By The Bay: C&C are very much welcome.

[Stefan Stuart Fletcher]

Congrats on your new camera. Hope you have a lot of fun with it. Don't know how proficient you are (I'm an amateur), so apologies for insulting your intelligence/experience with the following:


1. The white balance can always be improved


2. The colours could be boosted a little.


3. Mid-tones, shadows and highlights can always be tweaked to make a city/sea/landscape punchier (if that's what you'd like to do). Horizontal pictures in particular can appear a little flat, so those variables usually need adjustment


4. Images need some sharpening.


That's the order I do things in with all non-portrait/macro work. Lightroom 1/2 or Photoshop CS3/4 will cover all your needs and more. I shoot mostly in RAW, mostly because I can correct my many exposure mistakes afterwards and I don't like my cameras making my decisions for me in jpg.


Have fun!

[MrGreenBug]

Stefan, thank you for your comments. I'm just a novice and would like to get more info as I can. Yes, I am loving my new camera!


The four points that you mentioned are exactly what I wanted to hear or read for that matter. At the time I took the photo, I wasn't thinking of any of the technical stuff regarding photography as I was so excited to have my first DSLR and went trigger happy with the camera. []


Will go back to the photo and try to tweak on points #2, #3, & #4. I think the WB cannot be tweaked anymore since I shot in JPEG.


Again, thank you for your input. I'll count this as my stepping stone to better photos.


Thanks and regards!

[Stefan Stuart Fletcher]

Thanks for kind comments. I think you can improve white balance / colour / contrast, even in jpg. If you have PS CS3 or 4 or Lightroom 2, you can set the Raw Capture utility to open jpgs and then the eye dropper to decide on neutral grey. In Photoshop, add a levels adjustment with three eyedroppers (darkest point, lightest point and midpoint).


If you're a novice in post-processing you can't go far wrong with Kelby's "7-point system for PS", a fairly good how/why-to book which has the advantage of being relatively short (unlike the doorstop bibles people like to write about Photoshop).


More importantly, I envy that wonderful time where you are in your photography, when the 'creative' modes are daunting, full manual frightening and everything a discovery. The only really good advice I can offer is to keep shooting. It costs nothing and you learn.


Two years ago, I purchased my first dSLR, the 400D, thinking that this was a healthy, outdoor activity thanks to which I'd never have to look at a computer monitor again...