My pictures... any good?

1. The composition's OK, but to me, the it lacks a bit of contrast. A bit of fiddling with curves in Photoshop and a different BW conversion could make it better.

2. I like it. Again, as with no 1, a bit more contrast wouldn't hurt.

3. While I love the colours, it's just not sharp. Personally, I'm not a sharpness nazi, but with landscapes, it's almost a requirement. Also, the composition is so-so.

4. Naah. Technically, it's fine, but otherwise, it's just ... Well, it does nothing for me.

5. Nice colours and lighting, and the composition is pretty much OK, but that awful blur just looks terrible.

6. Thou shalt not crop off the handle. Really, thou shan't. Otherwise, it's a nice excersise in composition. Again, it would benefit from a bit of tweaking.

Generally, I think you do have compositional talent (though it's not very mature yet), it's just that you're too reluctant to take pictures of interesting stuff. Also, you should try learning a bit more about postprocessing, just the basic stuff like curves, sharpening and BW conversion.

On a side note, what sort of a lens is that? I never heard of Canon doing a 28-235 mm lens, and even judging by these small pictures, it's not doing a very good job.

1600 ISO in daylight and still underexposed? I don't know how that is possible.
Maybe we are not talking the same language here. Your brush shot doesn't look underexposed.
Have you taken the camera to an authorized dealer/repair center so they can look at it?

Fuzzy Orange said:

I do have another question... it seems that every picture I take is underexposed with the XTi. Is it a problem? I have taken pictures in perfect daylight at 1600 ISO and it is STILL underexposed. And also, all of those photos were edited in iPhoto. I am currently waiting for CS3 to get Photoshop. With the education discount, it is a steal.

Click to expand...

1. Check your metering mode. Set it to Evaluative. Take a shot again. Does that help?
2. Check exposure compensation. It should read 0. (Sorry, you'll have to look in your manual to find out how to determine your exposure compensation, I only shot with the XTi once.) Still too dark?
3. Take a picture outside in broad daylight in manual mode at 1/125 s, f/16 and ISO 100. Is it still underexposed?

If that didn't help, you most likely have a problem with your camera.

Or you don't know how to use your meter.

Depending on what you photograph, you may need to underexpose or overexpose on purpose. If it was as easy as making sure the meter line you see in the viewfinder is sitting on 0, then you may as well use the camera in AUTO mode. That's how AUTO mode works in cameras. Auto mode is fine, but it exposes things how the meter reads the situation, and that metering isn't going to be 100% correct every time.

That's why people buy DSLRs.....so they can play with all these settings themselves. The meter is just a guide, but you need to look at what you're photographing and judge whether it's correct.

Do yourself a favour and take a photo of something that's very white (eg: many refridgerators). Take the photo in MANUAL mode and trust the meter. Then take the photo again, but "overexpose" the photo by 2 EV (aka: by 5 or 6 of those tiny marks at the bottom of your viewfinder). Download the photo to your computer. The 1st photograph comes out grey, doesn't it. It doesn't look white at all. The 2nd photo looks better, no?

Image 1 is pretty good; it evokes a rustic mood and has good shadow detail in the foreground post. Composition and cropping are nicely done.

The firey sky and its reflection in Image 3 could have been a homerun if the bottom half wasn't confusing to the eye. It's difficult to tell what's happening in that lower half.

Anyway, you should keep up the hobby even in a place like LV. There are interesting photo ops just outside the city in places like Redrock Canyon. Try photographing various species of cacti. Also try long exposure night scenes.

In general, just take photographs of subjects and viewpoints that interest you, with attention paid to composition and light...and trust your eye: adjust the composition over and over again until it looks most pleasing.