Camera Labs

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum so please be gentle! I've recently been introduced to photography by my girlfriends granddad, and have had the use of a Sony A290 with a 18-55mm kit lens for the past couple of months.

Here are a couple of stand out photos I've took on a recent holiday in Majorca that I thought might belong in this section (though one of them isn't really a natural landscape, I thought this was the best place for it). Please have a look and tell me how I could do better



A shot from a moving boat coming into Alcudia marina 1/10s, f5.6, ISO200, 40mm. Untouched jpg.



A shot from a mountain top 1/250s, f18, ISO 200, 18mm. Untouched jpg.

Thanks for any and all advice recieved!
Craig

Looking good, Craig, and welcome to the forum.

I don't think f18 was necessary for the final shot. Maybe f8 to f11 would have been sufficient.

Try looking up hyperfocal distance and diffraction.

I agree with Phil, f/11 would have been good - that's what I usually use for landscapes of this type. Also try upping your contrast selectively in the distance to get rid of the haze a little. Could add a lot to the photo.

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Thanks for the advice guys... I would have liked to play around with the aperture a little on the second one and take a few more shots but you know when you look up from the camera to see the missus glaring at you and tapping her watch?!

So how do you alter the contrast selectively? I was using a UV filter at the time, would a polarising filter yielded better results?

Cheers
Craig

UV Filter does little (ideally nothing) to the picture. It just protectors your lens/camera. A polarizer would definitely help. As far as selective contrast goes, you need a program like Photoshop, Aperture, or Light Room to accomplish this. Do you have access to these?

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Since your also using a lens which is known for its softness, I would recommend optimizing your "in-camera" settings to compensate for the shortcomings of your glass.
You can max your Sharpness & Contrast to +3 and also try Dro+
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/DSLRA290.pdf

Looks like you are off to a great start. If you have a photo editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom (I'm sure lots of others do it as well.) You can add the effect of using a graduated ND filter. Just Google Using whatever application you have and Graduated filter and you should find lots of tutorials on how to do it. I think it would greatly improve the 2nd photo.

If you don't own any of the image editing programs, I believe GIMP is free and I've heard good things about it.

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Rebel T2I, Tamron 17-50 2.8, EF 70-300 f4-5.6, 50mm f 1.8

flickr

Thanks for the advice guys... much appreciated.

I've just downloaded a 30 day trial version of Lightroom 3, what a piece of kit! It's gonna take me a while to learn how to use it properly but I've already played about with the second photo, adding some brightness, saturation, sharpness and reducing noise. What do you think? Original on top





Cheers
Craig

Much better

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"I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" - Eric Morecambe
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D7000 and too many lenses.

looking good! lightroom my favorite, Most of the time i open my raw files with lightroom. great program good luck with it.

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Wake up canon or throw the towel in!!

looking good, but like Westcoat said, increase sharpness in your in camera setting and increase dynamic range optimiser.
Also keep an eye on shutter speed up to avoid motion blur, increase iso to suit.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 6D,7D, 24-70 2.8 Tamron VC, Canon 15-85, Canon 85 1.8, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L Macro, Canon 70-300L +Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

Craig,

Just wanted to add my 2p's worth.

I like both of these 2 photos, the composition seems, to my untrained eye, pretty damn good. I found both images held my attention for a bit.

If folks are mainly looking at PP tweeks to improve the images then thats got to be a good thing. There is no point in spending time on PPing crappily composed images.

I look forward to more

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Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

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