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Beginner – What am I doing wrong?
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Hi
There are two pics below. Completely different but lots and lots of errors etc. in both.
Both pics were shot using a 350D.The horse pic was a handheld shot at Tv-1/1000, Av-6.3, ISO-800, Focal-263mm with a Sigma 70-300 APO Macro lens.
The waterfall pic was a tripod shot at Tv-1, Av-36, ISO-100, Focal-55mm with a Canon 18-55mm kit lens.So, what am I doing wrong? The horse one probably isn’t too bad, especially for a beginner :) but the composition isn’t great. What else could I do to improve it? I cropped it to remove a pallet against the ditch and did a bit of colour adjustment but thats it.
I’m more concerned about the waterfall pic though. I’m reasonably happy with the rocks on the left and everytihing south of that. However north of that is a disaster. The waterfall is seriously over exposed (I think) and no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to expose correctly. Well I could, but only if the shutter speed was increased and the Av reduced but then I couldn’t get the smooth wavy water at the bottom.
Is it the lens I was using? At the 1 second shutter speed the max aperture I could get was 36. Is it me doing something wrong? What could I have done to try and get what I am looking for or is it just impossible to do with my equipment and/or serious serious photo shopping?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
okay, I’ll go first…
For a start, the second pic isn’t visible, but i looked it up via your sig :)
The first one should have the horse facing inward rather than out towards the edge of the frame. The horizon is straight, which is good. It would have been better to have gotten closer to the horse, and had a shallow Depth of Field to blur the tree’s in the background. An aperture of around 4-5.6 would have done it. Colours look okay, Nice idea as well. Good first attempt, if the horse is local try to go back when you’ve got some replies and recompose it and post the results?
The waterfall is seriously overexposed, but you said you put it on f36? Okay, ISO 100, f36 and adjust it to look correct or else put it on Av and let the shutter speed look after itself. You can also try to buy a circular polarising filter (around £30/E45) and that will double your shutter speed time (slower). Thats what i use to take falls.
I’d agree with Richy on both counts. I suspect by your settings that you were shooting in manual mode. I’ve been at this photography lark for just over a year now and it’s only the last couple of months that I’ve started using manual mode. There’s nothing to prove by going manual to create a decent image so use Av…like most of us do.
Your metering might also be working against you. I think it’s called evaluative mode with a Canon where the light meter takes an average of the light it sees across the image and sets it’s settings against it. If you’re on spot metering and you meter for the trees the water is going to be blown. Use your cameras tools, even automatic, then push the limits once you’ve grasped how the camera works and the ISO, shutter speed and aperture interact.
In the first image it is ideal for the horse to be looking into the image. Why? Well have a look at it and be conscious of how your eyes travel around the image. If there’s a person, bird, boat, or anything that can give a sense of direction is leading your eye out of the image it’s generally considered uncomfortable and less attractive. But in time you’ll see how this ideal can be manipulated.
Make sense??Alan.
I’ll have to get myself a filter alright. It was recommended to me on another forum also. The reason I had the camera on Tv was because I wanted to slow the shutter down so I could get the smooth water effect at the bottom but obviously I wasn’t able to expose the actual waterfall properly.
So a filter will allow me to slow the shutter speed much more with minimin aperture? Sounds like a plan :)
I saw a filter kit on ebay for £40(polarising, UV and flourescent) would you recommend this?
I only use extreme filters like a 10 stop ND and an IR filter. I don’t use a polariser or UV and I’ve never heard of a flourescent filter and I can exposea waterfall correctly. Don’t feel that you need filters to get your camera to work. Learn it first. And when it does come to buying filters you get what you pay for. Take my advice – I have a box of “fool and their money” attachments. Buy what you can afford…but learn your camera and how it works first.
Alan
Actually you are right Alan. I checked the pic properties again and I had the camera in manual mode. I thought it was in Tv. Probably best if I know what I’m at before I start asking questions!!
Ask, then ask again…then ask some more. It’s how we all learn. And someone may read this and they’ll learn. When I got my first DSLR it had A, M, S and a few presets on the dial. I thought A was Automatic :roll: . The 350D is capable of as good an image as any camers in the right hands so…it’s up to you.
So keep posting. :D
Alan.
Expensive business this photography lark :)
I’ll take your advice and figure out the camera first. As you can imagine as a noob, you want to figure everything out asap without understanding why!
Thanks for your advice.
Yeah, it can be expensive, but only as expensive as you want it. The best gear in the world will only produce a good image in the right hands – no camera guarantees a masterpiece.
Like I said anyway, keep shooting, listening, reading and experimenting then post and you’ll notice your own images improving no end…not that there’s anything at the moment…just you’ll see why in a few weeks when you look back and you can confidently critique your own images. The main thing is you’re taking part here…and that’s the best way of learning, trust me.
Alan.
I have a 40D at the minute, which i got for Xmas. The only reason i upgraded from a 350D was because it fitted my hands better. I rarely use anything onit that my 350D hasn’t got. The 350D is a great camera and i have some great shots i took on it. It’s capable of doing 99% of your requirements, the only downside is the lack of spot metering, but that can be worked around a little too.
You’ll pick the knowledge up quickly too, i did. Keep posting photo’s and ask fpr critiques and ask anything you aren’t sure of too. I learned everything on “Shutterfreaks” and “POTN” but then i discovered this forum and it’s excellent, especially as its local and you can actually visit most of the locations yourself. There are lots of forums available and if you have any questions, even about general photography, composition, settings, gear or anything else, ask the question and someone will help you out.
BTW, the polariser doubles the length of the shutter speed, but irishwonkafan is correct, you shouldn’t need it.
Also Landscapes tend to look best after sunrise and before dusk. Next sunny day, have a look at the colours about 1 hour before the sun sets (8-9pm) You’ll notice that the sun has saturated the colours and they are nice and bright and vivid. The contrast is also nice. During the middle of the day, the high sun bleaches the colours and cranks the contrast way up. So try to get out at these times (although dawn is at 4am :shock: ) so maybe do winter dawns ;) and if you hang around til the sun sets, you might get a nice red sunset too :)
I have to say Ballyman I am glad you posted this. I am new to all this as well and just got my new camera last week. Its a canon 450 and to say I was excited would be an understatement. But ALL my pictures are crap :( I was at my daughters “graduation” from Montesorri last night and I took about 100 pictures and I got about 2 good ones from it. I was trying to shoot AV then changing to Tv but pictures were blurred or too dark.
So then I just changed to auto and the flash kept shooting and as my daughter wears glasses the flash bounced off her glasses. I felt like I was getting in a panic because I really wanted good snaps.
So this morning I feel like in the pits of humour, but reading your post and irishwonkafans and richys replies have given me hope. :D I have ordered the book understanding exposure so I will just keep playing around with the camera until it arrives and hopefully then I will start taking near decent snaps.So thanks for everyones honesty.
Janine
Hi Janine.
You’re taking a step in the right direction with that book – it’s plain and simple and a revelation. And what it may do is help you understand your own issue. When you stick your camera into Auto and the flash fires suggests to me that you had very little, or not enough light. If you’re shooting in Av mode this sets your aperture, or in reality how much of your image will be in focus and how much will be blurred…purely laymans terms. So, if you need a flash in Auto, and you had it in Av the shutter speed would more than likely be slow so you may get soft images, motion blur and if no IS lens, camera shake. In this case you could boost your ISO to improve things. Lowering the Aperture would also help (f2.8, f4, f5.6 rather than f16, f22 etc). You need to know how ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed interact to make it work better for you.
Don’t worry, when you read the book this will all become as clear as a sunrise on a spring morning.
Alan
Thanks Alan,
I cant wait for it to arrive. Its really good to get on this site and get feedback and suggestions. Every bit helps.
Thanks again,
Janine
I started on aperture, everyting was aperture related. I think once you understand what the settings can do, then you experiment. Everyone here is so helpful that in no time you’ll see a difference in your shots.
The top photograph has some lovely qualities, what i really like about it is the colour or the lack of multi colours, in this case just 3 (green, yellow and brown). Next time maybe look at your composition, for example move the horizon line down or up or have people/animals etc face into the image.
There is one other option on the canon not mentioned and that is the “P” mode.
It is like automatic but the flash does not automatically fire.
It sets the camera to an average shutter speed – aperture combination that should work without flash, automatic is quite quick to add flash when not always required.On “P” mode you can use the dial at the top front to move through a number of shutter speed – aperture combinations that should also expose correctly, a bigger aperture – faster shutter speed or vice versa. Slower shutter to blur moving water, wider aperture for portraits to blur the background etc.
Good luck, photography is lots on rules of thumb, but you will learn them on the way.
And the first shot with the horse has a lots of good elements, just as the other guys say, needs some care in the composition.
Martin
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