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Hi Everybody!

It has been a while since I asked for help trying to decide what lens to buy. Thank you everybody that add their wisdom and experience. Finally I decided to get a Canon 500D with the EF 17-40mm F/4L USM and the EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM. These are the some of the first images I took last Sunday, the first time I was out with the new toy.


Canon 500D, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM: 1/500 F/6.3 200mm ISO100


Canon 500D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM: 1/250 F/10 40mm ISO100

The photos have just been resized. I like the first one, the second one is a bit too grey, the day was not great for shoots like that (or I do not know how to take a good one), maybe in B&W would look better.

I am still learning how to handle a DSLR but hopefully I will be posting more regularly in the following weeks.

I love my new toys! I will be going out more often to snap and shoot, too bad real life may have other plans tho.

Congratulations on the purchase, and well done. I'm sure that the gear you've selected will give you many hours of learning and pleasure.

So let's start with the learning right now: the overcast conditions in the second image are actually very good for photography. Those conditions will provide you with good even light, and no harsh shadows. As you learn to take advantage of the features that the camera offers you, you will understand just how good that sort of light can be.

In the first image ... nice and sharp on the pelicans, but why only half of them? Were they in wheelchairs? I think I understand what you may have been trying to do, but when shooting, it's always wise to cast your eye around the viewfinder and look for simple but common composition errors. Stuff like trees coming out of the head of your subject, crooked horizons, or, as in this case, heads or feet being cut off. Consider how this first image might have looked had you pointed the camera down a little bit, getting the whole of the birds in the image. :}

gstark wrote:So let's start with the learning right now: the overcast conditions in the second image are actually very good for photography. Those conditions will provide you with good even light, and no harsh shadows. As you learn to take advantage of the features that the camera offers you, you will understand just how good that sort of light can be.

Do you mean changing the exposure settings? I have not thought about it until now

gstark wrote:In the first image ... nice and sharp on the pelicans, but why only half of them? Were they in wheelchairs?

, it would have looked awesome. There was another pelican closer to me, trying to get the full body of these ones would have included half of the other one. I need to develope patience if I want to take half decent pictures.

As I said, I am having lots of fun with this.

Thank you for the pieces of advise, I'll keep an eye on the other "objects" in the shoot, I had a portrait of a friend and it seems she had a nose coming from her ear, there was somebody behind her... it was a terrible shot

Kakodrilo wrote:the overcast conditions in the second image are actually very good for photography

I think Gary means it's good for portrait photos as it gives a very even light. you just need to spot meter the person and expose.

Also the overcast conditions can make the colors richer; atleast it did in the film days....

Congrats on the purchase! I hope that you found our advice to be useful rather than confusing. Enjoy the new toys and remember to keep posting!

aim54x wrote:I hope that you found our advice to be useful rather than confusing.

It was very helpful, before I posted I had been tossing between the EF-S 17-55 F2.8 and the EF 17-40 F4L, so when I read the comments it was good knowing people's experience rather than sterile lenses reviews (very informative, but lacking that human/personal touch more often than not).

Thanks!

it just lacks natures biggest flashgun— the sun. am i wrong or am i wrong?