I'm new and need pointers

blessedmama21blessedmama21 Registered Users Posts: 48 Big grins
edited June 2, 2006 in People
any tips are greatly appreciated. I'm new to this! :D

71073728-M.jpg

72319907-M.jpg

72640119-M.jpg

Comments

  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,079 moderator
    edited June 2, 2006
    Wecome to DGrin, the home of free tips and opinions, worth exactly what you paid for them.:D Seriously, there is a plethora of great information here. You just need to decide what is important to you and to your style of shooting.

    All of your photos show good use of composition and lighting. #1 could use a little more "punch" IMHO.

    Of course because there are young children involved, we all say, "Ahhh".

    Surely you must have questions? Let's start with those.

    Thanks,

    ziggy53
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • blessedmama21blessedmama21 Registered Users Posts: 48 Big grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    Thank you for the reply! I am afraid my husband, while supportive, couldn't tell the difference between these and one shot with a disposable. rolleyes1.gif

    basically I want to know if I am on the right track on my lighting, editing, etc.

    what would you do to add more "punch?" I'm all about the punch! :D

    Melissa
  • johnojohno Registered Users Posts: 617 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    Don't be afraid to crop your pics. That was one of the first lessons I learned here at DG. It allowed me to be selected for Kodak's Picture of the Day.

    I don't mean to mess up your pics, but here's what I did after playing with them for a few minutes.
    71073728-S.jpg
    Before
    72994242-L.jpg
    After

    72319907-S.jpg
    Before
    72994188-L.jpg
    After

    BTW, Welcome to DG.thumb.gif
    johno~
    If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
    ~Mother Teresa


    Canon 1D Mark II / Canon 50D / Canon 30D / Canon G9
    Canon 50mm 1.4
    Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS / Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L



    blog
    johno's gallery
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,079 moderator
    edited June 2, 2006
    blessedmama21 wrote:
    Thank you for the reply! I am afraid my husband, while supportive, couldn't tell the difference between these and one shot with a disposable. rolleyes1.gif

    basically I want to know if I am on the right track on my lighting, editing, etc.

    what would you do to add more "punch?" I'm all about the punch! :D

    Melissa

    Hi Melissa. What software do you have?

    ziggy53
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • blessedmama21blessedmama21 Registered Users Posts: 48 Big grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    Ziggy-I have photo studio that came with my camera. Any opinions on it? I have a couple others that I downloaded. Irfanview, etc.

    Johno-I like what you did with the second one! what did you do exactly? (besides crop obviously :D)
  • johnojohno Registered Users Posts: 617 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    I just played with the colors in Photoshop CS.

    First, I checked the levels and made a few adjustments. Levels can bring out the POP in some photos.

    Second, I went to the "adjust color" option and brightened some of the colors. Honestly, I was just playing so I don't remember.

    I am not sure what "photo studio" does or does not do.

    Levels and adjust color.

    Sorry, I'm not much help. You can download a trial version of Photoshop CS2 at adobe.com

    peace.
    johno~
    If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
    ~Mother Teresa


    Canon 1D Mark II / Canon 50D / Canon 30D / Canon G9
    Canon 50mm 1.4
    Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS / Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L



    blog
    johno's gallery
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,079 moderator
    edited June 2, 2006
    blessedmama21 wrote:
    Ziggy-I have photo studio that came with my camera. Any opinions on it? I have a couple others that I downloaded. Irfanview, etc.

    Johno-I like what you did with the second one! what did you do exactly? (besides crop obviously :D)

    Sorry, I am likewise unfamiliar with Photo Studio. I have to imagine it is very entry level.

    So you need some software (woohoo). And you can get some pretty good stuff, absolutely free.

    I'm hoping you have Windows, preferably 2000 or XP. If you do, you can get Picassa.

    http://picasa.google.com/

    This is basically the software I use for personal stuff. It's fast, fairly powerful, and can burn CDs.

    Next go to "Photo-Freeware.Net"

    http://www.photo-freeware.net/category-downloads.php


    and grab copies of "virtualPhotographer", in the Filters, "GIMP" and "GIMPShop", in the Image Editing.

    virtualPhotographer is pretty good at BW conversion, so I'm told and have seen. It also has some really cool effects besides.

    GIMP is powerful image editing software that has "Curves", which is very useful for giving images some "snap", like I suggested above. Curves are like individualized Level and Contrast combined into a single handy-dandy tool.

    GIMPShop simply provides a better user interface, and it should be easier for others, especially here, to help you.

    While you're at it, grab "IrfanView", my favorite file viewer. It's small enough to fit on a floppy disk, and still does a great job of viewing and simple editing. It has a resampling engine almost as good as PhotoShop.

    http://www.irfanview.com/

    That should keep you busy for a while.

    ziggy53
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • mpmcleodmpmcleod Registered Users Posts: 288 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    ziggy53 wrote:
    Sorry, I am likewise unfamiliar with Photo Studio. I have to imagine it is very entry level.

    So you need some software (woohoo). And you can get some pretty good stuff, absolutely free.

    I'm hoping you have Windows, preferably 2000 or XP. If you do, you can get Picassa.

    http://picasa.google.com/

    This is basically the software I use for personal stuff. It's fast, fairly powerful, and can burn CDs.

    Next go to "Photo-Freeware.Net"

    http://www.photo-freeware.net/category-downloads.php


    and grab copies of "virtualPhotographer", in the Filters, "GIMP" and "GIMPShop", in the Image Editing.

    virtualPhotographer is pretty good at BW conversion, so I'm told and have seen. It also has some really cool effects besides.

    GIMP is powerful image editing software that has "Curves", which is very useful for giving images some "snap", like I suggested above. Curves are like individualized Level and Contrast combined into a single handy-dandy tool.

    GIMPShop simply provides a better user interface, and it should be easier for others, especially here, to help you.

    While you're at it, grab "IrfanView", my favorite file viewer. It's small enough to fit on a floppy disk, and still does a great job of viewing and simple editing. It has a resampling engine almost as good as PhotoShop.

    http://www.irfanview.com/

    That should keep you busy for a while.

    ziggy53

    Don't forget about GIMP!

    http://www.gimp.org/

    Totally FREE!

    Does almost everything photoshop does.
    -- Mike

    smugmug nickname: mpmcleod
    http://www.michaelmcleod.com/
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,079 moderator
    edited June 2, 2006
    mpmcleod wrote:
    Don't forget about GIMP!

    http://www.gimp.org/

    Totally FREE!

    Does almost everything photoshop does.

    Mike,

    Read mine again. Like minds ...

    Thanks,

    ziggy53
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • mpmcleodmpmcleod Registered Users Posts: 288 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2006
    ziggy53 wrote:
    Mike,

    Read mine again. Like minds ...
    Thanks,
    ziggy53

    I see it now. I didn't see a direct link to GIMP when I first read it so I probably just read over it.
    -- Mike

    smugmug nickname: mpmcleod
    http://www.michaelmcleod.com/
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,079 moderator
    edited June 2, 2006
    mpmcleod wrote:
    I see it now. I didn't see a direct link to GIMP when I first read it so I probably just read over it.

    Actually, I'm a little surprised to see someone else take it seriously besides me. It is still lacking in some color-space control (aRGB, sRGB, etc.) but is otherwise pretty full featured. It's also a little slow with some common processes, but for freeware, it's not too bad.

    Have you tried the "GIMPShop" yet?

    ziggy53
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
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