Help me out

[DANIMAL]

Hey guys I was out Toronto with my camera that I picked up a few weeks ago. Let me know what you think, I have no idea about post-processing so any idea as to how too make these pictures look any better please feel free to let me know. What typical things are done in post? (Contratst, brightness, etc) Or thing I should consider before/while taking the pics?

Thanks!

[craigIS]

not bad. these are pretty good. these might be a little to dark, i think day shots in this location would look a lot better.

i dont do much in post, i like my photos the way they are, except maybe ad some shadow, if there isnt enough, and add text such as "Front Page Photography.

i use Picasa for post production. its simple to use, and is free. you can add fill light, highlights, shadows, brightness, contrast, auto colour correct, and a buch of other stuff, such as black and white, and sepia.
http://picasa.google.com/

[DANIMAL]

Originally Posted by craigIS

not bad. these are pretty good. these might be a little to dark, i think day shots in this location would look a lot better.

i dont do much in post, i like my photos the way they are, except maybe ad some shadow, if there isnt enough, and add text such as "Front Page Photography.

i use Picasa for post production. its simple to use, and is free. you can add fill light, highlights, shadows, brightness, contrast, auto colour correct, and a buch of other stuff, such as black and white, and sepia.
http://picasa.google.com/

Sweet ill check it out, thanks for the advice! I am still trying to work out how apature and shutter speed affect how bright a pic will look. The other thing is that the pics look different reviewed on the camera's lcd screen than when I view them on a PC, is that a common problem?

[Blades]

for night time make sure you use a higher iso setting like 400 or 800. But with that you should use a tripod so you don't get a blur effect in your photos. The rest you can fix in photoshop .. give it a try.

[craigIS]

on more thing. you may want to play around with the shutter lock if your camera allows you. depending what your shooting. this can produce some pretty nice photos.

[DANIMAL]

Originally Posted by Blades

for night time make sure you use a higher iso setting like 400 or 800. But with that you should use a tripod so you don't get a blur effect in your photos. The rest you can fix in photoshop .. give it a try.

Camera does not do so well above ISO 200, 400 might be ok, but the higher it goes the more artifacts(blobing?) appears in the pics from what I have read. It just keeps smoothing away all the details the higher you go and I dont think there is any way around this.

This is the kit I picked up:
Sony A350 in the box with all manuals origional bagging, etc.
Minolta Maxxum 50mm f/1.7 Portrait Prime low-light AF lens
Sigma UC Zoom 70-210 1:4-5.6 (with 52 mm UV filter)
Hoya CIR-Polarizing Filter - 55 mm
Sony kit lens DT18-70mm Zoom(I have never used it)
Tripod
2 GB flash card

I spent less than I was expecting, i know its not the greatest camera but I wanted somthing cheap to start with. 650 seemed like a good deal and the reviews on the camera were pretty good(dp review recommends it), and even better than the replacement model. The other things I liked was the tilting liveview, although I only really use the OVF, and AF built into the body (So lenses will remain affordable as I progress)

on more thing. you may want to play around with the shutter lock if your camera allows you. depending what your shooting. this can produce some pretty nice photos.

Thank's ill look into it.

[Blades]

Originally Posted by 325iGuy

Camera does not do so well above ISO 200, 400 might be ok, but the higher it goes the more artifacts(blobing?) appears in the pics from what I have read. It just keeps smoothing away all the details the higher you go and I dont think there is any way around this.

Yes, you will get noise in your picture if you set your ISO to high .. that is the lose of getting a big of a brighter picture. But if you set your picture quality at fine with highest megapixel and your taking landscape pictures .. you may not notice it .. especially if you develop the pictures.

But as everyone else said .. shutter speed .. exposure settings.

[jello_g]

Nothing wrong with your camera. Where abouts in Toronto was this? Good shot.

[DANIMAL]

Originally Posted by jello_g

Nothing wrong with your camera. Where abouts in Toronto was this? Good shot.

Thanks! It was on the south side of Queens Quay E near lower Jarvis.

[jello_g]

Shooting directly or indirectly into a strong light source is a tough task even for the best of lenses. Not sure what lens/filter you used, but the blue artifacts here would indicate it didn't take this quite too well. If you're lucky, it may have simply been dirt on your lens/filter in which case just make sure it's clean prior to shooting. Otherwise avoid pointing directly at strong, concentrated light sources if your lens has a tendency to flare.

[craigIS]

maybe try some post production if your photos dont turn out quite the way you like. i just use picasa 3, i just add fill light, shadows, or highlights, depending on what i dont like about the photo. other than that, my images are not tampered with.

with this one, i uust added some fill light and then some shadows.

[ZHP_Bimmer05]

heres what I came up with