I`ve got thick skin....

[NewbieD70]

So feel free to tell me what you think.

Recently I went down to Esperance and took a heap of pics. I noticed a lot seemed to have a fair amount of noise and not crisp as you may expect. In the D70 brochure they said I would be a pro in 2 weeks... its been 3 months now..whats happening !!

All have been resized, one altered with Hue, but all the rest the same as taken. Any help appreciated. I have used bracketing, but not a lot of luck in getting that perfect pic.

http://photo.majorlook.com/

Thanks guys

[AlistairF]

Hi NewbieD70, What ISO setting are you using? Those pics do have quite a bit of noise.

Alistair

[Onyx]

Firstly, straighten those horizons! (Don't take it too personally, it's a pet peeve of mine).

Hellfire Bay & Wylie Bay - what's the foreground interest? I have no doubt they looked good when you were standing there, but you've failed to make an impression IMHO on the viewer. Either add an element as a reference point or compose so the turquoise waters fill up the frame more.

[ajo43]

Newb,

Your pics are not as bad as you say. I actually liked the first one a lot.

Some tips, get a book on composition and learn about the rule of thirds and foreground interst.

Take photos from crouching or up high. It adds interest.

Straighten out those horizones (like Onyx says) - if you switch on your grid in viewer then it will help.

I'm not sure how to fix the noise. If you are shooting at 200iso in broad daylight there should be no noticeable noise at all.

Cheers and happy shooting. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[NewbieD70]

Thanks for the replies guys.. I need all the help I can get to improve, and dont mind good critisism at all.

Alistair: My setting were ISO 200 and the dusk pics F13 1/1000 sec
Hellfire F14 1/2000, F16 1/2500
Metering was Pattern AS i said I had used the bracketing as well, however these seemed to be the best exposed of the lot.

Onyx: Thanks for the horizon tip, It actually never occured to me (and I never noticed) until you pointed this out. I will have to turn the grids on and see how I go in the new future. To be honest I`m not sure what the actual focus of the shots were, I guess I was thinking of a landscape type of portrait, but in retrospect, I guess you need a feature in those was well.

I have the INova Ebook and been reading about the rule of thirds..problem is I get shutter happy and tend to neglect the things I`ve just read.

Because I`m not a full bottle, I have been putting the camera on "auto" and seeing what selection it makes, and then playing around on manula around these settings.. is this a good thing to do for a learner?

Thanks

[sirhc55]

All digital photos are inherently soft due to the construction of the sensor so it always helps to add some USM.

As has been asked iso is important so make sure for shots of this ilk that you use 200iso.

Onyx is right about straighening and if you stuff up in the shot it can be rectified in PS

Chris

[Greg B]

Trevor, yep, straighten the horizon.

Also, you have your horizons smack dab in the middle. (This is the rule of thirds issue) Your shots will look much more interesting if the horizon is on the upper or lower third, or even closer to the top or bottom of your image.

Try cropping a couple with this in mind and you'll see what I mean.

However, better to compose in the camera - if you angle the camera down with a widish focal length, stick the horizon up near the top of the frame, you have drama. If there is a point of interest in your foreground, then you have yourself a photo.

Keep at it, that pro in 2 weeks stuff is crap, but if you get photos in six months that you are happier with than what you are getting now, your photographic progression will be well underway.

[Marvin]

Well, I use the grid lines for my horizons and they still end up crooked! I think my viewfinder is crooked! Hence, I have become an expert at the following.
An easy way to straighten your horizons in Photoshop (CS is the only one I have so not sure if you can do it in others) is to select the measure tool (if you right click on the eyedropper you will see it). Then rule a line from one side of the crooked horizon line to the other. Next, select "image", "rotate canvas", "arbitrary". Then just click OK and your canvas is rotated to straight. You then need to crop it.

[dooda]

Pay close attention to what attracts you to a scene and focus on it. Sometimes we see something and start shooting without realizing what it is we are really trying to capture because our brain does so much instinctive work between taking in a scene and then taking pleasure in it. Not so when you are taking pictures. For example, if you are taking a picture of a baby because of a great expression, there isn't much need to include it's body, or the pattern on the couch, or the person holding it etc. If you're taking a picture of water because of the color, you want to make sure that this is going to be the impact of the photo. You work backwards from there. There may be cliffs on the side, how do these impact the photo, does it add shape and interact with the water? or does it detract? This is a little less technical (not my strong point) but it will give you something to think about as you approach a shot (ask yourself why am I taking this shot?). Then when you look at your shots later, look at what works and what could have been done better, and try and do that. A word of waring, the rule of thirds works for many shots that have interacting lines, objects etc, but sometimes centering your subject creates good and unusual effects that stand out as well so don't hold youself to thirding absolutly everything.

[lejazzcat]

Hi,
Youve already had some solid advice from the others.

Ill add 2 things.

Greg B has this great postscript "If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. ~Lewis Hine"

I ask you - what is the story of your images?
what grabbed your heart and mind about the scene , and what/should would grab your audiences?

The D70 is a formidable tool - it can really help you tell your story, your message, give a voice to the voiceless, sell a dream etc .
Its not about the 6MB photos it can take at 3fps...

Wheres the emotion?

Another thing is about composition. The rules of aesthetics the guys have mentioned sure work. Remember to strip the image down to its bare essentials, everything in the image should have a damn good reason for being there.
Then slowly add bits to the composition to add color, contrast ,balance etc until you have a complete image thats worth spending $2k on a camera for.

Take your time ! ( 2 weeks is probably how long it would take to just read the manual)

Enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
Good luck mate.

[JordanP]

All of what was said ... plus,

Check some of your camera settings. It seems strage to me that you are bracketing and still not getting better exposures.

Also what lens did you use to take the images?

The noise dosen't make sense if you are 200iso unless your shot was quite underexposed and you lightened it in photoshop or something. Also what quality setting are you using? Are you shooting raw?

See if there is any exposure compensation set on the camera also.

Do you have any custom settings in the camera switched on?

Perhaps find someone who's images you like and ask them how their camera is configured.

The advice you have recieved above is invaluable, but just do a check on your configuration as it could be contributing to the frustration you are feeling.

Cheers,