Photo Of The Day.

[Steve Randles]

I've been on a mission this weekend - strictly manual controls, no cropping and no PP....I've been pleasantly surprised with the results, and I've certainly learned a lot!

 

Janet

 

Thats good to know..

 

Steve...

[Snatcher]

Nice mission Janet Was out myself yesterday in Newcastle with camera in hand. The main reason we went up was for the Chinese New Year celebrations. I could not believe how busy it was !!!! Anyway from there we headed off to the Discovery Museum. Anyone been there ? Check out the main display the TURBINIA

 

 

Check out here

 

 

 

All in all a good day out

 

John

Edited February 19, 2010 by Snatcher

[RobStubbs]

Nothing cropped Rob - that's exactly as it came out of the camera. I couldn't get the whole of the mooring jettys in the shot without also including some very modern looking boats which would have ruined the shot for me.

 

I've been on a mission this weekend - strictly manual controls, no cropping and no PP....I've been pleasantly surprised with the results, and I've certainly learned a lot!

 

Janet

 

Oh ok - just looked like there was something just out of frame you didn't like.

 

Rob.

[Janet]

This is the view to the right...

 

 

However, I know what you're saying, and it does look a bit cropped on the right hand side now I look at it again.

 

I guess I'll just have to go back on another morning and try again to get a better shot.

 

The boats I was trying to avoid getting in shot were a jetski and a left-over from the log flume ride at Blackpool!

 

Janet

[Janet]

Another scene from the boatyard.

 

 

Janet

[Sutton Warrior]

Another scene from the boatyard.

 

 

Janet

 

Is that an HDR Janet?

 

Just looked on FP . . . It is HDR, sorry looks like an over cooked 'un sharp jobie' to me

SW

Edited February 16, 2010 by Sutton Warrior

[Janet]

Yes, you're right. I was playing around with a program that lets you make a pseudo-HDR image from a single jpeg...just for fun!

 

The original is actually very sharp, but a bit boring so I thought I'd have a play. However, the results are only good if viewed small. The noise is absolutely horrendous and there's a lot of vignetting in the corners. It's really quite appalling!

 

I'd quite like to try HDR, because it can look great when done well (which this certainly isn't!) but I haven't either the time or inclination to spend hours taking shots at different exposures then sitting glued to a PC screen for ages.

 

Still, I quite liked the results. I think I'll go and investigate this HDR stuff...it can look quite good if done well and not "overcooked".

 

Janet

[medwaygreen]

Another scene from the boatyard.

 

 

Janet

 

I must say Janet that this is a very good shot the balance is good and I very much like the overall feel of tranquillity that you have captured, I of course do not know how you have cropped the shot, but what I would say is that if you had left a little more on the right to keep in the whole of the distant tree, that may have been an improvement to the overall composition. Also if you could have move your position a little more to the left to create more of a gap between the boat and the jetty posts, that also may have improved the overall compostion, having said that it may of course not have been possible.

 

Having said that the performance of your photography skills are so apparent and you have become very accomplished, congratulations.

[Janet]

Many thanks for those kind comments!

 

You are certainly right in that I should have left more space between the yacht and the jetty, but as you can see from the previous shot, I had a sheer drop down to the mud of the estuary to my left, so there was no way of getting in a better position.

 

I would very much like to have attempted the shot from the opposite bank, but as it is part of the runway towards a military aerodrome, I think access is probably prohibited. Still, it's an area I visit regularly, and there are some great photo opportunities there, if only I can manage to spot them!

 

I'm very pleased with the results I'm getting since ditching the Auto setting and going manual. I seem to take far less photo's, but get far more keepers? It's great being in control of the camera instead of the camera controlling me!

 

Janet

[Janet]

I don't usually take people pics, but this lad was such a poser!

 

 

I've been using nothing but manual controls for the past few weeks thanks to the photography course that Steve's running on Focal Planet, and I think it's finally starting to "click"...

 

 

It hasn't been at all what I expected...I thought I'd have lots of disasters, but it's completely the opposite...I'm not having to resort to PP to rescue images. It really has been an eye-opener for me!

 

I still have a long way to go, but at last it seems that I'm controlling the camera rather than it controlling me!

 

Janet