This is my first attempt at A: anything other than point and shoot. B: editing anything. I would really appreciate any feedback you could provide! Thanks!
Canon Digital Rebel ISO1600, 1/80, f/4, 28mm, no flash. Only editing was slight sharpening. No color changes, shot in RAW; color as shot, minimal crop, dog's head is as shot.
IMG_0021_edited-1 by aleyoung86, on Flickr
Right, with regards to the content of the image... Overall a nice photo from a beginner. The exposure seems to be OK, however I think I'd prefer to perhaps see a bit more of the dog (dogs' ears are nice, why chop them off?). There appears to be a little motion blur around his mouth, which could be sharpened up with a faster shutter speed. Depending on your lens, you might be able to open up the aperture to achieve this, which would also throw the background more out of focus and isolate the dog.
I think composition-wise, I would have preferred to see this in a landscape format. The bottom of the photo doesn't seem to add much to my eye, and the dog would be better 'staring off' into a landscape format rather than the abrupt end of the frame (does that make sense?!).
Regarding the colour, I think the white balance is a little too green - perhaps the abundance of green in the frame has thrown off the white balance. I've corrected this to look 'right' to my eye and on my monitor (which is calibrated), as well as perking up the contrast ever so slightly. Shown below is before (left) and after (right). Tell me what you think.
Last edited by w349; 05-02-2012 at 03:37 PM.
Agreed with what had been said so far. Don't forget about the background when shooting. Your eyes are drawn to areas of contrast and that lower corner got my attention a bit more than it should. It's prolly too late to warn ya, but the Rebel is a gateway drug to the dslr world
Words get in the way of what I meant to say.
Thank you for the tips, I am color blind (a bit of a disadvantage) but I do see the difference in what you did. Thank you! The shot was not well composed, I was shooting my friend and my wife as they ran across a bridge (I was in a creek at the time) and Molly (the dog) ran by close to me. I was able to go out and shoot tonight with some more "composed" (still learning a lot about everything here) so I'll post the best of those when I get done with them.
@andnowi'mbroke - The rebel xt is the camera my wife bought several years ago, she didn't like the weight of the SLR so she went back to a point and shoot. I kinda picked up the camera as a curiosity and now I'm hooked. I really like the technical aspect of photography, but I don't have much of an eye for the art of it. I guess I have a life time to learn though!
Aley, FYI, Don't feel alone with your Color Blindness---about 60% of the males on the planet are color blind to some extent or the other---which is why thier wife has to dress them in the morningOriginally Posted by aleyoung86
---Seriously, I too have this problem and typically like my photo's "over saturated", So here is my recommendation: When you have a photo that is naturally rich in color, edit to your taste, then back off the saturation just a tadd---Then post and see what others say. Sometimes I listen to them, sometimes I don't---What's important is that YOU like the way a shot looks.
Bob
Nice photo....I like the framing, atypical, but interesting.....my only comment is that I find it a little warm. I'd back off a couple hundred degrees....but that is me.
@kayaker72 - when you say "back off a couple hundred degrees" is that a tangible term, or is it a slang term? I get your gist, but I'm not sure how to measure if that makes sense. I'll google it and try to find an answer, thanks for the feedback though. I did think the photo a bit warm myself, but when I cooled it off it didn't look right. Maybe (probably) I was doing it wrong.
@bobwilliams - My wife is constantly telling me my "greens don't match" or some such thing. The only disadvantage is when my camo doesn't matchI do like your idea of taking it to what I think looks right, and then seeing what others say.
aleyoung86,
He's referring to the white balance of the image in degrees Kelvin.
Dave
See my photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dthrog00/
Color temperature, or White Balance. Just when you thought there was onliy one "white."
If you shoot in "Raw" vs. JPG - I think it is under the image quality menu item - I haven't worked through the menu items on your camera.
Shooting in Raw allow for manipulation of the white balance in post production - most times we see "AWB" which is allowing the camera to estimate the true color of the light. JPG processes the image in the camera that it is slightly more difficult to fiddle with white balance issues in the computer. You will end up tinting the whole picture vs. true white balance correction.
If we compare a regular old light bulb to a flourescent to regular noon daylight on a sunny we day, we see a brown/yellow tint, green, then "no tint" if we were balanced to "daylight" color balance.
In the old days we would have to buy film for the color of light or put on a filter which cut down the amount of light available - now we just punch a couple of buttons.
It isn't a bad idea to carry a grey/white card in your bag. One side is the grey color that the camera is trying to get the overall scene exposed to ( set it in the scene and check your exposure) the other is white so you can fill the frame with the white side push custom white balance button and poof the "correct" white balance is set
If you see me with a wrench, call 911
Dave and BK have it covered. I was refering to the color temperature which is measured in degree Kelvin. A quick link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
As you shot in RAW, simply open the file in DPP. You note that color is "as shot." Open that tab. You can select any of the options (cloudy, shade, tungsten, etc), but I would recommend selecting "Color Temperature." That will give you a slider bar. Move the slider to the left a little and see if you like the results. One cool feature is the eye dropper. If you click on it and drop it on something white, it will set the white balance as whatever you dropped it on. I am not sure if the eye dropper will work in your photo, perhaps the teeth are close enough to white.
Good luck, and again, nice photo.
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