Looking for opinions

natenaaron said:

I think the lightning is fine. Are you manually focusing? If you had not cut the flower off and got your focus in order, the image would have potential.

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Yeah, it's a step in the right direction. Also, again stop and think about overall composition. I see that PCFiend took my comments about framing on the previous photo (tighter shot, flower on right, leaves on left) and applied it to this flower shot as well. I'm not sure that was the best composition for this shot, as the flower is different (MUCH more complex, odd looking) and the leaves are totally different.

In the previous shot, you had a few branches of leaves with water droplets, creating a bit of a line, and a little bit of interest from the droplets. Enough lines and interest to fill balance some of the negative space and lead your eye to the main subject. In the new shot, the leaves are just sort of a neutral background, so devoting half the picture to them might not be the best idea.

Again, the "rules" of composition are anything but. Unfortunately there's no guide to "how to get the best shot of a flower with one simple click". You have to think about each subject individually. The GREAT thing about digital, though, is that you can take a billion shots and check your composition, exposure, etc. as you go along. Or try different things with the same subject. Unlike film, it costs nothing. You might only keep 1 in 20 images, but that ratio will get better as you shoot more.

My Dad started teaching me about photography when I was around 12 (I am 49 now). He used to be a photographer and instructor at a top technical institute. From the very beginning he drilled into me the importance of composition. Having said that in my late 20's I was working in one of the biggest Graphics companies in NYC, and one of my co-workers, a super talented retoucher wanted to try photography. I sold him an old Nikkormat with some lenses. And I was blown away with his results. His photos were captivating and just exploding with creativity and "artfulness." It took me a while to understand why. He was completely untrained, but he focused ( pun intended) on lighting rather than composition. For me it was life changing in the way I created my images. For me, now the most important thing in photography is easily light. Without light, there is no photography...BTW, he/she who follows the rules will become successfully, the ones that don't will become hugely successful. Keep up to good work...

I'm generally going to be the one to go against the grain, so here goes. Put away the digital camera and get out the film. Why? Because auto-focus is not your friend. Focus is a huge part of the creative decision process. By which I mean - what do YOU want to focus on? What part of the picture do you want out of focus? You control that with two things - choice of aperture (to determine depth of field, in other words how much of your picture will be in focus) and the actual focusing of the lens. If you can't manually focus, you are losing an important part of the control that you would otherwise have over the final appearance of the image. And making more images with the digital camera you are currently using is not going to allow you to learn how to use focus creatively, nor how to get the focus right every time to convey whatever you are trying to convey. Just my .02 -

Colnago2004 said:

He was completely untrained, but he focused ( pun intended) on lighting rather than composition. For me it was life changing in the way I created my images. For me, now the most important thing in photography is easily light. Without light, there is no photography..

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Absolutely. The most fundamental of all tenants is that "its all about the light"

BowTieGuy said:

I'm generally going to be the one to go against the grain, so here goes. Put away the digital camera and get out the film. Why? Because auto-focus is not your friend.

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Yeah, thats not going to happen, in general. Buying film is a pain, getting it processed is expensive and painful. While it might have been how I learned, its simply no longer worth the effort. Digital film is free.

Don't want to use autofocus? Switch the lens to manual. Done.

Yeah, film still absolutely has it's place, and it's coming back a bit, but mostly for artistic purposes and the look it gives you. But autofocus problems is absolutely NOT a reason to go back. It's absolutely possible to get bokeh and use selective focus with a digital point and shoot, you just need to know how to use it. The OP's camera can be set to Aperture Priority mode, and after that, it's just getting the autofocus to work properly, which is dead simple:

1) Center the subject you want to be in focus.
2) Depress the shutter button halfway, and hold. The camera should autofocus and meter for the subject.
3) Keeping the shutter button half-depressed, reframe the shot to the desired composition
4) Fully depress the shutter button to take the shot.

It will be WAY easier and cheaper to learn on digital, then move to film so you're not wasting significant amounts of money on study.

I tried to explain that system somewhere on here once, you said that a lot better. This will be easier when I know all the lingo I hope!

He had previously said his camera was auto-focus only. I get the whole 'push half-way down to get focus, reframe' thing, but it's a completely different process than focusing a manual lens. I'll leave the whole digital vs film chat for another time. Digital 'film' may be free but the equipment sho' ain't. Enjoy your shooting, everyone.

PCFiend138 said:

unfortunately the camera doesn't have a manual focus. and I really do need to pay more attention to what is or isn't being cut out of the frame.

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Are you using the programmed settings? Like the flower, the running guy and the portrait? What might be fun is to take an image, the same image, using each of the programmed settings. Your camera might be limited in it's manual capabilities but that should not stop you from experimenting.

I play with my wife's point and shoot camera (nikon Coolpix) sometimes and find flowers render better on the portrait mode. There is more depth of field. If you are getting up close and personal to the flower you are, in fact, taking the flower's portrait.

Remember Think, shoot, think shoot.

BowTieGuy said:

He had previously said his camera was auto-focus only. I get the whole 'push half-way down to get focus, reframe' thing, but it's a completely different process than focusing a manual lens. I'll leave the whole digital vs film chat for another time. Digital 'film' may be free but the equipment sho' ain't. Enjoy your shooting, everyone.

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The process is different, but for practice, you can do a whole host of things with an auto-focus only point-and-shoot that will be very worthwhile.

As for digital being expensive, not so much anymore. Heck I just bought a used Rebel T1i with accessories and kit lens as a lighter walk-around camera. Cost $160, and you can definitely go cheaper than that with used (but functional) DSLR bodies. As always, the real cost is the glass, and that costs the same for film, or digital.

According to the PDF I downloaded, you CAN go truely manula if you wish, instructions on P 31. I would say stick with eitehr shutter or ap priority though. I usually roll with Ap Pri

I think you nailed it on the one above your dog.

Sorry its taken me so long to get back to this, its the busy season in retail. But yesterday I finally got back out hiking and shooting again. It was a new trail so that was cool, but it also practically followed the creek so it was really pretty scenery despite only being 1.8 miles. Ive been trying out different settings as recommended and this go I decided to just put the camera on auto and focus on the subject. Of course the shots like best are far fewer in number than shots taken, but the gap is closing noticeably. Here are a few of them. I can only post five so Ill come back with more later. And I know, the branch is in the deers face. I was getting into position to take a better shot, but another couple of hikers came around the bend and decided to practically yell "HEY LOOK A DEER!" "WOW!" "LOOK AT HIM GO!"

Just flipped those around for you

I can't offer a great deal on the technical side of things, the experts here will be able to do that!
I like the waterfall shot, maybe just come back out of it a touch for a wider view, more of where the water is entering the stream at the bottom, that's my enthusiastic amateur view of course
I am guilty of cropping too tight myself, trying to show a lot of close detail in things and losing the surroundings sometimes!

The deer would have been a really nice shot if the branch wasn't there like you say! Still got it's head in pretty good focus though.

The one with the rock trail seems to be focused on the tree in the foreground, having some of the rocks in focus would be nice in that shot.

But what do I know! I am still snapping away and learning all the time myself

Let's see what the more knowledgeable people think.

I probably would have stood back and to the right a bit on the waterfall too, but otherwise, great pic!

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree about needing to back up and pan right on the waterfall. I took another shot, but I thought Id get more level with the fall itself. Looking at both now I like the first pic better.



There were a few more waterfalls further down the creek I think I got good photos of. I wasn't looking through the viewfinder or at the screen for most of these. I just held the camera as close to the ground as I could and took as many shots and made as many adjustments as necessary.





and just a couple more, the first one is of the doe before she crossed onto the trail, and the second is of a tree that looked like it was on fire the way the sun was hitting it. I didn't manage to capture the image though.

This ones great! Good spot to sit and bust open the thermos for awhile!

WarrenB said:

Just flipped those around for you

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The first one is fine. Put the focus point on the front leaf, increase DOF, and its fine

Second one - sorry, centered, could be better

Third one, the rock wall has a good line leading away. I would have just used the leading line and forget about the tree.

Keep taking pictures!

PCFiend138 said:

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree about needing to back up and pan right on the waterfall. I took another shot, but I thought Id get more level with the fall itself. Looking at both now I like the first pic better.

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There were a few more waterfalls further down the creek I think I got good photos of. I wasn't looking through the viewfinder or at the screen for most of these. I just held the camera as close to the ground as I could and took as many shots and made as many adjustments as necessary.

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and just a couple more, the first one is of the doe before she crossed onto the trail, and the second is of a tree that looked like it was on fire the way the sun was hitting it. I didn't manage to capture the image though.
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OK, First one has decent composition. Focus on that front leaf

Second one has too much potential dynamic range. Dark shade to bright sun is too much for the dynamic range of the camera. I would try to take it all in the shade

Third one, You have to not have OOF objects in the foreground like that. Totally distracting. Sorry, I call them like I see them and that branch destroys the picture

Fourth one, the entire picture is OOF. Focus on the EYE of the wildlife. It doesnt matter if the rest of the picture is OOF but the eye of the animal needs to be in focus.

Last shot is pretty good, good color. Looking good

keep shooting.

grim said:

Fourth one, the entire picture is OOF. Focus on the EYE of the wildlife. It doesnt matter if the rest of the picture is OOF but the eye of the animal needs to be in focus.

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Yeah, the deer shot had the potential to be pretty neat. Unfortunately, the focus was off. However, given the type of camera the OP is working with, I'd chalk it up to some equipment limitations, given that he has to stick with autofocus and on point and shoots that can be quite finnicky.