Elwe Attempts Photography. Kinda.

So I had an art thread a while back, but I didn't quite dabble with photography, since I didn't have a camera. If I recall correctly, I may have had one picture up, but I think it was more of a shop thing, seeing as how the original, taken from a disposable, was pretty terrible.

So yeah, I went out and FINALLY bought a digital camera. It's not particularly awesome, but it was on sale and it came with a gift card. So I dished out $100 for a Samsung S730 and some memory cards, and took a couple of shots.

Anyways, I'm a complete noob on this, so constructive criticism is more than welcome. I keep hearing about some third rule, so I'm probably going to look further into this.

For the time being, here are a couple shots plus a bit of shopping. They're not particularly new, but recent enough, I guess. =] And excuse the watermarkish things; the unmarked ones are on my external HD, which is somewhere in my bookshelf.


Yes, the Buddha statue is next to a pie plate. I'm not quite sure why...




This actually wasn't taken with my digital, but a disposable. I was in the city and didn't have my digital camera, so I stopped by a Walgreens and got ripped off terribly. So yeah, this one's obviously shopped b&w.



Same as above. Let's see if you can guess which city. It should be pretty obvious if you're familiar with it.



Same as above again, except it's the view from a bridge.



The last of the shopped disposable shots.




Taken at the park. I'm not quite a fan of smoke.



Backside of a keychain I got at Disney World.



I dunno. This one reminds me of unpleasant visits to the dentist's office and those terrible sandpaper strips shoved between your teeth like floss...



[insert interesting commentary here][/commentary]



The shutter speed was a bit slow here, and I can't hold my hands still for the life of me. Hence, the blurriness.


Obligatory slightly-emo flower photo. Oh, and most definitely shopped.



Ceiling shot. This was taken during an awards ceremony at a math meet.



Food coloring in water with one of the worst lamps imaginable in the background. That's why we never used it; I dug it out of the basement and stood a sheet of white paper in front of it.


Same as above, but with a different lighting.



No need to get excited. It's just lemon in water. =D


Had to be on the floor. Otherwise, no sunlight. =[


Tangerines, I'm pretty sure.


Same as above, but different. I think I used a different setting on this one.

Originally Posted by elwe

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9822/chicagoriverbw01yl0.jpg
Same as above again, except it's the view from a bridge.

Some interesting distortion on that one. I rather like it.

Oh, rule of thirds is pretty basic. It's a general rule that can be broken under some circumstances. Generally people with a little bit of an artist eye will follow the rule without knowing it.

This is a really rough example, but yar, it'll do. (Some newer cameras have the option of enabling the rule of thirds grid on your LCD, so you can have them visibly there to aid you)

Basically imagine lines in your frame, each at the 1/3 mark horizontally and vertically. You want to put your subject on those lines, preferably at the intersections. Pretty flexible rule though I think.

--

Here's a few simple pointers though that I hope can help you. I don't know how new you are though, so if some of these are "too newbie" for you, I didn't mean to offend you D: .

- manually set your whitebalance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent_H, Fluorescent_L, Tungsten, Custom), like in your tangerine photos, I'm pretty sure you changed the white balance there, it can make a pretty big difference to what is represented as "white". Just think of it being really cold or warm.

- if you're shoot still objects, try putting your camera on a small tripod (there are some super mini ones for point and shoots that are like, $10 and fit on your table top) and setting it to timer so you can get the sharpest photo possible

- set your focusing mode to center weighted. Sometimes the camera might not focus on what you want it to, so now it will always focus on the middle. So just focus on what you want, hold the shutter half way still, recompose your photo, and then push all the way to take the photo . I've been doing this all the time with my DSLR since the auto-focus points aren't always going to pick up on what I want.

- fiddle with the exposure compensation once in awhile (+2EV , -2EV), it can save you time from fudging in photoshop later and the such.

Well, that's about it. Have fun shooting of course, and try to bring your camera around more with you, best photo opportunities always seem to be the ones you miss :P.


Oh, and this one is my favorite of yours so far:

The disposable produced nice results for a vintage feel! haha

Thanks for all the input. =]

Originally Posted by Greykin

- set your focusing mode to center weighted. Sometimes the camera might not focus on what you want it to, so now it will always focus on the middle. So just focus on what you want, hold the shutter half way still, recompose your photo, and then push all the way to take the photo . I've been doing this all the time with my DSLR since the auto-focus points aren't always going to pick up on what I want.

Yeah, I've had issues with focusing on the "right" thing. Thank you SO much for this tip. I never realized the camera would still focus on the same object even if the camera is moved after focusing. This is definitely going to help out.

I've been thinking about getting a tripod, but I never really got around to it. $10 doesn't sound too bad, though. I just have to sacrifice one dinner out! ='D

My favorite ones so far are actually from the disposable as well. Funny how that turns out.

Rule of thirds isn't always a necessity - I find it only really applies on images where there's a single focal point and not much else worth paying attention to.

I like where you're going with this. Plus, you get some pretty good depth of field for an el cheapo camera.

I actually liked the effect the blurriness gives your 10th photo; it's very ethereal.

I'm not much of a photographer myself but I just wanted to say that I love these photos and as above, I'm amazed with the effect and quality you managed to get out of the disposeable. Definately keep it up.

This is some nice work. I especially like the ones taken with the disposable camera.

which reminds me, i should finish shooting those rolls of film

Also, HOLY SHIT, Chicago. Madison. NOSTALGIA RUSH.

What I wouldn't give right now to roam around the city with my camera.