Making Beginners Looking Pro. Well, almost...

Posted by Harris Sunday, August 16, 2009
Salam..


My posting speeds are gradually decreasing I suppose.. haha.
Well, there's been a visit from Lazyness lately. Can't seem to jerk away from it though. Huh.

Well, this post is basically to share my "beginner" class photography with all of you. Im gonna help
you guys out there who wants their photos to look, well, to the professional side.
Everybody loves a great photo. Great photos can come from anyone.

In this matter, Im going to lean more towards dSLR users. There are some great tips and tricks in making pictures that you take looks more brilliant, & eye-catching. As a dSLR users myself, RAW pictures taken are quite descent looking. But, you can always take your passion for photography a leap foward.

Things That You Need:

1. a dSLR of course.
2. lenses.
3. Photoshop elements/Cs3
4. Filters (if possible) -Mainly for landscape.
5. tripod / monopod (if your hands are shaky)

These are some photos taken by myself. Using Photoshop Elements 6 , I kinda tweak a couple of things.



after...



This is one of the cats that wonders around my grandparents house at Riam. I was just sitting on a single stair tile next to it when she suddenly posses and sitting still.

with EFS 18-55mm lens. Manual Focus.
I took the shot with Shutterspeed priority, 1/4 Tv, 5.0 aperture, and ISO 400. With no tripod.
forgot to bring. guuhh..

I used Photoshop Elements to monotone it. Changing its Levels, Colour Curves.
Magentic Lasso tool is used to separate the cat from the backround.
This is to easily making the background dark & black. That way,
it's a lot easier to realise the style that you want
your image to turn up.
For the upper whiskers, I used the Cloning tool. Because it kinda went missing during the procsess.

Now, what's important in editing images that you took is to feel right.
Try to adjust simple things first before you do the complex editing.
Remember, images that you take represents the moment that you capture.

Know Your Camera

In photography, you got to know your camera.
Know it like it's your bestfriend, or girlfriend.
Be the camera.
Taste the camera.
Feel the camera.
Hug the camera.
Feed the camera.

Okay, that sounds kinda wierd..but really you need to have that BOND with your camera
in order to produce extravagent illusive masterpieces.
It's like, Karma.. haha.

Now, for Canon users,
the build in auto adjustment things are kinda crappy and the photo
quality is not optimum, and sometimes, kinda crap.

I recommend beginners such as me to train and use the Creative zone.
Which is, the Tv (Shutter priority), P (programe), Av (Aperture priority),
M (Manual), A-DEP (mainly for depth of field).

Note:

The higher the shutter, example : 1/50 and above, produces dark images if there is no
sunlight. (indoors)
Same goes for Aperture, the smaller the aperture opening, example : f15 and above.
The higer the ISO, the brighter your images will be BUT with the cost of noises.

Noise are small pixels that seems to be out of texture.
The more they are, the crappier it looks.
You can always reduce , or even eliminate it using the noise reducer tool.

Making Macro

If you love tiny things, or close-ip shooting, then, Macro's are best for you.
There are Lenses out there that is meant for Macro's.
If you are a Macro enthusiasts. But you can still use regular lenses as well.



after..



This image is taken with EFS 18-55mm lens at 1/200 Tv, f5.6, Center-weighted metering,
55mm.

Edited it Photoshop Elements. Originaly the photo is taken with the built-in monochrome
picture style. I then changed it's Levels, Colour Curves, Brightness/Contrast and Adjust Sharpness.
Later I used the Gradient tool to achive those black corners.
Those black corners is a good way in making the subject you want
viewers to focus. In this case, the twig.
It's actually a plastic twig of a plastic flower.

I'll be sharing a lot more of my experience in posts to come. Okay!

Feel free to comment via the comment post'er or the chatbox. :D






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