scorps Posted June 5, 2010 Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 Im amazed at the quality of pics you peeps are uploading here, now i think im crap with a camera and would like to know more. However i have taken the following pic below and i'd like your honest opinion.....good or bad and id like some pointers to take good quality pics.The camera i use is a SamsungST45 digital 12.2 Mega Pixels its nothing flash just a good digital cam.This was taken on macro setting. Actually i'm quite embarrassed by this pic after looking back at all yours its quite crap, so at least i can only get better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 5, 2010 Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 Im amazed at the quality of pics you peeps are uploading here, now i think im crap with a camera and would like to know more. However i have taken the following pic below and i'd like your honest opinion.....good or bad and id like some pointers to take good quality pics.The camera i use is a SamsungST45 digital 12.2 Mega Pixels its nothing flash just a good digital cam.This was taken on macro setting. Actually i'm quite embarrassed by this pic after looking back at all yours its quite crap, so at least i can only get better The composition of the pic is good basically. The frame is well filled and the blossom is nicely positioned. The problems with it are technical and it would help to know what settings it was taken at. Do you have a record of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed? Does your camera have manual settings? The picture looks well over-exposed - to the point where the yellow area in the centre of the flower is burned out and you have lost all the detail. It is a tiny bit soft too. That may be because of focusing, but it looks like there might be a bit of movement. Steady hand holding at macro distances can be quite difficult and flowers are likely to move in the wind. I have fiddled a bit with your picture to show the effect of reducing the exposure quite a bit, but that is not really the answer, especially for the burned out yellow bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorps Posted June 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 ISO sensitivity is on 80 EV= exposure value is set on +1.0 It does have manual settings. Input greatly received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phipck Posted June 5, 2010 Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 your certainly not crap and i wouldnt say its bad, its certainly heading in the right direction. first thing i would do is turn of the date stamp, its a sure way to distract you from an images content. the second thing is the framing of an image, not the boarder but how you possition the images content when you take the photo, youve got a good layout there but theres a lot of light bouncing off the subject and back at the camera. Sagitar mentioned in a post a few days ago about waiting for the right time of day, where the light gives you the best oppertunity to take the photo you want. At this time of year where the nights are quite long i tend to take detailed shots in the softer late evening light or early morning light, rather than the strong daytime sun. It is strong and will make it harder as a begginer to get the images to a repeatable good standard. im only running a 10 mega pixel camera so yours has more resolution than mine, its just taking your time and considering whether it is actualy the correct time to take the picture you want to take. im in york this week on holiday and its been a scorcher, so taking photos with my limited experience is proving difficult especially with trying to avoid over exposure where the image gets too much light, washing out the colours. hopefuly over the next few days i can post some bits up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorps Posted June 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 Date stamp has now been turned off I'm going to find the manual for it tomorrow and have a play. Shutter speeds for the camera are: On Smart auto; 8 ~ 1/1,500 sec Program; 1 ~ 1/1500 sec (AEB, continuous; 1/4 ~ 1/1,500 sec) Contrast,sharpness and saturation give values of: Minus 2 to Plus 2 Does this help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 ISO sensitivity is on 80 EV= exposure value is set on +1.0 It does have manual settings. Input greatly received I had a quick look at the spec for your camera on DP review and it does not look as though it has any manual control of aperture and shutter speed, but you can control a lot of the auto settings. For your flower pic, ISO on 80 is OK - If you increase the ISO value you will get more noise in the image, so keep it low unless the light is very poor. What you describe as exposure value, I think is more likely to be exposure compensation. You can alter it in 1/3EV steps up to + or - 2EV. The fact that it is set to +1 is probably contributing to the overexposure in the picture. Try restoring it to zero. On an auto camera, this is a very useful control. Turn it up if your pictures are under-exposed, turn it down if they are over-exposed. You can set white balance manually, but it is probably best left on auto for outdoor pictures. You have a range of auto-focus options but you will need to read the manual to see what each of them does. For your flower pic it is most likely that you will want the Multi AF or Centre AF setting. You have a range of metering options and you may need to experiment with them when taking a pic with a single very bright area like the yellow centre of your flower. Personally I would spot meter on the centre of the flower, but multi spot or centre weighted may give good results. The contrast, sharpness and saturation values don't alter the camera settings, they operate on the processing algorithm and I prefer to leave them at nominal and adjust later, but that is a personal preference. My impression is that your camera is intended to be a point and shoot and that you are supposed to use the "modes" rather than change individual settings. I am sure that approach will give good results most of the time, but if you like to know what is going on then all I can suggest is that you experiment with the settings and learn from the results that you get. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorps Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Sagitar, thank you for the advice i will take a few more photos today on different settings to see what the differences are. I guess thats what i needed to do in the first place im sure the camera can take excellent pics in the right hands. Im still trying to understand the higher ISO no's increases noise in the image Here's another attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Pete I've started a new thread as the other one was for animals For a compact they are nice photos and capture the detail well....I'm amazed it has slightly blurred the background as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorps Posted June 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I'm amazed it has slightly blurred the background as well. Is that a good/bad thing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 I'm amazed it has slightly blurred the background as well. Is that a good/bad thing ? A good thing but I suppose it's personal preference. It makes the subject stand out more, which is what I've been playing with on my camera. This is determined by the aperture setting, which from Sagitar's post is only automatic on your camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagitar Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Im still trying to understand the higher ISO no's increases noise in the image Each pixel is made up of photosites that are sensitive to light and generate an electronic signal that is proportional in magnitude to the amount of light falling on them. The signal is passed through an amplifier in order to get a value that is big enough to use in creating an image. When you increase the ISO value you just turn up the gain on the amplifier so you get a bigger signal out for a given amount of light. But of course, turning up the gain also increases the background noise and this shows itself in the picture as graininess, coloured spots and flare around contrasty objects. You will know it when you see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 Im still trying to understand the higher ISO no's increases noise in the image Each pixel is made up of photosites that are sensitive to light and generate an electronic signal that is proportional in magnitude to the amount of light falling on them. The signal is passed through an amplifier in order to get a value that is big enough to use in creating an image. When you increase the ISO value you just turn up the gain on the amplifier so you get a bigger signal out for a given amount of light. But of course, turning up the gain also increases the background noise and this shows itself in the picture as graininess, coloured spots and flare around contrasty objects. You will know it when you see it. Superb explanation once again I found a good example here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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