Learning to see...

[cyanide]

EDIT 2: Links should hopefully work properly now.... (06 Mar)
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While I haven't had much chance to get out and take photos with my brand new D70 yet, I thought I might ask for some critique on a few of my older shots (taken with an older Canon digi P&S - hope that's OK!! hehehe).

Most of these were taken as snapshots, so they are not really anything special, but this whole posting images for public consumption thing is new so I may as well start with ones I can fall back on the "I know it's bad, but hey, I didn't really try" excuse! Just kidding - please don't be afraid to say what you think.

The REAL pressure will come when I have to post newer photos!!

I would welcome any comments on how these shots could have been better, for my future attempts.

So, but here are a couple:


(Straight from camera, no pp)


(Upped saturation a little to get the sand colour more accurate) (I am new to PS, too, so not very adventurous)

Cheers

(I have to run out now so apologies for likely not responding until tomorrow)

[PlatinumWeaver]

Images arnt there...

[cyanide]

My apologies - obviously I am seeing them from my cache.

I had trouble uploading to pixspot (yes, I kept the images small) so I just lkinked to my photoblog.... sorry folks... will try pixspot again tomorrow, but for the moment, you can see them here:

http://digitalcyanide.blogspot.com/

"Reaching for the sun" and "Beyond the Gate..." were the ones I tried to post... but comments on any are welcome...

[PlatinumWeaver]

OKay - after visiting the website the pictures now seem to work... this is a little odd... problem could've been me all along..

[Hybrid]

I'm not seeing the photos either and I believe that is because blogger is blocking all hotlinking (linking from a different server) of images from their site. A lot of sites do this to prevent bandwidth theft (or so that if people are viewing the images, it will only be from their site).

Once you visit the site, the browser's cache kicks in and they seem to display fine in the hotlinking site (ie. this forum).

As for the photos, you've got some nice stuff there Cyanide... I really like the perspective on some of them and the ones taken from a height are interesting. Just remember, it's not the camera that makes good photos (sure, it can help a little) - it is you. You're taking nice photos with a P&S so I think we can expect the same and better from the D70

Happy snapping,

Stephen

[cyanide]

Grrrrr... I must be doing something wrong??

Every time (it has worked only once out of about 50 tries so far) I try to upload onto pixspot, for example using a 585kB file, I get the following message:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 8388608 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 4800 bytes) in /home/virtual/site4/fst/var/www/html/include/picmgmt.inc.php on line 209

Not sure why....

Edit: I get the "1 files uploaded successfully" message, but then when I click "Continue", I get the above error message...

[cyanide]

Alright... perhaps I was trying with files that were still too big.... I had read the pixspot limit of 1024kB and was *well* under that, but after reading a few threads here I noticed the recommendation for <200kB files for our unfortunate brethren on dialup.... and when I re-re-sized the file, it went straight through....

Hopefully all should be good now!! Will try to embed in the next post, after I've resized and uploaded a couple more...

Chrs

[Hybrid]

Something is causing the PHP script to max out the 8MB memory allowance - I'd contact your host to see about it...

As for image size, you should be able to get a decent image under or around 200kb. Make sure you use "Save for web" if you have Photoshop... You probably shouldn't go above 700 or 800px wide anyway. I am one of those unfortunate ones still stuck on dialup... can't get ADSL... heck, can't even get 56k thanks to telstra and their stupid pair gain system.

Stephen

[cyanide]

Thanks for the advice, Hybrid.

What changes does "Save for Web" make that a normal "Save" doesn't do? (I am only using PS 4 atm)

[Hybrid]

No probs

Save for Web in Photoshop is really useful because it lets you see both the file size and quality of the image before you save it. As you change the quality, the image and file size is updated. That way you can go for a balance between speed and quality without having to mess around with resaving all the time. I'm a web developer so it is something I use all the time and is crucial for making fast sites

Cheers,

Stephen

[cyanide]

Sounds like a great tool - unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in my (quite old) version 4.

Hopefully I will be upgrading to PS7 (or PSCS?) sometime soon so will certainly make use of it when I do.

Cheers

[Hybrid]

It has been quite a while since I used v4 of photoshop but I think the save for web only came in version 5... I currently use v7 but get CS (v8) if you can since it has some nice extra tools such as the shadows and highlights option.

Cheers,

Stephen

[PlatinumWeaver]

It should be noted that using 'Save for web' strips all EXIF information from the photo. quite often it is useful having this information in as other photographers can have a look and see what aperture/shutterspped/focal length/iso/metering mode etc you used..

[cyanide]

Good point, Dan - I didn't realise that.

I often look for EXIF data on photos myself, so I would certainly like to retain/provide it on any that I were to post.

Having said that, those Canon P&S ones I have already posted don't seem to have any EXIF data.... hmmm....

[Hybrid]

Ah yes, good point indeed... I do believe you can get EXIF programs that will transfer the EXIF data from the original into the new file but that is an extra step that you might not want to do.

For a lot of my quick work, I actually tend to use Irfan View (http://www.irfanview.com) - very nice little program that does a pretty good job with resizing / cropping. It also allows you to keep the EXIF data in the new files.

While I'm on the topic of free software, you might also want to check out Picasa (http://picasa.com/) it is made by Google and has alot of nice features and a very slick interface.

Cheers,

Stephen