Recent content by boilerplate

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=canon+18-55&s=int canon + 18-55 + landscapes + nice.

Give a learner too many variables to juggle, he might just get overwhelmed and give up. The experienced amongst us can run through every single variable before each shot: ISO, WB, aperture, shutter, EV+-, AF point, AF mode, flash power, filters, RAW-vs-JPEG, bracketing, color mode, ... Someone...

Underexposed. Makes the surrounding look even more squalid. More of the adult, if the intended effect is girl-looking-at-mysterious-grown-up. Tilt. Empty half of the chair is somehow disturbing. Take more pictures of her again in other settings, keep trying :)

The fence. No reason to lock the cute little kitty behind bars :)

I would say that the spots of lights stand out way more than the glass. The glass is pretty dark. The spots of lights are way too big. The eyes can't seem to decide on a focal point, lights, glass, or overturned HDBs?

Hm too bright eh? Let's see, decrease exposure? Drop 1/3 stop: 20s. Or drop 2/3: 15s. In fact, don't you think f/25 is kind of overkill? It forced you to push your ISO up to 400. The exact same photograph (well alamost) as above can be obtained with f/16, 20s, ISO 200. Still within the shutter...

Is the original version HDR? The first version defeats the purpose of HDR: totally burnt out sky, totally black vegetation. As for the distracting bright green grass, if that was a HDR shot, maybe tweaking the parameters a bit can get rid of it. Else just do the old school way, burn and dodge.

The burnt out bright spot on the upper right corner is quite distracting. Similarly for the lack of details on the bicycle (total black). Could have been caused by the high contrast PP though.

Hm I've shattered a filter, with rest of the lens intact. I think the filter can absorb some amount of impact energy, depending on what kind of hit it was and at what angle. Anyway you can just photoshop them away for now :P

Don't think of the modes as level 1, level 2, level 3, ... lessons or examinations. Yes, aperture priority and shutter priority are harder to use than program, manual is harder to use than everything else, but there's absolutely no need to try to rush through and learn all of them. Start with...

Review your work so far, what kind of shots do you find more appealing? Pick that as possibly an area to venture deeper into. Don't try to be a jack of all trades :)

Yeah man, spend the money that you'll save from these advice, on better food after every photo trip. Good food makes a happy man.

Lots of good advice regarding sticking to the kit lens and learning it. Get used to what 18mm gives you, what 55mm gives you, and everything in between. Only then will you really have a clear idea of what you prefer, what's lacking and what to get next.

Think someone above highlighted this: in the first photograph, are you sure you want to "blur" out the building at the back? I think it's as much the focus of the photograph as your wife.

Hm why not leave GND + ND8 + CPL on. We will be often be shooting with bright skies at the top, shooting flowing water sometimes, shooting foliage/water at other times, so just leave everything on! Just lose about 4-6 stops, can be compensated with a boost from ISO 100 to ISO 3200/6400, which is...