Digital newbie looking for help

Here are some photos that I would like help with. Please let me know how to make them look better. Thanks!

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Oh they look so much darker here then they did in PS.

well...they are kinds like backgrounds with no subject....I don't know your intentions with photography so it's hard for me to offer advice...my students usually start with images like yours so that's a beginning.....but if I knew your intent...that would help...as far as the images go...there's no punch.......

think of telling a story with no end....get it....feel free to call upon me any time...I teach alot of internet students too....don....

Dear gardengirl13,
Usually, when the images seem darker here than they did on your monitor, it is because your monitor is not calibrated. If you have Photoshop, you might try the Adobe Gamma monitor calibration tool - should be in the Windows Control Panel.

First, all three are very nice images and your B&W conversions seem to be going well for you.


I would say that the exposure is good, but could be a little better. It looks to me as if your images are lacking detail in the shadows, which would be due to not exposing enough in the original exposure and then trying to boost the tones up in Photoshop. That does allow you to set the white point where you like, but generally leaves the shadows looking rather blocked up and lacking any detail. This was especially true in the trees of the 2nd and 3rd image.

The composition on all three is very good. I especially like the house because it has so many interesting lines. The roofing is pretty solid black, otherwise the tonality is good. My only complaint about the composition is that I like to see a foundation under architectural shots - in other words, it's nice to see upon what something is sitting (standing).


The shadows and textures on #2 are very interesting in the foreground and the sky is also interesting. That is my favorite of the three.

#3 has good interest and good interplay of lights and shadows, but is a little busy in the background with too many inconsequential features and no one thing of major interest.

Keep up the good work - all very nice pictures.
Congratulations!

Please excuse the ignorance, but it has been too long since I was familiar with most film cameras other than my own AE-1 bodies, but isn't the A1 a film camera, and if so, does this mean that your images here were scanned in? If so, your scanning is excellent! The more I look at your skies the more it looks like real grain, to me, instead of the noise of digital. If your work is scanned in, that might be contributing to the poor shadow detail. I would have to see your actual negatives to see if there is or is not detail in the shadows.

Lovely shots. The landscapes are simple, peaceful portraits- very relaxing.

Thanks for the replys! The photos were taken with the A610, not the A1. It's not my best work, but I'm messing around with photoshop to see if I can get better images. I wanted to start simple!

I've owned the camera for about 2 weeks and have taken over 700 photos. I could be taking more but it's been so cold! I am real reluctant about going digital, so this is a big step for me! But I wanted to try it out. I didn't like my neighbors DSLR, so I just got the A610. I like being able to play more with the images, but it still doesn't feel like it's part of me like the A1 is. I guess I just need to give it time! I've used the A1 since I was 4 or so (1980)

I'll try to post more photos. I need all the help I can get!!

If you have a moment for a quick question, did you shoot in a B&W mode or did you convert from color image to Grayscale in Photoshop? I'm not familiar with the A610, but my G5 has a B& W mode which I use occasionally, and I like what I get from that without haveing to do anything in PS.

When I do B&W I normally shoot in B&W mode, but for these I converted them in PS using the channel mixer.

OK - tnx for the info.

Its funny that you should say that - I frequently find that when I post photos to the forum I have to lighten them before doing so or they look too dark - conversely, when I transfer photos posted by members to PS they look lighter.

Can anyone explain this please?!

As Robert explained, your monitor may not be calibrated properly.

A good start is Adobe Gamma. Its installed by default in your control panel when you install one of Adobe's photo editors, such as CS or Elements. Another way is to use a calibrator tool, such as the Spyder2, but its more expensive.

Good luck