New Camera, Old Dog

[GEli]

This is my very first thread here at the DPS forums, so let it be known that I don't want to be handled gently. Tear my photos apart and gnaw away at the meaty innards that spew forth so I can get better at what I love.

First, I have a few older shots (taken with my point and shoot) that I'd really like to get critiqued.







These were all taken with a Canon Powershot A570 IS. None underwent particularly heavy post-processing beyond a bit of curve fiddling and some sharpening.

Lastly, I have an image of my dog that I took tonight as soon as I got home with my new system: Pentax K10D with the standard kit zoom. I spent most of the evening reading the manual, but managed to take about 300 shots of my old dog. My favourite is posted below. Though the photo seems underexposed, I can't help but prefer it this way - any brighter seemed to blow out all the highlights and ruin the 'feel.' Am I correct in thinking this?



I'm really excited about joining this fine community - the wide range of skill levels and the rather friendly, but helpful threads I've read so far have filled me with new ideas.

[iamcanadian2010]

Try to keep t to a piure per thread beacuse its alot to take a go at all of them at once, and try to keep your exif data intact.
ok to the point:
1. I like the idea and the background but half of the stream is blurry almost like you had a slow shutter speed, but the the closer half of the stream is clear and sharp if that makes sense.
2.I like the picture, but it may look cool in B/W.
3.The 1985 on the bridge support i find distracting, Try a crop to cut it out. but i like the lines and the lighting in the picture.
4.Are you shooting in RAW with your new camera, beacuse i would try playing eith the white balence and colors ect. or let in a little more light(just a little), just for some reason theres something with that picture that i dont like that i cant put my finger on, i do like the subject and the context, but theres something cant put my finger on what but hmm, il think abut it.

sory about any erors in my typeing or rambling its late and im getting sleepy. haha
anjoy your new camera and hapy shooting
-marshall
BTW: Welcome to DPS

[wulf]

As iamcanadian2010 notes, the rules ask that you submit one image per thread and don't flood the place by posting lots of threads in a row. That keeps things focused and avoids some people suffering because their requests for critique get buried.

Perhaps you could post the dog portrait separately, with a descriptive title, and see what comes back? Also, don't miss out on the value of learning by offering critiques of other people's shots - truly, it is more blessed to give than to receive

Wulf

[aetnajojo]

Originally Posted by GEli

This is my very first thread here at the DPS forums, so let it be known that I don't want to be handled gently. Tear my photos apart and gnaw away at the meaty innards that spew forth so I can get better at what I love.

First, I have a few older shots (taken with my point and shoot) that I'd really like to get critiqued.



.
.
.

These were all taken with a Canon Powershot A570 IS. None underwent particularly heavy post-processing beyond a bit of curve fiddling and some sharpening.

Lastly, I have an image of my dog that I took tonight as soon as I got home with my new system: Pentax K10D with the standard kit zoom. I spent most of the evening reading the manual, but managed to take about 300 shots of my old dog. My favourite is posted below. Though the photo seems underexposed, I can't help but prefer it this way - any brighter seemed to blow out all the highlights and ruin the 'feel.' Am I correct in thinking this?



I'm really excited about joining this fine community - the wide range of skill levels and the rather friendly, but helpful threads I've read so far have filled me with new ideas.

I believe that the first skill that an aspiring photographer needs to develop is 'learning to see'. Your first image shows an old overturned cart on the river with other debris on the riverbank. If you see something interesting, or better yet - something beautiful, in such surroundings, then my hat's off to you. For most people, it's not worth a second look, much less capturing with a camera.

This particular image has a very healthy histogram, which means that potentially it has a wide pixel range in which to coax better definition usng software like photoshop.

Your last picture is underexposed, which is the way to go with digital cameras. With film you strive to achieve the middle compromise - not overexposed and not underexposed. With digital cameras, there is no data you can work with in blown-out highlights - that portion of the image is permanently lost. So you underexpose with digicams - the underexposed areas hide a treasure lode of rich pixel data. So your task is not yet complete when you have an underexposed image. You must go to the next step, of coaxing out hidden detail and definition from the image.

[aetnajojo]

In another forum, someone commented that I was hard to understand because my english did not sound natural. My apologies, but I am not a native speaker. English is a second language for me, and it takes me quite a while to translate. My choice of words come from what I learned in written english at school, rather than by speaking regularly to native speakers. As it were, there are idioms (and jokes) that are lost to me, so I am unable to respond appropriately.

Hope the images below will better explain what I was trying to say in my previous post:

Original:




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Original:




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[wulf]

Originally Posted by aetnajojo

In another forum, someone commented that I was hard to understand because my english did not sound natural...

I think you came across loud and clear, although the pictures also work well to demonstrate what you mean.

Thanks for contributing.

Wulf

[aetnajojo]

Originally Posted by wulf

I think you came across loud and clear, although the pictures also work well to demonstrate what you mean.

Thanks for contributing.

Wulf

Wulf, thank you too. I like this forum very much. The people are warm and friendly, and there is a lot to see and learn in a fun way.

[Saralonde]

Aetnajojo, I see what you mean about liking your originals, but in both cases I like the second version a little better. There seems to be a more depth in the tones.
By the way, your English is very good!

[aetnajojo]

Originally Posted by Saralonde

Aetnajojo, I see what you mean about liking your originals, but in both cases I like the second version a little better. There seems to be a more depth in the tones.
By the way, your English is very good!

Saralonde:
Thank you. That would be the written english, spoken english is another matter.

[GEli]

Thank you all for your helpful responses!

aetnajojo: I love your reworkings of those photos! I am going to try to rework these myself to look similar to yours. What did you do to the shopping cart shot in particular to get the colours to 'pop'?

wulf: I will try to keep my threads to one photo a piece - I swear I read the rules thread but slipped into the ways of the other forums I frequent when it actually came to writing a thread. Thanks for the gentle reminder.

iamcanadian: 1: Yes, that is a peculiar effect. The trouble was that the shopping cart sat just on the edge of a little mini-rapid, so on the right side of the photo the faster water got the blurred longer-shutter effect, while the left side was flowing much slower and so did not blur as much. Ideally I would've set a longer exposure, but did not have my tripod on me when I happened onto the cart.

2: I haven't really experimented with B&W that much - I will have to give it a try and perhaps make a thread about it in the post-processing board when I'm done to see if I did it correctly.

3: I'm not sure how just cropping it will look, as I'm not too fond of the square aspect ratio, but seeing as that bridge is about a 3 minute walk from my house perhaps I'll just go next sundown a try reshooting it!

4: Yes, the more I look at this photo the more I agree. What do you think of aetnajojo's reworking of the shot? I'm finding much less to object to in it compared to the original edit I did. Thanks for all the suggestions!

And yes, this new camera is getting entirely too much attention. It hasn't left my side in the past 24 hours, and I have been annoying all my friend by demanding they let me take their portrait.