Frustrated - Equipment or Skills?

Hi all,

I started taking photos this summer. I picked up a an Xsi 450D with Canon EF 18-55 kit lens and EF 70-300mm.

I've come to the point where I'm really frustrated with the photos I'm taking. They just dont seem to be as sharp as they could be... but I'm not sure what needs work/upgrading: My skills, or my equipment.

Examples:

I shot these:

Ok first off, those two pictures of his are taken in the BRIGHT sun with lots of light reflecting off the water. Of course it's going to be a little more dazzling than a picture taken on a cloudy day...


As for your pictures, in MY opinion you could benefit from sharpening (except for the last one, that is nice) and some hue/saturation adjustments. Get some colors to pop, but get the skin tone more white (in the bike picture)

I wouldn't say your friends images are any better than yours, nor, would I say equipment is making a better image when comparing these images. Your images seem to display exactly what you were taking a picture of. Did you shoot these in RAW or JPEG? If jpeg, what picture style are you using? Check this link and see how styles will effect your image http://www.usa.canon.c​om …estyle/viewers/​index.html .

Hhhhmmmm.

If I had been told that one set of photos had been taken by a pro and one by an amateur and asked which was which, I would have said the first set was taken by the pro. Much better.

As stated above, a little sharpening on the first two would improve them. It's only the white sky that is spoiling the third image.

Your #2 is really good, IMO.

dave

They seem fine to me, I don't know what you are expecting? Don't worry too much about comparing equipment or skills to other people, just enjoy taking pictures and learning. Just love it.

If you are trying to improve, do it with the equipment you have. There is no shame in the basic gear. Your pro friend has many more years of experience with all the dials and buttons. We debate skill vs. gear all the time here. I have seen wedding pros do excellent work with an XT. The great stuff I've gained over the last few years doesn't necessarily make me a better photographer, it just makes my life easier. The work flow is faster and simpler.

So, use what you have, learn from your friend to really look at what you are shooting and to get the settings right.

No. 3 - issue is technique.
EXIF data says aperture F4.5 @ 18mm, 1/640 sec and ISO 1600, this is way to large an aperture unless you want to isolate something with DoF and with an 18mm lens that is not going to happen.
Stop down to f9.0 (2 stops), this would give a shutter speed of 1/160 at he same ISO which is way safe, also focus about 1/3 of way along the street. This will make the image sharper front to back. You could reduce the ISO by a couple of stops as well and still stay fast enough SS for hand holding.

No.2 2 is also technique - but don't knock yourself, it is pretty good. Again you are using wide aperture F4.5, and at 230mm this will give a very shallow DoF. With the cyclist moving away from you it is a challenging shot to get sharp focus. With this shot practice your focus technique.

Good stuff everyone. Thanks

First up i like your shots here, i like the subject,framing and composition on all three.
I think what nwa2 said about apature is valid except you may argue that the leaves in shot 2 should be the focal point with the riders feet oof.
There is no getting away from the fact that better lenses enable you to get better shots if you get everything else right, more so than the body, the thing i am most surprised about is you shoot JPEG,
JPEG is hideous i try to avoid it all costs and only ever convert to JPEG to publish to web.
I always shoot RAW and then convert to Tiff.
The 18-55 Kit lens is OK but it is rather limited in terms of IQ, have you considered hiring say a 24-105L series and shoot some RAW, covert to tiff and only sharpen the lightness channels. I would wager under most conditions you will find the 450 can compete well with the 5D in IQ and sharpness.

great shots there my friend! I like 'em, composition and pp aplied works really well! to me in terms of sharpness, they are not bad. If you are after better Image Quality, upgrade your kit lens

Listen to these guys, they know what they are talking about.