new to photography

New to everything. I shoot with a 30D and I am looking to learn as much as I can. Please critique, all comments welcome.

It is a little dark for me. Not much contrast
Chris

Thanks for your reply, I didn't do any post processing to it so maybe I can lighting it up.

Are you shooting in RAW format?
I would suggest you do if you are not. That way an image like this can be corrected. I am fairly new too. And I started shooting in jpg. I didn't know what RAW was. But once I started in RAW, I haven't looked back. Dark shots can be brightened without losing quality. Same with overexposed -can be drawn back.

It's really worth it to shoot in RAW imo. Even more so for a beginner.

You might want to consider turning on your "Image Editing OK" in your profile. We can then do some PP and explain what was done. It a great learning feature. There may not be a lot that can be done with this particular image however. There is a lot of clipping (underexposed areas).

thanks now you can edit away! I would love to see this flower from someone else's eyes.

I am not shooting raw, but I will for sure give it a try.

first welcome to the macro section. your pics look dark to me also. but it's not bad for starting out. most of what i was gonna suggest is already mention. so good luck and practice some more.

Bill 1

Just a quick edit....
Levels (lot of clipping in the shadows)
Highlight/Shadow Adj bringing up the dark areas
Touch of USM

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Welcome to the forum, Mama2! Hang around here for a while, and you'll get most of the tip you need. My advice would be to practice, practice, practice! Digital is cheap-if your shots don't turn out the way you like, you can delete them and try again. Read the stickys at the top of the forum.

Thanks Chris,

That looks a lot better. I really have no clue what I am doing. I got the camera a few months ago with lots of ideas, and then oh my. Changing iso and settings and wb and oh my. I am basicly just guessing with every shot. It is so much harder than I ever imagined.

If you were shooting in RAW you could probably save it. Maybe even JPEG... Exposure is off, and nothing makes it pop or stand out.

More artistic, since extreme pixelation otherwise:

Thanks, I did like the artistic element, and your's looks great. I am going to try raw today, and see the difference.

seaside - thanks I just went and turned on your "Image Editing OK - didn't know it existed .

r.morales wrote in post #5858895
seaside - thanks I just went and turned on your "Image Editing OK - didn't know it existed .

Great - I try and let folks know because everyone can get so much more out of the forum that way. However, there are some that simply don't want anybody to mess with their images They choose to leave this option off.

Just so everyone knows, it does not change your original image regardless of where it is being hosted (on your PC or web image hosting site).