scotboy15's Photo Thread [Archive]

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scotboy15

20-04-2006, 9:50 PM

Well, I finally plucked up the courage to post some of my pictures up here. Will give you a bit of background first:-

I am an early 20's bloke who bought the Canon 350D and kit lens so I could take better quality of photo's while on holiday as I felt the digital point and shoot camera I have took ok photos but sometimes the pictures didn't appear like I thought they should when I got back home.

I have been experimenting with the camera and have been enjoying it so far but haven't really had that much chance to get to interesting places or see interesting things. I guess my photographic "eye" needs improving because there is stuff all around to take pictures.

Anyway here it goes. I appreciate your comments although please be kind :( as I am still learning how to use the camera and get the best of the kit lens.

This first batch are from the area up behind my house which is a nature reserve.

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/1.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/2.JPG

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/3.JPG

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/4.JPG

This next batch is from the top of Scolty Hill, which is located in a place called Banchory just outside Aberdeen

View from half way up
http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/14.JPG

Monument on the top of the hill
http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/5.JPG

Looking from out of the monument onto the town of Banchory
http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/6.JPG

A view of Banchory from the top

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/7.JPG

A view of a "snow capped" hill from the top

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/8.JPG

A view of the countryside from the top

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/9.JPG

A view through the woods

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/11.JPG

A river where, in salmon season, you can see the fish jumping up the river

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/12.JPG

Some flowers in my garden

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/13.JPG

And finally........................my brother playing football. Included it as his arms look almost dislocated!!!!!!

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/15.JPG

Gordon @ Convergent AV

20-04-2006, 10:29 PM

Some of these are nice! 2,3,4,6 and second last move me. I like them.
3 I can see isn't a great compostion but like it anyway. The same is true of the tower. They all show that you can take a decent pic. The landscapes need you to think more the way you have with the closer images.

For every ten pics I take two are what I like and one is what I'd want to show folk.

Looking good.......looking forward to seeing more!

Gordon

bowenjones

20-04-2006, 10:38 PM

Some cracking pictures there mate, glad you plucked up enough courage to post them :thumbsup:
You don't have to worry about anybody unfairly criticising your photos. If they do, they'll get pounced on :devil:
One word of warning though (before any of the mods start cracking their whips - just kidding ;)). You'll have to resize them again if you want to keep them here. This forum has a limit of 800 pixels max on their longest edge and the file size must not exceed 200KB (120KB if posted as an attachment) although you are ok on that front. Apart from that, a really good start to your gallery. Post some more when you get a chance :smashin:

sold5

23-04-2006, 10:56 PM

Good pics! :thumbsup: Especially the farm walk, the crocus flowers and the first stream with slow shutter. Hope more will follow and post their shots.

Can I suggest a few things to consider (IMHO):

The landscapes could do with some foreground detail on some of them, and I would consider cropping the one with the trees in the centre to move them to one side.
Its a pity your brothers shadow is cut in half, a bit of the ball is missing, and it could also do with some sharpening/ colour saturation (picasa is free and easy for this) though I know you put this picture in for the expression/ arm dislocation effect.
Ive taken the liberty to post two examples of the pic with the above adjustments - Ill remove them if you p.m. me as i dont want to clog up your album. The brighter one IMHO has a better crop as the subject is bigger and there is no need for the extra grass on both sides (compared to the less saturated shot) as all background subjects are in the shot. But its probably a bit too saturated - I think I went too far. If you want to PM me later Ill take them out, they are only posted to explain what I mean and I dont want to clog up your album thread.

Keep posting:smashin: !

Sold5

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/971/untitled12cm.jpg

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8142/untitled2eu.jpg

Bristol Pete

23-04-2006, 11:12 PM

I will second what has been said already, You have made a great start and there is some great stuff evident here.

Pete.

scotboy15

24-04-2006, 6:58 PM

Cheers for the positive and helpful responses guys. It really helps.

I guess it is just a case of getting more experience and knowing what works and what doesn't.

Sold:Cheers for the advice. I see what you mean by the cropping and saturation. Does make a difference.

I do feel (and some people on here echoed it) that the landscapes need something more adding to them. Need some foreground detail or something to add some depth.

I took some photo's yesterday at a fighting competition but the lighting was poor so not sure how well the images turned out. If there are any worth posting I will do.

Think I will post a message in the main forum for recommendations about landscape photography books/web pages to give me advice.

Keep any more comments coming.

Bristol Pete

24-04-2006, 8:27 PM

Loads of scope with your work. Here are some examples of how a crop or an edit can change the look and feel of a pic.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/bristolpete2005/Chimney1.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/bristolpete2005/Chimney21.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/bristolpete2005/lineup1.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/bristolpete2005/Water2.jpg

Added a glow to the water for effect. Raised satuation on wood shot to bring out the green. All cropped sharpened and shadow/highlights played with. You have 8 mp so a crop here and there will still look fab printed and frame the shot better for you.

Hope you dont mind but believe me you are on the right track.

Also, down load irfanview, its a great freeware editing suite that will allow you to resize your pics better than the windows one as that causes too much noise etc. Just google irfanview. :)

Pete.

scotboy15

25-04-2006, 11:05 PM

Cheers Pete, those crops look a lot better.

I haven't had time to download the ifranview yet but will if you think it makes that much a difference.

Anyway here are some photos from an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) show I was at this weekend. The lighting was soooooooo bad for photos it wasn't even funny. I had to set it on a long shutter speed and high ISO and as a result they all have heaps of noise and a lot were just too blurred. Also most had heaps of hot spots due to the spot lights that were shining on the cage! Here is the best of a bad bunch

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/16.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/17.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/18.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/19.JPG

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/20.JPG

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/edit/21.jpg

Bristol Pete

25-04-2006, 11:19 PM

Good work and a great effort. One thing to note from your summary is that you used long shutter speeds. I think from my small amount of knowledge that a faster shutter would have worked better here say 1/125 or above, this will freeze the action for you. That said, the blur in the last pic works quite well. Using TV mode means the 350 will take care of aperture - dependant on light....

As you say, poor light but IS0 1600 can be cleaned up free of charge online. Just open them in noiseware and clean them up.

Look here -

http://www.photo-freeware.net/noiseware.php

Also search that site for other freeware gems.

Get

http://picasa.google.com/

Again a great freeware editing tool that has some great auto modes for light changes on your pics.

http://www.irfanview.com/

Irfanview is super too, especially for noiseless resizing for nothing.

Keep going mate, we are all here to help and learn from each other. Hope this helps :thumbsup:

Here is another example of how you can retrieve a picture with some mucking about. Cropped, sharpened, glow added to fighters to remove the fact that they are out of focus and framed - not bad in 2 mins. You can do this too mate :) Suddenly its a picture capable of entering the comp here this month. Action. Look at the referees face - you have captured him brilliantly :grin: Its a great pic - you should be pleased. :cool:
Check out Zones entry in this months comp - similar style of pic.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4631/punch18de.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Pete.

scotboy15

26-04-2006, 8:21 PM

Bristol Pete

26-04-2006, 10:57 PM

Wow Pete, that does really improve the picture. Not too sure about enterying the com though as not sure if it is really good enough and plus you have done most of the hard work!!!!!!!!

How did you add a "glow" as you put it?

I had to use a slow shutter speed as on a quicker shutter speed there wasn't enough light to get a decent pic.

Will download those free tools when I get chance. Are they better than using the latest version of photoshop?

Not really better than Photoshop but easier to use and play around with. Just got some good auto features. The glow effect was added in Picassa and you can even play around with that.

As for the pic and the comp, fair comments but personally have a look at this months entries - your pic is as good as and better than some in my opinion.

Pete. :smashin:

scotboy15

02-05-2006, 10:38 PM

here are my pictures from the Granite City Rally up here in Aberdeen. For full story of the day visit this thread

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2862232

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/Rally/edited1.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/Rally/edited2.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/Rally/edited3.jpg

And this car spun off right in front of us. He managed to drive away though.
http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/Rally/edited4.jpg

scotboy15

07-05-2006, 3:32 PM

Here are some pictures I took on the way up to Inverness and sctually in Inverness the next day. Hope you like

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/MayInverness/3.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/MayInverness/4.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/MayInverness/1.jpg

http://www.jamesbr.f2s.com/cpg133/albums/MayInverness/2.jpg

Bristol Pete

07-05-2006, 5:26 PM

Cool selection of pictures > I like em all but the landscapre rally shot is great imo.

Look at how far you have come already the composition and overall pictures recently added are superb. Well done to you :)

stevegreen

07-05-2006, 7:40 PM

I really like a lot of those pictures, some cracking shots there :smashin:

I am going to have to ask you to edit your post though as some of the shots are well over the limits for the forum. Can you make sure embedded pictures are max 800 pixels on the longest side and under 200kb?

Cheers

scotboy15

09-05-2006, 11:22 PM