My Learning curve . . . Pets / movement / B&W

SarahLee

SarahLee

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Sarah
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I hope it's OK to post this here.

I'm a total novice, but eager to learn and I thought it would be good for me to start a thread charting my progress. Hopefully I'll look back on it in months to come and see some real improvement.

I don't quite have the dedication of you lot doing the 52s and 365s, but I hope to update this whenever I try something new or get something that I think is quite good.
This really is intended as a learning thread for me so any comments and advice gratefully welcomed.

We've all got to start somewhere, so this is one of my first attempts and marks the starting point for my journey.


bee7V3-1.jpg
 
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Looking around the site, there are some really beautiful photos really taking advantage of DoF (I think I'm picking up the right abbreviations here :D), so this week I've set myself the challenge of getting a feel for the aperture settings on my camera.

For these first couple I've left shutter speed on auto, and unfortunately I don't have the option for manual focus on my camera.

I really need to give this a good go at the weekend when I have more time, but I think No1 turned out quite well and while No2 has a lot of flaws it's given me a bit of a feel for the camera. It's something I'd like to try re-shooting when I have a bit more experience and seeing how much of an improvement there is.

1)
Chess1v2.jpg


2)
Chess3V2.jpg
 
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Very nice Sarah, The Bee shot is very sharp, and i like the second shot too, nice and simple. compositionally they are not bad at all.. the only thing is id like to see them a little bigger, and a little brighter..

A great start, but i think you may have set the bar quite high.. (y)

Cant wait to see more..
 
Great entry to the forums and the best of luck to you.
(I'd show off your images more by putting them up a lil bit bigger though.)

You are already taking very nice pix btw :)
 
Well I've had a bit more time today to spend with the camera.
Trying to start using the manual settings . . . trying to see what effect fiddling with the different settings has on the photos . . . and trying to actually focus on the area that I want in focus instead of randomly snapping.

I started off retaking some of my chess shots.

1)
4-2.jpg


2)
2-3.jpg
 
If you are a novice you have loads of potential!

Some of these are excellent and show a real eye for a good photograph.

I look forward to seeing more of your images.
 
Thank you both !

Your comments have made my morning and really given me the inspiration to carry on.

Yes, I am a complete novice. I was given the S1000 for Christmas and until now have only really used it in auto mode for quick snaps.
3 weeks ago I decided to try to learn to use it "properly" and actually put some thought into what I'm photographing, so these are my early attempts.

If I carry on enjoying this hobby, I think an SLR might make my Christmas list this year :D
 
I think I'd better start saving now . . . Santa might want a little contribution towards that particular present :LOL:

:cautious: Why do I always have to pick the expensive hobbies? My other big interest is keeping tropical fish.

Thank you for the encouragement, it really does mean a lot to have other people spurring me on.
I think I might join in with the 52 in a couple of weeks. I'm planning on entering one of the themed competitions this week, just to see how I get on with shooting something to a theme.
 
SarahLee said:
:cautious: Why do I always have to pick the expensive hobbies? My other big interest is keeping tropical fish.

Thank you for the encouragement, it really does mean a lot to have other people spurring me on.
I think I might join in with the 52 in a couple of weeks. I'm planning on entering one of the themed competitions this week, just to see how I get on with shooting something to a theme.
Click to expand...


Tropical fish? Now that sounds like a very, very interesting (for that read 'difficult') subject to photograph. :)

Good luck with the competition, Sarah. :)

Jean
 
I started off this week trying to get some dog photos, but I was plagued by the dreaded red-eye (or green in the case of the dog), so my learning curve has taken a plunge into an attempt at editing :eek:

Meet Ebony, my Staffie. She's quite an old lady now as you can see by all the white around her muzzle and on her face.

We've had her for 13 years and we reckon that she was 3 or 4 when we got her. Not entirely sure because she was from a rescue centre. They believe that she had been used as a breeder and abandoned when they'd made a decent profit from her pups or got a pup who would make a better breeder.
The poor thing was so traumatised and nervous when we first brought her home (she spent the first day hiding behind the sofa) but it didn't take her long to settle in.

So here is my first attempt at red-eye removal - oh and I had a fiddle with B&W too.

Ebony2.jpg



jeangenie said:
Tropical fish? Now that sounds like a very, very interesting (for that read 'difficult') subject to photograph. :)
Click to expand...

Hi Jean !

You could say that :D :LOL:
Fast moving objects, in water, behind glass and under artificial light.
But I would love to be able to get some really good photos of them - they're such beautiful creatures.

Here is one of my Moonlight Gouramis . . . one of my better attempts at fish photography. (also sort of fits with my "pets" theme this week)

gourami2-3.jpg
 
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I thought I'd put these here as well, just so I can keep track of my progress.
That was the reason for me starting this thread in the first place!
It's only been 3 weeks since I decided to try to master my camera, but I think I can see some improvement already - or maybe it's just that I'm getting more comfortable in using it.

The theme for the "Days Ahead" challenge this week was silver. These couple of pictures gave me the chance to have a play around with shutter speed and movement.
I was quite pleased with the result, even though I don't think that they're winners - it's still early days for me.
No.2 was the one I chose to enter from my "executive toys" shots.


Cradle9.jpg


cradle7-1.jpg
 
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You have a lovely eye for an interesting picture and the quality is great!! my personal favourite is your staffie, but I am a doggie person so I guess I am biased!!
 
... and I'm another doggie fan - like Angela I've got 2, only mine are very small. :D

Ebony looks gorgeous - you've caught the shot just right, processed it well and I'd be pleased with it too. (y)

Very well done on the fish shot - like you said, there are so many factors to take into account and this looks really good. Another (y)


Silver, glass, movement, composition - you certainly don't make life easy for yourself. :D Yet another (y) from me for even trying. It would be interesting to have another bash at this in natural light (that's not a criticism, btw, just, as I said, ... it would be interesting to see the differences. :)

I can certainly see loads of progress, Sarah. You're really motoring - I'll watch out for your next shots with interest. :)

Jean
 
Sarah, you're doing really well. A good set of pictures you've posted here. And as Jean has said, you don't make things easy on yourself ;)... Your DOF images are working well, I don't know that camera, but you may find it hard to throw the background out of focus unless you get the camera in really close to what you're taking pictures of, I know with my Z2 I had to do just that.
 
What a great start you´ve made and it´s very brave of you to let us into your learning curve.

I can see already that you have an 'eye' for photography and I like everything I´ve seen so far :clap::clap::clap:

Come and join us soon (y)
 
jeangenie said:
... and I'm another doggie fan - like Angela I've got 2, only mine are very small. :D

Ebony looks gorgeous - you've caught the shot just right, processed it well and I'd be pleased with it too. (y)

Very well done on the fish shot - like you said, there are so many factors to take into account and this looks really good. Another (y)


Silver, glass, movement, composition - you certainly don't make life easy for yourself. :D Yet another (y) from me for even trying. It would be interesting to have another bash at this in natural light (that's not a criticism, btw, just, as I said, ... it would be interesting to see the differences. :)

I can certainly see loads of progress, Sarah. You're really motoring - I'll watch out for your next shots with interest.

Jean
Click to expand...

Thanks again Jean.
We used to have 2 dogs too. Unfortunately we had to have Luke put to sleep last September - he was very old and his health was deteriorating rapidly, it just wasn't fair to watch him suffer any more. It was one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but I know that it was for the right reasons.

I've actually been playing with some outdoor shots this week, but probably won't get chance to load them up until the weekend. I don't want to get too comfortable with just one type of shot, and I hadn't actually thought of reshooting with natural light. It might be something to try this weekend if we end up with rain again.

jgs001 said:
Sarah, you're doing really well. A good set of pictures you've posted here. And as Jean has said, you don't make things easy on yourself ;)... Your DOF images are working well, I don't know that camera, but you may find it hard to throw the background out of focus unless you get the camera in really close to what you're taking pictures of, I know with my Z2 I had to do just that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the support John.
:D I'm not very good at taking the easy route . . . I think that if something's worth doing, it's worth putting everything into and finding where your limits are.

Getting the background oof is proving very difficult with this camera though. As you said you have to get in so close and I'm finding that close up the camera really has problems focusing.
Even in macro mode it's not great . . . plus the camera will only focus on the centre of the image in macro and disables some of the other functions too. It's quite infuriating !


Bruja said:
What a great start you´ve made and it´s very brave of you to let us into your learning curve.

I can see already that you have an 'eye' for photography and I like everything I´ve seen so far

Come and join us soon (y)
Click to expand...

Wow more great comments. . . thank you so much!
I really don't mind sharing. It's great to get some encouragement from others and everyone started somewhere.
Besides, I think it'll benefit me to look back on this thread in months to come and see how far I've come.

At the moment things are quiet at work, so I'm trying to cram as much photography in as I come. Closer to Christmas I might have to become a purely weekend photographer again !
 
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