DSLRUsers.com

All,

Just signed on here today, and thought I should begin by posting a photo I've taken recently...



Here's hoping it works.

Firstly, welcome from another Neutral Bayite.

The photo works and I really like the shafting of light

Welcome to the Forum.

Perhaps this is an image straight out of the camera. I think you can improve it quite a lot using an image editor. What you would have seen and wanted to capture would have been the sun coming through the water in the fountain. The fountain in the image is too dark to really show that. However, if you had given more exposure for the fountain then the sky could have been blown out, so your exposure isn't necessarily that wrong.

You can probably make a significant improvement with levels or curves but to get full bightness in the fountain without losing the sky may require a mask. Masks and in Photoshop layers are well worth exploring.

Regards,
Murray

Murray Foote wrote:Welcome to the Forum.

Perhaps this is an image straight out of the camera. I think you can improve it quite a lot using an image editor. What you would have seen and wanted to capture would have been the sun coming through the water in the fountain. The fountain in the image is too dark to really show that. However, if you had given more exposure for the fountain then the sky could have been blown out, so your exposure isn't necessarily that wrong.

You can probably make a significant improvement with levels or curves but to get full bightness in the fountain without losing the sky may require a mask. Masks and in Photoshop layers are well worth exploring.

Regards,
Murray

Indeed, this is "straight-out-of-the-camera". Or at least as much as the JPG option is. I shoot a Rebel XSi/450d and typically shoot is high-quality JPG.

I have toyed with the idea of RAW images, but haven't really embraced the "workflow" concept yet... But I digress. And besides, that'll have to be my next post!

Thanks for the critique. Always looking to learn and improve!

Welcome Photpotamus,
Hope you enjoy the forum. Your El Alemain is a fraction tighter than I would like but think you have caught the light really well.

Photopotamus wrote:Indeed, this is "straight-out-of-the-camera". Or at least as much as the JPG option is. I shoot a Rebel XSi/450d and typically shoot is high-quality JPG.
I have toyed with the idea of RAW images, but haven't really embraced the "workflow" concept yet... But I digress. And besides, that'll have to be my next post!

In due course, I think you will find that shooting RAW and learning to use Lightroom will make a big difference.

Regards,
Murray

Great shot, I agree with Glen, a bit tight but it works.

Welcome aboard!!! PS dont feel bullied into post processing your images if you do not wish to. Each criticism can be kept in mind for your next shot, but adjustments can often add an extra something to your shots, whether you adjust the existing image or when you shoot next.

Equally, don't feel bullied into ignoring the potential advantages of post-processing.

Certainly you should learn how to use your camera, learn how to see objects in light, learn how to get to the right place and the right angle at the right time. It helps to read your camera manual back to front, to practice and to experiment. If just that satisfies you, then fine. There are some commercial photographers who just shoot jpegs out of the camera - news photographers, for example and in that case they probably only need about 2MP.

However, for the most part, I would maintain and I don't think it's even contentious, that if someone were to become increasingly interested in photography over a period of years and seek the highest quality they can achieve, they would be deluding themselves if they did not after a while embrace RAW and post-processing. That said, I also don't think there is any great need to be concerned about anything technical - that will take care of itself in due course. I believe that fundamentally Photography is to imagine and visualise what image you will produce (two dimensions in a rectangle), assess how well you achieved it and contemplate how to improve it.

It's easy to overcomplicate things, this is as complex as it needs to get and it's a process that never stops.

Regards,
Murray

I would tend to agree that the creative process doesn't need to stop once you take the photo. Otherwise all the exitement and mystery will be over once you click the shutter!

It is likely that many of the successful photogs over the years have used post processing in any shape or form in most of their images.

The first post of more to come,I have to dig up one myself


cheers