[SarahB]

Been playing again today, I had a go adjusting the settings in aperture priority but unfortunately cannot remember which setting this piccie was taken on :eyesup: (any tips on how to remember which shot was which setting?)

Any comments would be gratefully received!!

Sarah

[IanC_UK]

Very nice shot Sarah !

If you have good editing software, it should be able to give you the exif settings, these are recorded by the camera at the time the shot was taken, it gives shutter speed, exposure, metering modes etc etc etc and will help if you cant remember what you used.

An example of exif data from one of my pictures is

File: cheetah.jpg
File size: 1,389KB
Camera Model: Canon EOS 20D
Camera serial number: *********
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS Windows
Owner: Ian Cook, **, *** ***
Date/Time: 2005:08:10 12:27:02
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 5
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Self-timer: 65 secs
ISO: 100
Lens: 100 to 400mm
Focal length: 150mm
Image size: 3504 x 2336
Rotation: none
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)

This was taken from Breeze Browser, but many other editing programs can display exif data, Photoshop etc

Hope that helps

[SammyC]

The following is to be taken all in a positive light!

It's a good enough photo but doesn't work for me on two simple reasons. Techinally you should have had the focus on his eyes, they should be pin sharp compared to the rest of him as that's what us humans relate too. Composition-wise its too full on, I suggest you read up on the tutorial about "Rule of thirds" which give simple but effective rules about making a photo 'work'.

This is all a learning exercise after all, cripes knows my shots fall very short in most requirements!

[Matt]

Sarah, Its a nice shot of William.
The metering and focus is spot on, however it needs sharpening and the composition needs tweeking.

Your subject should idealy be a 3rd in from the left or right from the edge of the frame, but this doen't always have to be the case.

The landscape format for this image doesn't work as there is nothing in the background of interest, so there is no real need to include the hedging.

Portrait mode would suit this image, with a selective crop and a slight bit of unsharp mask, your subject can be brought out from the background.

Here's a Before and after example with unprocessed and processed images.

[SarahB]

Wow, Matt that's amazing - look at the texture in Will's hair in your version!! I had a play with Photoshop and found "unsharp mask" but couldn't figure out how to use it!! :eyesup:

I have bought a couple of photography mags with tutorial CD's and will also have a look in the tutorial section here to see if I can at least grasp the basics!!

[Matt]

Have a look HERE for tutorial on basic image processing.