How can I improve my pictures?

[Bunzo]

The following link should show one of my butterfly pictures. This one I think came out very good. Some reflect the light on the flowers and seem to be a bit over-exposed. How do I target my starting point for AV and TV? Is there a rule of thumb a beginner can use?

http://www.pbase.com/image/27613947/medium

Thanks in advance

[Shabookie]

Those are some great shots. I can’t really tell you how to shoot with your cam; I don’t know what it is. I can tell you that they do seem to have a few blown out areas in some of the shots. Maybe a bit over exposed

I sometimes use sun blockers Umbrellas/people, for insect/flowers/macro shots during mid day sun blast days. If I do not I get blown out areas like what you have shown.

Do you use uv/polar or any other type of lenses? That might help.

Have they been processed in an image editor? That might help.

You got a great EYE and and can capture really good shots, those picks just need a lil fine tuning in Photoshop.

http://www.pbase.com/image/26670525 I like that one!!!

Keepum coming...
Shabookie

[Scottes]

Some nice shots.

Some contrast would definitely help, as would a flash diffuser of some kind. I've got a Sto Fen Omni Bounce and a Lumiquest Pocket Bounce. Both are OK, but I've got a Lumiquest Ultra Soft on order and I have lots of hope for it for shooting butterflies. All of these are for external flash - I don't know if you have an external. If not, cut out a piece of translucent plastic, like from a milk jug, and fix it to the front of the lens:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/reto/stock/phot01.jpg

The Pro 1 has ETTL so the camera should make up for the loss of light. Diffusers will help a lot.


Some of your butterflies, like the Morpho for instance, look a *touch* out of focus. Try a bit more aperture to get more Depth of Field. Set the camera to manual, aperture f/8, and then play with shutter speed until the pictures come out OK. It will take some practice shots.

Other than that they could use some sharpening. But you're on a great start because these are very good.

[G3]

I'd say you're off to a pretty damn good start. Maybe try to start pulling in a little closer and filling more of the frame with the butterfly? If your camera has auto-bracketing, maybe try bracketing 1/2 stop or so in each direction...some of the photos may be just very slightly overexposed...as Scottes said, easily fixed in PS.

Mostly just keep shooting. Get a book by someone like John Shaw and compare your photos to his. Keep records of exposure, etc. and see what works best for a given situation. Above all, keep shooting.

[cityboy_ca]

You're off to a good start. Many of the images in your gallery seem a little flat. Try changing the photo effects on your G3 to 'vivid' and increase the contrast.

Well done.

[PhotosGuy]

I wonder if what you're seeing is what we're seeing? Have you calibrated your monitor?

MONITOR CALIBRATION - a good place to start
http://www.ltlimagery.com/monitor_calibration.html
Then: Colour settings in Photoshop
http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=247&SP=336525370515510295520&v=2

[Bunzo]

To Shabookie - I always have a UV attached. The sun-blocker suggestion is very helpful... Thanks. I try to do very little, if any post processing as I feel once I start making changes, either the picture was not that great to begin with or it turns into a rendering rather than an original image.

To Scottes - Will give that a try... One of my issues is that I don't have a good understanding of when to use f/8, when to use f/2.8 and what shuttter speeds to start using when at the different aperatures. Thanks.

To G3 - The explanation above explains the reason for the slight over exposure. Thanks

To PhotosGuy - Have previously performed the monitor calibrations along with PS CS color matching. My printouts on my Canon i960 come very close to matching what I see onscreen. The example I posted is a clear match of printer to monitor on my system. Your statement - I wonder if what you're seeing is what we're seeing - is somewhat vague.... I don't want to sound ungrateful, but when one asks for a critique.... vagueness is not constructive.

To cityboy_ca - My default setting for the G3 is Vivid. Just started using the Pro1. Can you give me an example of one "flat" image and how you change it?


I'm what you might call a weekend warrior.... I take pictures for fun and to relax. I do not fully understand how one calculates aperature and shutter speed so I experiment. I have started using the camera's histogram to manage WB but am also trying to identify when/how to fix the "flatness" some elude to so that I'm able to take a better picture.

Thank you to all that responded

[G3]

To Shabookie - I always have a UV attached. The sun-blocker suggestion is very helpful... Thanks. I try to do very little, if any post processing as I feel once I start making changes, either the picture was not that great to begin with or it turns into a rendering rather than an original image.

To Scottes - Will give that a try... One of my issues is that I don't have a good understanding of when to use f/8, when to use f/2.8 and what shuttter speeds to start using when at the different aperatures. Thanks.

To G3 - The explanation above explains the reason for the slight over exposure. Thanks

To PhotosGuy - Have previously performed the monitor calibrations along with PS CS color matching. My printouts on my Canon i960 come very close to matching what I see onscreen. The example I posted is a clear match of printer to monitor on my system. Your statement - I wonder if what you're seeing is what we're seeing - is somewhat vague.... I don't want to sound ungrateful, but when one asks for a critique.... vagueness is not constructive.

To cityboy_ca - My default setting for the G3 is Vivid. Just started using the Pro1. Can you give me an example of one "flat" image and how you change it?


I'm what you might call a weekend warrior.... I take pictures for fun and to relax. I do not fully understand how one calculates aperature and shutter speed so I experiment. I have started using the camera's histogram to manage WB but am also trying to identify when/how to fix the "flatness" some elude to so that I'm able to take a better picture.

Thank you to all that responded

How do you manage WB with the Histogram? WB refers to the color temperature of the light. The Histogram is used to monitor exposure when looking at it in the all channels mode and can be used to monitor color balance and saturation in the separate channels mode (in Photoshop CS).

As far as when to use f8 and when to use f2.8, it depends on the effect you want. You generally use the aperture to control depth of field and the shutter to stop or blur action depending on what you want. The whole idea behind recording an image on film (or an image sensor) is controlling how much light strikes that film or image sensor. There are two ways to control the light, the size of the opening in the lens (aperture) and the amount of time the light is allowed to pass through the lens to the film plane (shutter speed). There is a correct exposure for the ISO (speed) of the film or ISO setting you choose on the digital camera. If you choose a particular aperture, say f2.8 (because you want to blur the background out with the shallow depth of field), then there will be a corresponding shutter speed you need to use to allow the correct amount of light to strike the image sensor. If you adjust the aperture, you will need to make the corresponding adjustment to the shutter speed. Likewise, if you choose a fast shutter speed, like 1/1000th od a second to stop motion, there will be a corresponding aperture setting you need to use to get the proper exposure.

In general, you would use a large aperture (small f-number) for a shallow depth of field and a small aperture (larger f-number) for more depth of field. In some cases, such as when there is very little available light, you have to use the largest aperture to get the proper exposure, especially if the shutter speed drops to a speed that is too slow for hand-holding the camera, etc.

[cityboy_ca]

I took your image and just applied "Auto Equalize" in PhotoPaint. To my eye it brings out the blacks and whites. On my monitor the blacks were more of a dark gray and the whites were muddy.

This is just a quick, auto fix.


http://members.rogers.com/jalderton/0095_comb.jpg

[Bunzo]

To cityboy_ca - I see what you mean. My image, next to yours, looks as if it was taken in a slight fog. I played around in PS CS, reducing brightness and increasing contrast. I also brightened the whites a bit. I reposted on pbase.com.

Even though I wouldn't go with your version, your point is well made. I think my picture is now somewhere between my original and your version.

Thanks![/img]

[cityboy_ca]

I agree - this was an automatic adjustment that took about 2 seconds. Using curves and adjusting selected colours will give you a much better image than mine, although I like the greens in the adjusted one. :D