I did my first RAW Images today with a little success

[grandpawrichard]

Hey guys and gals,
I finally broke down and tried using Straight RAW on one of my cameras today (40D with a Canon 18-55 IS lens). I think they came out pretty decent, but I would love some pointers if you have them.

I took about 150 photos, so it took me Forever to edit them all, save them as Tif files and Jpg files.(I'm also saving the Raw images to a CD. )

I hope you don't mind wading through these photos. These are some of my favorite out of all the photos I took.

The first group is of a sap that comes out of our Bing Cherry Trees. I thought that it was unique and an interesting subject:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/AmbercoloredCherrytreepitch2smaller.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/AmbercoloredCherrytreepitch4smaller.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/Cherrytreepitch1smallersize.jpg

I also found this little gem as I worked my way around the tree: (I hope you can see the spiderweb)

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/spiderwebandpitch2bestsofarsmallers.jpg

These are of my wife's little miniature Tom Thumb Tea Rose that she planted outside:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/EllensPinkTomThumbRose2smallersizej.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/EllensPinkTomThumbRose3smallersizej.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/EllensPinkTomThumbRosebud1smallersi.jpg

This is a Rose Hip that is on her Rose of Sharon bush:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/Rosehip1trimmedsmallersize.jpg

[grandpawrichard]

Here is a baby Sunflower:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/crashcollisionwithasunflower1smalle.jpg

Some Fuchias that are budding out all over the place:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/backyardfuchia1withstemssmallersize.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/backyardfuchia8withstemssmallersize.jpg

and last, but not least some Orange Trumpeter Vine flowers that should have been long gone by now:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/OrangeTrumpetVine2smallersize.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Raw%20Image%20photos/OrangeTrumpetVine3smallersize.jpg

I'm anxious to read what you think about my first attempt with Raw Imaging Photos. :)

Dick

[chauncey]

One or two at a time please.

[JoYork]

Out of all of them I like the Orange Trumpeter Vine flowers the best.

[fadetoblack22]

They look ok. Maybe increase the contrast in a few of them and work on the composition a bit more :)

[KarlosDaJackal]

They have an 8 images per thread limit in the rules, so you might want to convert some of those 13 to links.

[Pierre81385]

the spiderweb photo is by far my favorite! nice shot there.

[Bill Boehme]

I also like the spiderweb except for the fact that the upper left is blown out.

As mentioned, you have exceeded the number of allowed images per thread so you should consider either changing some of them to links or deleting some of them. Also, since this forum is intended for critique, normally one or two images are submitted since it is unfair to ask others to critique such a large batch of images at once. Also, it would be reasonable to assume that the depth and detail of a critique is probably inversely proportional to the number of images submitted for critique. Also, you might want to consider some of the photo sharing forums on POTN as good places to share images in a specific category.

[grandpawrichard]

Sorry about being over Enthusiastic when posting the photos! :oops::o I tend to get carried away at times. :oops: I have edited the thread so that I do not break any forum rules. :)

Thank you all for the tips that you have posted, I appreciate any and all the help I can get. :)

This photo was taken the other night with my Canon 40D and a 300 mm. kit lens:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b218/grandpawrichard/Canon%2040D/Octobermoon.jpg

It was a hand held capture. I just had to try it out! ;) I realize it isn't the best photo of the moon I have ever seen, but I'm pretty proud that this old 60 year old with a bad back, poor vision and unsteady hands could pull off what I did. ;)

Dick

[Bill Boehme]

The next chance that you get for a moon shot, try 1/250 second at f/8 and ISO 100. The exposure time needed varies with the phase of the moon ... at full moon an exposure time of about 1/400 second would be about right and when there is just a thin crescent, an exposure time around 1/80 second would be about right. In order to see details on the surface, it is usually better to underexpose slightly ... but you will need to judge this visually, since the exposure reading will not give you the correct answer. Two other things that will greatly improve the sharpness of a moon shot is to use a tripod and to use the mirror lock-up feature along with a remote shutter release. The reason that locking the mirror up provides such an improvement is that when the mirror flips up during a normal shot, it produces an internal vibration that is enough to blur a point by several pixels ... the vibration is tiny, but so is the distance between sensor pixels.

[grandpawrichard]

Thank you Bill. I have printed out your instructional tip and will try the settings the next time I get to see the moon. It's raining cats and dogs out there right now. :(

Dick