Photography

[maplesky7]

Quote:
I like your pics Envirogirl.

One thing I would point out about your lizard pic then on the other spectrum there is no interest to the background this time. But I do like that you captured his shadow. He sure is an excellent poser.

When I did a sketch for 4-H of a cat on a woven rug...I was given the constructive critisism of my pic lacking detail in the background. So while not trying to be too busy to distract one's attention on the subject...perhaps something like a house plant of some sort behind your excellent model would give the picture some finishing quality.

Some pictures are fab in black and white and others just are not so. I love your cat pic by the way-that's a great black and white. Me on the other hand, thought getting a black and white copy of a photo of my dh and I on our wedding day for this pewter frame I had, would be really elegant and give it a classic look. But I couldn't help but like the color pic better for that one, when I got them back. Oh well. Live and learn.

me,
g

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Looks like you are off to a good start! I've been getting into photography more and more and finally saved up enough to buy a pretty good Olympus ZLR with an 18X optical zoom. Definitely a lot different from my Sony 4MP! LOL

The main thing is just to shoot as much as you can and practice. Also, if you can get some good photography books, those will help alot too. Borders always has them on sale. I just picked one up yesterday and it has some interesting things in it!

Also, if there are any photography seminars in your area, see if you can go. I went to one recently with my uncle, who is a studio photographer. Even though the seminar was more about studio photography, I still learned a lot. Also, enter contests! Many county fairs have open photography shows and there are a lot of shows online too. You can get some really good advice from doing that.

These are a few of my photos that I've taken while playing around.

With animal shots I try to focus on the eye...especially with birds. This photo also shows depth of field. When you zoom in on a subject, it tends to separate the background from your subject.

Here is one of my macro shots:

Random sunset/lanscape

This is my favorite picture so far. The light blue parakeet on the right is my subject. The branch and the tail provide a vertical line which draws your attention to the blue bird, which is my subject. I had to take hundreds of photos just to get this one!

I have more, but I will probably make a separate thread.

 

[silkiechicken]

I love getting close ups and eyes in focus in my shots. Makes things creepier at times.

Spider

Eye

Done Fly

Blueberry and unfortunate lady bug.


If doing shots at a distance, I often try to put the rule of thirds into work, where the principle is to put the subject in more of a corner than in the center of focus.

 

[beefy]

intersting background contrasts.

ok the background in this one is blurred but the gray and blue contrast really pops methinx

flowers are a favorite and very cooperative subject to practice on.

AHHHHH. be still!

busy busy.

things that make you go hmmmm....?

just take lots of pics and explore different angles and think outside of the box.

cropping can make average pictures superb.

me and Zoom are bffs.

 

[beefy]

anyone have any good tips on photographing right before dark and at nighttime?

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I love all these macro shots!

 

[PotterWatch]

I find it was much easier to take pictures back when I had a 35mm where everything was manual. My new digital has a big lag time and is hard to understand all the functions (I need a new one). I do love that digital makes it very easy to play with your pictures. Here are some I have taken and played with a little. I am by no means a good photographer, but it's fun to play around with my pictures.

Punaluu Beach before editing:

After editing (didn't do too much with this one, just changed the saturation a little, cropped out the person I didn't want, and brightened a bit):

South Point before editing:

After editing:

Ginny before editing:

After editing:

 

[maplesky7]

Excellent pictures guys and dolls...


ack! a furry spider! cool pixs.



beefy...i love that brilliant blue. nice contrast.



me,
g

 

[PotterWatch]

At Portage Glacier:

June Lake (I think):

 

[dacjohns]

Darn you PotterWatch. I grew up in Alaska. You just made me homesick.

On the subject of black and white. I am inexperienced in digital black and white. I do know with film if you want black and white you need to use b&w film. Color film printed b&w tends to be muddy or too little contrast. I'm finding the same thing happening for me with digital. For excellent examples of b&w look at some of Ansel Adams photographs.

For the best range of gray scale in a b&w photo you want some pure or almost pure white and black or almost solid black in the photo. It doesn't always happen though.

Focus. If you don't have manual focus on your camera then you have to find the focusing point. My point and shoot doesn't do good with closeups because the camera wants to focus somewhere besides where I want to. It might be a matter of learning the settings on the camera.

When I shoot closeup with my SLR I usually use the manual focus.

Photo editing software is great but it is better to learn the principles and have a good photo to start with . PotterWatch's are good examples of a good photo with some minor color tweaking and cropping.



Some very nice photos that demonstrate many of the principles talked about.