Newbies First Post/Photos

[SadieSue]

I suppose I should preface this post by saying that I'm a total novice to photography in every sense of the word: I have no real knowledge about even the basics of photography, mediocre equipment, my camera's always set to "Automatic Settings," and my Adobe Photoshop 7 program lacks an owner who knows how to properly make use of it, so other than cropping, changing photos to black & white or sepia, or the occasional color splash when I'm feeling really invested, my photos are pretty raw.

I'd just like to gain some skills so that I can fill up the family photo albums with GOOD pictures- not just thoughtless snapshots of my family's important milestones and memories.
So with that being said, here are some very random photos that I've taken and I'm open to any critiques, help, advice, suggestions, etc!

Thanks in advance!

1. My Diaper Bag (not very interesting, I know, but was playing with my new "lightbox")
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/IMG_5157.jpg


2. Would you believe I got this cat when I was 10 and she's still alive and kickin'?
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/AriaResized.jpg


3. The Gedachtniskirche in Berlin
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/Berlin232.jpg


4. My favorite photo of these two together (I photoshopped to take the leash out- badly I know)
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/April132007054SEPIATONE.jpg


5. The leash is VERY distracting I realize....
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/aaaApril132007052.jpg


6. Not really a dog person? How about a puppy shot!
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/Winston.jpg


7. My only self-portrait: Making fun of the average myspace and facebook user by taking a self-portrait infront of the mirror with the flash on (even though it was taken all in fun, I ended up liking this shot for some reason- so if someone could make it presentable/useable I'd appreciate it!)
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/Leisa2.jpg


8. Finally! He actually posed for me!
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/leisaanddirk/070.jpg


Sorry all of the pictures were different sizes! And thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

[advaitin]

I'm no good at difficult shots in Photoshop, but this is an example of what you can do--others will do much better I expect.

[pickupman92]

My fav is #8 but where did part of his feet go? lol If you could get down lower for shots like thos, like right at his eye level, I think it would be a lot better.

[Flo]

I say read the manual for your camera, take it off Auto:D and try something on AV for now...you will have to focus yourself, thus learning far more about the settings etc.
There are hundreds of topics on the forum....if you are unsure of something, do a search here and I know there will be a few threads to help you. Or simply post a question!

Welcome to POTN:D

[advaitin]

Here's a quick fix of the boy. Shadow/highlight tool in Photoshop and burnin tool for the areas around him.

[SadieSue]

I'm no good at difficult shots in Photoshop, but this is an example of what you can do--others will do much better I expect]
Thankyou- it's definitely much better than anything I could do to it in PS without it looking completely distorted and no longer human LOL

My fav is #8 but where did part of his feet go? lol If you could get down lower for shots like thos, like right at his eye level, I think it would be a lot better.
Wow- never even noticed the obvious mistake that his feet are cut indeed cut off... oops! Maybe a tight vertical crop would have been better? And you're right- eye level in these kinds of shots would probably be much better.... I've got a 37 week baby belly right now though so I guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks before I can try doing that :)

I say read the manual for your camera, take it off Auto and try something on AV for now...you will have to focus yourself, thus learning far more about the settings etc.
There are hundreds of topics on the forum....if you are unsure of something, do a search here and I know there will be a few threads to help you. Or simply post a question!
Good advice- I suppose I should locate that thing, dust it off, and give it a good read....
I think with most newbies though, they know what is wrong with their photographs once they take a good look at them- their questions seem to be more of "how can I create this _______ effect I was going for" whereas with me, I can't even seem to figure out what's wrong exactly with my pictures. I know it's "something" or in most cases "a few things" but I usually can't even figure it out on my own- I just know it's a cruddy picture and can't pinpoint the problems in each one exactly....

Here's a quick fix of the boy. Shadow/highlight tool in Photoshop and burnin tool for the areas around him.
Thanks (again) for the editing! Like how it's brightened up and really pops a lot more now than the original!

[pickupman92]

37 week baby bellies are the perfect pillow for laying down on. :P I kid I kid

[Flo]

I think with most newbies though, they know what is wrong with their photographs once they take a good look at them- their questions seem to be more of "how can I create this _______ effect I was going for"

Thats the thing though, when we are first getting into the hobby, we expect far more from ourselves than we should. It takes time and patience and reading and going through hundreds of attempts before it "feels" better( there are exceptions for sure, some folks just have "it")

Read up , practice, look at others works.its will feel better once you have some tools on your side;)

[navydoc]

Here's my try at doing a little work on your self portrait.

[SadieSue]

Thats the thing though, when we are first getting into the hobby, we expect far more from ourselves than we should. It takes time and patience and reading and going through hundreds of attempts before it "feels" better( there are exceptions for sure, some folks just have "it")
Read up , practice, look at others works.its will feel better once you have some tools on your side

You're right.... good advice. I should probably pick up a few photography books and read up, in addition to dusting off my camera manual. Something that has a lot of picture examples would be great- a book where it doesn't just explain how to do something but also shows you different examples of pictures of the same subject with different settings maybe? Does anyone have any good recommendations for a book with something like that?

37 week baby bellies are the perfect pillow for laying down on. :P I kid I kid
That makes pancake face babies! I had my heart set on a round-headed baby ;)

Here's my try at doing a little work on your self portrait.
Ooooh! Excellent work, NavyDoc! I love it!!! Thankyou!!! (any suggestions for how I can get rid of the white light in the top right corner? Clone stamp in PS?

[navydoc]

Sadiesue,

Sure, you can use the clone tool or maybe the healing brush tool. I guess I should have tried to remove it myself.

For your original image posted above, open it in photoshop then click on image>adjustments>auto levels. You'll see a big difference right away. It doesn't always work but it's good to see if it works for a particular shot first. Then go back to image>adjustments>levels. Now you can adjust the red channel a bit and the blue channel to get the skin tone looking the way you want. I also used a plug-n called Neat Image that does a great job of noise reduction. Two passes of noise reduction then I used 'smart sharpen' (not included with PS7...use unsharp mask).

I also used the burn tool to darken the hair and clothing on the right.

Have fun and don't get too frustrated if things don't turn out like you want at first.

[SadieSue]

Thanks for the quick Photoshop instructions, NavyDoc! They were helpful!

[sam4205]

Sadiesue,

Sure, you can use the clone tool or maybe the healing brush tool. I guess I should have tried to remove it myself.

For your original image posted above, open it in photoshop then click on image>adjustments>auto levels. You'll see a big difference right away. It doesn't always work but it's good to see if it works for a particular shot first. Then go back to image>adjustments>levels. Now you can adjust the red channel a bit and the blue channel to get the skin tone looking the way you want. I also used a plug-n called Neat Image that does a great job of noise reduction. Two passes of noise reduction then I used 'smart sharpen' (not included with PS7...use unsharp mask).

I also used the burn tool to darken the hair and clothing on the right.

Have fun and don't get too frustrated if things don't turn out like you want at first.


Great Tip. Thanks Navydoc for sharing tips on noise reduction.

[navydoc]

Keep in mind that after you do any sharpening, it will bring back some of the noise.

And...you can reduce the noise to the point where skin starts to look 'waxy'.

Here's an example of over doing noise reduction. I also removed the white area on the upper right.

sometimes overdoing isn't a bad thing...it kinda gives you that overprocessed 'glamour' look.

The best way, which I didn't do in this case, is to create a copy of the image as the top layer to do the noise reduction. Then use the eraser tool for the eyes, teeth, jewelry etc to bring back the sharpness.

[SadieSue]

Thanks again for the tips and edit, NavyDoc

Overdoing noise reduction or not- it sure does make my skin look a lot nicer! ;)