Abstract's (requisite) first photos with his new Nikon D50!

My 2p worth (from a photography dunce who bought a new camera a few months ago)

Evenings (and mornings!) can give you some of the best light (especially in Oz where daytime sun can be very harsh). Try to avoid shooting into the sun until you get more accustomed to the camera.

Good luck

Edit: Or (for example) if you want to shoot into the sun to get something like the reflective effect on the beach, reframe the photo to exclude the sun. The experts will have much much better advice, but this sort of approach works for me.

Nice attempts. Some comments:

1. Use a polarizing filter for the bright daylight shot. If shooting in the morning light or twilight, no need for the polarizer.

2. Bracket your exposures! Especially if you're starting out. The sunset picture is a bit overexposed. Try a Neutral Density (ND) filter if shooting into very bright light. Also try RAW and make some exposure corrections during PP (post-processing). However, you cannot post-process what the imaging sensor never recorded, so it's best to bracket with the camera itself.

3. Watch your focus. The daylight picture seems out of focus. You may need to apply an unsharp mask.

4. Download trial versions of Bibble Pro (http://www.bibblelabs.com) or ACESee Pro 8 not the standard non-pro version (http://www.acdsystems.com) or even the trial version of Nikon's own Nikon Capture 4.4 and see what these tools can do for you. (For best results, you'll need to shoot in RAW.)

Good luck!

Abstract said:

Thanks. What sort of filters are out there, and what does each type do? I know there are UV and circular polarizers, but I don't really know what they do. I mean, we can't even see UV....

Click to expand...

A UV filter can reduce atmospheric haze and produce slightly cleaner images. I am not sure how well it works on digital sensors, but it does help with emulsions on print and slide films. CCDs are sensitive to UV, but to a much lesser extent than film. However, a UV filter is also a good lens protector (and does not require any exposure compensation)...dirt will not accumulate on your lens, and neither will fingerprints.

Click here for good information on filters including Before and After shots.

There are tons of filters. I was browsing the Photography section at the local Barnes and Noble a week ago and found many well-illustrated books on the subject. This is really the *best* way imo to get a flavor for what is possible.

Another alternative is to browse the websites of filter manufacturers. Here are some suggestions:

Hoya Filters
Tiffen filters
Cokin Filters

Edit: Can't believe I misspelled "durt" in the original.

ksz said:

Nice attempts. Some comments:

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Agreed. Here's my suggestions -on- suggestions, etc:

> polarizing filter ...

Can be a YMMV. Classically, it is used to darken blue skies or to change the reflections off of water and/or windows...and by "change", this can be to make the surface either more reflective or less reflective.

> 2. Bracket your exposures! Especially if you're starting out. The sunset picture is a bit overexposed.

The first beach sunset looked very "dreary" (blue/grey); it looks like the 2nd beach and the harbor were to change the white balance to "shade", which resulted in it having a warmer cast (more yellow), but this also appears to have "blown out" the exposure...this is where bracketing would have given you a few more originals to work with and pick the best one. BTW, particualrly with a RAW file original, you can play around with these to see how the post-processing controls change things, etc. Just make sure to work on a copy

> 3. Watch your focus.

Agreed. I thought it was me.

BTW, I really liked the 'extra' image of the yellow flower. What does it for me is the almost black-&-white monochrome background. Can you explain how you got this?


-hh

Abstract said:

Is it a general rule that you never include the sun in a photograph when taking photos?

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IIRC, the general rule is to put the sun over your shoulder. But the real rule IMO is "always be aware of where the sun is...and be careful when shooting into it!".

I find that it would be impossible not to overexpose any image, like my harbour photo, if I'm shooting in the direction of the sun setting. Should I avoid the sun?

Click to expand...

Its definitely easier to avoid various problems by putting the sun behind you. But as you observe, that's not always easy, nor is it necessarily desirable.

I think the general problem you've run into here is a pretty simple one: the way that you're using your camera's default exposure settings tend to cause a sunset to be overexposed.

And notice how I worded the above..."the way you're using" and "default settings" are two different items here: you might be able to get away with changing just one thing instead of many, and simpler is always better.

Also, there's also lattitude for what is a 'proper' exposure. John Shaw's books have a great example of this with some green leaves ... should they be light green, dark green or somewhere in between? The correct answer is "what does the photographer want"?

-hh

Abstract said:

Is it a general rule that you never include the sun in a photograph when taking photos? I find that it would be impossible not to overexpose any image, like my harbour photo, if I'm shooting in the direction of the sun setting. Should I avoid the sun?

Click to expand...

Good advice from -hh. However, shooting sunsets is a tricky thing, but not really that difficult nor something to be avoided. Try a graduated neutral density (ND) filter. This will darken the top half of the frame while leaving the bottom half unaffected. Because it is graduated, there is a gradual boundary between the top and bottom halves. Cokin in particular sells all kinds of graduated filters along with mounts that let you rotate the filter in front of the lens.

Pros might use a combination of graduated ND filter and graduated red/orange filter to accentuate the reds and oranges of a sunset.

You can also intentionally underexpose a sunset to turn the foreground into a silhouette. Here's an example:



Couple more sunset/dusk examples (not meant to be quintessential examples):