SA Fair

some pics with my first camera....


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...8/thisone2.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...8/DSC_0095.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...08/thisone.jpg

I don't find pictures of power lines and poles sticking into the sky particularly attractive.

The ride in the second one is too centered and needs a wider view to bring relevant background in. Highlights are blown out.

The third is by far the best with an interesting angle. Seems a bit soft.

Welcome to the forums. Getting and giving critiques is a great way to learn and there's lots to learn in all the forums.
Keep shooting!

Welcome!

Although I do like your sky in #1, I don't like power poles either. There's just nothing you can do to make them attractive in RT or digitally. With a more interesting silhouette, you would have had a winner.

I don't mind the centeredness of your subject, but the too-bright lights and the blurred something at the bottom do bother me. A tripod or even monopod may help you get a sharper focus -- I'm struggling with that myself.

Your 3rd is my favorite. A little more sharpness, and it would really be nice. Night shots are very dramatic and with just a little tweaking, you will have some nice ones.

Hello Wolivas in San Antonio !
(I used to live 45 mins from there,out by Blanco)
-Its hard to get used to giving and getting critiques,but brave of you to jump right in-and night photography isnt the easiest place to begin.but there are some amazing examples in the forum galleries,you'll see where to click right under each users icon.
I think the last shot is interesting,makes me feel kinda dizzy,so must be effective-would be more so if a tad sharper,as Shebang mentioned.
And a monopod is very easy to carry ,if a tripod seems too big-many threads here deal with which one to get,so have a look around

thanks for the critiques everyone....but is there any advice for what i could do....

what are some good settings for a night shot?

Settings depend on what you want but shutter speeds will be slower so a tripod is pretty much mandatory.
Meter off the brighter areas or you'll get blown out spots that are hard to recover.

What does metering off mean?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wolivas

What does metering off mean?

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Your camera has a built in meter that reads the light values available. You use it to achieve the best settings for the image.
Suppose your camera is set at iso 400. You set your aperture at f/8(for example). When you point at the brightest area it says you should use a shutter speed of 1/30" but when you point at the darker areas it will say 1 or 2 seconds. Change the iso or aperture and the shutter speed suggested will change also. You will generally have slow shutter speeds for night shots which is why a tripod is necessary.
Iso, aperture, and shutter speed all affect the exposure and they must be balanced to get a good image.

ohhhhhh...and the faster the shutter speed, the less light that is let in right?

and thats bad for a night shot cause u need all the light u can get....

okay, well imma definetly invest in a tripod...i saw the monopods but i think the tripod will do better...

quick question, if i were to take an upclose picture of someone smoking a cigarette and i want the smoke to be the most detailed part of the picture what function, iso level, aperture level would be prefered...

also, if i wanted to get a picture of , lets say, a mountain with a nice sky behind it but i want everything black and white besides the sky i would have to edit that on the computer , not get that effect from the camera...right?

I don't know about the smoke but would probably require some back light or something.
Yes you'd have to edit on the computer for the mountain shot you describe.

okay, im done with the questions...ill post some new pics when i have some time...

thanks for the advice frog...