pineland

[briank]

First off, I want to say this site is amazing. There is loads of valuable information presented so simply. I've spent the last three or four days just devouring blog post after blog post. Now I've discovered the forums and couldn't be more excited.

I'm JUST getting into photography. This photo is my first attempt at shooting in RAW, Av mode and doing some post-production work in Lightroom 3.

I'd love to hear what I'm doing wrong and what I can do better, specifically in regard to the river. It looks over-exposed and blown out so that it is hard to even tell it is water.

I'm finding photography to be one of the more interesting things I've ever attempted, and I'm hurling myself toward it. I'm working on documenting cool stuff here in Maine by trying to come up with one decent shot every day. There is no shortage of unique stuff to shoot.

Here we go:



Camera: Pentax K-x
Lens: Pentax 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED
Focal length: 190mm
Aperture: f/6.3
Exposure: 1/500 sec
ISO: 800
Flash: none

I know the ISO is a ways up there. It was a cloudy day yesterday, and I took a ton of shots with different aperture/ISO/exposure settings in order to learn, and this turned out to be the best one to take into post production.

I also had some issues with my tripod. It's very old and thin and not as sturdy as I'd like. There still seems to be a little movement when I press the shutter release. Once I save some dough, I'll look for a newer tripod.

Thanks in advance for the input.

Brian

[EOBeav]

First of all, welcome to DPS forums, and welcome to the world of digital photography in general. Come on in; the water's warm. There's always room for more.

I think you're doing a good job of approaching your learning curve. Go out, take pictures, bring them back, and see what you need to do to improve.

Your exposure seems to be ok. My only thought is that if you're shooting at 1/500, you have plenty of room to lower that ISO a notch or two and get it down to, say 1/250 or 1/320 or so. Even with an iffy tripod, you could get it lower than that and still be ok. Also, if you don't have a shutter release for your camera, consider using the timer to get your shot on a tripod. That way, the camera has time to stop bouncing before the shutter opens.

Compositionally, think about what you're trying to convey. My eye doesn't really seem to go anywhere in this shot. If you're taking a picture of a lumber yard building along a river, consider getting down at the river's edge and using the river as a leading line to the building. Just an idea. As it is, I'm not drawn into this image very much.

Keep shooting, and keep posting here to DPS forums. I look forward to seeing more. Thanks for posting this.

[briank]

Thanks for the tips, EOBeav. I never considered using the timer in order to avoid having to press a button. I'll give that a try.

As far as composition is concerned, I was trying to convey the buildings age and its fusion with the river and its surroundings. I wanted to do this by using lines and capturing a series of textures: the rough, rigid siding; the lush, overgrown bushes; the smooth roof; the prominent letters; the steaks of rust running down from the poles holding up the letters; and finally the chop of the river.

I certainly did have an approach, but I can see how it might have failed or at the very least, isn't really appealing.

I did learn about graduated filtering in Lightroom today, and afterwards edited the photo to get more color and texture from the water:

[crockny]

Hey - I'm originally from Maine - where are you?

I agree with the above comments -- I wouldn't have known that was a river if you hadn't said so - it's so flat. The sign is the most prominent aspect so that's where the eye goes ...

[briank]

Currently I'm in the Lewiston/Auburn area.

[crockny]

Ha - I grew up in Auburn on Minot Avenue -- my mother worked at Bates College and my stepfather at the dye factory that made the Androscoggin stink ... small world ...

[bekhiann]

I think it might have cooler from more of an angle, instead of each line being almost perfectly horizontal. Or if the lines were more perfectly straight and the lettering was off to the side for more interest. I think you can photoshop that using the lens correction filter. I like the colors of everything above the river in the first shot, and the river looks much better in the second one.

[Krusty79]

Originally Posted by briank

As far as composition is concerned, I was trying to convey the buildings age and its fusion with the river and its surroundings. I wanted to do this by using lines and capturing a series of textures: the rough, rigid siding; the lush, overgrown bushes; the smooth roof; the prominent letters; the steaks of rust running down from the poles holding up the letters; and finally the chop of the river.

If that was your compositional goal, I would have zoomed in more to eliminate that distracting house peeking through the trees. That would enable the viewer to see the textures better. Like crockny said though, my eye is attracted to the white letters. Your eye naturally goes to the lightest part of your image, so I would keep that in mind when composing future images.

[briank]

Thanks for the comments everyone. They've been a big help.