[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Mayavi

To be frank, I don't really know what the problem is here. Are you guys talking about image quality or bad exposure or both?

Neither, the problem is DOF, only the bridge is in sharp focus.

Originally Posted by Mayavi

Added later: I just noticed that in my previous post I mentioned I shot it at wide open. It was actually shot at 5.6 which kinda enters the sweet spot for Kit lens though not as good as f8.

No, I checked the exif yesterday and found it to be F3.5 only.

[Mayavi]

Right, I was looking at a similar picture shot with different settings. Anyway, here is another one... my first serious bird shots, so didn't really know what settings to use. I think if I had the Auto Focus in Servo mode, I could have got the bid in focus.

[hkanitkar]

Here's some i clicked today :

[Torqueguru]

HK,Both shots are nice, i kinda liked the water droplets more.
Got this one with my mobile phone yesterday.

[kb100]

Here are a the first few shots with my 40D. Taken in large jpeg format. Resized using DPP - I have no idea what I am doing!!

My younger one


A handmade Wall Hangy-Thingy


Artificial flowers


First Macro Attempt - one end of the bedside table lamp (the tip was less than 1cm from the lens front element!!)


The very first Flower attempt


Now let me go hide somewhere!!... D

[given2fly]

Excellent Shots, KB! You are a fast learner, I see!

[1self]

I happened to have this pigeon on board when i was sailing.

[Samurai]

KB, this is like trying to learn driving, but using a BMW 7 series. You are stalling at every gear.

A good photograph should have proper composition, technical merit and then oomph factor. These shots have none of it. Only your daughter's photo is great, and it is because of her wonderful grin providing the oomph factor. The rest stink, there is nothing in them. And that's purely my personal opinion, everybody is welcome to disagree with me.

Please learn composition, and the technical aspects before insulting your wonderful gear any further.

[kvish]

Originally Posted by kb100

Here are a the first few shots with my 40D.

Glad that you finally got hold of your camera! Enjoy! First pic is nice!

Originally Posted by 1self

I happened to have this pigeon on board when i was sailing.

The second one is really cool. So much detail!

One from butterfly park (my second visit). Its THE place to try out macros and flowers.

[kb100]

Originally Posted by Samurai

KB, this is like trying to learn driving, but using a BMW 7 series. You are stalling at every gear.

A good photograph should have proper composition, technical merit and then oomph factor. These shots have none of it. Only your daughter's photo is great, and it is because of her wonderful grin providing the oomph factor. The rest stink, there is nothing in them. And that's purely my personal opinion, everybody is welcome to disagree with me.

Please learn composition, and the technical aspects before insulting your wonderful gear any further.

Ouch Ouch... very true! Will help more if you can be specific about what is wrong and what could have been done to address these.

These were shot at full auto and saved as large jpeg files, downloaded and resized using DPP (the canon software). Some of them used the built in flash. No attempt at PP for two reasons..

a) one cant address issues like composition etc. in any case
b) most importantly I wouldn't know how to even if I wanted to.

I am learning all the things the camera does - for instance yesterday I tried the difference various shutter speeds made for the same shot - and so on. I intent to concentrate on the other aspects of composition etc once I have some idea how the hardware handles. I have only now reached the 'Image Settings' section of my manual (page55/195) - guess I have some way to go!

I think I acknowledged I am a the bottom of the learning curve - I am sure the learning curve is going to be steep but I LOVE challenges! And all the criticism (scathing, scalding etc) only motivates me to improve!

And improve I will!

[Samurai]

Consider this, a mechanic might know everything about the car, but that doesn't make him an excellent driver. Meanwhile an excellent driver may not know much about the cars, but he can drive practically any car better than the mechanic.

A person who understands photography can take good photographs from any camera. Meanwhile a person who knows every settings in the camera may not take any photo worth saving.

I used to know every settings of my Olympus IS-3 SLR, Kodak DC4800 and Sony DSC F-717. Yet, I couldn't shoot what I wanted, they always turned out ordinary.

After I got scalding remarks about my photos from a fellow BHPian (S Pathak), I decided to learn photography. See my photos taken in 2005 to understand the difference. The same Sony F-717 started delivering better photos once I understood photography. Only after I hit the limitations of Sony, I upgraded to Olympus E500, and now finally to E3. In fact, I don't know or haven't used all the settings of both E-500 and E-3. It is not required, all I need to know is whether it can do what I want to do, and how to do it.

I shot this from a fellow BHPian's Nikon D50, that was the first time I used a Nikon, it just took 10-15 minutes to learn the controls and shoot action shots like this. So don't worry so much about settings.

Originally Posted by kb100

Ouch Ouch... very true! Will help more if you can be specific about what is wrong and what could have been done to address these.

The problems are conceptual, there is no band-aid quick fix for them. Since you are having trouble learning from books, attend a photography course like I told before.

[tsk1979]

While Samurai has touched upon the driver aspect, let me touch upon the mechanic aspect.
Auto mode on 40D will be very very lousy. Lousier than the 450D,400D,350D by some extent and much much lousier than a 100$ P&S.
The reason?
DSLRs are very faithful, and try to reproduce the scene very faithfully without punching contrast etc.,
So the first rule.
1. Never use the green button unless you are giving the camera to a stranger to take your picture
2. this is debated, but I say never use jpeg, only shoot RAW. Always. without exception. What you can do with RAW you cannot do with jpeg.
3. While shooting flowers use Av. Select an aperture, use Live View/DOF preview to see whether what you want in focus is actually in focus.
4. Always sharpen your pics with mild USM while converting to jpeg. You can also choose high sharpness settings.

To be specific, your pics are bland. They do not excite. A flower should pop out and scream I am a flower
For example the shots below, the flowers pop out


But the shot below is Dull

As far as composition is concerned, if you cannot isolate a flower, try using multiple to create a symmetry

Some flowers are of predominantly a single color. Like below is red. I desaturated Green and Blue channels to create a B&W effect without having problems associated with selective coloring.

In the end its hit and trial, the photo will tell you whats wrong. Use your extinct, look up the works of other photographers.
For example go to flickr.com, search flowers and sort by "Most interesting".
I use this to improve my composition, and I am always learning.

And remember a camera is a tool. All the above pics were taken with a 80$ lens, not some 1000$ L.
Every canon lens ever made(except for a few horrendous ones) can give you good pictures when used properly.
So keep shooting and keep learning.
The more you shoot, the more you will learn.
For example look at my 2006 photos of Narkanda, and 2008 photos of tirthan.
Narkanda : Tanveer Singh (tanveer) : photos : Narkanda Dec 2006- powered by SmugMug
Tirthan : Tanveer Singh (tanveer) : photos : Sai Ropa, Shoja, Jalori Pass- powered by SmugMug
You will see the change wrought over 2 years

[kb100]

Thank you Samurai and Tsk . I repeat - I value the criticism, so point well taken.

Intended to try out the Av and the Tv - but told myself to start from the first page itself. I have just gotten myself there. Will try it out tonite - need to before the Monsoon drive tmw!

And yes - I need to join a photography class - is there any short term 2 day kind of courses anyone knows about

Lastly TSK - those flower shots were WOW!

[Samurai]

KB, composition can make even non-pretty things look interesting.

Example:

[kb100]

Originally Posted by Samurai

KB, composition can make even non-pretty things look interesting.

Example:

we used to call that the 'Russian Angle' during my ad film days.

I hope to be able to demonstrate my 'composition' talents soon!