Getting the most out of my camera!

[Luke.]

Ive posted up before about improving my photos and am still not 100% happy compared to some of the stuff I have seen on here, just a few of my shots that i feel could be better:

and a few that im quite happy with:

most of these photos have been taken on a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm Kit lense!

Any comments, criticism and any advise on other lenses I can purchase or other equipment will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Luke

 

[Andy.]

Some nice shots. A lot of shots with wow factor that you see have a certain amount of post processing done to them, you could always start playing with something like Lightroom, Photoshop or one of the various free alternatives if you wanted to get something extra from your pictures.

That can range from simple corrections (white balance seems off on a couple) to cropping, playing with saturation etc.

I hope you don't mind, I had a couple of clicks in Lightroom with one of your shots just for fun. It all comes down to personal preference and personal style to a certain extent.

 

[Revels]

For a start, you need to learn to crop them! Lol.

Think about your composition. The top ones with the cars, you've got a mass load of space with some of them. You seem to shoot portrait a lot too. Which is fine for portraits, but landscape is much better for cars/the sea etc.

The one of the cars half way down the slope is a good un. Framed nicely.

But as Andy has shown, with a simple edit, your pic is transformed.

Otherwise, just practice.

Keep clicking. It don't subscribe to the 'keepers percentage' theory. Especially if it's just a hobby. There's no pressure. Take 100 of the same thing. Adjust the shutter/aperture/focal length. Decide what you like when you get home. If you only keep a few but you're happy with them, that's the main thing.

 

[seb]

i take loads of the same picture. normally get a good one from that.

 

[Ribena]

They're not bad at all matey. I think the white balance on the LY182 shots could do with a little adjustment.

 

[Feirny]

Mostly what Revels' has said really, but also learn a little bit about processing, can turn a half decent shot into a cracking shot.

Also had a little play with one.

 

[Luke.]

For a start, you need to learn to crop them! Lol.

Think about your composition. The top ones with the cars, you've got a mass load of space with some of them. You seem to shoot portrait a lot too. Which is fine for portraits, but landscape is much better for cars/the sea etc.

The one of the cars half way down the slope is a good un. Framed nicely.

But as Andy has shown, with a simple edit, your pic is transformed.

Otherwise, just practice.

Keep clicking. It don't subscribe to the 'keepers percentage' theory. Especially if it's just a hobby. There's no pressure. Take 100 of the same thing. Adjust the shutter/aperture/focal length. Decide what you like when you get home. If you only keep a few but you're happy with them, that's the main thing.

How would you crop some of these?? I can see what your saying and I do tend to experiment alot as its digital and its easy! I tryed playing with the white balance throughout the night and its suprising how much different a photo looks!

does anyone know what sort of settings to use, aparture, shutter speed and iso etc! i have used a tripod in most of these photos!

thanks for the comments guys!

oh where can I get lightroom from and how much is it??

any other free alternatives??

 

[Andy.]

Lightroom is just over £200 I think. It is well worth it if you can stretch to it. You can download a trial from Adobe to give it a go for free first.

A free alternative would be "gimp". It does most of the things Photoshop does.

Settings will vary according to what you are taking shots of. I normally use apperture prio mode as 99% if the time, I want control over the depth of field.

There is a great book called Understanding Exposure which is well worth buying if you want to understand how everything works together.

 

[Jungle_Jim]

i was bored so had a play, nothing wrong with these pics mate, could maybe just do with a small bit of Post production work to tinker things like most people do.

 

[Luke.]

i see what you mean! my camera came with some not bad software so i might give it a go!

 

[Luke.]

i was just looking through some photos and this one inspired me! thanks luke just like how clear it is etc! what settings are used to take this???

 

[Feirny]

Lukes pic was taken with a 35mm prime, so is bound to be sharper than yours mate, if you have firefox get the exif viewer plugin for it so you can see what settings were used for pics.

 

[Slammed172]

Cracking advice in here.

 

[Leeshez]

Cracking piccys. I have a nikon D70 but still clueless on how to get decent piccys.

 

[Luke.]

i have photoshop but dont know what im playing with tbh! what levels do i change?? etc, i have some nikon software which is not to bad imo but nothing as good as photoshop etc. ive downloaded the free trial of lightroom so will try and get to grips with it anyone else feel free to have an edit of a few photos and see how they come out! revels maybe some sort of idea on how to crop them to make them better

thanks

Luke