Darkchild... newbie to photography

[darkchild]

Hi, I'm new to photography. I've always had an interest in it but didn't have the money to invest into good equipment. So I spent my time with art. I have another thread dedicated to my art. I've recently begun to read books and online tutorials on how to take photos. I wanted to share some with everyone and get some good feedback on my work. Thanks for your time!

Here's a few to start me off on:

Ok thanks for viewing. C+C very welcome! Like my art I take the comments seriously. I'm using a Canon Powershot A630 for the photos.

[ukanfoff]

the shoreline, its tilting a lil bit you might wanna watch for that next time.
and the macros, the blue cast is a lil distracting. are u next to a window or something?

[darkchild]

ukanfoff: Hi, thanks for the visit. Now that you've mentioned it I never noticed the shoreline was tilted. I didn't have my tripod with me at the time so I had to steady my self. I didn't actually line up the shot very well then. On the macros I wasn't by the window but maybe my camera was set to a blue color. I'll check that right now. Thank you for commenting :)

I was practicing night time shooting. I have never had any luck with low light situations because I didn't know the first thing about it. So I looked up some tutorials online and then went out last night and did these shots. I had a tripod this time. It's about 4am in the morning (I work the graveyard shift just in case you think I got up specifically to do this) and I found that the construction site next to my work had lit up the work area really nicely. Camera was at ISO 80, I think it was a 4 second exposure. The last one was from the 29th floor of my work. It was an extra long exposure so I got a lot of blurring of the head lights on the freeway. Anyways, have a look and let me know how I did:

Thanks for looking :)

[darkchild]

Macros of my Omas fountain pen:

[Nike]

I cannot see your pictures. Since ukanfoff obviously could, I'm wondering if I'm the only one?

[darkchild]

Sorry everyone. This has happened to me at my art thread as well. I've attached the photos in a different way now. So if you still can't see them let me know. Thanks

[Nike]

Now they're working :)

I agree with ukanfoff on the tilting and the blue-cast (exspecially in the 3rd pic from your first batch), but I really like those evening and night cityscaps. Exspecially the last one is very appealing in its colors and contrast. I think it would even improve more, if you'd crop that camera reflection in the window at the top (right hand) away.

And nice pen! :)

[purplerose]

I like the last one of the pen. It has really nice golden tones. Should try playing around with cropping on it though.

[darkchild]

Nike: Hi, thanks for the visit!! Yeah I wish there was a balcony or a window that opened. But unfortunately for our safety the windows don't open. I may crop or photoshop out that glare later on. That pen is the nicest one I own and to write with thus far. Thank you, I'm glad you noticed:)

purplerose: Thank you:) I'm slowly getting into all this. I'll be playing around with cropping and other things as I progress. I should really crop that weird upper left hand corner away though....

Here are two from a couple days ago. I didn't get the time to post these. The first is another night time city shot, again through a window. The second was a beautiful sunrise. I dropped everything I was doing and ran upstairs to take this photo before the color disappeared... but unfortunately the overall photo was marred by the window, yet again.

[darkchild]

I had this photo from this past Friday. I didn't know what to do with it, so I took an excerpt from my journal and filled in the empty corner:

[darkchild]

I just bought a new camera so I went out to give it proper shakedown. Here are two honorable mentions. The first was a test of the optical zoom. The second was the macro test.

[purplerose]

I like the mountains image. Just needs a little help in contrast to make it "pop" more.

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thank you for looking:) I totally agree. Those mountains are blending into the sky a bit. I'll work on that later.

Here is a black and white photo:

[purplerose]

Really nice tones on the last one. Wish the head and hands weren't cut off though.

[Mr. Mu]

hey,

you got so many good advice that I'll stick to a few subjective remarks:

- I really like your figurative work. It seems to me you should put as much consideration into your other shots when it comes to artificially lighting the scene!

- I think the shot of the pebble shore is much better without the writing (although I had to smile when I read it... or maybe you have to go for a bit more sophisticated layout/style of writing, you know?) Right now it just looks pasted in to me.

- I very much like your night and early morning shots. One of them looks like an establishing shot for a movie scene (and if you had numbered your images I could have told you which one...^^)

- on the mountain image: Don't make the mountains pop! Their melting in with the sky and low contrast is a very important depth cue as anyone can thus "read" just how far away they are, because of the atmospheric perspective (which is just haze). If you need to make parts of an image like that "pop" you need to include a very near object (say, a branch of a nearby tree or a wooden post on a lawn or something). This will be much darker and have a higher contrast (esp. compared to the distant mountains) and will give the landscape shot increased space and depth.

Which also means you would have to reshoot that one...:D

cya
Mu

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thanks for the visit:) Sorry I thought I was in the correct distance and I wasn't. But I did take several. There was a couple with my head in it but one was out of focus, the other the body position just didn't look right. The rest were just crap. So I scrapped those and kept this.

Mr. Mu: Thank you very much for the suggestions and critiques! I appreciate all of them. First off, I'm glad you like my figure work. I can repost that rocky shore with no writing if you want. I actually numbered all my phots at first but no one could see the images so I did the next trick that I knew would work. But unfortunately when I post images this way you can't add text next to them. So sorry. I can post them correctly on my art thread for some reason. I see what you're saying about the depth of field with my mountains. I didn't really have anything closer to give it that effect. The night shots are convenient since I work the graveyard shift in downtown. My only gripe is that for the higher shots I don't have an open balcony. They all have to go through a window. Since my company doesn't believe in cleaing them I'm struggling to get good shots.

I went out to Matthews Beach again today and this time tried my had at moving targets... and these were some of the results:

[Mr. Mu]

But unfortunately when I post images this way you can't add text next to them.

ah, my mistake... sure, that's a pity.

Keep em coming!

[darkchild]

Mr. Mu: I know.... No prob here's a couple more:)

Downtown by night... again. This time from a different window.

[Nike]

Nice nightshots again!
And I totally love the light and the framing in the b/w figurative.

The ducks are nice, but the second and the third have a quite strong blue-cast - but they are more interesting in their composition than the first one - I exspecially like the third one. I'd really give it a try to remove the bluecast.
In all of them the water seems to be sharper than the ducks - that might be the focus having problems with the light situation though.

keep shooting :)

[darkchild]

Nike: Hey there! Thanks for dropping by again:) I'm happy to hear you like the night photos! I had to take them through a dirty window. I actually shocked at how well they turned out. There are plenty of spots that you can see the light refracting from the window. Yeah that blue cast over the last two photos were because I had the camera set to a light blue balance. I thought it would bring out a slightly richer blue... but unfortunately it made it too rich. I haven't really messed around with it in PS yet. I hate it that things look a lot different on the tiny viewfinder of the camera, then you get it on the big screen and it's like, WHOA!... Funny you should mention composition with the ducks because several minutes into shooting the male mounted the female. He go thrown off immediately, guess she wasn't in the mood:) Thanks for the critiques, I'm slowly getting into finding good photo ops and now cropping. I'll keep working on it!

Here are two test photos. The first is me playing around with the color accent mode. I like the right pic better because it's more mysterious and scary, also it looks like I'm walking towards you.

The second is a panoramic of Matthews Beach, the same place I took those photos of the ducks. This is the first time I got to play around with Canon's Photostitch program. This is 4 photo pan.

Thank you to all who have visited and commented. I appreciate all the help and critiques I'm getting:)

[darkchild]

Just some photos I took last night. The first one is an overly high contrast and saturated night shot... The second I was just messing around on an empty floor in at my work. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, just having some fun. I took 10 photos like this and this was the one that came out the most interesting. Anyways, everyone have a nice day:)

[darkchild]

It was a beautiful sunny warm day in Seattle...I know two things that aren't normally associated together in this city. I had the day off and took this opportunity to go out to Golden Gardens Beach this time. So this is a change of scenery because I've been shooting at Matthews Beach. Unfortunately the wildlife is the same. I think some of these ducks may have been the same ones posing for me at Matthews Beach:) I took 63 photos and here are the better ones:

[purplerose]

Nice work on the 3rd duck photo. :) Maybe slightly tighter cropping?

I like the last 2 as well. :) Hmm, I think a bit more work on contrast and they'd be better.

Awesome cityscape/skyline thingy.... (?) :) I like the colors. :)


Hmm.... I think I've exceeded my smiley face limit for this post... :p

[darkchild]

purplerose: Funny I was actually cropped the third duck photo but then decided not to because I didn't like it. Maybe I'll go back to crop it again. I'll work more on the contrast adjustments. I don't want everything to look too bright. Those night time shots were all high contrasts. I love the way they turned out as well, thanks:) And don't worry about the smiley faces. There's no limit in this book:)

Another beautiful afternoon in neighborhood. I ventured out to Issaquah for some photo ops today. I got some nice views.

[WoodstocK]

what a beautifull place u live... must be inspiring walkin around with all that mountains.
the last one is my favorite...
nice shots
:)

[darkchild]

Woodstock: Hi thanks for the visit:) Yes it is a beautiful place. I actually don't live over here. I drove about 20 miles just to take this photo. But it's a very quite area with very few cars but a ton of houses. When I get the chance I'll take some pictures of the falls and go exploring around the area.

A photo from my office last night. I'm wondering how the cropping is? Any suggestions?

[Grumbledook]

The crop isn't bad, however you may want to consider the background more when framing the shot.

Was it possible for example to put it front of a window, or a blank wall? This would remove all the distracting elements behind it. Or using a flash would mean the background would get underexposed and make the subject stand out more.

Love most of the cityscape shots though, keep it up!

[Nike]

The last duck shots are really nice in its colors!

And beautiful landscape panoramas... seems like a nice place to live. :)

Regarding the last one I'm with Grumbledook - the background is kind of destroying the picture - it's too vivid. Besides Grumbledooks suggestions you could also just use a big monocolored board as a background - that's what I often do.

[darkchild]

Grumbledook: Thanks for the visit! Regarding that plant, I couldn't move it because it wasn't my property. I found this at someone's desk at work. I did realize that the background was very distracting. Unfortunately I didn't have a large sheet of paper or anything to use as a backdrop. Thanks for the suggestions, I will keep that in mind for the next time:)

Nike: Thanks for the visit! I had a hell of a time photographing that duck. He would stay still and was changing directions on me every second. I should have picked a more laid back one. The area around me are very nice to venture out to. There's a lot of country side as long as you are willing to travel to them. I'll be doing more of that during this summer. I on the other hand live within a large city, Seattle. So there's not much in the immediate vicinity that compares to those. I hear you about that background. I'll be more prepared the next time!

I was up in Snohomish County today for a birthday party. I took the opportunity to wander out to the backroads. I couldn't fine too many places to stop my car and take pictures because there weren't many shoulders. I did take this one of the open curves. I thought it was kind of nice. I wanted a diffused look to it. The other was a vase full of roses. Perfect op for a macro.

[MLlanes]

your last one is similar to one of mine.
http://flickr.com/photos/michaelllanes/2089874106/in/set-72157603882491287/

[WoodstocK]

well... i think that on the violet flower photo it would been nice to take it out of the background (doin like they said) but i like the way it is... i think it gives a great jungle-desk enviroment hehehe... really liked, the colours too, althought its a little too much white on the brightest spots but that too gives a special ,don´t know why, touch :)
(the cropping is fine too)

let´s keep shotting :D

[purplerose]

I like the vibrant color of the rose, wish it was a bit sharper though.

[darkchild]

MLlanes: Hi, thanks for the visit:) Yes it does, but your's looks better. I think it's a lot sharper.

WoodstocK: I hear you about that background to the orchid. Unfortunately this was someone else's desk, so I didn't get permission to move the plant. Thank you though I appreciate your coments.:). I may ask the person when she gets back if I can move it for a better photo:)

purplerose: Thanks! You caught me, I had no tripod that day. I was at a birthday party and my camera was there for casual events. But I saw this and had to snap a few. I tried at higher ISO speeds but I just couldn't keep still enough. This was the best one out of 6 photos.

I got some more photos last night. I've only had time to upload these two. I'll get the others up later. Both are experimenting with different urban scenes. This is the courtyard and rear entrances to my work. I tried to make the first one a bit more creepy... and it is, there are a ton of homeless people and drug addicts that frequent that side. I was surprised none of them were there that night.

[WoodstocK]

yeh.. the first one sure looks creepy.. if only there was a thug on the scene... hehe...

i think thats one of the main challenges of getting street photos, to have the balls to take ur camera and shoot... today i lost a very good moment of a homeless kid sleepin in the street cause i got a little.. hmm... unconfortable of takin the shoot...

[darkchild]

WoodstocK: If there was a thug on the scened and I managed to get the photo and get away, THAT would a photo worth mentioning! I totally agree with you. You never know how some people will act when you have a recording device of any kind around them. But seize the opportunity as I've been telling myself so I lose as few ops as possible!

Two for today... One is another night time photo. That's my car in front of my work. I like it because of the 2 bursts of light above the vehicle. The second was some frost on my front lawn.

[Nike]

Very nice colors in that last night shot! I like it a lot :)

The grass - I don't know, seems a tad bit overexposed - the white frost-areas are very flat and almost everywhere without detail. I like the subject and colors, though :)

[darkchild]

Nike: Hey thanks for the visit again:) I appreciate your help with my work. I have good luck when it comes to night shots for some reason. The grass was a bit too much now that you mentioned it. I wanted to do a few more photos but there was no frost this morning... so I'll have to wait on that. It was kind of hard because I had to be really close to the grass so my tripod couldn't be used. I'll take a better one the next time it frosts over.

I had a little fun this morning. The first is just the AMC Theater sign across the street from me. The second is part of the Pacific Place Mall building with the AMC sign visible. The last two are two different exposures of a crane that's getting taller by the day. Once this building is finished I won't have a view of this sunrise anymore. That new building is said to be taller than us. I'm taking this picture from the 25th floor through another dirty window. I tried my best to compensate. I took 14 photos and picked the best two. The first was right at dawn so hence the richer reds. The second was approximately 10 minutes later. I attempted to get the entire top of the crane into the shot to show some of the gradients in the sky.

[darkchild]

Messing about with the camera again:

[darkchild]

Trying my hand at more interesting (hopefully) composition:

[VenomVindicta]

I really love the tones in the water of the first duck photos, really helps the duck stand out (:

Nice cityscapes aswell, really inspiring :)

Keep going ,theres some real potential here.

[purplerose]

The last one is a bit overexposed, but very nice and moody. :)

[darkchild]

VenomVindicta: Thank you very much for the kind words:) I will definitely keep working at it. I've got a long ways to go!

purplerose: Thank you:) I was hoping to get a moody feeling in the pic. But you're right it is a overexposed. I was just thinking it would add to the feeling of the scene. I'll watch for that next time. Thank you for the visit again:)

Here's something I just came up with out of nowhere. I don't know why I thought of this but I'll just add it to my experimentations:



"Sometimes life is good to you"

[Nike]

I love the crane photos. The clouds in the sky make the cityscape look like it would burn.

I also really like that b/w attempt for a more interesting composition. Very nice omposition and mood.

Regarding the last one - funny, I've made a similar shot a few weeks ago (well, similar - maybe not so similar after all :)) - I like the composition a lot, but I'm not sure if it wouldn't look better without that partial colors.

[darkchild]

Nike: Hi, thanks for the visit:) I appreciate you taking the time and looking at my work. I'm glad you think that composition piece was interesting, that was exactly what I was hoping to achieve. Regarding the last post with the cards, I could convert it to a b&w photo and see how that would work out. I thought it would be interesting to have just the suits in color. Oh well, thats why this is an experimental scrapbook:)

One for today. This is my first real experimentation with HDR. I don't really like the way everything was set up but I wanted to get a smattering of colors in it. The sky was too grey today and it didn't have the contrast that I was hoping for. Seems like all the nice colors wen to the bottom right of the image. Also this was a rare opportunity that two generations of the same cars were on the street so I siezed the op:

"Classic vs. New"

[VenomVindicta]

Yeah, i think that last one would be alot better if you had a nice, clear blue sky

but im loving the concept behind it.

in regards to the cards one, i think that it's realy wel taken, and i like the partil colours, Nicely composed (:

Good to see youre still posting :)

[darkchild]

VenomVindicta: Thank you:) I'm a Subaru enthusiasts among many other things. My neighbors relative just came home for a visit and parked several meters behind me. I thought what a great op, but no clear skies, otherwise it would have been a much better photo in color. I'll continue to post as long as I find interesting stuff to photograph:)

Another random thought in composition:

"8800"

[purplerose]

That last one is pretty cool.

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thank you:) I don't know why I got the sudden urge to photograph those old phones.

I went on a water droplet kick this morning. It's been raining for the last 3 or 4 days now. So I couldn't really do much outside shooting, which I enjoy the most. But it gave me a great op to do some droplet macros. The first one is my favorite for some reason. I've been reading up on aperture and DOF so I wanted to try and apply some of that to the following.

"A world within a world"

[darkchild]

Here's another batch of experiments before I log off for the rest of the night. I managed to get out there after it had stopped raining.


I found a church that was closed. I know because I attempted to ask permission to photograph the grounds. So I played around the front door a bit.
I like the first one for the colors, but again that sky was too grey. The second one of the actual church is a bit dark, but I really like the mood that sky sets off against the building. The third is areally lousy macro of flowers. The last one was a fountain in the front yard.

[Alien8n]

Only thing missing from that second shot is the lightning!

Yeah, 1 and 2 look great, very vibrant colours on the first one.

Think I'd like to see 2 in black and white with the contrast turned up a bit though, dunno...

[darkchild]

Alien8n: Thank for the visit! I really like that church photo but I should've upped the contrast a bit more. I'll get a b&w version of that church for ya....

It was actually a beautiful day in Seattle... rare. Here's a small batch from today.

[darkchild]

Alien8n: here ya go! Ask an ye shall receive. Let me know how this works out.

Same church photo but desaturated and contrast has been increased slightly:

[Alien8n]

it does look moodier in black and white :)

[Ment]

I also like the b/w version better :)

[darkchild]

Alien8n and Ment: Well then it's settled the b&w one is the keeper:) Thanks for the help on this one!

Thank you to all who have visited and taken the time to look at my humble work. Tonight's submission:

first one: "Analog vs Digital".... and the second one was a "quick! grab the camera before it gets away" kind of deal. I didn't have a good enough lens to get the details, so every thing is blown out. But I thought I'd share it with everyone anyways:)

[purplerose]

Pretty nice composition in that last one. :)

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thank you:) I was hoping to go for something interesting!

I was messing around with b&w again. Sorry I still haven't found a model yet so everyone will just have to settle for looking at me. I decided to try a different angle. All of my previous photos are from dead on. These are the only two out of 48 photos that I came out decent.

[purplerose]

Nice work in the last 2. Self-portraits are a pain to setup sometimes. Try experimenting more with the angle and distance from the camera so you won't cut off your head again. :)

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thank you. I have a lot of problems with self portraits because I wear glasses. The S5 IS that I shot this with allows me to swivel the screen around to see what I'm doing. So after I get the focus and other settings correct I hit the self-timer and stand in place. But I can't see the screen to see if I'm in the correct placement. But I guess it won't be a big deal now, I just bought new camera:)

I found a Canon 350D (aka Digital Rebel Xt) for a very reasonable price. It was at a local store, the camera was being discontinued so it was on sale. As luck would have it they only had the floor model left. They gave me an addtional 10% off. So I had a rep install the batteries so I could check if everything worked.

This was one of the first photos I shot using RAW mode. I wanted a nice DOF. I'm still getting use to the controls and where everything is right now... I'm gonna have to step up my workout, this kit is a lot heavier than what I'm use to shooting with!

[carolupus]

nice colors! the lines of the pavement in the background are a bit distracting though.

I also have that camera, you'll have a lot of fun with it for sure!

[darkchild]

carolupus: Thank you for visiting! I didn't really see the background as distracting I thought I had blurred it out enough. Thank you for the critique I'm learning more with each shot! I've been enjoying the camera so far:)

Here's another snap of downtown Seattle with the new camera. Again shot through a window, but the DSLR seems to shoot much better than the S5 through dirt:)

[Nike]

Beautiful nightshot again, and I really like the light in your last two self portraits.
I hope you'll have a lot of fun with experimenting with your new camera! :)

[darkchild]

nike: Thank you very much:) You've made my day! That night shot even surprised me. I was not expecting that good of results. I've been experimenting with more lighting lately for the self portraits. The last batch was shot with the S5 IS, this new batch will be with the 350D. Thank for looking!

First photo is the view of the gloom I get most of the time out of my cubicle window. The second was me playing around with lighting. I wanted to get a Sin City sort of a feel for that....

[darkchild]

I was forced to work this Sunday. So while I walked into work I took some photos as well as some more city shots after dark. I really didn't like the last one, it came out tilted. I was too lazy to correct it.

[darkchild]

I'm testing out a new Tamron 18-250mm lens. This has fantastic DOF. One of long range and one as a macro.

[darkchild]

All with the new Tamron 18-250mm lens.

[purplerose]

Pretty nice capture in the last one. Would crop off part of the bottom though.

[darkchild]

purplerose: Thanks! I actually left the bottom part for more comp... but I guess it's too distracting. I'll need to look more carefully into my shots:)

I've got a multi-part post.

First photo: Some in depth deep philosophical words that I found under the lifeguard chair......

The second: Gotta love the sky!

[darkchild]

These clouds remind me of that movie, Independance Day.... those dark, thick clouds that rolled in right before the aliens reveals itself!

[darkchild]

First photo: A duck reflecting upon itself

Second photo: A pair of crows looking for trouble

[darkchild]

....Aaaaaand some randon captures as I was walking back to my car to leave.

[Nike]

Great progress!

I love the b/w with the boxer (you?)! The light and the strong contrast make it very interesting. This is a pic I'd definatley print and frame :)

Also, I really like the colors in your landscapes and cityscapes, amd I dig the crows. I like big birds :)

In the last one, I like the colors and the light (and the motive, too), but I think the composition could be improved a bit - maybe also try from other angles - I lower one might work well, I think.

Keep having fun with your new camera! There's so much you can do, try and experiment with a DSLR :)

[darkchild]

Nike: Thanks for generous praise:) I appreciate that! Yes that boxer is my ugly mug. Just experimenting on lighting again. On that last photo your comment is exactly what someone else said on my Flickr site. I would love to get a lower view of it but there is a railing that would cover my view and also I would be lying in the middle of the road where the cars come through to access the park. It would be hard for me to continue my photography if I was run over:) I am having an awesome time with the DSLR, so many possibilities. I've already sold my other point and shoot. I still have the S5 that I'm debating to sell or keep it for emergencies.

First photo: Here is the new construction that is covering my view. It is now taller than my floor so I can no longer see the sunrise from my desk:(

Second photo: A part of one of the fruit trees in my parents backyard. This is a chinese pear tree I believe....

[darkchild]

Two more....

Some more early bloomers out of the yard.

[Gentile]

I love the first one in the last post, it's so alive.

The second one thoug the flowers could be a bit sharper.

:]

[ivy'sgrandkid]

love the first post on this thread! killer!

[mute.pablo]

wowwww.. you're so lucky to have so much city to take photo's of. I live in the north of scotland, so we never have stuff like that.

You are doing really realy well, that last shot has astonishing form; it's like a sculpture. You should try experimenting with that one. Muck around with different black and whites, and contasts... a good way to find your style is to experiment.

I adore your city ones though. Keep at it :).

[darkchild]

Gentile: Thank you:) I totally agree with you on the sharpness. I think I had the focus points in the wrong place because the leaves came out nice. I'll work on that!

ivy'sgrandkid: Thank you! I hope you meant the first photo on this page...

mute.pablo: Thank you very much:) But living in the big city does have it's downfalls. Such as muggers who want your equipment, it's never safe to shoot at night time. So you have to bring a friend. And the architecture while new and nice is starting to look the same. I'm sure you have tons more older structures that I would love to see over here in the US. But our history is not as old as Scotland's. There are probably just a wealth of beautiful countryside to photograph. I'm continuously experimenting on an almost daily basis so please come back and check:)

Two more experimentations:

Both are taken with a Polarized Filter.

1st photo: handheld HDR (I know not the best way to do it) without a tripod. Tone mapped in CS3. Horrible job on the colors ended up in most of them separating. But I like the angle

2nd photo: Single HDR from RAW conversion. Much sharper to me but I didn't really like the angle too much and the way the grass turned out.

[daedicurus]

i love the colours in your pics, the new blossoms on the "chinese pear tree" look almost goldern and the HDR city stuff makes me think of modern vampire movies (like Blade or Angel). For a "Newbie" to photography you're really developing an eye for composition and colour (which can be hard in such busy city shots), i assume you must have at least studied some art theory at school... :), can't wait to see more.

[darkchild]

daedicurus: Thanks for the visit:) I appreciate the generous comment about my develpment. The most art I've ever studied was not even a quarter or life drawing in college. Everything I've learned I've received from the wonderful members of the CA and the Photography Mob forums thus far. I attribute my knowledge to everyone one of you that has taken the time to critique my work, including you!

Thanks to all who have visited and commented!

This was an unprocessed RAW that was from the a few days ago. I thought I'd try my hand at a bit of severe processing. I wanted those clouds to pop! This is not an HDR, just a single RAW file.

[daedicurus]

nice work on the clouds but i think you've sacrificed the water to get it :)
also watch out for that central horizon line cutting the photo in two, the way the line from the waves draws you onto the shoreline which curls around and the jetty spits you back out into the picture but the horizon sort of acts like a wall keeping your eyes from going back up to the clouds.

[darkchild]

daedicurus: Thanks for the help:) I was mulling over the idea of processing the two subjects separately with a mask. But I got lazy. As to the horizon cutting the photo, I haven't really thought of that. I tend to like photos to be well balanced for sky and ground. Maybe I should have intoduced another object into the composition? Possibly more shore? I was standing right at the water. Thanks for the detailed crit I'll be keeping this in mind for the next shoots:)

Steps leading up to the new county legal center.

[darkchild]

More experimentations....

1st photo: I chose this because of the contrast in colors. I was attempting to bring them all out.

2nd photo: This is hanging in my parents house, it's the word for luck/fortune... and oddly enough in some cases, stupidity.

[carolupus]

I absolutely love your nightshots! how come there are no cars in them?

I like the last one, but that black line separating the image in the middle is a bit distracting. I think I'd crop it to upright format using only the left side of the image.

[darkchild]

carolupus: Thank you very much:) There are no cars because I live in desolate part of town, where everyone has mutated into zombies and no one drives anymore... Sorry, couldn't help myself:) I work a graveyard shift so these photos are usually taken around 4am in the morning. I see what you're saying about the thick black border. That was from a picture frame hanging in the hallway. I may have to retake that one....

Who knew there was a nice little park across the street from the busy city?

Verdant Grounds:

[carolupus]

hm, well I'm just not used to places where not even one car is driving around, even at night. I live in a main street where you even have cars (and drunken people) at 4 am.

I like the parc photo, there are such a lot of different shades of green in it :) too bad about the fences though. maybe I wouldn't have cropped the treetops but showed a little more of the sky.

[darkchild]

carolupus: Well your city is definitely busier at all hours of the night than Seattle then. There is the smattering of drunks and bums around. I was thinking the same about the cropping of the sky on my last post as well. The problem was I couldn't step back any more because there was a really ugly looking square drain that would have been in the shot. I didn't feel like photoshopping it out. I didn't have my tripod either otherwise I would have done a vertical pan shot and got more of the sky in. I know I got to be more prepared but this was an "on the fly" sort of shooting:)

Got another shot of Golden Gardens Beach in Ballard.

[darkchild]

This is the beach side of Golden Gardens.

Handheld at ISO100
RAW
Polarizing Filter
F8 @ 1/320

"Horizons"

[darkchild]

Took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo today. I haven't been there since I was in elementary school.

[darkchild]

More from my day at the zoo:

[thorshammer]

You have some amazing photos. The colors are vibrant and most of your compositions are stunning. I absolutly love the night shot at the top of page 3...it is spectacular!

Great shots! I can't wait to see more.

[darkchild]

thorshammer: Thanks for looking! I do tend to lean toward the saturated vivid colors. Some may say most of my photos are a bit too vivid. Thanks for the praise about my night photo. I was surprise on how that turned out myself:)

More from the zoo.... I've got 286 RAW files to go through, so I'll be posting these up in multiple posts.

[carolupus]

wow, I like the last one - so many different plants in one place! nice colours!
I don't think the saturation works as well in the picture with the house though... the red almost hurts the eye.

[darkchild]

carolupus: I'm glad you like that foliage photo. As to the temple, yes I agree it's overdone. I'm still in the experimental stages of HDR. I really don't know what I'm doing yet. Hopefully the HDR on this post is better:)

Some more from the 286 photos that I took yesterday:

1st photo: HDR of a habitat that was uninhabited

2nd photo: "Hidden"

3rd photo: "Nest"

[darkchild]

Some more from the zoo:

[darkchild]

I'm going to be doing more car photography when car show season starts up again. So these are some practice shots of me and my friend's car.

[darkchild]

Sorry for the inactivity... I don't know if anyone is still interested in looking at my stuff. But if there are still a few of you out there here are some photos I took today. Got a nice pic of the sky at the Mall, a shot of my new car and a yellow plant in my garden....

[carolupus]

sure, I'm interested in looking at your stuff - I'm just not that much into cars, that's all ;)
I think you could achieve better results though if you chose more 'neutral' backgrounds. the warning sign for example kind of distracts from the car.
the yellow tones of the flower look nice, but again, maybe choose another angle to have a less distracting background, e.g. shoot from under the flower up into the sky. I like the background blur though.

[darkchild]

carolupus: Thanks for dopping by:) I'm glad you're still interested in my photos. I actually don't have that many car photos up here. I figure that this is the wrong forum to be posting them. So I usually post other stuff. I took another photo of a flower, maybe this one will be better? Let me know if you get a chance!

[Nike]

You're incredibly productive as always - I've missed a lot! :)

I like the zoo photos, exspecially the one with the bear and the one with the mountain goat. The mountain goat is my favourite, I think, it's really nice in it's composition and the surrounding looks so natural.
On some of the other zoo photos, the saturation is a bit too aggressive for my taste, but it's n interesting experiment.

I agree with carolupus comment and I think the last flower shot is much better than the yellow flowers - the composition is nicer and the background much less distracting!

Keep shooting! :)

[darkchild]

Nike: Thank you:) I appreciate your comments! That Mountain Goat is my favorite as well. I would like that blue bird a bit more if I hadn't cut the end of it's tail off. I tend to like my photos on the saturated side.... maybe it's just my old eyes:) I'll tone some of my stuff down a bit and see where it leads me.

I know I did a no-no by centering my subject on this. But somehow I thought it would look better.

[daedicurus]

centering the subject is not always a no-no, and rules are there to be broken, having said that you have followed the rules here (perhaps without noticing... :P) and while the plant is centered vertically, the focal points (the flowers and the green base of the plant) are on your third lines horizontally.
i think it works nicely
the only problem i have is the brown/orange pole in the background is distracting me, but the flowers look great.

[Grumbledook]

Just had a look through the thread and the thing that jumps out to me is the saturation.

Are the pictures straight from the camera, or are you boosting them in pp? I think they need toning down a touch ;]

[darkchild]

daedicurus: Thanks for looking:) Thanks for the critiques. I've been trying to follow the Rule of Thirds but I'm finding out that some scenes actually look better when dead centered but I'm still unsure of when to use what. I guess more study and experimentation is in order.

Grumbledook: Thanks for looking:) I've been getting more and more people telling me that the saturation is way out of wack. I'm thinking it's more the way my monitor is setup. The are quite dim on my Toshiba Pen Tablet but nice looking on my external monitor... but then really saturated on my other Toshiba laptop. Then when I'm viewing my photos at my office terminal they are too dark!.... arrrrrgghgh!!! I'm trying to find a good medium point where it looks ok.

Please let me know if these are too saturated. I'm having some issues with my monitors. I have 3 displays and they all display differently....

1st photo: 3 shot RAW HDR. "Fruits of Labor", this is my parent's house. They requested that I do a photo of the beautiful yard along with all the flowers in bloom.

2nd photo: Single shot RAW HDR. "False Sense of Speed" Nothing special, just experimenting! This the interior shot of my new car.

[carolupus]

hi darkchild! the flowers look better now, although too saturated for my taste - there are hardly any details recognizable any more.
the last photo of the interior of your car looks really cool, how did you get that speed effect?
I also like the photo of your parents' house, but I'd rotate it a bit so that the roof is straight.

[scientuslatens]

What do you use to do your HDR shots. A program, or just optimizing contrast/saturation? Photoshop does a decent job of HDRs, but realize that it takes some tweaking, and you have to downconvert (32->8 bit) to get a real shot. it is however quite nice to see you progress. also, there are a number of tools that will allow you to set the color profile of your machine to something universal across all three of your machines.

the first photo of the last post is quite nice, although your parents dont seem to really be part of your shot.

[darkchild]

carolupus: Yeah, my colors are still far from being optimal. I've got to start working on recalibrating my monitors. It sucks when all of them display differently. I used the radial blur in CS3 and highlighted the "zoom" option, set my center point and adjusted the amount. Pretty simple but effective results:) I see what you're saying about the rooftop. At the angle I was at and also the street is on a decline it made lining up the subject a bit hard. Thanks for looking!

scientuslatens: Thanks for looking:) I currently use CS3. After merging the RAW files, I convert them to a 16bit .tif to work with and then save before converting to an 8 bit .jpg file. I've been trying to tone down my HDR's a bit and get a more realistic shot instead of glowing edges and cgi-ish results. I'm looking into getting the tool necessary to calibrate my monitors. And on the photo of my parent's house, they requested that I make the yard the priority in the shot. They didn't want to be made very clear. I shot with a f/8.0 aperture value and focused in the middle scene to get everything into reasonable focusL)

Ok, I know not everyone is into cars, but if you bear with me this was just an excuse to work more with HDR's. I'm in the process of toning down my shots so they look more realistic.

"Underground"

[carolupus]

I like that last one despite it being a car ;)
looks much more realistic and has still quite intense colours - I think that's the right way to go :)

[darkchild]

carolupus: Thank you:) I don't want my stuff to look overly fake like some of the other work out there. Your comment means a lot to me, especially because you don't have a car fetish:) Thanks again!

My mom told me to take few photos of these.... I have no idea what they are. But they looked nice so here ya go!

[Frutsel]

carolupus:
Ok, I know not everyone is into cars, but if you bear with me this was just an excuse to work more with HDR's. I'm in the process of toning down my shots so they look more realistic.

"Underground"

Nice Impreza :D

I like this shot, the colours of the car are verry natural.
I do got an car fetish, as you can see in my scrapbook ;)

What i like about doing cars in HDR , is that you can adapt them excessively in photoshop.

[VenomVindicta]

that picture of the interior of your car i think could do with a crop on the right hand side, but these are mainly great shots, just be careful with the saturation + you'll be flying :)

[darkchild]

Frutsel: Thanks for looking:) I'm heading over to your thread now. HDR is very cool, but I see others tend to overdo it. I'm beginning to realize it's just a means to get a better dynamic range of colors to show. Just a little adjustment goes a long ways!

VenomVindicta: Thanks! I hear you regarding the interior action. Still on the learning when it comes to post processing. Thanks for looking!

A few more from today's trip out to the water.

[darkchild]

Taken at the Seward Park BBQ meet today:

"Quick"

[darkchild]

"Miniature World"

[darkchild]

"Wheelie"

[darkchild]

A few more from yesterday's meet:

[darkchild]

My friend's Cobra:

[purplerose]

"beachfront1" looks like it has a lot of potential. Perhaps some play with cropping, contrast and a B/W conversion.

"Miniature World" is really nice, would play with cropping on this one too.

[purplerose]

"beachfront1" looks like it has a lot of potential. Perhaps some play with cropping, contrast and a B/W conversion.

"Miniature World" is really nice, would play with cropping on this one too.