Playing with my new toy

[Deleted User]

As the title say I have been out with my new Canon 400D, my first Digital SLR (well SLR full stop).

Below are links to 3 pictures I took today, all I have done is crop from the originals, the pictures were taken using full auto on the camera, (I was getting the feeling for the camera and where the button are etc.). The sun was immediately in front of me but mostly hidden by hazy cloud.

So apart from changing to manual, what should I have done, what can I do to bring the picture to life, they look a little flat\bland.

I have either Photoshop elements, Gimp (on Linux) or an old version of PSP to play with any suggestions welcome?

www.windfreaks.co.uk/test1.png
www.windfreaks.co.uk/test2.png
www.windfreaks.co.uk/test3.png

Tim

i_worship_the_King

Unfortunately I have to agree that they're a little on the bland side. There's almost no contrast AT ALL in the pictures. I can't even tell what color the water is - it's the same shade of gray the sky shows up as. If you shot in RAW you can DEFINITELY do some work in photoshop, messing with the colors, upping the exposure a little, and perhaps a little more cropping - it's just a personal thing, but I prefer it when the subject is off to a side of the composition, not just dead in the middle.

There's my 2cent. CONGRATS ON THE NEW GEAR!!

Icebear

Spot on
Whaddayu talkin' about? That IS the color of the water and sky. He lives in the UK!!!

[Deleted User]

Icebear wrote:

Whaddayu talkin' about? That IS the color of the water and sky. He lives in the UK!!!

True, that was the colour of the sea and the sky today

Tim

pyrtek

I'd just consider these a learning experience and move on, if I were you. But
you did ask whether something could be done about them. Well, not much, but
you can squeeze just a bit of color out of them. Increasing the contrast
and sharpening a bit also helps.


BEFORE:





AFTER:




The sky can be modified a bit, too, but it doesn't help much:

[Deleted User]

Thanks Prytek, that what I was looking for (no disrespect to the other guys), I knew the picture was bland but just wanted to know what was possible.

This taking pictures is a double edge sword, not only having to learn how to operate the camera but I also having to learn how to tweak the pictures on the computers (the computer bits are not the problem, its learning the program).

Thanks

Tim

rustic

draggin wrote:

This taking pictures is a double edge sword, not only having to learn how to operate the camera but I also having to learn how to tweak the pictures on the computers (the computer bits are not the problem, its learning the program).

Tim

Hi Tim,

If you haven't already, take a look at the "Tutorials" link at the top of the page. There is lots of good info to be found there!

ccpickre

I got my 400D for Chraistmas and I have ben shooting with it for a while. One thing is, stop using full auto Personally, I hate full auto. You have no real control of anything (kind of blatantly obvious, I know).

Considering you're shooting a fast paced situation, try working with Shutter priority and pick a fast shutter speed to capture the action. Your pics looked a LITTLE blurry, although it could have been a color issue, I'm not good enough to tell yet. But I just thought I saw some motion blur, and without exif data there's no way to really tell.

You could try playing with the ISO settings (top button on the quaters thing next to the screen labelled "ISO" ). Playing with those will alter how much light gets to your sensor as well, and gives you another control while the aperture is pre selected.

If you want contrast, make sure the sun is behind you when shooting. Granted, you're probably not driving the boat AND photographing obviously, but if you could turn the boat so the sun is behind you it will definitely bring more pop to the colors and contrast (be careful not to underexpose shadows and over expose highlights, which comes with practice).

Although with an overcast day like that, it wouldn't really matter, since the water will reflect light and it will pretty much be even light everywhere.

Other than that, just keep practicing.

Another thing you could do, which is kind of trivial, is to hit the "ok" button which will bring up a color selection. You'll have to look it up in the manual to see what each does, but you should see a list with things like "Landscape, portrait, nuetral, standard, monotone" etc. These will effect the colors in subtle ways that could help with your photos. I don't really mess with them much, but they can make a big difference when you need it.

Also, make sure you check your white balance settings. If you're shooting in RAW it won't really matter, but if you're shooting in JPEG, it can make a flat photo into a poppy photo, all because the white balance is set proparly.

Hope that helped.

PS. Please ignore my ridiculous splling errors, I'm in a hurry

JMP

hello guys
I am still learning and i know all we need is not only love but practice, practice and more practice.
i have little suggestion, that im not sure if im right but you
could use a Polarizer filter, its gonna affect the exposure a bit, but youll have
to compensate it, and its going to help you getting detail both in the sky and water,
also the undefined position of the horizon line its a little uncomfortable to me.
anyways it was a nice try, keep them coming, please!
congrats on your new Camera, im still saving...

Cheers