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My October 2010 Holiday Pics

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Thought I might share some of my holiday pics with you all that I took in bonnie Scotland. All taken with my Canon 450D SLR.


Let me know what you all think.


A very small and cute Guillemot
Guille01.jpg

Gull_reflections.jpg

A Cormorant
Cormorant.jpg

Highland Cow captured using my Zoom lens
HighlandCow.jpg

Taken this shot in the middle of a clear day with a Polarizer filter.
polariser-1.jpg


Otter01-1.jpg

Not many people can take this shot, hence thats why I've added a copyright over it.
Otter02.jpg

Like these two shots. Both photos were quite dull, thought I might do something different. Even my father is going to use the first photo for an oil painting lol.
TwinLoch_HDR.jpg
Crinan_HDR.jpg

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I like the Highland Cow, Otter and the bottom two the best. Just look at the cows cute messy face!

    May be me, but the top one looks a tad out of focus?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nice.

    Really really like the one of the clear day. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good pictures.
    Like the highland cow and the last picture.
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Nice.

    Really really like the one of the clear day. :)

    :yes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The last two are HDR pictures, aren't they?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not entirely sure whether their HDR tbh
    I like all but the last 2, I think that their highly over edited
    I think that they could be brilliant if it wasn't for the over contrast for example
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think your photos are often bland.
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    grace wrote: »
    I think your photos are often bland.

    Fair comment, but as it says in the userguide, this forum is partly to help people grow in confidence, so do you have any tips on how to make them less bland in your opinion?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    purpledhaze

    Yes the 1st photo of the Guillemot is a wee bit out of focus. I was holding the camera as still as I could.

    Yes Strubble the last two photos are HDR. I have used only one photo.

    Grace
    Gee thanks a lot!!! I think my photos are not particularly 'bland'.
  • AuroraAurora Posts: 11,722 An Original Mixlorian
    Aww lavely I like the second to last one the best blobflower.gif
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes Strubble the last two photos are HDR. I have used only one photo.

    I think tbh if your going to be doing HDR photographs a Tripod is a must and from the comment about you either didn't have one with you or you don't have one
    So imo I would avoid doing HDR until you have a tripod as you need at least 2 photographs for it to work well

    All the rest of the photographs are good but I still think that theres room for improvement in the edits
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    curly_boy wrote: »
    I think tbh if your going to be doing HDR photographs a Tripod is a must and from the comment about you either didn't have one with you or you don't have one
    So imo I would avoid doing HDR until you have a tripod as you need at least 2 photographs for it to work well

    All the rest of the photographs are good but I still think that theres room for improvement in the edits
    I prefer a more natural look than this in HDR. The local contrast is too high, as seen by the halo effects.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I like the colours and composition in the one of the Highland cow, but I would crop it in a little closer to get rid of that barbed wire fence.

    Also it looks slightly out of focus. I would have focused on the nose, since you can't really see her eyes. A sharply focused little wet nose surrounded by masses of fur and grass and heather and whatnot would have made for a cracking shot :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I prefer a more natural look than this in HDR. The local contrast is too high, as seen by the halo effects.

    if HDR is done with more than one photo then its very rare that you get the halo effects as its combining the contrast from at least 2 photographs so you get the right contrast for, example, the clouds but also the right contrast for the foreground interest
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    curly_boy wrote: »
    if HDR is done with more than one photo then its very rare that you get the halo effects as its combining the contrast from at least 2 photographs so you get the right contrast for, example, the clouds but also the right contrast for the foreground interest
    But the halo effect comes from the post-processing, when local contrast is increased by tone-mapping. If this is cranked up too much on any image or set of images, you'll get the halos.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    shhhhhhh, don;t point out things I wasn't aware of...:p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru

    Grace
    Gee thanks a lot!!! I think my photos are not particularly 'bland'.

    You asked for opinions. You can't get pissed off for people not having particularly good ones.

    I think if you relied less on the quality of your camera, and thought more about the subject matter, your photos could be more interesting. It seems a bit like you've just seen a cute cow, and photographed it, which is good, because the cow is lovely, but why don't you experiment with putting the cow in other areas of the frame? The eye is generally more drawn to the subject when it is not bang in the centre.

    You could try experimenting with different angles. Instead of just pointing the camera at the cow at face level, you could point from lower than it's face, or above. This might create a more visually interesting picture, that's less run of the mill.

    I seem to remember Strubbles (I think) saying that somebody's (might have been yours? can't remember) photos are often like the ones that you get already on disk when you buy a computer, and I agree with him. However, I think if you stopped relying on the attractiveness of the subject, and the quality of your camera, and started to think more about how to take a good photograph, rather than how to photograph a good subject, your pictures would turn out a lot more interesting, at least in my opinion.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I will take photos how I want to take photos. I don't need someone like you telling me how to take them. So point your views somewhere else.!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I will take photos how I want to take photos. I don't need someone like you telling me how to take them. So point your views somewhere else.!

    I'm not telling you how to take them. You asked for opinions on those photos. I said they were bland. Helen said that I should give a little advice on how to make them less bland, in my opinion. I gave some advice. Whether you choose to take it or not, I couldn't really care less, but YOU ASKED FOR OPINIONS.

    Also, what do you mean by 'someone like you'. Please elaborate.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I like the highland cow photo, but that's because I like cows. I think you should either crop out or edit out the distracting barbed wire fence, though. As I've said on here before, pay attention to every area of the viewfinder.

    And yeah, a few shots lack focus.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mist wrote: »
    I like the highland cow photo, but that's because I like cows. I think you should either crop out or edit out the distracting barbed wire fence, though. As I've said on here before, pay attention to every area of the viewfinder.

    And yeah, a few shots lack focus.

    I've done what you said (saved in my computer) and it looks better without the barbed wire in the shot.

    Can't help with focus especially with the one of the Guillemot as it was moving around quite a lot.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Here's the same Highland Cow with the barbed wire out of the shot.

    _MG_0395.jpg

    I also include a rendered vehicle which I have done in Photoshop. It needs a lot more work doing to it yet.

    car2.jpg
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Another rendered vehicle

    Subaru STI

    untitled.jpg
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've deleted them both because I couldn't be bothered doing anything more to them.

    Welcome to the forum gerald :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lovely. Where did you go to see such wonderful wildlife?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lovely. Where did you go to see such wonderful wildlife?

    West Coast of Scotland in Argyll.

    There are a few more photos in the Net & Tech; titled "Which Wildlife lens for Canon 450d"
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