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Lots Of Sunrise Shots From Woy Woy Nsw.


pesh
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I'm happy to give you some tips and you did ask for the good bad and ugly :laugh:

Firstly, good on you for going manual, it's the best way to learn how your camera functions and how to choose settings for each type of scene.

Some general tips. When you want CC don't upload a bunch of pictures. Pick one or two only, people get overwhelmed and don't bother CCing because it's too big a task. Often the same points apply to all the pictures so make it easy for people to comment.

General CC on these. Watch your horizon, if you don't get it level in camera then straighten with a rule tool when processing. You have some wonky water lines and it makes the shot look like water is running downhill. Decide what it is you want the eye to be drawn to. Is it the reflection on the water, is there something in the foreground, is it the clouds above the horizon. I think you want to learn so I'll be honest. Some of your pictures lack a point of focus, the eye goes all over the place. In some you have the horizon in the middle, which generally doesn't make it a pleasing and balanced picture. The general idea is to follow the rule of thirds, so either two thirds sky or one third sky depending on what you want to emphasise. You should only break these rules when you know them and if you know why it will make the picture better. Go look at good photographers websites and see what elements make up a good picture. I know when we start out we are happy it's in focus and exposure is correct but there comes a time you need to move on to get your pictures to have a bit of impact. Also if you want CC one of the first thing people ask for is the EXIF, meaning what settings you chose on the camera, it really helps to correct any issues if people can see that.

I think there is only one bird picture now, I'm sure there was a duck too? Ok, for animals always make sure you can see detail like an eye, unless you are shooting a sleeping animal. Not sure it is a cormorant moving through the water, it's too dark to tell. It has potential as a good shot with the ripples behind but no detail in the bird and it's under exposed. Do you shoot in RAW? If so you can bring detail back, if it's a jpeg rescue of under and over exposed shots isn't always possible. I think you are going for moody and it can work but you still need to see something of the bird. I do a lot of wildlife photography and it's my main interest so I am happy to help with animal shots.

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Thx Danny Darling.

Rev Jo, thank you for taking the time to give me all that wonderful info, it's very much appreciated.

I had added all the settings to the picture, but unfortunately didn't come through when loading them here. Bummer.

Plus I should have added these are totally unedited except one or two where I did notice the horizon. Have to keep a closer eye on this, I do look at things a little lop sided. :laugh:

It was suggested I should shoot in jpeg-fine. So you recommend RAW?

Thx again.... :D

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It depends what your goal is. If you just want to take shots for yourself and aren't interested in going to the top stay with what you are happy with, if it's jpeg fine. But those who want to have good control over their shots use RAW because you decide how to process each shot. With jpeg the camera chooses what it thinks is the best information and throws away the rest. So you lose shadow detail and highlight detail. With RAW the camera captures everything and you decide what to throw away. The downside is that you need to learn to do at least basic edits and all RAWS needs a little sharpening and colour tweaking, like developing a negative. RAW is great if you have a scene that has a lot of tonal range, the camera cannot handle the same range our eye can see and can't capture it, that is where bracketing and being able to find more detail in shadows and highlights is really handy.

Don't worry, we've all had rivers or the sea running downhill when we start out and now you too will check the horizon every time you see someone else's water shot :laugh: If you really want to develop your photography skills I can send you some links, the best places are where others give critiques, you will learn a huge amount. I haven't been posting much of my photography stuff on here but happy to go through things with you, we all started out as beginners at one time and learned from others. I'm not saying I am Miss Super Photographer but I've got a good grasp on it and am always learning more and love talking photography.

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One of the best photography forums in Australia, lots of meet up and some really really good photogs. If you ask for critiques you'll usually get good advice. Good idea to go through and read the critiques given out of other photos. http://www.ausphotography.net.au/

A good FB group, some of our top photogs in Australia here and it's very friendly. https://www.facebook.com/groups/fapsc/

May as well spam my page :laugh: https://www.facebook.com/NyanyjaymiPhotography

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