First shots with 300D

[Frosty]

Finally took the plunge and splashed out on a 300D on thursday, now I really see what all the fuss is about :)

Here's a complete mix of photos I've taken, all shot with the 18-55mm kit lens. Any critique would be great, gotta learn somehow :)

http://img233.echo.cx/img233/941/climbers7hr.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/2820/cut0hc.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/1781/grape4is.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/4231/orange8wi.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/7057/ram6xd.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/9539/silouhette1mw.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/5921/sunset7vh.jpg
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/4973/woodpile2vd.jpg

[Matt]

Welcome to the forum Frosty.

You've done really well with the sunset silohette piccies, especially the second. I like the use of the trees for framing.

I like the idea with the grape shot, but it could probably have done with a bit more space between them.

[CT]

Yo Frosty! :D

Happy new camera! 8) Some of your shots seem to have been taken as an exercise in depth of field control, rather than serious picture attempts - not that that's any bad thing at all, far from it. The landscapes are good, but out of the others your grape shot is the best for me - you've created a successful image out of minimal subject matter and just two colours (How did you light it?) It's a shame you cropped it so tight on the right as that clipped shadow is really crucial to your composition and you need to see it all. If you take the shot again, try leaving more space to the right of the pic and cropping tighter on the left.

Great first pics though with a new camera. 8)

[Frosty]

Thanks for the comments guys :)

I see what you both mean with the grape shot now I look at it, unfortunately I've cropped the shadow off like that on the photo, not in photoshop. As for the lighting, I just used a 60w desk lamp pointed at the grapes, and a plain piece of white card, and set a manual white balance from the card. It still needed the levels tweaking in PS, so I think I need to learn a bit more about adjusting the wb to get it right without PS.

[CT]

I don't see much wrong with the WB mate to be honest. By far the best approach to WB though is to shoot in RAW format. When you shoot in raw WB processing in the camera is omitted, but it's easily adjusted in RAW processing software. RAW is nothing to be afraid of, once you realise how much control you have over your final results you wont want to shoot in anything else.

You can download Raw Shooter Essentials from here...

http://www.pixmantec.com/index2.html

It's the poodles privates and it's free! Much better than the Canon software too.

[milou]

He speaketh the truth concerning RawShooters - 'tis rather fab.

Photos - personally I like the second sunset due to the tree frame and the wood stack. I also like yer site layout - very clean etc.

[Frosty]

I don't see much wrong with the WB mate to be honest. By far the best approach to WB though is to shoot in RAW format. When you shoot in raw WB processing in the camera is omitted, but it's easily adjusted in RAW processing software. RAW is nothing to be afraid of, once you realise how much control you have over your final results you wont want to shoot in anything else.


I'll try shooting in raw to see if that makes a difference, but in that grape shot I had to take a manual white balance in the camera so that the whole thing wasn't tinted an orangey colour, but then the shot was really dull greys, I had to tweak the levels again in photoshop to get it white like that. I just thought it was easier to get the correct colours straight from the camera with a DSLR.

I've downloaded RawShooters, will give it a go later, but should really be revising now :(

[matty]

Hi Frosty, welcome along!

Did you apply any sharpening to the shots? the 300d only does a little sharpening as standard, and adding a little unsharpmask in PS really makes a difference. Great shots though, welcome to the 300d club!

[Steve]

Welcome Frosty.

The two shots that stand out for me are the ones that have already received much of the comments. The second tree silhouette due to the natural framing and great sunset lighting and the grape shot. The camera can be fooled by a predominant white background and may underexpose due to this, that would cause a dark picture and could be one of the reasons that would require you to adjust levels afterwards.