Good Day Everyone,
This is my first post and I am thinking I might be ready to hear you thoughts.
Be gentle as I am learning the whole "Force" to photography and also Light room as well.
befrore I post the Picture a little bi about me.....
I started photography as a buddy wanted me to start taking pictures with him and get a business together to make some side income, "Convinced my wife to get a canon 7d mk1"
He advance way quicker then me as he had more time then me and decided to open a side business on his own. I continued to shot walking around for a little longer then sold all my gear as I was in construction and didn't have time to go out and practice.
Afew years later, I went back to school and have a little more time on my hands now so I decided to get back into photography and actually learn it for myself for a hobby and maybe eventually make enough on the side to cover the cost's of upgrades to lenses and so on but not to make a living.
Fast forward a little further and I now have a Nikon d7100 and a sigma 70-200 2.8 and a nikon 50 1.8G, SB-700 and little odds and ends.
I been trying to do as much research as possible and watch guides like FroKnowsFoto "how to get out of auto". So I am learning to shoot in complete manual mode. Don't know if this the best idea for me or not, But I am trying.
I still dont have a lot of time as I am working 2 jobs to recover from going back to school.
My end goal is to get 1/2 as good as most of you on here and post some nice pictures on here to learn and get better.
Hope I did ok on this. I will post more down the road
Thanks
Doug
These are just my own opinions here, so please use them strictly for what they are worth.
First and foremost, as others have already indicated, the image is really too small to provide much feedback at all. There is a VERY obvious yellow cast to the image (yea...streetlights do that) that REALLY needs to be cleaned up. Personally I use Photoshop and Adobe RAW, however if you're set on using Lightroom, I suspect the same can be easily accomplished.
Beyond that, while I do not mean this as rude or personal in any way, based on the small image at least, there seems to be very little of interest here to my eye...it's simply a picture taken of a small town somewhere in the middle of the night Could be Saskatoon, could be my hometown here...could be anywhere really. The color balance and even the tilt of the image could be easily dealt with in any decent image editor, however the composition and subject matter are a very different story....there's simply TOO MUCH in this image for the viewer to really understand what the image is supposed to convey.
My first piece of advice to those just learning, is ask yourself "What is this image about?". For the sake of illustration, I'll use my zoo analogy; let's say you're taking pictures of orangutan at a zoo. When you look thru the viewfinder, ask yourself "What is this shot about?". Is it about the other people watching orangutan? Is it about the orangutan's habitat? Is it about that big glob of poop the orangutan just flung on the wall?? Or is it about
the orangutan? Once you've decided what you wish the image to convey, then simply isolate the subject and remove anything from the frame that doesn't contribute to the composition. In this case of your own image here, if this image is in someway intended to convey something about "Saskatoon", then ask yourself what is it exactly that makes Saskatoon unique...what sets it apart from other cities and towns? Once you've determined that, then put the emphasis on that singular element. For example, let's pretend that the building there towards the right hand middle of the image was the ever so iconic (if not somewhat hypothetical) "Saskatoon Diner". Some closer shots of the diner's exterior, even in this light, might provide a sense of isolation, while still firmly identifying the image with Saskatoon. On the other hand, if the image is about the loneliness of an empty road in the middle of the night, I'd focus more exclusively on the road instead, perhaps in a portrait format as the buildings would tend to clutter that type of composition. I suspect that there were MANY angles and views this image could have been captured from with MANY individual subjects that could have been isolated.
Along with "what is this shot about?", also ask yourself "Why am I taking this shot?". It may seem like the same thing, but it's not. One of the biggest mistakes I see newbies make (please 'scuse the use of the term there), is that they get a new camera and feel compelled to go out and shoot
something (and yes, I'm certainly guilty of this myself, LOL). The problem is that in the haste of dealing with "new toy syndrome", they put little thought into what it is they actually want to shoot...and why. They just take the new camera, head out the door...and often find themselves rather flustered over what to shoot. In this case, while it may sound rather cliche, my advice is usually "shoot what you know". For example, a person who loves animals might be better off practicing at the local zoo instead of trying to get real estate shots! A person who's interested in sports would likely do better taking in a baseball game than a car show. What's the point of shooting landscapes if your interest is people and portraits? You see my point.
Likewise, I would also ask yourself as to why you feel compelled to "get out of auto mode" at this point. Consider this; whether you are posting an image on this forum (or another) for some feedback or you're simply showing the image to friends and family, -why- would it matter whether the image was taken with manual settings or not? Having a knowledge of such things can indeed be helpful in situations such as "tricky lighting" for example, however as a beginner...and this is just my own personal opinion here...I believe the emphasis should be on
composition first. The simple fact of the matter is that you can have an image that's perfectly exposed with perfect color balance, that's absolutely razor sharp, etc., but if it's simply a boring image to look at...who cares? On the other hand, if you've captured an image that truly makes people go "Wow!" then whether or not the camera was set on full auto becomes TOTALLY irrelevant....if it's a really great image, who cares how you captured it?
For what it's worth, as a freelance photographer (not to mention digital artist), I do actually shoot in Aperture Priority mode
more than anything. I grew up with 35mm and I still own my Canon FTb...the ONLY thing the battery powered was an on-board light meter. I grew up with manual focus, manual exposure and when I needed to consider "color balance", I either had to use filters or simply stop and change film (or carry multiple cameras). While I won't speak for others and certainly opinions differ greatly on this, personally I find the capabilities of modern cameras to be a REAL blessing, as it allows me to turn my attention to my subject matter without having to constantly "fiddle with the knobs"! Personally I feel the best analogy is this; if your a carpenter, why use a rusty old hand saw when you have a modern, laser guided power saw at your finger tips? In the proper hands, both can produce good results, however one is a hell of a lot easier! Again, knowing how to use manual does have it's advantages...again the occasional tricky lighting for example, however more often that not, I'd rather let the camera do the math so I can simply "focus" on getting a great image. Once that image becomes a print (be it physical or on the internet), the rest is purely academic...either people like my work or they don't.
With that, the singular best piece of advice I can offer to to learn about composition FIRST. Put that FroKnowsFoto tutorial to the side and learn what actually makes a truly great image. Learn about concepts such as "the rule of thirds" and how to arrange the elements of your composition in a pleasing way. When I started taking my photography more seriously back in the early 90's, I got a number of art books from the library on subjects ranging from the Renaissance masters to graphics design, just so I could understand what a good image truly is. Along with composition, I also encourage you to learn about "light", "color/value", "contrast", etc., as these are all factors that can contribute to a great composition. Once you have a firm understanding of such concepts,
then is the time to start considering the technical aspects of this thing we call photography...aperture, shutter speed, histograms, etc.!
Second, I also strongly encourage patience! Regardless of what others may say about concepts such as "talent", photography is a SKILL and it's one that usually takes a while to learn and master! Very simply, no one picks up a camera and says "today I will be a great photographer" (at least few who might say it can actually accomplish it, LOL)...the vast majority of us have to work at it. I've been involved with photography on one level or another for around 40 years now and I'm -always- trying to learn and improve! Whether it's learning how to play a musical instrument or learning how to perform brain surgery, learning to do it right takes a while...be patient with yourself.
Good luck!
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