Have Camera, Will Shoot

[SoL]

OK so I decided ages ago that I wouldn't take piccies of this particular scene until I had a decent camera so today I was a bit snap happy. It's just round teh corner from us and is boringly called John Brown Lagoon. I never get tired of driving past it though and I hope these piccies do it justice. Wouid love some critique on composition and obviously any hints on how to make it better would be greatly appreciated.

Ta muchly

[all that glitters]

I wish I lived near that!!!

[tlc]

Nice shots!!

[persephone]

What a pretty spot ;)

I did something which I do not normally do/encourage I changed the scenery somewhat , and removed a couple of distractions...

I also tried to bring out a bit more of the colour/detail...

just a 2 minute play , using PICASA

[SoL]

How did you do that? I see you've gotten rid of the pylons (thanks for that!) and the stump. Is picasa free? I'll check it out now. I've been using Photoscape lately but even that can't get rid of scenery (or I haven't figured it out yet).

[Pointees]

Oh.my.god.

I wish I lived with you! I could see that every day!

[Firestone]

What a pretty spot ;)

I did something which I do not normally do/encourage I changed the scenery somewhat , and removed a couple of distractions...

I also tried to bring out a bit more of the colour/detail...

just a 2 minute play , using PICASA

WOW

Ditto to all Sols questions as well

[RottnBullies]

Lovely shots!

Wishing I had such a serene and beautiful place like that near by

[PossumCorner]

It's looks like a pretty spot. And a nice shot - can you go back and shoot for square format, use a tripod for absolute sharp (if you weren't already). Because it reminded me at first glance of the Streeton painting (1896) "The Purple Noon's Transparent Might" .

We had our little noses rubbed in it at art classes as to what "real art" was all about, and I don't disagree, I love his paintings.

Google finds it, and these words are lifted I think from some National Gallery notes.

" .... Streeton discovered the view of the Hawkesbury River that became the subject of a series of large-scale works, including ‘The purple noon’s transparent might’, 1896. In his ‘Notes for memoirs’, written many years later, he recalled his sense of discovering ‘the great hidden poetry’ of the Australian landscape in the ‘glory of river and plain spread before me.’ In keeping with his pattern of unusual formats for his canvases, Streeton chose a square canvas that gave a sense of being on the spot even though the view is panoramic. ...."

P'seph I like your treatment, makes it pop more as a photograph. I like the original too, but probably more because it reminded me straight off of the Streeton painting. That's why I'd like to see it shot again for square, not just cropped. Oh and shoot it in Raw, and bracket (so you can fiddle with HDR - look at Trey Radcliff work google him or "Stuck in Customs" - sacrelige but totally awsome).

[HollyE]

Great shots!

[SoL]

It's looks like a pretty spot. And a nice shot - can you go back and shoot for square format, use a tripod for absolute sharp (if you weren't already). Because it reminded me at first glance of the Streeton painting (1896) "The Purple Noon's Transparent Might" .

We had our little noses rubbed in it at art classes as to what "real art" was all about, and I don't disagree, I love his paintings.

Google finds it, and these words are lifted I think from some National Gallery notes.

" .... Streeton discovered the view of the Hawkesbury River that became the subject of a series of large-scale works, including ‘The purple noon’s transparent might’, 1896. In his ‘Notes for memoirs’, written many years later, he recalled his sense of discovering ‘the great hidden poetry’ of the Australian landscape in the ‘glory of river and plain spread before me.’ In keeping with his pattern of unusual formats for his canvases, Streeton chose a square canvas that gave a sense of being on the spot even though the view is panoramic. ...."

P'seph I like your treatment, makes it pop more as a photograph. I like the original too, but probably more because it reminded me straight off of the Streeton painting. That's why I'd like to see it shot again for square, not just cropped. Oh and shoot it in Raw, and bracket (so you can fiddle with HDR - look at Trey Radcliff work google him or "Stuck in Customs" - sacrelige but totally awsome).

Huh?

OK, talk to me in English at 3yo level I'm a beginner at dslr photography ...

So ... (1) shoot for square format. What is this, how do I do it and yes, I do have a tripod but no I didn't use it for these shots.

I actually would like to print this out in a larger format to hang, how do I translate it onto canvas?

(2) Shoot in Raw. What is this and how do I do it? Why would it be different?

(3) What do you mean by 'bracket'?

I have a Canon 1000D, go easy on me

(loving the tips though )

[PossumCorner]

Sol it's not advanced stuff I'm burbling about, you can do it all on auto.

1. Square format is in your mind's eye. Look at the scene as if your shot is going to be square-shaped, not oblong. Think of rule of thirds like Ashanali's recent monthly challenge, so the main 'bit' you'd like people to look at is in from a corner: one third down and one third across (usually an eye if it's a portrait). And horizontal or diagonal lines in the shot also cutting across at one-thirds, not dead centre. There's no "rules" just what you think looks right - but composition based on rule-of-thirds appeals to the eye.

Then crop the image to suit how you planned it to make it square. So you've planned the image, not just cropped a chunk off one side to square it off.

2. re: Shoot in Raw. Your camera menu will give you choices something like jpeg fine, jpeg, Raw or Raw and jpeg. Choose Raw, you won't lose pixels in the image as it is closed and opened in the computer, you won't lose the original, and it gives you more scope to work with the image. It's not something everyone agrees on, but it does give you an edge with landscape shots doing stuff like Persephone did in Photoshop or whatever: and you don't damage the original when you make copies to work on. (JPEG images don't 'keep' as well as Raw, they lose quality over time).

3. Bracketing. I'm a Nikon girl but I know the 1000D does bracketing so it should be in your handbook. It's just a button to set telling the camera to take three instant shots instead of just one. One will be the 'correct' exposure, one slightly over-exposed, one slightly under. And at the same speed as rapid-fire, I think you get three or four to a second. But you still need a tripod so they will be identical, no movement blur etc. Then you have them to keep stored safely til you want to mess with layers in photoshop, or HDR etc.

And for prints on canvas, any of the good pro labs will do that for you (so will the not so good ones, so get a local recommendation). You can order on line and get them mailed to you if they are outside of personal shopping area. Expensive, but.

[persephone]

SoL- yes- picasa is free- and very easy to use (which is why I use it first to fix minor stuff It certainly is a 'rough' fix- but can often just be enough

if you want to try it- have fun...BUT during setup- make sure you tell it to NOT upload stuff unless you give permission- otherwise it will grab every image off your computer and organise them for you (which you may want - but I don't know :D )

THIS may help

also, Have a look here

I am a PICASA addict - have used it to organise my photos for about 4 years ..and also , as I said it is my first port of call for minor editing .Otherwise I use PhotoPos Pro and the beta trial version of Lightroom ;)

You have some gorgeous photo opportunities there!

[Linda K]

would love to see it at a different time of day - generally for landscapes, the golden hours are best - dawn and twilgiht, and the half hours before and after the sun has risen ans et - lots of softer lighting, not as much differences with harsh shadows etc. Definitely go with the tripod, as then you can go out to about F16 or so, and not have to worry about hand shake, and if your camera has it, set it for timer release on the shutter - otherwise even with a tripod, just the action of pushing a button can make a slight shake, by there being a delay between you pushing the button, and it taking the picture, you avoid this. Move around too - I have done landscape classes, where our tutor had us exhaust all the opportunities for a spot (use different focal lengths on the camera, play with different apertures, but also change height - a lot of people will typically take shots just standing, and take it at their normal height - get down low, get up higher, lie down on the ground etc - you will be amazed ho different it can look just doing this, Also don;t be afraid to try a different spot - sometimes even just moving slightly left or right can make things look different.

[SoL]

:rolleyes:

thanks guys. LindaK will definitely go at different times of the day - Monet was my favourite impressionist and that is exactly what he used to do with oils. I was also pleased with the reference to Streeton because he is regarded as an Australian impressionist painter and impressionism is one of my favourite genres of art. Will take the tripod next time and use the time delay but I think I will have to re-read the manual a few times to get to grips with raw and f stops etc. I did actually move around quite a bit - unfortunately this is private land I wanted to buy it but I was a few $mil short so I now have to resort to peering through the barbed wire fence and over the gates.

Really pleased with the suggestions so far, thanks guys Keep em coming

[Nevafollo]

LOL Was looking at that thinking gee that place looks familiar...then realised your from the hunter valley!!! I love driving that road! So pretty!

[Kirislin]

:rolleyes:

thanks guys. LindaK will definitely go at different times of the day - Monet was my favourite impressionist and that is exactly what he used to do with oils. I was also pleased with the reference to Streeton because he is regarded as an Australian impressionist painter and impressionism is one of my favourite genres of art. Will take the tripod next time and use the time delay but I think I will have to re-read the manual a few times to get to grips with raw and f stops etc. I did actually move around quite a bit - unfortunately this is private land I wanted to buy it but I was a few $mil short so I now have to resort to peering through the barbed wire fence and over the gates.

Really pleased with the suggestions so far, thanks guys Keep em coming

I wonder if you approached the owner and showed him the photos, and said you like to take more from different angles he might let you have access to the land, if you ask nicely.

[SoL]

I'd love to but he's a city slicker and we only ever see his manager working the cattle. It'd be worth a try though wouldn't it? I would have loved to take the dogs there too.

Sammy, kettle's always on if you're round this way

[Kirislin]

Hmmmm wouldn't take the doggies though, if they're serious farmers the last thing they want is dogs that aren't supposed to be there running around.

[SoL]

No, definitely not - though I know I could trust our eldest boys around them as they were raised around horses and the like but the young-uns wouldn't know how to act around them! Apparently he's spent an awful lot of money on a very expensive breed of cattle so they would be like gold to him.

Anyhoo, dreaming on! Here's two shots of the same place at sunset today (I took advice, learnt how to bracket exposure on my camera (very nifty!) and also shot in RAW). See what you think:

Definitely produces a more mellow feel to the picture :D