Beginner New to photography.

My 2¢ - they're all technically ok at first glance (I'm not shrieking and thinking "OMG! Did his guide dog take that?")

1 to me has potential (as others have said, needs something other than the bush)
2 might work better with a slower shutter to give motion blur in the water
3 needs a lion in it :cool:
 
for landscapes have a stop on the right hand side. let me explain ,it is like reading a page the eye starts on the right of a line then comes to having to go onto the next line as there is nothing else to read. Same with landscapes, you may not be aware but the eye does the same with a landscape photo ,start at the left and needs a stop on the right
You don't want the eyes leaving the frame but what's all this 'stops' on the right hand side? I'm not saying this to brag but I've won awards in major landscape competitions and I've never ever heard of that or followed such prescriptive compositional advice. There's nothing to stop you leading in from the middle or right, the image just has to balance to hold the eyes and lots of things come into play such as lighting, clouds, trees etc. Composition is very hard to teach and it can be quite personal to the photographer, but best to read up from well-respected sources from the likes of Charlie Waite, Joe Cornish, David Noton etc
 
Oh and nice first shots Dan, you clearly have a photographic eye. For number one just consider what you're cutting off (the main tree and the edge of the curved path - these shouldn't be cropped, especially the tree). You could possibly go in tighter to crop out the person or go back when no one is around, a misty frosty dawn could be quite good. 2 you could crop a little off the left side to balance up the shot and 3 could be belting in golden hour light
 
Just had a quick play with the first image, since you had YES against 'edit my images' in your user ID:

notmyimage-.jpg

Quality isn't great because it's a jpg saved a couple of times. Basically I cropped it to bring out what seems to be the stronger elements while removing the distracting parts, then using Lightroom I lifted highlights in curves, reduced highlights and lifted shadows in basic editing, reduced the green cast, added a little contrast, set black and white points and added a tiny bit of clarity. The image is quite smudgy, but graphically stronger with some interest from the wall and the bush + reflection as subject.
 
Thanks Toni. Edit away brother...

Great to see another perspective of an image I've taken.

I've had a go at editing with the free Sony software that came with the camera. I dont think I can do some of the things you've mentioned though.

I'll have another play tomorrow with some of the other crap snaps.
 
I've had a go at editing with the free Sony software that came with the camera. I dont think I can do some of the things you've mentioned though.

Pretty much all those control options should be there, though possibly with different names except maybe curves.
 
I wouldn't change to portrait from landscape orientation as Toni has done in his edit, that crop is way too tight for my liking and loses the depth of the original because you lose most of the background.

Golden hour is the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, the sun casts golden light at those times although in winter as the sun doesn't rise very high the light can be favourable all day. In spring and summer you'll find that light doesn't tend to last very long and it can be major challenge to shoot in the middle of the day (for landscapes anyway)
 
See different people different ideas, you have to decide what you like
 
Ok, So I've been out today for the first attempt. I really enjoyed being out, purely with the intension of taking photographs. I wasn't sure what photographs I was planning on taking though, and I think this is where I struggled most (Apart from not actually knowing what I'm doing obviously). I didn't know what to look for.

I think I grasp the basic concept of exposure, as you'll see though, getting it right I've not got the hang of...however it is day 1.

Subject matter is now something I will concentrate on I think. Find something/somewhere I like the look of and practice on that until I get it right.

Anyways here are the crap snaps I promised...

View attachment 264848

View attachment 264852

View attachment 264850

Hey! You're having fun! I have to say that in all 3 images the tones are pretty good - tonality's about the extremities of light and dark and all of what's in between, and how it's all distributed to give credence and meaning to the photo.

The top one's fuzzy - what happened there?

Great that you're going around looking in the way that you seem to be with these.
 
Out again today, wandering around one of the local nature reserves (Sandwell Valley if anyone knows it)

Started wandering off the beaten path and trudging through the wooded areas and came across this rose hidden behind a tree. Obviously placed there by someone and looks as though in memory of someone...perhaps I stumbled across someones special place?

The tree moss was green but came out Blue in the shot. Anyone tell me why?

Yellow Rose.JPG

Managed my first moving water type shot aswell.


Moving water.JPG
 
Last edited:
Out again today, wandering around one of the local nature reserves (Sandwell Valley if anyone knows it)

Started wandering off the beaten path and trudging through the wooded areas and came across this rose hidden behind a tree. Obviously placed there by someone and looks as though in memory of someone...perhaps I stumbled across someones special place?

The tree moss was green but came out Blue in the shot. Anyone tell me why?

View attachment 264903

Managed my first moving water type shot aswell.


View attachment 264905

The rose is very nice. The lichen night be blue because the white balance is off. If the ambient light isn’t white, like if you’re inside with a fluorescent light then the image will look orange. If there’s a clear blue sky and you’re shooting in the shade, it will look bluish etc. The camera tries to correct for this and make everything look natural with auto white balance but sometimes gets it wrong. Depending on your camera you might be able to set it to the conditions you’re shooting in, like overcast, shade, full sun etc. If you shoot RAW you can adjust it in post processing but I’m terrible at that - it takes a good eye for colour and experience.
 
I've been trying to crop her out for years...

What's 'golden hour'?

The 'golden hour' around sunrise and sunset is rather less about the colour of the light, and more about the low angle of the sun that casts longer shadows which emphasise interesting texture and shape. Morning is favourite as the air tends to clearer, the dust etc in the atmosphere having settled overnight.

Conversely, around midday with bright sun directly overhead is usually the least favourite time, casting dark shadows that are less interesting and can be unattractive on faces under eyes etc.
 
Back
Top