After much thoughts, I brave my cheeky self to open this thread along with all the experienced photographers and state of the art gears.
I'm just a newbie with my first compact camera trying to shoot and learn to utilize every bits of it before I buy my own DSLR, if I still find myself in the hobby and I'm ready for it. Like how I decide to move from my camera phone to my current cam.

I do realize that post-processing is pretty much as important as the shooting skill. I've been playing with the photoshop brightness, contrast, curve, shadow, highlight function lately but hard to find a compromise point between reality and pretty. So there will many questions of "is it looks real" to you for those pictures with some editing. Learning the photoshop now for some light editing and framing to add marks for my picture.

Comments and critics are very much welcome and please please please help me with my various questions.
Hope I don't get ignore because of my lousy cam and boring pictures, tell me how can I improve instead.
Thanks.

Here are some attempts when I first got my camera, before I sort out my Beijing trip and Zoo Negara pictures.

LRT near my house.


Some tree and sky.

The 6. are slightly edited to reveal "highlight" on the sky part.
I realized that the tree part will get dark shadow because of the bright sky behind it.
My limited knowledge tell me that I should use a lower f number and I did it.
I got more tree and leaves details now but that made the background overexposed and lose the beautiful blue sky and clouds.
Picture. 7 is a total failure. The sky became white paper and cannot recover by photoshop but I like how the tree looks like.

I did not get till a point that balance of details and exposure but I hope the photoshop editing is ok.
What do you think? Or I should not edit at all.
I was in a car park waiting for my friends that time.

Just did a wiki of the Rules of Third and feel shameful I don't know about this before.
Very much agree to it after seeing all the examples.
Are there rules of first or second or forth for me to read up? I cannot seems to find it.

Will try to understand foreground framing and leading lines, is it something of the composition too or the depth of field.

And for the histogram, Isn't it will only be generated after the picture was taken? Or was it a feature that you can see the histogram while shooting/focusing?
Or should I shoot and refer to the histogram, then adjust, then shoot again until the I see a nice "bukit" shape on the histogram?
Sorry if my question sound stupid.

Here are some macro pictures which still far from satisfy, but I'm like cannot get it better after many tries.

I'm trying to focus on the whole screen instead of just the carapace(head) part are clear and leave the legs blurry.
Try with the macro mode and manual focus mode but still either I get to focus on the legs or or the body.

This post has been edited by V3i HoN6: Oct 23 2007, 08:01 PM

Any taiko care to teach me how could I focus the whole object (my spider) on the macro shoot.
Can lighting help? I'm struggling to put a bigger f number but it will be too underexposed.
I try not to use the flash in this situation as it is placed on a angle that will be blocked by the protruding lense. A close shot with the flash on will result a dark corner on the right bottom. I wonder other Canon A710 users have this problem?

Plus I don't feel natural with the flash light in such close distance. My tarantulas look shiny.

Would like to see yours too when I'm back in Penang.

Well actually I'm guilty of shooting ceiling fans and flowing water taps to test out the shutter speed on the first few nights.
I'm too excited with the camera and haven't ever play with aperture, ISO and shutter speed prior to that.
But of course those are try out shots that not worth posting.
Will keep shooting whenever I can until I got really bored with it.

I couldn't grasp the idea of dramatic but thanks a lot on the compliment.
Reading through your gallery too and would like to do a mini studio for my tarantula too.

Thanks for all the inputs.
Will go through you guys gallery when free.
Learn to see from more angle and direction.

Yeah, I feel like cheating a bit with photoshop but I can't help myself to not doing it.
Almost all of my editing is "+10" or "+20" contrast or "-30" shadow.
I like the "after" more but sometimes look back its feel unnatural so right now I keep trying on my photos till my eyes can spot till a level I won't overdone it.
But nonetheless I will still try my best to capture the best from tweaking the cam.
Don't know when is the next outing but I still have bunch of pics haven't uploaded.

Gotta slowly try out on this.
Yeah, the reading materials on the net tell me to slower the shutter but avoid any shaking in between. The subject is nice enough to stay still for me but me hands is kinda shaky.
Trying to hang it with my mini tripod but it won't allow me to bend closer to the subject.
Too bad my camera don't allow such small aperture size. But will try with the combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO all together.

My trip to Beijing. 天坛。A place the ancient emperor worship the god of sky.
Really I wasted the good chances of this very unique place and the good weather.
It was my first time holding a camera during a trip and the tour guide basically rushed us like sheep.
I feel like running around with the tour and struggling to take photo over the crowd's head, and by the same time listening to the tour's explanation.
Would have think more and adjusted to better setting if given some times but I promise my gf to shot a lot of pictures for her to see.
So i just dont care so much, shoot whatever I can in the times given.


This post has been edited by V3i HoN6: Oct 24 2007, 07:41 PM

Fantastic shot of the ceiling fan.
How can you blur the background this much, I try with my biggest aperture 2.8 but the background still very visible.
And for shot like this, for sure i have to use tripod?

Continue from the same place.



C & C for this batch please.
Be mean if you have to.

Btw, can someone show me how you would crop picture 13.
I feel like the left side distracting.

This post has been edited by V3i HoN6: Oct 25 2007, 03:41 PM

Yeah, I feel boring after looking at other's gallery and looking back at mine. The composition is weak but I was pretty helpless that time rushing around and trying to avoid the crowd.
Okay, let's just admit I'm still too noob.

Maybe DSLR will help a little but certainly will be underutilized by me. I will not go there unless I satisfy with what I can do with my P&S.

Will look for inspiration and go shoot again.

That's very true.
Countless of souvenir, herbs, tea shops for hours.
Visited 2 shopping plaza for 3 times EACH for excuses like dinner, go toilet before long journey, waiting for nearby park to open, and to stop by for toilet again, which lasted 1 and half hour. OMG.

Let's not forget that they arrange pretty decent hotels which located at ulu places so you get no access to normal shops, to make sure you won't find out their so called recommended shops are overpriced and most importantly they don't receive any commission from you.


My last trip to zoo negara.
1.



2.


3.


4.



5.


6.


7.


8.

Yeah, it was so hard to get it pose for me.
Hands are everywhere trying to feed the fella and sometimes it got some water coming out from the trunk.
I wish I can freeze it and get closer to the trunk and blur the background more.

Thanks, glad that you like them.
I don't have any skills at all to talk about, just that I try to shoot as many as I can and learn from that.
You can post your shots here if you dont mind.

The noise is deteriorated by the resizing program but most of the shots are far distance zoom except the first one and fifth one.

This post has been edited by V3i HoN6: Oct 31 2007, 02:41 PM

How could I not after seeing everyone's masterpiece.
But I was initially buy it for shooting macro of my T but end up it wasn't really shoouitable in indoor condition.
I couldn't get the whole T on focus with the max f8.0 and moreover it will certainly go underexposed.
The flash in so close distance is too harsh and it will create a stupid dark corner at the bottom right because of the protuding lense barrel blocking it. Increase the shutter will blur the subject and my tripod couldn't bend to the right distance and right angle. Aihhh.. I'm like dont know how to proceed. I'm thinking of a way to shoot again with the help of external light source and reflection.

I'd love to go Penang Hill and Batu Ferringhi for a try especially if you are there to guide me.
No idea how to shoot at people, building, and the city area fast moving environment.
I personally think that is the hardest part but I don't mind following you around and see the result as an experience and inspiration.
If you have got the time we can try our luck at pantai keracut waiting for turtle to come ashore.

I'm sorry but can you elaborate more on how you see that it is flat or non-flat.
Very interested to learn about this.

And yes, I increase the shadow area using photoshop and obviously I failed since everyone noticed the noise.
Will keep trying on different side of light and shadow. Thanks for the useful remind
I have a bad habit of avoiding light because my photoshop experience tell me I can fix the under area but not the over area, which I really shouldn't.

Show me, please.
You are doing me great favor.
And if you or any taikor dont mind, show me how you would crop no.13 in my beijing pics.


ADDED: Hey, how you do that?
I mean how the color become like...... blend or blur or dont know how to describe it.
More of a dreamland feel, like a layer of fog.

Maybe I wasn't try it hard enough.
We will see how we can work out that time.
For waterfalls, we can try the one in Bukit Hijau, nearer to Kulim and cleaner.
I like it there instead of Penang one with teh tarik color.

This post has been edited by V3i HoN6: Oct 31 2007, 07:16 PM

Thanks nonblood and I like your Wat Pho shots. Show us more please.

Here some update. My exercise trip to Taman Pertanian with my college mates. We rented a bicycle each but only gone through roughly half of the places.

1. Pony's breakfast


3. Wanna try something other than the usual close out macro shots. Satisfied with how it turned out despite it is not very noticeable and normal looking compare to other flamboyant blossoms.


4. Inside the four season house.


5. Could have find a better background, but it was too late when I got the idea.


6. A view from the tower. really nice view but I just dont know how to present it in better way. I will go back for more shots of this.


7. This is copy pasta from inspired by ryan_c, note the caption. I really admire his works.


8. Another shot inspired by ryan_c, my first try out on B&W.


9. I purposely blur it during that time because I'm knew what I'm gonna do with it.

Yeah, that part is the bright sky contrary to the tree.

Thanks.
Will try to think more to get my composition more interesting.
And I like your pictures in your blog too.
Where are you? seems like wester country.