Daily Mandy's 365 Challenge started 17/11/13 Day 262 Added

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Well after spending some time on this site over the past few weeks i have decided to take part in this. Mainly because i had hit a slow spot in my photography and i thought this might be an excellent way for me to sharpen my photography skills as well as my pp skills. I am looking forward to seeing where this journey will take me, i was going to wait until the 1st of January to start but i feel nows a good a time as any to get stuck in and hopefully i will improve throughout my challenge........ So with out further ado i will kick the challenge off with my first image.

1, A keyboard ( please forgive the watermark through out the image as i dont have the full version of the software )

Day 1


keyboardhdr-1
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr
 
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Welcome Mandy. It gets tough through the year, hopefully you can stick it out. I have 45 days left and counting :D
 
TBH I didn't even realise it was HDR - the tree trunk shot on Flickr looks more obvious - nice and subtle on this one...
 
well so far so good i think :shrug: i have reached day 4 off the challenge still a long way to go. I am enjoying my self and i am learning all the time just hope i am improving.

Day 4

Ducati


ducati
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr

This is a model off one off my favorite model motorbikes the image was take with my 600d and my kit lens.
 
Lovely shot, but agree with Jim, - it looks like the levels are a bit low. Beautiful shot though (and lovely bike!)
Hope you don't mind, but I've tweaked the levels (nothing else) to show you what I mean. ALl I did was open the levels (ctrl+l) and slide the furthest right all the way to where the levels are no longer flat.
View attachment 1210

Thanks Nat the original looked ok on my PC and I pad but then my displays are bright. Thanks for the tweak I know what to look for next time I play with on board flash and black card.
 
I have been a little busy the past couple of days so i am having a bit of a catch up with my challenge.

Day 5 Biscuits


Biscuits
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr

This again was taken with my 600d, I thought id try my hand in a black and white conversion as i was not happy with the colour version.

Day 6 Money


Money
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr

I was feeling a little in the dumps yesterday so thought this image might lift my spirits.

Day 7 Camera


400d
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr

Just a simple black and white conversion of my 400d taken with my 600d, thanks to anyone who takes the time to look.
 
I like the composition on that - still think you have a tendency to underexpose slightly though :)
 
Well still going to be fair i am not sure if i like what i have done with this image but i Will post it anyway i haven't had the best of days. This image was taken on my 400d as I haven't used it for a while and using a 35 - 80mm lens.

Day 9 Gaming


untitled-1-3
by pinkbikerbabe 1, on Flickr

I was attempting to show part of the controller highlighted but i am not sure it has worked all that well.
 
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Good start I think. Lots of good subjects to experiment on. - partic like the bike and the ring.

ButI do agree strongly with Jim (shotokan) that you tend to underexpose all of your shots and so they lack a bit of immediate impact.
Try experimenting with your settings on the same photo. If they are too dark then i agree that PP will usually make appalling colours of them!!
Also do you have a bracket function on your camera? If so try a few with one stop difference either way in 2 steps(5 shots in all) and see what difference there is.
 
...you shot in Manual mode - any particular reason ? - also used multi segment metering might be worth trying centre weighted or spot metering on the subject in shots like this...

If shooting manual then maybe use the histogram display to check exposure if your Livevue on the LCD doesn't show the correct results ?

P.S. - hope you have a better day tomorrow and are feeling better :)
 
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Good start I think. Lots of good subjects to experiment on. - partic like the bike and the ring.

ButI do agree strongly with Jim (shotokan) that you tend to underexpose all of your shots and so they lack a bit of immediate impact.
Try experimenting with your settings on the same photo. If they are too dark then i agree that PP will usually make appalling colours of them!!
Also do you have a bracket function on your camera? If so try a few with one stop difference either way in 2 steps(5 shots in all) and see what difference there is.

Thank you for taking the time to view and comment, the bike is one of my fav shots I was deliberately looking for a slightly darker effect for the bike, if you know what I mean.

I do struggle with indoor/still life subjects it's not really my thing but I am keen to learn and improve.

I use a canon 400d and a canon 600d both have bracketing available to me, I find I am limited with the indoor stuff as I have to rely on my cameras on board flash. And I find that's far to harsh to use ( I hope to get a proper flashgun for Xmas ).
 
try some folded tissue/kitchen towel over the pop-up held in place with an elastic band as a makeshift diffuser - can also get some neat little plastic clip on ones on eBay quite cheaply

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Colour-...otography_Flash_Diffusers&hash=item564a281edf

Jim
:agree:

Also, if you are going to shoot more static indoor objects, try a light box and you can use household spotlights/desk lights to illuminate. See this cheap setup http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
 
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