[Bryson]

Originally Posted by Moogs The castle shot is impressive, Bryson. Wish I'd seen a shot like that in Wales but the weather was mostly overcast and the castles not so beautifully isolated as that one. Which is that?

The thing I like best is the lone bird directly over it. The starburst off the window is nice, too. It's Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. Long way north. The family still live in it!

Also I saw those planes (+2 at least) while driving on the M4 in August. Went right over the motorway. I like it when aerobatic teams practice directly over my planned trip route.

Every other photo I took of them is useless, but that one was beautifully framed and really sharp. No idea how.

[Moogs]

Yah that wouldn't be easy to capture unless you were ready for it with a DSLR in continuous mode, Shutter priority, etc. Still the castle shot is slick. You say way north, I suppose way north of the Wales northern border then (Conwy, et al)?

[Bryson]

Very much so. Bamburgh is just south of the Scottish Border, on the East coast.

[Moogs]

Got it. My Ordance Survey maps don't go that far north...

[World Leader Pretend]

Out in the prairie...

[Moogs]

Cool shot. Where is that statue located? If you blurred the tail a tad and the actual grasses were blowing in the wind, it would be fun to see how many people you could fool.

[turtle]

That is a cool shot. Do you know the subject? Was it staged, not that it matters, I'm just curious.

[World Leader Pretend]

It was early morning. The statue is a cutout that someone put there a long time ago; it's in a public park. If you look closely you can see five different layers of hills behind it. I have a slightly blurrier picture that wasn't quite in focus, and it looks like there actually is a horse standing there, although you loose the detail in the grasses.

That hill and cut-out is at our home cross-country course, marking the "mile hill" Our course has the most hills in the state.

I'm not in any photo classes, although I do know a lot about setting up shots correctly, breathing, etc... (most of it I've learned from this site )

[Powerdoc]

Here is one of my daughter :

[Powerdoc]

a very classical one, but still a good souvenir
Sorry for the large file, but Pbase has terrible downsizing algorithm : it wash out colors !

[turtle]

I like that image. It makes me wonder why there is a shadowy character in the background, but the girl (your daughter) on the horse looks happy yet focused. Even though there are a lot of shadows, I like the lighting for this one too. Nice shot.

[Powerdoc]

Here is one of jazz. I have a very good place (the front seats)
This is Jonnhy Griffins (aka the little giant) playing wiht the Jazz hip trio :

[Powerdoc]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 I like that image. It makes me wonder why there is a shadowy character in the background, but the girl (your daughter) on the horse looks happy yet focused. Even though there are a lot of shadows, I like the lighting for this one too. Nice shot.

Thanks, the shadowy character, is the riding professor. That's why she is in the background : there is always a teacher hidden somewhere behind a student

[Noel]

Here are a few of mine:

[World Leader Pretend]

Starfruit!

Very nice

[turtle]

Is the blue one natural color or did you edit it? It looks really good composition and all.

[stevegong]

morning glory...nice.

I'm growing it in my dorm room right now.

You know the seeds can give you LSD like effects?

[Ebby]

Would those last two sentences and a deeper relationship by any chance.

Here I go.
Haven't really been photographing for a while and I forget what images I already posted.
(Don't want to repeat myself.)

[Noel]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 It the blue one natural color or did you edit it? It looks really good composition and all.

The color's all natural, but I did up the contrast and brightness a little bit.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Ebby Would those last two sentences and a deeper relationship by any chance. Here I go. Haven't really been photographing for a while and I forget what images I already posted. (Don't want to repeat myself.)

I love the bookworm! That brought a smile to my face.

[Ryan]

I took this one in the same location as the previous photo I posted. I wish I could bring this one more into focus, but I believe I've run into the limitations of a $150 zoom lens. My next major camera purchase will hopefully be a 50mm/1.4, or I might just pick up the 1.8 for now, since it's so inexpensive. I've heard it's a very sharp lens.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Ryan I took this one in the same location as the previous photo I posted. I wish I could bring this one more into focus, but I believe I've run into the limitations of a $150 zoom lens. My next major camera purchase will hopefully be a 50mm/1.4, or I might just pick up the 1.8 for now, since it's so inexpensive. I've heard it's a very sharp lens.

What was the focal length for that image? The longer the focal length, the shallower the DoF. I'm sure you didn't mean to link the two, but it looks like you think the f1.8 or f1.4 is going to give you a deeper DoF. The larger f-stop numbers give narrower apertures and thus deeper DoF. Of course, the larger aperture opening, the smaller the number and shallower DoF.

I like the shot anyway. You can see the web on it nicely.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by turtle2472 What was the focal length for that image? The longer the focal length, the shallower the DoF. I'm sure you didn't mean to link the two, but it looks like you think the f1.8 or f1.4 is going to give you a deeper DoF. The larger f-stop numbers give narrower apertures and thus deeper DoF. Of course, the lager aperture opening, the smaller the number and shallower DoF. I like the shot anyway. You can see the web on it nicely.

Actually, I only mentioned the lens because it's (from what I've read) very sharp, and that photo is somewhat out of focus.

But I'm still very new to SLR photography, so thanks for that, I didn't know before.

The focal length was 125mm and the EXIF data can be seen here.

[Mac+]

It's not so much out of focus ... it is just that you have focussed on the front twigs with a shallow depth of field. Also, as turtle mentions, the telephoto range will lessen the DOF too. I wouldn't necessarily say you have run into the limitations of the zoom just yet.

What you should do is go take that shot again. You have a digital camera - take a few shots. Do some bracketing. Stop the lens down to f/16 or more and see if that makes a difference. It won't cost you to develop the shots.

Btw, I have the 50mm f/1.4, and whilst I like it for indoor and low light photography the autofocus fishes a bit. When you get it right, though, it's wonderful. But you have to be careful - especially if using it wide open at f/1.4. For example, at that shallow depth of field, if your subject's face is not front on you will only get one eye in focus.

The f/1.4 also has better construction and the 8 blades provides better background blur, which is an effect I like.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Mac+ It's not so much out of focus ... it is just that you have focussed on the front twigs with a shallow depth of field. Also, as turtle mentions, the telephoto range will lessen the DOF too. I wouldn't necessarily say you have run into the limitations of the zoom just yet. What you should do is go take that shot again. You have a digital camera - take a few shots. Do some bracketing. Stop the lens down to f/16 or more and see if that makes a difference. It won't cost you to develop the shots. Btw, I have the 50mm f/1.4, and whilst I like it for indoor and low light photography the autofocus fishes a bit. When you get it right, though, it's wonderful. But you have to be careful - especially if using it wide open at f/1.4. For example, at that shallow depth of field, if your subject's face is not front on you will only get one eye in focus. The f/1.4 also has better construction and the 8 blades provides better background blur, which is an effect I like.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try that out next time I do close-up nature shots.

Unfortunately, this specific tree is three hours away.

[Mac+]

Some really nice shots in this thread too, btw. I'm enjoying seeing 'em.

turtle - I'm quite envious that you're studying photography. You must be loving it! Scorned is a killer shot. I hate looking at it, but I'm drawn to it too.

stevegong - that ballet girl photo (can't recall where I saw it now) was timeless. I also like the one with the reflection in the water. I usually revel in a break with symmetry, but agree with turtle that the trees on the right are a bit too distracting in this instance, for my tastes.

GSpotter - love shots of the homeland. I haven't been there myself yet.

PowerDoc - nice to see you posting here. I really like the jazz shot - something about ambient lighting and capturing an artist in action pleases me. It's funny though, as we don't see many shots of writers at their manuscripts or painters at the canvas. I want to get into concert photography myself. I need to see more gigs and bring the camera along.

Noel - really love the colours and composition of those four shots. Simple and clean.

[Mac+]

Ryan - forget that tree ... any tree my good man. Just get out there!

[billybobsky]

see below...

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Ryan Thanks for the tips. I'll try that out next time I do close-up nature shots. Unfortunately, this specific tree is three hours away.

Like Mac+ says, get out and shoot. It's one of the best ways to learn.

In my class we used a textbook that is openly available and really helps you to understand the basics of photography from a technical camera standpoint. While it talks about different "rules" and composition ideas, it's focus is camera usage. "Complete Digital Photography, Third Edition" by Ben Long. ISBN 1-58450-356-4. Well worth the $40 retail. You will learn a lot from going through this book. We didn't use the whole book for our class, but we used it for very technical basic camera skills.

*Sidenote; I use a Rebel XT too. Though I have plans for a 5D, I dream for a 1Ds Mark II.

[billybobsky]