Photo Impressions Created 17 years ago2007-08-05 06:26:50 UTC by Strider

I've had my new Canon EOS 400D a few weeks now and i've decided it's time to start taking some serious photo's. Mosty i've taken pointless shots of my desk, my mess, and my desk and my mess together. So here's my first serious attempt at photography, it was taken in the front yard of my new house and will surely die soon due to lack of care.

The original image is somewhere around 3800x2500 pixels big, I shrunk it down and trimmed it up in Photoshop CS3, and used Lightroom to play with the temperature and lighting a little bit.

So what do you think? Is there hope for me yet? ;P
Constructive criticism is most welcome, particularly about the cropping and positioning.

Yes, there's finally hope for you. Background is a little bit wild, but it works nicely. Good contrast with the red against the blue-y green background.

I like!

Finally hope for me? Haha.

Thanks.

Hah! Winning your respect is like finding the holy grail, so thank you.

A very nice photo. IMHO The fruity things should be a little more to the middle though. Just a tad. Could use some more blur on the background.

But overall, very nice photo.

Wow, that's your front yard? I imagined it would look something more like this:

Nice photo, anyway.

ZombieLoffe: I was a little unsure about the location of the plant, I settled with far right, but now I do think it could go central a little more.

Trapt: Haha, give up already. ;P

Thanks for the feedback, though.

10MP cameras, for when you want a statue 1/2 a mile in the background to be crisp enough to crop.

Clearly you know nothing about cameras.

Clearly.

Anyway, sometime next week i'm going to try my hand at some HDR photos, as ZombieLoffe suggested on IRC. They definately are interesting.

Clearly you know nothing about cameras.

They take pictures? I only use crap like exposure if the sky is washed out.

Wow, that's looking rather nice. Post up your future shots.

Erm, if you're interested - my dad is a photography lecturer at a college, and i could ask his opinion, should you so desire.

I wouldn't mind that at all, thanks. :>

Clearly you know nothing about cameras.

oh, and you do?

lulz.

I like it.

As huntey said, post your future pics too, It'll be interesting.

oh, and you do?

lulz.

Enough to know that 10MP is a fairly small picture and will produce decent A4 prints and nothing more.

They take pictures? I only use crap like exposure if the sky is washed out.

I rest my case.

Enough to know that 10MP is a fairly small picture and will produce decent A4 prints and nothing more.

True, 3888x2592 may seem large, but it's barely scratching the surface when it comes to professional cameras. The Canon EOS 400D is only an entry level D-SLR.

Dave refuses to accept that exposure, shutter speed and the like are important for good quality pictures. There's more to it than simply the image size.

That's the downside of digital cameras, they always have an option to automatically handle all that. Takes away the actual skillz involved in taking a nice photo. The effect is that everyone is suddenly a photographer, even though most people don't know the first thing about photography.

Dave refuses to accept that exposure, shutter speed and the like are important for good quality pictures. There's more to it than simply the image size.

I've owned a film SLR before, and it was a bitch to just take one photo. Everything was manual so you had to adjust 5 things with a ring.

That's the downside of digital cameras, they always have an option to automatically handle all that. Takes away the actual skillz involved in taking a nice photo. The effect is that everyone is suddenly a photographer, even though most people don't know the first thing about photography.

Elitism is stupid. I suppose we should shun GUIs on computers because they allow anyone to use a computer, without learning actual skillz.

You can't take images with proper lighting without a decent camera (that means NOT a $100 digital camera), no matter how big a resolution it uses.. Simple as that. I'd love an SLR camera.

I suppose this is a junk camera then:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-S410-Digital-Optical/dp/B0001G6U5M

Very sexy.

@Dave: Sure is. Any digital camera that looks like that, and doesn't have a detachable lenses (of course it's not) is garbage, and can't even compete with SLR cameras.

Well, it's not a brick and takes decent pictures for only $300.

"Only" $300? That's a fairly standard digital camera, and $300 isn't really cheap as far as those go.

Elitism is stupid. I suppose we should shun GUIs on computers because they allow anyone to use a computer, without learning actual skillz.

Way to totally miss the point Dave. 10/10

"Only" $300? That's a fairly standard digital camera, and $300 isn't really cheap as far as those go.

I bought it in 2004.

That's the downside of digital cameras, they always have an option to automatically handle all that. Takes away the actual skillz involved in taking a nice photo. The effect is that everyone is suddenly a photographer, even though most people don't know the first thing about photography.

True. The auto feature takes nice photos sure, but I think great photos come from people who actually experiment with the settings. I want to try and convey a mood, rather than 'a photo of a plant'.

Well, it's not a brick and takes decent pictures for only $300.

Dave, face it, you cannot match the quality of a nice D-SLR and you're being pretty narrow-minded about this. And obviously it's not the type of camera you'd buy just for family holiday snaps.

I bought it in 2004.

What a difference that makes. Please keep your idiocy out of this thread.

Very sexy.

:>

I'm narrow-minded?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Yes.

I'm narrow-minded?

The fact that you don't realize that by now proves that you are.

The fact that you don't realize that by now proves that you are.

lol, circular logic.

That's enough, stay on topic. I don't want my thread derailed any further.

lol, circular logic.

No, it's just another strike against you that you didn't notice that you're disregarding a ton of ideas here.

EDIT: I'm sorry strider, we will be good now.

Nice Photo. :>

Thanks. :>

I'll be trying some HDR shots this afternoon.

Personally, HDR shots are a fad i'll be glad to see dissapear. Star-like lights and super saturation team up to form: HDR photos.

HDR isn't just super saturation, when it's done correctly it can give a very surreal and almost CG look to a photo. I wouldn't use it too often, but there's some gritty items around the place that i'm looking forward to photographing this way.

"Amateurs worry about equipment, pros worry about money, masters worry about light." A fitting quote for this thread, I think.

You can still shoot great pictures on some cheap equipment; regardless of fancy features or megapixels. All you need are some fundamental controls, like aperture adjustment. That said, I'm dissappointed that most digital point-and-shoot cameras lack such fundamental features; which makes working with a Digital SLR like the 350D/400D a necessity for even amateur digital photographers.

Year of your equipment is a moot point. I occasionally shoot with a 70's era Pentax ME Super that puts out some great shots on film. I'm more satisfied with the shots I've taken with it than some of the shots my newer film Canon Rebel has taken. Nothing wrong with Powershots, but if you're trying to do any sort of serious photography you really need the functions that an SLR offers; the only people I see using powershots are tourists and drunk people at parties. And it's not about elitism; it's about the art of photography. There's differences between just taking a snapshot and a photograph; they're two different hobbies of a sort. Photography has a lot more to do with light, contrast, mood, and color if applicable.

Now, with regards to your picture, Strider; I like the way you've set it up, but it could use a little more overall contrast; perhaps it's just late and my eyes are tired, but to me the plant doesn't stick out enough and almost blends in with the background, mostly towards the top. I would also back up a little bit and try and frame the whole thing in your shot or find a good flat place to crop the ends out; instead of just letting it lead up out of the frame. Other than that, cool stuff.

Oh, and it's pretty cool to see a lot of people interested in photography here. Perhaps we should start a seperate post-your-pictures thread or something?

Cool, thanks for that. In-depth advice, the way I like it. It's gotten all pissy outside so I can't play with my camera atm. :<

I'll retake the shot for practice some time and take heed to your (and others) advice.

A post-your-pictures thread is a great idea too.

Yeah lets do it. I happen to take pictures as well and would like some opinions

trapt's "photo" looks like a render to me.

Doesn't matter if it is, he likely just googled it, and only to mock me. ;P

Nice photo, and I concur.

Thanks.

Hopefully the weather will behave itself today and let me try some HDR shots.

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/5041/shuttlelaunchpc6.jpg
That's one of my favorite picture's i've ever taken. It was off an overpass in Melbourne, Florida. It was one of the space shuttle launches.

Taken with a Fujifilm A740 or something like that.

Let's not turn this thread into the post-your-pictures thread. A new one (a sticky?) should be created when the time is right.

EDIT: I could do that now, if enough people wanted it?

Oh my bad

Doesn't matter if it is, he likely just googled it, and only to mock me. ;P

Correct.