[Cadence]

Originally Posted by SystemOfAJon

I like this one. Nice abstract.

I like the idea here. Just a few things though: First the horizon is tilted. Second, I don't know if you were going for the overall blue tone in these photos (which if you were then disregard my advice), but you might want to consider adjusting your white balance (if you're shooting with a digital) to "overcast" or "cloudy" in a shot like this. The colors would then be more true to life.

Also...if you want the snow to stay white...overexpose by 1/3 of a stop or maybe 2/3. Camera light meters want to make everything a nuetral grey color...so whites will lose their whiteness and blacks tend to lose their deep blackness.

But this is all if you weren't really trying to go for the blueish effect.

3rd....with a dramatic sky like this...look into what's called a "nuetral graduated" filter. It keeps the detail in the clouds while still keeping the detail in the ground. Skies are usually a lot brighter than the ground so when the camera meters for the sky it'll come out nice, but the ground will usually be a lot darker with little to no detail. Or the opposite will happen - the camera will meter for the ground (which seems to be the case here) and the sky will lose it's detail.

So a NG filter corrects that.

~Jon

I definitely like the composition on this one a lot. I would use the NG filter on this one and also change the white balance and overexpose a little. And keep a watch out on those horizons.

I hope you don't mind my critique, if so I apologize. NIce job, though.

[Cadence]

Jon - I used a Neutral Grad on this one.

Originally Posted by Cadence

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Cadence

I like this one, definitely. Good job. The only thing I don't like about it (which isn't that big of a deal anyway) is that it's a tad too grainy. Consider using a slower ISO speed (like 100, 200). But I do like the lighting and composition.



No more cheating than what the professionals did in the darkroom.

Thanks for the advice. I don't really know much about this sorta stuff right now, and I don't really have that great of a camera, but I try. Next year I'll be taking a digital photography class though, so that will be fun.

[Jonular]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Haha i know what you mean, but you gotta post them so as to get critiques so as to get better.

Yes, this is true.

Originally Posted by Brandon

mmm iBook.

I use a Nikon D70. I love it, but I'm debating if I want to switch to Canon or not.

How much you're thinking of spending dictates what you get. The more money the better the camera. (usually)

Yeah, I'm using my mom's Nikon Exilim...I haven't had the money to get one that would satisfy me. And frankly, I'm not interested in photography enough to top an iBook on my priorities list. Of course, seeing as how a year ago, I didn't care about photography at all, that interest could change a lot. Hah.

I've heard some good things about Sony's Cyber-Shot...But I don't know.

Originally Posted by Brandon

First the horizon is tilted.

Gah. I was standing on a hill and took it in a hurry, so I wasn't paying much attention. Oops.

Originally Posted by Brandon

Second, I don't know if you were going for the overall blue tone in these photos (which if you were then disregard my advice), but you might want to consider adjusting your white balance (if you're shooting with a digital) to "overcast" or "cloudy" in a shot like this. The colors would then be more true to life.

Also...if you want the snow to stay white...overexpose by 1/3 of a stop or maybe 2/3. Camera light meters want to make everything a nuetral grey color...so whites will lose their whiteness and blacks tend to lose their deep blackness.

But this is all if you weren't really trying to go for the blueish effect.

Ah, okay. Thanks a lot! I was wondering why some of the pictures I'd take with a lot of snow would be quite blueish. Of course, some pictures would be blue, and some wouldn't, even though I took the picture at the same spot....

I really haven't done much in the settings with the camera, and there's really not much to do there...But I'll try it out sometime.

Originally Posted by Brandon

3rd....with a dramatic sky like this...look into what's called a "nuetral graduated" filter. It keeps the detail in the clouds while still keeping the detail in the ground. Skies are usually a lot brighter than the ground so when the camera meters for the sky it'll come out nice, but the ground will usually be a lot darker with little to no detail. Or the opposite will happen - the camera will meter for the ground (which seems to be the case here) and the sky will lose it's detail.

So a NG filter corrects that.

Okay. What exactly is a filter, though? Something you attach to the lens?

Originally Posted by Brandon

And keep a watch out on those horizons.

Err....What's wrong with the horizon in that picture?

Originally Posted by Brandon

I hope you don't mind my critique, if so I apologize. NIce job, though.

No, no. I really appreciate it. I'd really like to become better.

Originally Posted by Brandon

Jon - I used a Neutral Grad on this one.

Ah, okay. I was wondering how you got the clouds to be so clear.

~Jon

[Jonular]

Is there anything I could have done to make the door and whatnot under the roof in this picture show up? Everything under it is so dark as it is.



~Jon

[Young Twig]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by SystemOfAJon

Is there anything I could have done to make the door and whatnot under the roof in this picture show up? Everything under it is so dark as it is.



~Jon

Yes...by overexposing it just a little more.

When we look at a scene like this our eyes and mind can register those dark parts AND those light parts....a camera can't. If something is overwhelmingly bright it'll expose for that....or if something is overwhelmingly dark...it'll expose for that. If too bright you'll lose detail in the shadows (what happened here) and if too dark you'll lose detail in what highlights you may have.

So usually its a give and take sort of thing. In high contrast scenes such as this you'll have to decide what you want to sacrifice - the detail in the shadows or detail in the highlights.

However, this scene would have done nicely by overexposing it a little. Generally that would cause you to lose detail in the highlights (the snow in this case), but in this photo that wouldn't really matter so much and plus your snow would actually be white.

So...I hope that helped some.

[bleached]

hey, i'm gettin into photography. i guess i've been working at it for about 4 or 5 months. i really really love it! i don't have that much time but i'll be on my way home from school with a stack of homework and look up at the amazing sky and i just can't resist. i love the sky. i was putting all my "good" photos in an album today and out of a total of 82 like 60 of them are clouds. and like all the rest are trees. that may make them sound boring and repetitive but they're all really different. i guess one thing that made me fall in love with photography is just my complete and utter amazement at the beauty that i am surrounded by constantly everyday that goes unnoticed by so many. there are some photos i really wish i could post here but i use an old minolta(it's a steel back with an awsome shutter speed knobby). i have a nikon coolpix but i just prefer film and my minolta. i only have one pic on my comp and keep in mind it's scanned upside-down. i can't scan pics at my house or else i would post a ton.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by bleached

i guess one thing that made me fall in love with photography is just my complete and utter amazement at the beauty that i am surrounded by constantly everyday that goes unnoticed by so many.

I'm with you, Bleached. Nature has always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Funny thing is that half the time I see the best photo opportunities are the times I forgot to bring my camera with me and the times I do remember I end up not seeing much...or maybe just looking too hard and missing the point. I kind of count it as another cool factor for God, though. All those moments and scenes we were part of and wished we had our cameras but didn't. It's sorta like God painted those pictures just for us and whoever may have been sharing the moment with us...like it was meant for only us. Only you saw it from that exact same vantage point at that point in time, so it was a moment created for You to point back to God. Cool stuff when you think about it. Here are a few pics from vacation this summer in Miami. First one is sunrise from our top floor balcony and the last two are sunset on the way back from Key West. Taken with a Canon PowerShot A75 in manual mode.

[leiarose]

Originally Posted by Brent

Taken with a Canon PowerShot A75 in manual mode.

This is what I use.

A sunrise I took on a visit/vacation.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Brent

I kind of count it as another cool factor for God, though. All those moments and scenes we were part of and wished we had our cameras but didn't. It's sorta like God painted those pictures just for us and whoever may have been sharing the moment with us...like it was meant for only us. Only you saw it from that exact same vantage point at that point in time, so it was a moment created for You to point back to God. Cool stuff when you think about it.

I was thinking that very same thing yesterday. The clouds and the mood were so incredible, yet I left my camera at home.

Taken with a Canon PowerShot A75 in manual mode.

Great shots. My friend has that camera and it takes really great photos.

[Jonular]

Found a section of bullet train tracks the other day that didn't have a fence on the side...allowing me to take some pictures of the trains. The camera I'm using doesn't have anything slow enough to take any clear pictures of the trains. But I do like how this one turned out.



Also, I'm looking at a Canon Digital Rebel (Or "Canon Kiss" as it's called in Japan). Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with it? My Dad has a good Canon lens that he'll let me use, if I just get the body. It all depends if I get to start another English class in April or not....

~Jon

[bleached]

Originally Posted by Brent

Funny thing is that half the time I see the best photo opportunities are the times I forgot to bring my camera with me and the times I do remember I end up not seeing much...or maybe just looking too hard and missing the point. I kind of count it as another cool factor for God, though. All those moments and scenes we were part of and wished we had our cameras but didn't. It's sorta like God painted those pictures just for us and whoever may have been sharing the moment with us...like it was meant for only us. Only you saw it from that exact same vantage point at that point in time, so it was a moment created for You to point back to God. Cool stuff when you think about it.

that's how i feel a lot of the time. i was in the car on the way to Berkeley from sacramento and we were driving over the yolo causeway and the scenery was amazing. the clouds were so beautiful because it was about a storm was coming and so the clouds were making these awsome formations with all different colors of clouds. and on the drive there, there are all these big green hills and it was so spectacular but of course i didn't have my camara. and so many times i feel that way that God createed art just for me.

[Signing&Singing]

this first one is a personal fav. but i like the others as well

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Signing&Singing

this first one is a personal fav. but i like the others as well

Did you actually do those yourself? Amazing. I love them.