Noobie here Just looking for some pointers.

[Ls_[eg]hatch]

OKay heres some of my shots, don't really have a editing program,just a lil program that came on my dell.

All shots are either with my kit lens 18-55mm or canon 50mm

Just looking for pointers & stuff All comments & C&c welcome.


50mm shots

IMG_6670 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr


IMG_6645 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr






bimmer7 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr

18-55mm lens

img_0096 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr






jwr 006 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr




Georgie by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr


vw4,edit by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr


bimmer8 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr


edit,vette by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr

[Cola]

The composition of your shots show a lot of potential.

-The Basics-
Every photographer has to to start out with them. Research, research, research. Among countless other things, to get a real grip on photography it is absolutely VITAL to fully understand shutter speed, aperture, ISO and depth of field, at the very least. Not just knowing what they are and what they do, but how they interact with each other and how to use it to your advantage. Nothing unlocks the power of your camera than shooting 99% of the time in manual mode. You can dial in exactly what you want when you know how to get that result using at least these 4 basic things.

-Composition-
Your photos, as I said above, show a lot of potential, but like all of us, there is much room for improvement. Research the basic "Rule of thirds" this can help out a lot to make a photo go from decent to interesting just by shifting your composition. There are many other techniques but this one will get you started.

Leading lines (having lines in your photo leading to the subject) can help draw the eye to the point of focus. Your first photo here would be a good opportunity. If the beginning of the pipe started in the bottom left corner and you left out the big out of focus L joint it would improve the look.

It is very important to not only look at your subject but to look at the photo as a whole, in the first photo the first thing my eye goes to is the big out of focus L joint in the pipe. Having your subject in focus does not always make it the point of focus. Always look for distracting elements in your photos that draws your eye away from the subject.

My next point is a big one and often overlooked by new photographers (and even some with a bit more experience) It is so very important that I can not stress it enough, so I will put it in caps. WATCH YOUR BACKGROUND. I know it is very easy to get fixated on the subject you are shooting, but your background can kill a photo. Watch for things that intersect with your subject. Your 3rd photo you have a head coming out of the hood, that's where my eye goes. Photo 5 the yellow on the left pulls focus, photo 8 it is the guy in the background, photo 9 the tent pole, 10 the pillar is a big pull of focus and 11 all the people.

I can understand how car shows can be tough to eliminate these distractions but sometimes waiting for the right moment is just as important in photography as the camera itself. In some cases I am sure the people wouldn't mind stepping a few steps in one direction if you asked them nicely. Many photographers will have trees "growing" out of their subjects or light poles, fences "cutting" heads. It is very important to be aware of your background when snapping a shot.

Also a quick thought, if photo 2 was level (it feels like it is leaning) it would be a much better shot.

-Advice-
The absolute best advice I can give you is research, research, research and shoot, shoot, shoot. There are countless sources on the web with photographers of all walks, skill classes, specialties, and so forth that all have something great to offer. Youtube is an amazing tool to watch other photographers at work and to learn the techniques of others to develop your own. I have been a photographer for a few years and I have learned everything I know from talking with others, shooting with experienced photographers, forums, youtube, blogs, books, webpages, and most importantly trial and error. Let this bring me to my next point

-Shoot from every angle-
Get out there and shoot. Shoot anything that catches your eye and shoot it from every angle you can. This will help you understand your subject better, understand composition, give you a chance to use all of the tips I have given and clock time for you behind the lens. Changing the angle of a shot can change the entire look and feel of the shot dramatically and as you experiment you will better understand this and be able to get comfortable knowing what makes an interesting shot and what doesn't. Most portraits work best when you are on eye level with your subject and so on.. but it is also important to shoot things in a way you normally wouldn't look at a subject, giving a new and unique view on something can make for an interesting photo too.

Once you get comfortable with all of these technicals and they start to become second nature to you, that's when creativity can really come out. After a while you will look at a scene and visualize what you are looking to get out of it and look at it as an opportunity to create a beautiful photograph instead of looking at a scene and thinking 1/80, F8, ISO 100. Sort of how when you are typing you are not thinking " Ok, now press the space bar, then the first letter of the word, ok now the second letter" You are focused on what you are saying, not so much the keyboard you are using to say it. Getting comfortable with these things will leave infinite room for you to become creative with your photographs.

-Conclusion-
There are countless factors to getting the photo you want, from the techniques, to the settings to the gear it is almost endless and ever single photo will be different in terms of all of these things and what is needed. These basic things may seems overwhelming at first but they are vital and they do take time. Once you start to get it down you will feel the shift and become more confident and your technique will grow with your photography. As you feel a need to do certain things you will research and learn new things to achieve them and little by little you will grow as a photographer and accumulate these bits to knowledge and techniques. When you get to this stage you may decide to start breaking these rules. The rule of thirds may not be what is needed in a certain photo, or purposely underexposing the sky to shadow the foreground may be exactly what a photo needs, but like they say only after you learn and understand the rules can you begin to break them. I could go on forever because there is so much that can be said but I am hoping what I have shared here will continue to push you in the right direction. As I said before your photos show potential so I think if you keep at it and learn everything you can and practice then you will get a lot out of photography.

Best of luck to you

- Jeff

[96whiteknight]

That should get him started. ^ Good advice.

[Ls_[eg]hatch]

thanks alot jeff!!! Really appreciate you taking you're time to break everything down like that for me.
I recall someone saying something about catching poles n stuff running threw the backround & main focus of the pics.

2 is my favorite shot, Funny part is i was just at a wedding messing around & it turned out great, its straight out of my camera. Now that you say something i notice that it does look like its leaning.

[Cola]

Not a problem at all, I remember what it was like to be new to photography and information hungry to advance so I am happy to pass it along just like those did for me.

Post processing is a very important step, and while not absolutely necessary, it is a huge part of digital photography. It is the modern day darkroom (much fancier though) and could really help alot. Photoshop can be a bit overwhelming because there is so much you can do and 100 ways to do the same thing that it can be frustrating at first. If you can "obtain" Lightroom, I think it would be a good tool for you to use to help tweak your photos more to your liking in a bit more straightforward, user friendly manner. Simple contrast adjustments or tone curves can make the difference and even allow you to make minor adjustments in your photos. If you do decide to get Lightroom or another editor, it is best to shoot your photos in RAW format, this leaves much more light information to work with in the post processing world. Working with JPEG is not out of the question, but not the best method either in my opinion. Let me see if I can show you what very basic editing can do even with a JPEG.

Stay tuned.

[Cola]

Here is a super quick edit I did using Lightroom. I am generally a photoshop user but I just wanted to show how some subtle changes can make the image "pop" a little bit more. I added contrast using tone curves, I leveled out the glass, I reduced saturation and bumped vibrance to bring out the reds and help white the white while promoting the warm holiday overtone it gives. There was a lot of warm tones in the photo which to me made the photo, it gives that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling so I wanted to encourage that instead of cooling it in color. Very basic, very small changes. Editing is completely preference though, you may have a different feel in mind but with editing you can bring the photo to the life you had in mind for it, especially when shooting and editing in RAW. With a JPEG image like this it takes away some flexibility I could have had, but there are still options.

Original

IMG_6645 by I <3 Haters!, on Flickr

Edit

[Ls_[eg]hatch]

is it me or is the glass not leaning as much in your edit? lol

[Cola]

Yeah that's what I meant but I leveled out the glass lol.

[DC_5 KiD]

a little 5 min thing on lightroom...

evo copy | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

before/after

ba | Flickr - Photo Sharing!