Newbie, 1st pictures posted today!

[GaryN]

Hi Ladies and gentlemen,

I am new to PhotoRadar and the forum. I have posted some pictures in the Members Photos area and would appreciated any constructive comments.

I am quite new to this so ended up purchasing two pre-owned cameras, a Canon G7 and SX1 IS as I did not want to spend too much money in case it was not for me.

My main areas to try to learn and improve upon are composition, exposure and aperture. I guess that's every area really

Ultimately I imagine that I will end up buying a DSLR, but for the time being I am trying to make the best of what I have.

I looked forward to your comments.

Thanks,

Gary.

[Cathus]

Hi, welcome to the site!

[silversnapper1]

Hi Gary and welcome. Post some of your favourite pics here, don your flak jacket and helmet, and see what people have to say.

[jet_kit]

Hi Gary & Welcome.
I've posted some comments on your gallery.

[GaryN]

Thanks for the welcome.

@ silversnapper1, I don't mind a bit of constructive criticism.

@ jet_kit, thanks for your comments.

Areas to pay attention to (in no particular order) -

1, get the bl**dy horizon level

2, skys need more drama, perhaps can be addressed with Photoshop as I do have Elements 9 but as yet I have not installed it.

3, look to see if cropping the picture would improve it.

4, look at the complete picture as well as the actual subject.

[silversnapper1]

Hi Gary,

My comments were meant 'tongue in cheek' which is why I put the big grin at the end of my statement. We all appreciate constructive criticism and it's why we post here.

Seriously though, if you post a few in the thread you are more likely to get people to look at the images if you post them in this section rather than asking them to trawl through your gallery. The galleries are rather unwieldy and most people don't like them. If you are unsure how to post in the threads, you will find instructions HERE.

Know what you mean about horizons. I have taken to using the tripod and a hotshoe spirit level on most occasions.

[jet_kit]

Originally Posted by GaryN

Thanks for the welcome.

@ silversnapper1, I don't mind a bit of constructive criticism.

@ jet_kit, thanks for your comments.

Areas to pay attention to (in no particular order) -

1, get the bl**dy horizon level

2, skys need more drama, perhaps can be addressed with Photoshop as I do have Elements 9 but as yet I have not installed it.

3, look to see if cropping the picture would improve it.

4, look at the complete picture as well as the actual subject.

Hi again Gary,

Install Photoshop Elements ASAP. It's a roller coaster of a ride, but worth every moment. You will find endless advice on using it here on the forum. Take advantage of it.

I recommend that you shoot in RAW (if you don't already). There are several reasons for this. First, it's like a digital negative - you can manipulate it as much as you like in Photoshop, but the original 'As shot' file is still there, so if you screw up (and you won't be the first), you can go back and have another crack at it. Secondly, you get a little more dynamic range with RAW, and we're all looking for more of that!

Keep at it and enjoy the learning experience.

[GaryN]

Let's see if this link works to my 1st long exposure try?

[MattUK]

Gary, you need to view your photo in your galler, then right-click the magnifying glass on the top-right. Then choose "Copy URL / Link location" or similar. That's what you need to paste into your tags

[GaryN]

Thanks MattUK, I did sort of figure it out in the end. The only problem being that I uploaded full size JPEG's into the galley so when I linked to that picture the image was huge in the post. I have just uploaded some copies of the images to Photobucket so that the sizes are smaller and will hopefully fit into the post better. Let's see how it goes.

Here's the first one, be gentle with me

Taken in Truro in the evening with my Canon G7. I really liked the colour of the sky and how the fading sunlight lit up the actual building.

Date taken: Thu, 18/08/2011 - Aperture: f/4.0Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec.



I'm not sure if this would look better with the shadowed section at the bottom cropped? There are also some leaves on the left hand side that could be easily removed.