New camera, could use some photography advice

[JackoliciousLegs]

alright, since i've got nothing better to do, i'll give a proper critique
3 typical
4 nice... watch the focal point
5 eh
6 decent... looks stockish
7 good (although looks awkward cropped near the rest of the fullsizers
8 ok
9 more macros....
10 i like the idea, but needs better environment
11 ok
12 blah
13 blah

next set
1 cool
2 shop out the blemishes, it's got to be messy to prove a point or clean
3 ok, but eye is drawn to the yellowish corner
4?
5 don't like composition
6 car is at a slight angle

next set
not a fan of much in this set

next set (starts with water beads)
1 great idea, composition is lackluster, but cool subject
2 cute... seriously coolish
3 blah

next set
1 i like a lot. I think it's a prime example of how to take a cool car shot. you miss the yellow tint and the lack of a defined focal objective because the composition is cool and the subject is great. i'm nitpicking to find anything wrong with this imo, it's a cool photo. I could see it in a mag or on a calendar
2 the road perspective doesn't seem even. it seems like the camera's tilted, but that can be corrected in PS. other than that, sweet photo
3 composition isn't great, but the subject is. great idea. great distance, etc.
4 very cool. interesting angle. great composition. good one. i love how it leads your eyes down the road. i love how it leaves you wondering about what the car is doing crooked across the lanes. probably the only photo that evoked emotion... which is great.

next one is nice

32 crooked, straighten that ish out
33 same deal. take that at night and it'd be a bomb photo

so.. i know i was being really critical, and that it's hard to produce a masterpiece. I guess overall, you made progress really quickly. I think you realized that the environment the car is in really helps produce a more interesting photo. You've got lighting down very well. You fixed saturation issues. Composition is the hardest but I'd say you're well on your way man. Good work!

[Nis01]

Thanks for taking your time to write that up Jack... I really appreciate it. Your criticisms were right on par with my own personal thoughts on these pictures but its nice to reinforce all these issues. I have not yet busted out the tripod yet so the tilted shots were to my own misalignment of the picture. A lot of the time I was paying too much attention on getting the light right instead of the picture. I'm still learning the camera in manual but feel I already have a decent grasp on it. Photoshop is fun but I do feel that colors are very different on different systems. I am in no way going to drop a ton of money on a Mac but would like one in the future if I really get into this stuff. I'm hoping to take some pictures of Jess' dad's red Porsche which will be a whole new experience for me to pull a colorful car into the equation, for this one I will probably use the tripod if I think about it. Thanks again.

[HAULN-SS]

-sigh- I dont know why everyone has some kind of love affair with macs.

I worked at a large print-shop once, and the only reason we had ANY macs in there was to appease the pain in the ass guys that would come in every once in a while with a coreldraw file or something lame saved on a mac. Mind you, we were running full color prints through $40,000+ cannon copiers....

[ScottyB]

hey, coreldraw is pretty badass.

on my PC! :lol: truthfully though, many a day i wish i had a Mac, too.

[HAULN-SS]

Actually.. i said coreldraw, which still applies, but then realized I was talking about Quark...eff that program

[Nis01]

Next round taken from the BRR-SCCA rookie school between runs:
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This was an interesting shoot as I tried some different settings on the camera after reading some more into exposure in direct sunlight. Most have some editing for sharpness and whatnot. The last couple shots I tried my hand at panning which I have a lot to learn about.

Comments are welcome and appreciated as always. I enjoy getting opinions on these and how to better them in the future.

[Goodspeed]

Awesome photos. Definite improvement, already. I can tell you're spending much more time framing your photos.

[Nis01]

Some random pictures from a recent sailing trip off the coast of Italy.















I have tons more but don't feel like editing them.

[Goodspeed]

those pics are tits shea, TITS. I love em, good work

[.RJ]

Those are some awesome shots - well done :beer:

[ScottyB]

those scenery shots are really nice -- i'd totally use those as wallpaper (love da boats). your composition is very good IMO.

the 1 shot i didn't like was the side of the vette, a little too warped for me. otherwise all the auto-x shots are killer, if maybe 1 or 2 are a little uninteresting (legacy). your panning shots are also coming along real nice. :thumbup:

[BLINGMW]

the 1 shot i didn't like was the side of the vette, a little too warped for me.

I'm not liking the distortion on many of those close up autox shots, I mean, the first one of the Elise looks like it's being squeezed through a hole, cartoon style. And others just have some crazy perspective going on. Is this intentional, and what causes it? (I don't know jack about photography)

OTOH, the scenery shots look like nice postcards! :thumbup:

[Nis01]

After getting some advice from some more photographers on another forum I have discovered that the pictures have been getting massively bleached when I was editing the pictures, especially in the above auto-x pictures (I think this is the same thing Jack was referring to with color). Some of these issues have been fixed in the landscapes. I appreciate all the comments about the landscapes, I was a bit disappointed in the result of some of them because of the intense glare of the sun there.

I agree with the comments about the distortion on the lens and I have been playing around with this aspect to learn the characteristics of a super wide lens. I will probably back off of this now that I have seen the result.

More Italy pictures to come once I get them all sorted out. I'm dealing with a new editing program which is less user friendly.

[HAULN-SS]

OTOH, the scenery shots look like nice postcards! :thumbup:

Yeah, that's a pretty sweet shot with the track-hoe in it

[Nis01]

Few more from on land:

[Maengelito]

i dont know shit about photography or equipment, but this seems to be a good deal on an SLR lens if anyone's interested:

$147
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-3-5-5-6-Lens/dp/B000V5K3FG?tag=slickdeals">http://www.amazon.com/Canon-EF-S-18-55m ... slickdeals</a><!-- m -->

[Evan]

looks like someone reads slickdeals too

id wait for the reviews/tests of that lens before plunking down even $150 for it. its probably just the shitty kit lens with IS.

[Maengelito]

slickdeals kicks ass

[.RJ]

its probably just the shitty kit lens with IS.

I'm with stupid.

The canon kit lens kinda sucks.

[Apoc]

looks like someone reads slickdeals too

Too many people, quite frankly. I never got my free laptop mouse due to overwhelming demand!