New camera for xmas... where to start

[meg]

Originally Posted by napptym

This is a great image!!!

Job well done

I would have liked to take this picture with top down, but there is a police station right down the road (like literally just out of the picture) and I didn't want to spend more time parked in the middle of the road then needed.

[Motor On]

Meg they're loking great and I love the boarders sorry I missed them I'll have to add this to my subscriptions. you seem to be getting things down pretty quickly. They do look a tad under exposed, not sure if oyu know how to adjust that setting on your camera.

Here is a good place for some tips and just excellent photos to look at.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pa...ure/phototips/

[Motor On]

Meg they're loking great and I love the boarders sorry I missed them I'll have to add this to my subscriptions. you seem to be getting things down pretty quickly. They do look a tad under exposed, not sure if oyu know how to adjust that setting on your camera.

Here is a good place for some tips and just excellent photos to look at.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pa...ure/phototips/

[meg]

Originally Posted by Motor On

Meg they're loking great and I love the boarders sorry I missed them I'll have to add this to my subscriptions. you seem to be getting things down pretty quickly. They do look a tad under exposed, not sure if oyu know how to adjust that setting on your camera.

Here is a good place for some tips and just excellent photos to look at.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pa...ure/phototips/

Thanks, I think i know how to adjust the exposure, but I haven't played around with it at all. I have lots of photo reading to do. The K.I.S.S guide to photography arrived last week, I have to read that other photo book on the internet you suggested and now the national geographic one. I am sure they will help though.

[Motor On]

Glad to hear your findin things useful. Don't get overwhelmed I tend ot keep thing bookmarked and a stack of a few photobooks inthe house and I pick them up and read a little bit at a time, maybe focus on one particular skill technique or topic for a while.

It's kinda like the owners manual, you don't need to know how to manully get into the boot from day one, but if you keep your manual handy then when that day comes you can takea quick look and find the release. I know its not the best of metaphors, but I am a firm believer that the more you practice play and expirament the more fun and enjoyment you'll ge tout of it.

Also I think it is most important to remember (and easiest to forget) always shoot the photos for the ones that make you happy. I can go back 3,4,5 years and look at my photos and have them evoke emotion in me beacuse I made them something for me and regardless of wether or no they effect someone else they'll always have personal value.

Get out and play!

[macncheese]

Nice shots. I have an Panasonic LX2 which probably operates similar to your FZ7.

One of the nice features of having a non slr are the different screen display choices. Try using the grid option to help you frame shots. You seem to be getting the hang of the golden rule, whether intentional or not but its nice to have the grid as a reminder.

[meg]

Originally Posted by macncheese

Nice shots. I have an Panasonic LX2 which probably operates similar to your FZ7.

One of the nice features of having a non slr are the different screen display choices. Try using the grid option to help you frame shots. You seem to be getting the hang of the golden rule, whether intentional or not but its nice to have the grid as a reminder.

Thanks, and following the golden rule is not at all intentional. But good read in the link.

[meg]

Found this semi-good read about adding randomness to photos
http://digital-photography-school.co...o-your-photos/

[Jeremy1026]

Link dosnt work...

[meg]

Works for me, just took some extra time to load.

[Jeremy1026]

ok it came up now...1st time i tried it gave a server not found right away.

[Motor On]

may or may not apply,

http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

DPS is a great resorce, I do lots of lurking there.

Meg have any new photos? It seems like forever since I've been able to get out and take some postable ones.

[meg]

Originally Posted by Motor On

may or may not apply,

http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

DPS is a great resorce, I do lots of lurking there.

Meg have any new photos? It seems like forever since I've been able to get out and take some postable ones.

This is the only postable one I have taken lately

Inspired by me going back to ballet classes after 9 years. It was a color photo that I turned to black and white and kept the shoe color. Don't know if I like how the grey color of the tights turned out.
Anyway, I have some thoughts of shots to set up in my head, just a matter of having time to do it. Seems most of them are "feet" related, so I guess I will play around with that theme for a while.

[Motor On]

Originally Posted by meg

This is the only postable one I have taken lately

Inspired by me going back to ballet classes after 9 years. It was a color photo that I turned to black and white and kept the shoe color. Don't know if I like how the grey color of the tights turned out.
Anyway, I have some thoughts of shots to set up in my head, just a matter of having time to do it. Seems most of them are "feet" related, so I guess I will play around with that theme for a while.

This is a wonderfully framed and posed image. I played with it a little in PS if you'd like to se it with the tights a little different. I look at this and think the same photo ina high key setting (like a white sheet with more light, for a back ground and floor covering would be perfect) I think the blure grey is a little distracting as well as the speckled floor and shoe writing (easily processed out).

Take that conctructively you've clearly got the eye and inspiration for great photos, which I think is the hardest part of it all.

[meg]

Originally Posted by Motor On

This is a wonderfully framed and posed image. I played with it a little in PS if you'd like to se it with the tights a little different. I look at this and think the same photo ina high key setting (like a white sheet with more light, for a back ground and floor covering would be perfect) I think the blure grey is a little distracting as well as the speckled floor and shoe writing (easily processed out).

Take that conctructively you've clearly got the eye and inspiration for great photos, which I think is the hardest part of it all.

Yeah I was trying to find a solid wall to take the picture against but most have something in the background and all of our walls are dark.
Will have to try the sheet idea.

[Motor On]

There are also some DIY photo boxes you can make for less than $10 that give you smaller areas to do high key photos studio like photos of smaller objects, if you can find a larger box you might be able to do something similar I'll see if I can find a link for a how to, I think Speednut posted one in the Marh photo contest topic announcement thread.

[tsukiji]

Originally Posted by Motor On

There are also some DIY photo boxes you can make for less than $10 that give you smaller areas to do high key photos studio like photos of smaller objects, if you can find a larger box you might be able to do something similar I'll see if I can find a link for a how to, I think Speednut posted one in the Marh photo contest topic announcement thread.

Here's one from the Strobist

[Motor On]

Perfect, that was actually the one I was going to go hunt down! Thanks!

[speednut]

Originally Posted by meg

Yeah I was trying to find a solid wall to take the picture against but most have something in the background and all of our walls are dark.
Will have to try the sheet idea.

FWIW, I took some nice pregnancy photos of my wife a few days before she delivered our baby. I went to the local fabric store and found some cheap black and white fleece fabrics and got a couple of yards of both. Used some painter's tape to hold them on a wall and draped them over the floor. The fleece fabric worked very well as it wasn't reflective and just created a pure black or white non-textured background. Also used some workshop lights for my various honey-do projects to add additional side lighting beyond what my flash could do. Some day I'll by more slave flash units, but this time I just made do quite well with extra lighting I already had. Keep in mind though this lighting technique can fubar your white balance as the flash and other lights may (more than likely) have different color temperatures. This was a non-issue for us as I'm processing the photos as B&W images by removing the color. Hope this gives you some more ideas.

[Motor On]

Bump. I haven't had much camera time recently so can I learn vicariously from you?

[meg]

Originally Posted by Motor On

Bump. I haven't had much camera time recently so can I learn vicariously from you?

Haven't had much time to really set up any pictures lately. I find that when I take my camera out to events or to just snap some pics of something in particular they don't come out so great. Like for instance I have some from the NYC autoshow (can be seen on my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/megzmini/. I took some yesterday as the bf and I spent lots of time washing the cars. I just got the aero kit put on Boo 2.0 and he just got some new wheels on his Si, so we needed some updated car pics.
I didn't really set anything up and I feel it is hard to get creative in our driveway (and avoid things like garbage cans and oil tanks in the pics, but I think these two came out ok).

I like the way the vine kind of frames the right bottom of this one-although like I said I could do with out the garbage cans.


I like the taller pieces of grass in the foreground of this one, although I think it could have been done beter (the pic wasn't intentionally taken with the grass in it, and by the time I realized I like it, the car was moved and it was dark out).

[Jeremy1026]

Originally Posted by meg

Haven't had much time to really set up any pictures lately. I find that when I take my camera out to events or to just snap some pics of something in particular they don't come out so great. Like for instance I have some from the NYC autoshow (can be seen on my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/megzmini/. I took some yesterday as the bf and I spent lots of time washing the cars. I just got the aero kit put on Boo 2.0 and he just got some new wheels on his Si, so we needed some updated car pics.
I didn't really set anything up and I feel it is hard to get creative in our driveway (and avoid things like garbage cans and oil tanks in the pics, but I think these two came out ok).

I like the way the vine kind of frames the right bottom of this one-although like I said I could do with out the garbage cans.


I like the taller pieces of grass in the foreground of this one, although I think it could have been done beter (the pic wasn't intentionally taken with the grass in it, and by the time I realized I like it, the car was moved and it was dark out).

I like the grass picture, if only you realized it was there at the time you could have taken focus and made sure that only the grass or the MINI was in focus. Boo2.0 looks great though

[Motor On]

^^ I swear I took the exact same photo an the Chicago Auto Show!!!!

You've got a good eye and paying attention to things like framing is important, when I get into clutter enviroments like that I tend to get in close to cut out as many distractions as possible. And I keep the camera handy int he wash process....


Also heading out to a local park or even a parking lot that has a building with a non distracting wall can make a big differeance. (I'm often too lazy or just past daylight by the time I'm done washing lol)

[meg]

A few I took at MoT in NH