise.

Good exposure will help keep noise to a minimum.

And they dont seem to be as sharp or as bright.

Pictures that come straight out of a DSLR won't be as sharp or finished looking as you'd get from a P&S. This is partly because of the low pass/anti-aliasing filter in front of the image sensor and because DSLRs don't process the image as much as a P&S would unless you set it up to process the images a lot in camera. Most of us don't let the camera make the post processing (PP) decisions for us...we want to control how the image is processed when we edit it in the photo editor we use. Play around with a copy of your picture in DPP and see how far an image can be pushed. Sometimes you have to push your post processing a little more than you're comfortable with to get that "pop" from your pictures.