Outdoor pictures all STINK :(

[Adribaby]

Hi all, clearly I am not a professional, as will soon become very obvious! I have a 16 mo. old son, who I am desperately trying to get some good outdoor photos of, I'd say 40% of the time they come out good, but the other 60% of the time, the photos look like there is "movement" on his skin, look like I superimposed him onto an outdoor background, look over light and wash out details, or they look dark and pixely-a wide range of sucking basically. So some people suggested I try using the p setting, lowering the sharpening effect, try the Av setting, none of this has helped, in fact the more I play with the setting the WORSE they look, and now my indoor pictures stink also where he looks superimposed, or the rest of the shot is clear except him, he looks pixely UGH! I've had this camera since March and I'm suddenly ready to throw it out the window!!!!! I've heard so many rave about the G2 and seen beautiful pictures they've taken, why oh why can't I, just a mom wanting a billion pictures of her kiddo so when he's 15 and screaming "I hate you" she can look back and say "once upon a time", just get this right?!?!?! Thanks with any help, and you'll have to talk in pretty "g2 for idiots lingo" goodness knows where my manual is so I'm trying to learn all this hands on-EEK!

[msvadi]

G2 is an amazing camera don't hurry to throw it out of the window, or at least, tell me where you window before you do that. ;)

now, seriously, it's kind of hard to see what is the problem before once can actually see the pictures you are not happy about. Can you post some examples here? you can upload your photos to bytephoto.com (for free) and then post a message here with direct linking.

my impression so far that G2 is very good for outdoor shots. For example, this is the picture I took with my G2:

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/302grasst.jpg?359

[Adribaby]

Ok here is a link:
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?selected=547562
gives a sampling of what I'm upset about, the 2 B&w ones are ones I took in June that are "good" by my standards (for me they're good LOL) If I don't get this darn thing taking better pictures, I just may email you with directions to my window LOL

[msvadi]

first of all, you have to turn the digital zoom off, that's why #4 looks the ways it does (pixely).

second, switch to superfine compression, in the fine mode you save memory but lose in terms of quality.

now, #1, #2, #3 and #5 are seriously overexposed. Probably, in part it's because there is such strong contrast between brighter and darker parts of the images. But still, it should not be that bad. My guess is that you did not let the camera to do its job. You have to press the shutter release button half-way, let the camera to take all the measurements, wait for the green box to appear and only then to press the button all the way down.

for example, #3 has the focus distance set to infinity. Obviously, something was not done right. You have to be very careful with the autofocus systems, try to point the camera as precisely as you can. Also, #3 was taken in the portrait mode. The portrait mode is for close up shots with narrow depth of field. It caused the camera to set aperture to f/2.0 and, probably, that's why this shot is overexposed. Another thing, it's better to turn the flash off for bright day shots.

[Nelsito]

Don't get discouraged. When I first got my G2 I was expecting to get super duper quality pictures automatically. I wasn't paying too much attention at any of the good practice skills a common user should when taking pictures. Over time I have learned a few things here and there, especially from users who take their time to share their experiences in this forum. Playing around with the camera settings and holding it as steady as I can when I'm not using a tripod is what have made a difference in me. I can't say I'm there yet but I realize that I have improved quite a bit since I used my camera for the first time. I am even learning how to put a web site together to display my images and such.
The link below show some samples from a recent trip to the Dominican Republic. (The images have been reduced due to limited web space).
http://www.iturbides.com/

[ajax]

A non-technical suggestion....

Spend an hour or two outdoors taking pictures of nonsense when you are feeling patient and not rushed--lawn furniture, the dog, a tree trunk, your feet--try different settings, horse around, and see what works and what doesn't. And if you are reaaaaally patient, have your camera in one hand and the manual in the other and horse around. For me, that lessened the frustration level....I would wail when I blew a once-in-a-lifetime shot, but, who cares if the picnic table is over-exposed? :D

Spend some time roaming around this web site--lots of good tips and some of them caused me to slap my hand to my forehead in an "a-HA" moment.

Cute baby, by the way! I love the black and white shots.