Learning Aperture and Shutter priority!

[ElRazur]

I was at the local museum today and these are my findings ;) C&C welcome. Oh all shot with the 50-200mm lens.

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/374/imgp0218u.jpg


http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9839/imgp0221.jpg (http://img839.imageshack.us/i/imgp0221.jpg/)

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http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3950/imgp0231h.jpg (http://img576.imageshack.us/i/imgp0231h.jpg/)

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http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/5567/imgp0234.jpg (http://img697.imageshack.us/i/imgp0234.jpg/)

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http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3761/imgp0237li.jpg (http://img708.imageshack.us/i/imgp0237li.jpg/)

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[Mark]

I think the right term might be shows promise but with lots to learn (as goes for any newcomer).

Good points: At least on the first two, focus is about right, decent depth of field, and exposure not bad.

The rest have issues. For example, it looks like all three shots are of the same flowers but they're all different shades of yellow. A little post-processing would probably fix that though. Focus seems off on the first of the flower shots too so I'd be inclined towards binning that one.

One big tip though: Learn the rule of thirds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds). It'll guide you a lot with composition.

PS - Keep at it! The more you do, the more you'll learn. Most of this advice would apply to a lot of my shots too and I'm still at the 'more luck than judgement' phase. :)

[Matblack]

You have some very weird bokeh going on in the goat pictures almost like ripples and I can't work out how it's happened.

With the goat pics you've shot the subject from behind which would work in the first shot if you'd cropped it a bit, again the second goat might benefit from a crop as there is a lot of back showing which for me detracts from the eye which should be the focal point of the shot.

Bee is out of focus in the third shot which spoils it for me, shot four looks like you've got a sharp focus on the subject but it needs a crop and maybe some help with boosting the levels, however because the subject has some similar colours to the flowers you might have trouble picking it out more than you have.

Last shot needs some croping but again has potential.

All in all not bad for a start, I really hope someone can give some imput about that bokeh on the goat shots because its very odd.

MB

[Mark]

Good spot and I completely missed that. I've seen it on some other shots over at TP and I'm not sure they explained it either.

There are plenty of things that can cause that sort of effect - from compression artefacts to heat haze to shooting through glass imperfections, but I'm very far from convinced of any of them.

[Matblack]

I has asked some of the lovely people at TP to have a look at this bokeh and one question which has come up is does this lens have a filter fitted?

MB

[Matblack]

El have you done any post processing in Photoshop or similar on these first two shots?

MB

[ElRazur]

Yes. Adjusted the following - Colours, Contrast, shadows and HSL in Adobe lightroom.

[ElRazur]

You have some very weird bokeh going on in the goat pictures almost like ripples and I can't work out how it's happened.

With the goat pics you've shot the subject from behind which would work in the first shot if you'd cropped it a bit, again the second goat might benefit from a crop as there is a lot of back showing which for me detracts from the eye which should be the focal point of the shot.

Bee is out of focus in the third shot which spoils it for me, shot four looks like you've got a sharp focus on the subject but it needs a crop and maybe some help with boosting the levels, however because the subject has some similar colours to the flowers you might have trouble picking it out more than you have.

Last shot needs some croping but again has potential.

All in all not bad for a start, I really hope someone can give some imput about that bokeh on the goat shots because its very odd.

MB

It was the wired fence, I was in-between the fence and a another shed behind me, so it was difficult to focus without the wired fence getting in the view.

I normally use Picasa for cropping, but Adobe light room appears to be lacking this feature (or I haven't found it yet)

Thanks though for all your inputs, all noted.

[ElRazur]

I think the right term might be shows promise but with lots to learn (as goes for any newcomer).

Good points: At least on the first two, focus is about right, decent depth of field, and exposure not bad.

The rest have issues. For example, it looks like all three shots are of the same flowers but they're all different shades of yellow. A little post-processing would probably fix that though. Focus seems off on the first of the flower shots too so I'd be inclined towards binning that one.

One big tip though: Learn the rule of thirds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds). It'll guide you a lot with composition.

PS - Keep at it! The more you do, the more you'll learn. Most of this advice would apply to a lot of my shots too and I'm still at the 'more luck than judgement' phase. :)

Thanks. :)

Yeah, they are from the same plant, and I removed the yellow tint from the last one.

Doing plenty shots and taking time with composing and getting it sharp.

[Matblack]

Lightroom has a fantastic cropping tool, its in a the develop module right at the top on the right

MB

[ElRazur]

Lightroom has a fantastic cropping tool, its in a the develop module right at the top on the right

MB


:o

[Matblack]

I hope you don't mind, I linked this to TP to get their opinon on the bokeh

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=252357

MB

[ElRazur]

Not at all. :)

[ElRazur]

I think post 11 answers your question. It was a wired fence. One sec, let me get the other shots that showed it better.

[Matblack]

If you aren't a member over there I would strongly recomend joining their membership base is second to none in the photography world and the members are very helpful, I've learned a lot just from strategic lurking :D

MB

[ElRazur]

If you aren't a member over there I would strongly recomend joining their membership base is second to none in the photography world and the members are very helpful, I've learned a lot just from strategic lurking :D

MB

I think I registered ages ago. Let me check.

In the mean time, here is one of the crap shots. :D

It shows the wired fence properly, and probably more prominent due to post-processing.


http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9282/imgp0210.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/i/imgp0210.jpg/)

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[ElRazur]

MatBlack, can you possibly search my user name in there please? I have a feeling I registered there already.

EDIT

Found it. Thanks.

[Mark]

Enjoy TP. I agree with MB's sentiments over TP - got some good airshow shots at the weekend, again, thanks to their previous advice.

If you want to get technical, it's either leftover artefacts from the fence (which you can probably carefully clone away), or the fence has caused a Moiré (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moire) pattern (oft used to be seen on TV when someone was wearing a tweed jacket) which you might be able to reduce by playing around with the crop and/or resize options you've used.