Trying my hand at Photography.

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

I'm only using a simple digital camera (not one of those big SLR things, wouldn't mind one though!), its this one, but I've only really used the Macro mode and its Standard focus, I've not played around with any settings.

I also don't really know about post processing, so I just made these first two pics black & white, then adjusted their levels until they looked sort of how I wanted. This was done in Paint.net.

First pic is Rachael in the Woods, taken down the road from us.

The second pic is of some ice melting from a tree branch in the same area, this was taken using the camera's Macro mode, although not sure if it was needed or not (lol)

Some pointers would be cool, I know learning more about the camera will help no end, and also learning techniques in Paint.net will also be helpful.

I'll no doubt post more up before the week is out, but if you have a Flickr account, I'm at http://www.flickr.com/people/rivaoni

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

Another one, this ones in colour, I just did "Auto levels" as the pic was a bit washed out. It's of the River Great Ouse which runs through Bedfordshire (and therefore, Kempston where I live).

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

Triple post, found this one on my hard drive that I quite like...

The only problem I've noticed is the bleached white section on the petrol tank, it should be white with a Triumph emblem.

Chibi Knight · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:15 pm Post subject:

They look good Riva. There's only so much you can do with a digital point and shoot so don't worry about some pics being "washed out". I use my canon powershot mainly for candids and the macro feature. Everything else I use my Canon XSi. There are a TON of good photography books out there. This is the one I carry around with me pretty much all the time.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Geographic-Ultimate-Field-Photography/dp/0792262093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233713394&sr=8-1

The best rule/advice I can give you is shoot EVERYTHING! Practice using different techiques, vantage points, light sources, etc. I can out and shoot 4 gigs worth of pictures and only get about 10 or so that I really like, but I learn new stuff in the process.

Have Fun!

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

That book looks pretty good, any pointers on a cheap digital SLR thats ideal for a beginner?

Hoth · Guitarist Gender: Joined: 10 Oct 2002

Those are awesome man. Keep that up. I am always a fan of www.ableshoppers.com and www.slickdeals.net

They periodically have some cheap slr's

Also, if you have a costco nearby they have cannon rebel slr's for cheap right now.

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

Unfortunately we don't have Costco in the UK, not that I know of anyway. Probably a bit daft of me to ask for purchasing advice on a mainly US forum Laughing

Took a few random shots whilst in town today, the only one I liked at all was this one of a Batman statue outside the local comic book store, Close Encounters. Again, played around in Paint.net as it was fairly pale, used 3 layers with different properties to dark and sharpen the colours and add the white accents where light (what little there was at the time) was hitting him.

Chibi Knight · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:55 pm Post subject:

I'm a fan of Canon cameras myself. You can probably find one of the older 6-8 megapixel cameras for cheap. (Canon EOS Digital Rebel or Canon Digital XT or XTi)

If you were near here I'd sell you my old Canon since I just upgraded to the new XSi.

You could look for some older Nikons too, although I don't have any experience with them.

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 40 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

Snowed again today, so headed out to take more pics

Shino · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:34 am Post subject:

Well done Riva...

I really like the first one a lot!