Musing
Christmas was fun. It was quiet, we stayed in at home and I cooked a roast. We drank a bottle of wine each and we played Civ IV all night. Not necessarily in that order ;)
I've been trying to pick up my camera when I go somewhere, In the hopes that I find something that I can shoot. It's been working well and I got this awesome shot of Oxford Circus. I love the light that the bus casts on the ground.
Click here to see this one larger, it looks alot better
I've been practising my use of flash in party situations and the results are pretty good, and are miles away from the crappy point and shoot flash photos of old.
Landscape photography hasn't gone too well due to the lack of landscapes, but still life is progressing slowly.
The most important thing I've learned with digital photography is the role of post-processing. Most photos come out of the camera looking flat and a bit lame, even with a £600 lens.
(Technical bit, skip this paragraph if you want) I always shoot in RAW and then process in Aperture. The first thing I need to do is adjust the white balance. People looking pink or green happen frequently without this step. Exposure is usually the next thing, my camera (vicariously, me) sometimes underexposes certain areas, so I'll selectively lighten some areas. I then fiddle around with the colour/contrast/saturation/sharpness/cropping and all the other little bits.
Obviously there are photos where the composition has been completely off or I've misfocussed, motion-blurred, put the camera on ISO1600 resulting in crappy photos. These errors due to the user (ME!) will hopefully fade eventually.
Sorry for subjecting you to my annoying hobby, I hope you're all well and having a good holiday season, and I'll have a more personal update ready for you towards the beginning of next week.
I've been trying to pick up my camera when I go somewhere, In the hopes that I find something that I can shoot. It's been working well and I got this awesome shot of Oxford Circus. I love the light that the bus casts on the ground.
Click here to see this one larger, it looks alot better
I've been practising my use of flash in party situations and the results are pretty good, and are miles away from the crappy point and shoot flash photos of old.
Landscape photography hasn't gone too well due to the lack of landscapes, but still life is progressing slowly.
The most important thing I've learned with digital photography is the role of post-processing. Most photos come out of the camera looking flat and a bit lame, even with a £600 lens.
(Technical bit, skip this paragraph if you want) I always shoot in RAW and then process in Aperture. The first thing I need to do is adjust the white balance. People looking pink or green happen frequently without this step. Exposure is usually the next thing, my camera (vicariously, me) sometimes underexposes certain areas, so I'll selectively lighten some areas. I then fiddle around with the colour/contrast/saturation/sharpness/cropping and all the other little bits.
Obviously there are photos where the composition has been completely off or I've misfocussed, motion-blurred, put the camera on ISO1600 resulting in crappy photos. These errors due to the user (ME!) will hopefully fade eventually.
Sorry for subjecting you to my annoying hobby, I hope you're all well and having a good holiday season, and I'll have a more personal update ready for you towards the beginning of next week.