Photo-artsy people, help!

[mamainak]

I saw a contest 'In pictures' in Guardian, with a weekly theme 'Pose' and I have few photos that suit the theme but can't make up my mind

This is the thread on Flickr (a Guardian 'In pictures' group) with photos people are considering to submit...

Comments

[iflie]

I think in Odd Eyed the background textures of the bag and plastics actually make it more interesting. And there is so much light doppling going on. Quality wise it is also flawlessly clear. I have no idea why your pics tend to come out that way. My own digital cam certainally doesn't do anything of the sort hehe.

I could actually see that pic getting an honorable mention but then someone who had some sort of clever gimmick in their shot would get the bigger price. But that sort of toppic is something you have to be lucky about.

The sunset pic could be a posing stretch you don't know if the poeple are posing or just happened to be there but color wise at least on my screen it isn't that interesting and might easily overlooked. In the looking into the puddle pic you can't see the faces well enough and zorzi isn't posing so much as just looking the other way.

And even if you don't even get a mention I bet a lot of people would still like your shot, just keep posting all over the place hehe. Have you ever thought about doing it as more than a hobby?

~Iflie

[mamainak]

Hehe, for someone who claims not to be a 'photo person' you notice lots of details and have sense of it :D

I submitted Lulu :D we'll see. The competition is good so I have no expectations...They used to give award, it was Nikon and later on Canon camera, but they stopped few weeks ago...too bad, I could use a bit better camera...

And about the camera...honestly you really need a good quality one, learn a bit about settings and sometimes use light editing, I use simple Picasa from google.

[iflie]

While I do notice things I've as yet never been able to describe why certain pictures won or are good photography wise. They always seem to pick ones I find boring. I'm the same way with poetry and literature, if other people rave about it, most likely I wont. So i can't really predict very much, I just really like that pic of Lulu and I'm happy you entered it.

Too bad they don't give the cameras anymore.

I did notice some guy entered more than one picture.

My little camera wasn't a really cheap one but while I use settings it only tends to make good pics in full bright sunlight, something that is rather rare here. As soon as the flash works everything becomes morgue lighted. I used to get better pics with my non digital one, and less waiting for the flash to arrive.

Maybe one day I'll buy a better one but I tend to skip any bigger expenses like that.

~Iflie

[mamainak]

Well, actually, that link I put there, is just a thread where people post their photos that might be candidates and then people give them advice which one might be the best, but they can submit only one to Guardian magazine (they are supposed to be emailed to them). They'd be disqualified if entering two...

What's exactly a problem with the camera? I think you're supposed to be able to take decent photos during daytime (without bright sunshine) without a flash...try changing exposure and white balance. And try picasa. It does miracles if photo is too gray or dark or colours are not nice...

[iflie]

Ah that explains it.

And yes I should check out the white balance. pics can look fine on my camera screen but then wjhen they and video is on my comp it seems too dark.

For the after editing I tend to use Paint.net but I'll check out Picasa.

~Iflie

[mamainak]

Hm, well did you try to change the monitor colours?

Because if it looks ok on camera it means the photo has been captured properly...

I learned that increasing exposure if there's no enough light helps a lot, so you don't have to use flash, flash just destroys the photo if it's daytime.

Picasa is automatic and has already 'premade' fixes so you don't have to fiddle much. My most commonly used options are 'I'm feeling lucky' (in most of the times fixes everything), Saturation (if colours are pale in comparison to original place), Red-eye reduction, Highlights, Shadow, Contrast and Retouch (for removing pimples :P)