Sale Water Park

[Ian]

Hmm:

Had to make quite a lot of adjustments with these in terms of saturation and sharpness as my mind just wasn't on it today. However posting them up on Photobucket means I probably wasted my time! Think I might get a second Flickr account for them.

Also, Picasa seems a bit limited for making alterations and I watched a video on Aperture the other day and that looks a lot better. As far as I know it's only for Mac though, can somebody suggest something similar that won't cost too much please?

Ian

 

[f0xy]

Nice pics...

Upgrade to FlickR Pro

Look into Lightroom, IIRC its similar to Aperture, ive used it before to organise my stuff and its pretty good!

 

[Ian]

Nice pics...

Upgrade to FlickR Pro

Look into Lightroom, IIRC its similar to Aperture, ive used it before to organise my stuff and its pretty good!

Lol ner I'm too cheap for that! They're not good enough for Flickr anyway. I'll have a look into Lightroom though, cheers mate.

 

[Bazzon]

Som of them are spot on but some are cropped badly, thats IMO ofcourse. the bird hide is my fav though.

 

[Ian]

All opinions welcome dude! Which ones don't you like the cropping on? I'll probably agree.. some were pretty awful photos to begin with!

 

[Revels]

Good shots dude.

I like the looking up at the pylon one.

 

[Bazzon]

All opinions welcome dude! Which ones don't you like the cropping on? I'll probably agree.. some were pretty awful photos to begin with!

The bottom one and the top one mainly, first one because i fell it shud include more of the goose. And last one because id like to see eithe All of the mast or non of it. mainly cos the image doesnt seem to have something to draw my eye in atm.


When i take photos of ducks and stuff like that i always try to get to their level, i feel it works better, again not criticism just friendly advice

 

[Paul_G]

Some good shots.

I think the last pylon one works well, the electric cables lead you through the photo - plus it also works well in B&W

 

[Ian]

Good shots dude.

I like the looking up at the pylon one.

Thanks Dan.

The bottom one and the top one mainly, first one because i fell it shud include more of the goose. And last one because id like to see eithe All of the mast or non of it. mainly cos the image doesnt seem to have something to draw my eye in atm.


When i take photos of ducks and stuff like that i always try to get to their level, i feel it works better, again not criticism just friendly advice

To be honest I was hoping you wouldn't mention the last one as I like it , but that's not to say it couldn't be better as it obviously could! I know what you mean about there being little to draw the eye in.

The first one I agree totally with. With all the bird shots I lost out because the ground was soaking and muddy and I came ill-prepared so was reluctanct to lay down! Couldn't really find a spot with a shallow edge either, so there was usually a two foot drop (ish) to the water. The swan shots are excellent. Don't suppose you're ever in Manchester?

 

[Ian]

Some good shots.

I think the last pylon one works well, the electric cables lead you through the photo - plus it also works well in B&W

Cheers Paul, nothing at your standard though.. I'm a bit clueless when it comes to landscape shots, always panic and end up doing waters-edge shallow DoF shots. Just practice needed I suppose.

 

[Bazzon]

Thanks Dan.



To be honest I was hoping you wouldn't mention the last one as I like it , but that's not to say it couldn't be better as it obviously could! I know what you mean about there being little to draw the eye in.

The first one I agree totally with. With all the bird shots I lost out because the ground was soaking and muddy and I came ill-prepared so was reluctanct to lay down! Couldn't really find a spot with a shallow edge either, so there was usually a two foot drop (ish) to the water. The swan shots are excellent. Don't suppose you're ever in Manchester?

Tbh it may be that just some of the wires disappear mid shot, if all the ones that were there at the start were at the end, i think it would work for me. Maybe just extend the crop down (if you can ofc)

 

[Jon.G]

Sale Water Park is 2mins from my house.
Some nice pictures there mate! What camera you got?

 

[Ian]

Tbh it may be that just some of the wires disappear mid shot, if all the ones that were there at the start were at the end, i think it would work for me. Maybe just extend the crop down (if you can ofc)

Afraid not, there were trees obscuring it lower down so that's all I was left with. It's only 10mins to go back though so might try and rethink a few of the shots. If I do it'll be at a different time of day.. overcast at midday doesn't lend a lot to the photos! Plus managed to get rain on my filter and then my lens.

Sale Water Park is 2mins from my house.
Some nice pictures there mate! What camera you got?

Ah cool *runs off to see if you've signed up for the NW meet!* I have the Canon EOS 450d, a very capable camera in the right hands. I've been having a lot of trouble with soft shots, but I think it's just my inability. I've found out how to up the sharpness in camera now so going to see if that helps.

 

[Jon.G]

Yeah, Im hoping to attended the meet as my last one was aug last year! Nice camera and i guess it just takes some time getting shots right. Trial and Error is what im doing taking loads of pics and figuring out whats best for different objects etc. Keep snapping!

 

[Ian]

Yeah, Im hoping to attended the meet as my last one was aug last year! Nice camera and i guess it just takes some time getting shots right. Trial and Error is what im doing taking loads of pics and figuring out whats best for different objects etc. Keep snapping!

Good stuff, should be fun if all goes to plan!

Yeah best way is to keep shooting. Just had to show my family and they verbally slapped me for being so critical of my own photos. Then again, what do they know.

 

[Soph]

Ian, I've started using lightroom, as of today. It's a "trial freeware" version . But, I'm getting the hang of it, and you'd benefit. It's like adobe camera raw, but with more features. Great shots too.

 

[ukaskew]

Had to comment on the speed boat ones, lovely effect on those. What shutter speed did you use?

Also really really like the blurry swan shot, can't get my head around it though.

 

[Feirny]

Some great shots there mate

 

[Ian]

Had to comment on the speed boat ones, lovely effect on those. What shutter speed did you use?

Also really really like the blurry swan shot, can't get my head around it though.

Thanks for the comments on the speedboat, it took me a good 10-15 shots just to get the settings right! The side shot was a 1/15th shutter speed and the shot as it's turning is a 1/30th. They're not actually as sharp as they might appear when small, but I'm quite happy with them as a first try. I used a 2 second shutter delay as I couldn't keep the panning smooth when I pressed the shutter without the delay, is this normal practice?

I almost deleted the blurry swan shot, but decided to give it a chance off camera. It is weird though, can't remember what made me try it!

Some great shots there mate

Thanks Greg.

 

[ukaskew]

I used a 2 second shutter delay as I couldn't keep the panning smooth when I pressed the shutter without the delay, is this normal practice?

Not generally, I've tried it with a delay before and actually been less smooth - oddly. With practice pressing the shutter shouldn't bring in enough vertical movement to mess the shot up. Whatever is more comfortable for you though, not really a wrong or right way with these things.

1/15 is fairly bonkers though (assuming they were moving at a reasonable pace) so it's no wonder you found it quite challenging! 1/30 - 1/50 is probably a more 'relaxing' starting point and should still give you plenty of panning blur.

 

[Ian]

Not generally, I've tried it with a delay before and actually been less smooth - oddly. With practice pressing the shutter shouldn't bring in enough vertical movement to mess the shot up. Whatever is more comfortable for you though, not really a wrong or right way with these things.

1/15 is fairly bonkers though (assuming they were moving at a reasonable pace) so it's no wonder you found it quite challenging! 1/30 - 1/50 is probably a more 'relaxing' starting point and should still give you plenty of panning blur.

They were pretty much flat out (less so for the turning shot), I didn't really know what speed to be using, I was trying in vain to remember the figures in your motorsport guide!

I'll keep practicing panning shots with and without the delay. I suppose for motorsport it would be so much harder to predict where the car will be in two seconds time compositionally.

Thanks for the advice Chris.