New and Ready to Learn

[TNEmily]

Hi, I'm Emily from Tennessee and found this site a couple of days ago. I really love photography, and just recently realized that I want it to be a little more than just snapping a photo every once in a while!

Especially since the birth of my son, I want to learn more to take better photos of him as he grows up! I've also found that I need an artistic outlet too.

Anyway, I have already seen some very cool stuff on here, and have already posted a few photos. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated! Here's the link to my photos:

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/s...00&ppuser=4775

[budguinn]

Hi Emily, I've taken a look at your gallery and left a few comments there.

My overall comment would be that they mostly all seem abit soft to me....are you doing any sharpening before uploading to the web. When you downsize you usually need to sharpen just a tad.


welcome to the group,

bud

[padlex]

The best way to learn and improve ones photographic skills is to shoot many pictures. So, keep on shooting and post them here so that members can comment on them and maybe infuse some ideas on how to further improve our skills. When I joined bytephoto I was just also starting to shoot digital pictures. Previously I was just into film photography now, I think digital is the in-thing. You have many advantages with digital photography than when I use films so right now I shoot more digital photos than films... So, welcome and we look forward to seeing more of your works. In the future, you may also notice improvements as you browse through your gallery and see pictures taken from the start to the latest...

[TNEmily]

Thank you both for your comments. I will definitely keep shooting; I also love looking at other's work since there's so much to learn from them.

Bud, thanks specifically for commenting on my photos in the gallery. I really appreciate the critique. On my later photos I am playing with sharpening, but don't yet have Photoshop and am just using the software from Dell. Luckily I can do some work with this and play with the color and contrast.

Regarding your specific comments:

"Enter" (pasture photo) - I'm going to re-shoot when I go back there, which is a few times a year. Matt suggested shooting early morning or evening, so I am going to try that. That might help take out that haziness you noted.

"Old or New" - After reading your comments I agree that it's a little soft. I think part of this is due to the fact that this is a lampshade, and the "fern" part is part of the paper. I'm playing around with it on my computer. I might reshoot later -that lamp's not going anywhere!

"Biltmore Greenhouse" - I'm adding the original to my gallery for comparison if you'd like to see. In the photo you critiqued, the saturation was done this way on purpose since it's an old estate and I wanted it to look a little like the old hand-tinted B&W photos. The original is in full color.

[budguinn]

Emily,

Here is what I was talking about with the USM......I didn't do anything but two runs of USM as previously mentioned..and then just a little bump of saturation.



I may have went a bit to far, but I wanted to make the example plain to see.

Oh, there are some free stand alone programs for sharpening if you need some...

bud

[TNEmily]

OK, I can really see the difference there. I'd love to know where I can get some free programs to use until I finally decide to invest in Photoshop or a similar program.

How much is Photoshop anyway?

Thanks so much for all your advice. I went out this morning and evening and took a lot of shots. I'll probably post a couple to the contest soon, since that seems to be the best place for good critique.

[peb101]

welcome Emily..
You sure you want to know the price of photoshop??
I was blown away when I found out it was a wooping
600 bucks! But if your gonna be a photographer I guess
you gotta have it as that seem thats what they all teach on.
Then I gotta learn how to used the darn thing!
(scarey)
good luck and happy shooting!

[Scubamom]

Emily & Paul,
If $600 is a bit too steep for Photoshop, consider Photoshop Elements - it's a pared down version of Photoshop, and for the "average" photographer, is probably more than sufficient. It goes for about $100. I have found it to be quite useful for basic photo editing.
Kathy

[sweetymomy]

Hi Emily,

Just reading this thread and thought I'd mention a freebie graphics editor that works great for beginners. I used it for a while before I was able to upgrade to PhotoShop. It's called PhotoFiltre and is available at www.nonags.com

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/gredit.html

It has simple buttons that will sharpen, increase contrast, saturation, etc. PhotoShop is definately better, but for a freebie, its about the best I've found.

[ratcheer]

And if you want a full featured editor for free, just get the GIMP. http://www.gimp.org

Tim