Sign of spring simple flower pic took today

Took today with the 18-55mm lens. Tweaked a little in photoshop

OH imagine having a macro or top range lens

Pete . . . mate . . .

What follows is meant as constructive (not destructive) criticism. Please accept it as such.

You have presented what I regard as a rather less than average photo of a Camelia ?

It lacks 'sparkle'. It's flat. There is not much detail in the petals. The leaves look like they've just had a coating with cement dust.

If you tweaked it a little in Photoshop, I would have tweaked it a lot more. Better still, I would have looked for a more interesting photo.

Not every shot you take is worthy of posting here. This one IMHO is perhaps your worst to date.

I'm sure you are capable of much better photography as is evidenced by some of your previous posts. Take some time and look harder r create a more pleasing photo with creative lighting.

I know you've received some criticism from previous posts . . . but this is not the way forward. Taking more photo's is not necessarily going to make you a better photographer. Take time to study, learn, and understand the craft and its many facets.

If this photo was to highlight the fact that Spring may be sprung, it's done it. As a killer photo . . . it sucks.

Keep at it bud.

Cheers,

Thanks heavens you broke it to him gently....

I've waited a long time to use that quote (who knows where from?) but a little moderation (in the general sense of the word) would be good. There is a lot to learn in photography and there's no point discouraging people, which is an easy thing to do.

Sue nearly gave up photography when a judge absolutely slated her photoshop border on a print, without even stopping to look at the image itself. She rose above that devastating experience and became a better image maker than I am. Not so much on the technical side, but brilliant at making superb images.

So Pete, there are good points about your image. You have made the background unobtrusive. You have composed the image well - not too central and not too close. You have not over-exposed the whites.

I say take lots of images, post them for critique, take the comments ijn good part and never be discouraged. You would get lots of feedback from posting images on the sister site to this one www.ephotozine.com

Above all, have fun!

Thanks Guys,

Ive no problem with your comments at all. Infact I also thought it was a bad image. I was just messing about up the garden.

I have just been to my local town and brought two old lense's a Cosina 28mm 2.8 and a pentax smc 50mm 1.7

both for £50

I have not got the pentax lens to work on the k10d yet it keeps flashing for the f on the lcd panel (perhaps you guys can help)

The Cosina is great I took these 3 photos as I was getting into my car just to test the quality. I am blown away. Please don't judge the photos they are not meant for that. They are only to show other newbies what cheap old lenses can do. I guess you guys new this already.

The quality is very sharp in my opinion.

Pete Im SO SO PLEASED These are taken with the Cosina

John,

You're absolutely right to make your positive comments about Pete's latest offering. I should have done so, but didn't. My mistake and apologies to Pete for that.

I have interpreted, rightly or wrongly, Pete's latest posting as his attempt to perhaps win back some support from his critics here. Personally, I think some of the work that he has shown is very good. The flower pic doesn't do it for me for the reasons I described and I don't think that he should simply go out and click away at whatever presents itself to his lens without thinking too much about the resulting image. That's not photography, it's . . . snapping?

Pete,

Perhaps you could explain to us why you took this pic, and how you think it makes a good photo.

I believe that some of the criticisms that have been levelled at Pete in his other posts are unfair and way too personal. They certainly have little to do with his photography.

He PM'd me for some advice on prime lenses because he didn't want to ask the question in the forum for fear of further snipes. I replied with the best advice I could offer and suggested that there are others more knowledgeable than I on here that could probably give better advice. I'm no expert after all and many of you have much more knowledge and experience than I have. My point here is that Pete should have been able to ask his questions, any question, in the best way he could, on this forum but he didn't feel that he could.

I have no wish to discourage anybody, least of all this guy who is obviously new to our common hobby/career. I like to think that I've helped a few people in the time I've been here and Pete is no exception but sometimes I feel compelled to say what I see.

Regards,

What are 'lense's'?

Yes, it needs truthful assessment. An obligation to say only nice things is no good either. It's just a matter of balance.

As regards the lens, what is the exact designation? For example, SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 When we have that detail we can perhaps help.

Pete,

If the Pentax 50mm you bought is a SMC Pentax-M or just SMC Pentax, the aperture on the camera will flash as you need to set the aperture you desire on the lens then meter manually (green button) to set shutter speed in manual exposure mode.

If it is a SMCP-A lens you have, move the aperture ring to it's A setting.

Whichever you have bought, set the menu function to allow use of aperture ring.

I think the images from the Cosina could use the contrast lifting a little as they have a bit of a 'ghostly' or 'milky' look about them.

BTW, 50 quid for the two sounds good to me. Enjoy.

Regards,

Thanks Pete

I do believe a lot is down to the monitor settings each and every one of us has.

On my monitor these picture look stunning and colourful.

Perhaps a few other folk will comment and let me know.

Thanks

PS I'll be back later just watching the football my other interest.

That is the exact lens you have mentioned above

Pete

I have to agree whole hearted with Peter (Mannesty) this is not a good image. I think I was just experimenting with the excellent white balance of the camera but the photo is not good. SORRY

One bit of good news is that I have received an email from Damien Lovegrove a proffesional photographer saying quote "I love the picture of the Border Collie, wonderful detail and expression. Keep shooting "

This is the image many of you have so famously commented on in the past. Damien is a superb proffesional photogropher whose work is fantastic. If you wish to see some of his images try his website here
http://www.lovegroveportraits.com/#

Thought I'd take this advice.

My other half said, "quick, one of them's dying, will you take a picture of it", so I did.

I can't make up my mind whether I like this or not, mostly since the three background blooms clutter the foreground one. But then, this is how it looks, so I'm not sure.

I've brightened it a bit (maybe a bit too much), since it was a bit underexposed, but apart from cropping slightly, applied no sharpening or other manipulation to this image. I've a sharpened version, and it's more eye-catching than this, but I thought I'd post the unsharpened version for comment. There's more detail in the uncompressed original (10MP JPG; default camera sharpening and contrast settings).

It was taken on the K10D with your old 75-300 FAJ, John, 1/6s at F11 and 75 mm. Natural light only.

That's a cracker Chris,

it could do with just a touch of sharpening to separate the outlines of the petals, but nothing too obvious. Well composed, and the black background works great. Perhaps just saturate the yellow slightly, to show off the stamens, and highlight the stalk a touch. With the main emphasis being the brilliant white of the petals, you've got the exposure just right.. it's white but not blown out.. which IMHO is good.

HTH

Cheers

Liam

Hi Pete,

As I`m new here I can`t really criticize your image as it is probably better than what I can do at this moment I`m still getting to grips with my K10d, (had a lot of work on this week & this is my first day off).

Had a look at Damien Lovegrove`s site & agree the images on there are an inspiration, a true professional.

Don`t get disheartened by any critique, as I`ve been lurking on this forum for months before registering & find some off your previous work very nice.

All the best

Eric.

Thanks Eric for the kind comments.

I read lots of magazines and learned a lot from some kind folk here on this forum. So it's made my hobby far more interesting.

All I can say is you are very welcome here and I'm sure I speak for everyone by saying that if you need help or advice just ask. I am probably the last person to ask with my very limited knowledge as there are many far more experienced users.


PS. Make sure your spelling and grammar is as good as possible as there are folk that will dig at your errors