Are my photos rubbish? And how can I improve?

[antnee]

I have been trying to get to grips with my DSLR, watching tutorials etc but I feel my photos are just coming out really badly but I don't know what I am doing wrong/badly or if I am just trying to capture really difficult shots.

IMG_1049 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1032 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1040 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1049 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1257 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

Also, what can I do in PP to improve the shots?

 

[Matt W]

All too bright and washed out (IMO)

 

[car.crash]

Take pictures and of hot women, then nobody will care about the light or contrast.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Read the stickies. Practice. Read them again. Practice more. Then read the stickies again..

 

[Knuckles]

Although I'm not a photographer, I'd say straightening the photos would be a good place to start.

Horizons on the piss don't look good.

Although they all have the same gradient which mustn't have been easy to achieve.

Rule of thirds and golden mean etc for composure.


Photography jargon.

 

[Scott™]

Hi antnee

Some of the photos are a little boring, rule of thirds is defo something I'd read up on. It can transform the way you take a picture. Also are you shooting in jpeg or raw?

I'd also like to ask what type of photos are you trying to achieve? Quick snaps, landscapes etc?

Scott

 

[Scott™]

Just looked at your exit data and you're shooting in jpeg. Shoot in raw file types and the edit in post with software such as Lightroom etc.

 

[Geddes]

I like the pier one like, could get closer to the benches or stand further back if there's benches behind you and get those in. Too much empty space on the ground. Would be a great shot if it was close to sun set or sun rise for nice light instead of harsh day sun, not ideal for landscape photos.
Don't shoot at eye level, shoot low around knee height or what ever or shoot quit high

Also keep your horizons level

 

[Mr Plums]

Balamory?

 

[antnee]

Thanks for the input all. With these I was generally trying to get decent landscape shots. I have been trying to employ rule of thirds (with the car shot for example) but maybe I need to practise that a little more.

One thing I am finding difficult is exposure. If you take the car picture, trying to get the car bright enough while not washing out the background. Is this possible to do in 1 shot? Is that were a grad ND filter comes into play?

Same situation for this image too, getting the foreground exposed enough while not washing out the background

IMG_1006 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

 

[Geddes]

that's what happens when you take pics during a bright day, some times you'll get harsh light on the pics. Best of going round the golden hour. Could try and use a circular polariser CPL filter that will help with the glare and reflections

Some times the rule of thirds is to be broken, i can see where your coming from the image. I'm having the issue too for exposure, there's a few ways you can do it. As you say graduated filters, take multiple exposure shots and for eg, 1 normal exposure 1 under exposed and 1 over exposed and blend then together or take 1 under exposed or 1 over exposed on the exposure compensation. Best of i think is getting some graduated filters. You can bring back some less harshness and bring back less shadows off the editing by adjusting the sliders but that's limited.

 

[antnee]

Ideally I want to be getting good shots 'out of the camera' with only a little PP. I like and appreciate blended/merged pictures but that type of photography isn't for me. I think I was having a lot of issues with these shots as they were taken on the north Norfolk coast (Cromer and surrounding areas) so anything facing the sea is generally shaded. I have a load more shots from the trip, but picked these out as my favourites so I will scan back through the others to see if there is anything better.

I took a few on Sunday of the Clio which I have yet to review, so will see if these are any better.

 

[Geddes]

Me too i like to get the most out of the camera and just use the one shot rather than blending more images together. I've never edited a pic with more than one images before. Graduated filters is a must for me but that's down the line, you can get different brands and prices out the just pick what suits you. There's Soft and Hard grad , i would go for something like 0.6 and 0.9 grads , they do a 0.3 but i don't think that will get used much.

Thing is with grad filters you can invert them, say if the sky is normal and the ground is too bight you can just turn the grad upside down or visa versa

 

[Keydogg]

As a stop gap you can use the ND Grad filter in Lightroom which can make a great difference to your photos. I use this all the time if I haven't had chance to shoot with my Grad ND, just make sure you're shooting RAW so the detail is still there.

 

[Dredz06]

Practice and as others have said using the stickies helps a lot, I'm only in Derby so if you ever fancy a day out and about with the cameras somewhere local I don't mind sharing what I've learnt (albeit very little) haha

 

[Sam]

Img1040 is a good photo. The others are a bit meh.

Like said, keep the camera and horizons level. Makes a huge difference. Read some blogs on beginners. You can get some real easy tips on how to take better pics.

 

[antnee]

Had a play the other weekend and just done a small amount of PP. I think these have come out a bit better

IMG_1339 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1345 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1356 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

IMG_1371 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

 

[Chrisgti6]

Balamory?

Balamory is actually a place called Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, similar though.

 

[HelloImSam]

I've always found it difficult to get a good end result without at least minimal processing in lightroom (or an equivalent to that).

Are these photos JPEGs straight out of the camera? If so, I highly recommend shooting in raw and using something like RawTherapee (which is free) to process your pics.

Also, I find watching YouTube videos on how to shoot specific things is a good idea. Like watching videos on best way to shoot cars, then another for landscape and so on, and you'll start to pick it all up.

Watch many YouTube videos, and also read lots and lots if you want to get good at it.

 

[Sam]

IMG_1356 by Anthony Molyneux, on Flickr

This one is good.

 

[antnee]

Thanks all. I haven't done much with the camera recently although I have now got a 75-250mm lens which seems to give miles better photos!

Generally I have been shooting in JPG, so I need to try RAW some more