Pictures by an amateur using a Canon EOS 10D

[balak]

Hello folks,

I am very new to the Digital space and also to manual Photography. I have shot thousands of pictures in the past using point and shoots and a Elan II SLR in automatic mode. But with the EOS 10D, I have started experimenting with the controls. In the albums posted here, I have a fixed ISO speed (400) across the albums and have varied the aperture and exposure settings.

Would be great if you could give me your honest feedback and tips on how I can improve my pictures.

My pictures are at http://pbase.com/balak. Thanks in advance. Have a nice day.

Regards,
Bala

[ukexpat]

Hello folks,

I am very new to the Digital space and also to manual Photography. I have shot thousands of pictures in the past using point and shoots and a Elan II SLR in automatic mode. But with the EOS 10D, I have started experimenting with the controls. In the albums posted here, I have a fixed ISO speed (400) across the albums and have varied the aperture and exposure settings.

Would be great if you could give me your honest feedback and tips on how I can improve my pictures.

My pictures are at http://pbase.com/balak. Thanks in advance. Have a nice day.

Regards,
Bala

Constructive criticism:

1. Why are you using ISO 400 in daylight? You should use the lowest ISO setting you can get away with unless you have a specific need, eg you want to use a fast shutter speed in bright sunlight. Higher ISO equals more noise. The only times are switch to a higher ISO are for some night shots and indoor sports with a long lens.

2. Some of you shots are a little too dark and some too bright (I know the night shots are supposed to be dark). What format are you shooting in? If you want the most control over exposures, shoot in RAW and use a proper RAW converter (is something other than Canon's ZoomBrowser), then you can tweak exposure settings, colour channels, sharpness etc. I have nothing against JPEG mode, but if you want the absolute best results from any digital SLR, you have to shoot in RAW and post process.

[ckuhn55]

What lense are you using? More light for better pictures. I suggest you use Photoshop to sharpen and produce better pictures. I have the 10D...great camera

http://pbase.com/ckuhn55

[fastuno]

http://www.pbase.com/fastuno

I too have a 10d and LOVE it...it has become my second wife!!!
Are you using a tripod or monopod? Typically in the dark and at those low shutter speeds, to get good results, you should be using some type of standing pod. I find that shooting anything lower than 1/125 handheld is a risk, not to say that you might catch a lucky shot, but they will be few and far between. The pictures from the 10d generally come out soft, it all depends on the setting you have on your cam. You can increase the user set sharpness for better results and perhaps even increase the contrast a notch.

When I first got my shots I was so mystified as to why I couldn't get some of those picture perfect shots, well it turns out that most of the fellas here at pbase (especially those with the higher ratings/feedback) use some type of post processing. For the most part, no matter how well your picture comes out it will improve after post processing.

My question to you and everyone else is....is this fair? Wouldn't you expect after spending all that money on your gear to get pic perfect shots at least 70% of the time. Why should you have to post process anything & create more work for yourself? Is this just part of the mystical nature of photography?