Some random photos.....

[BDM]

Let me know what you think of em... they're not the best, but I'm learning. [smilie=crazy]

[BDM]

:mrgreen:

[BDM]

:mrgreen:

Kind of looks like a flower.....

Anyway, I know DJ did the water thing already, I just thought I'd play around with the "auto" setting on the cam and see what came out....

[google_11]

Great work. I especially like the American flag in the snow storm.

[BDM]

Great work. I especially like the American flag in the snow storm.

Wife took that one... gotta give her credit for it. :mrgreen:

[BDM]

Pictures from our honeymoon in Jamaica..

Last one could be Eddie's new boat.... [smilie=crazy][smilie=crazy]

[BDM]

Footprints in the sand? [smilie=crazy]

[Dr. Jeff]

BDM, couple comments.

First, and this is for everyone. Try to start a new thread with each picture, or round of pictures, its easier to get feedback on a couple photos that are similiar instead of trying to get feedback on a whole bunch at one time.

Second, nice work and thanks for posting.

Now my comments. Love the flag photo. That would be a much stronger composition if you re-cropped the photo and put the flag over one way or the other about a third of the way over in the frame. Look up the rule of thirds, its a great thing to keep in mind when either composing or cropping your photos. Edit - I just added a Rule of Thirds post in the Tips section. [smilie=042.gif]

The vacation pics are really nice. The two that stand out both have the same trick applied, which is framing your photos. Both use the trees to frame and it makes the photos much stronger than if you didn't do it. The close up of the leaves and blurred background is a nice job of depth of focus.

You might try to take a couple into photoshop and try to play with the levels to boost the contrast, but they're pretty strong compositions.

[osageid]

Hey Matt antother thing you can do is on your sunset pic, try underexposing the pic or decrease your ISO if you can. When you do this you can pick up some more subtle color changes in clouds:mrgreen:

[osageid]

These two pics taken within just seconds of each other, all I did was change aperture and shutter speed. I was just fooling around with camera in Mexico as I was sipping a captain and coke:mrgreen:

[Dr. Jeff]

These two pics taken within just seconds of each other, all I did was change aperture and shutter speed. I was just fooling around with camera in Mexico as I was sipping a captain and coke:mrgreen:

Tony you need to invest in a circular polarizing filter. Hands down the best purchase you can make for outdoor photography.

Also, a great way to take that shot you took is to expose once for the sky and once for the foreground and then take them into photoshop and combine your two photos. It really tough to get a bright sky and a foreground to come out correctly as the exposure is so different for both. [smilie=042.gif]

Try taking those two photos you have there and combining them, the result might just be the best of the three! :mrgreen:

[osageid]

Yea I seriously need to invest in photoshop!:mrgreen: I have used different programs but I seriously need to use that....Geez the list of things that I want exceeds funds[smilie=crazy]

[Dr. Jeff]

Yea I seriously need to invest in photoshop!:mrgreen: I have used different programs but I seriously need to use that....Geez the list of things that I want exceeds funds[smilie=crazy]

You might want to seriously consider Lightroom also. I have been a photoshop user for almost 20 years and swore I'd never use anything else. Been using Lightroom for the past few months, and find that I'm doing 90% of my editing there now instead of Photoshop. Still use PS for serious editing, but for quick easy changes to get your pics to pop, LR is pretty damned cool! Plus its a phenominal database to keep your pics organized. It takes a little while when you first set it up to go through and tag all your photos (I had almost 70,000 pics) but now that its done, its a snap to find anything I'm looking for.

They have a 30 day free trial, it takes about a week to really get into it, but I highly recommend it!

[osageid]

You might want to seriously consider Lightroom also. I have been a photoshop user for almost 20 years and swore I'd never use anything else. Been using Lightroom for the past few months, and find that I'm doing 90% of my editing there now instead of Photoshop. Still use PS for serious editing, but for quick easy changes to get your pics to pop, LR is pretty damned cool! Plus its a phenominal database to keep your pics organized. It takes a little while when you first set it up to go through and tag all your photos (I had almost 70,000 pics) but now that its done, its a snap to find anything I'm looking for.

They have a 30 day free trial, it takes about a week to really get into it, but I highly recommend it!

Thanks Jeff I will definately look into it!

[Sea Esta]

Thanks Jeff I will definately look into it!

Tony, since your a Nikon shooter you may want to look at Nikon's NX2. NX2 is the only program that will read your NEF camera settings. Other programs like PS and Lightroom will open your RAW files but they can't read the NEF settings. They have a trial version as well. I use NX2 almost exclusively. If I determine that I need to further process my pic I will save the file as a TIFF and then open in PS. I also have NIK software as a PS plugin which is really pretty neat. NIK software uses U-Point technology and that is what NX2 is based on. NX2 is made by NIK but owned by Nikon. People who use NIK either as stand alone or a plugin to PS like the U-Point feature.

glenn

[Dr. Jeff]

Tony, since your a Nikon shooter you may want to look at Nikon's NX2. NX2 is the only program that will read your NEF camera settings. Other programs like PS and Lightroom will open your RAW files but they can't read the NEF settings. They have a trial version as well. I use NX2 almost exclusively. If I determine that I need to further process my pic I will save the file as a TIFF and then open in PS. I also have NIK software as a PS plugin which is really pretty neat. NIK software uses U-Point technology and that is what NX2 is based on. NX2 is made by NIK but owned by Nikon. People who use NIK either as stand alone or a plugin to PS like the U-Point feature.

glenn

Now you've confused me. As far as I understand the NEF file is the raw file with Nikons propriotary twist, but if PS or LR opens the raw file, its opening the nef file since they are one in the same. Much like my canon uses the CRW extension. This is the first time I've ever heard that LR or PS won't work with nef files. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

If that is really the case, I'd be converting all my nef to dng in a heartbeat!

[osageid]

Tony, since your a Nikon shooter you may want to look at Nikon's NX2. NX2 is the only program that will read your NEF camera settings. Other programs like PS and Lightroom will open your RAW files but they can't read the NEF settings. They have a trial version as well. I use NX2 almost exclusively. If I determine that I need to further process my pic I will save the file as a TIFF and then open in PS. I also have NIK software as a PS plugin which is really pretty neat. NIK software uses U-Point technology and that is what NX2 is based on. NX2 is made by NIK but owned by Nikon. People who use NIK either as stand alone or a plugin to PS like the U-Point feature.

glenn

Thanks Glenn, I am glad that DJ opened this because this will bring much needed tips out! I have limited time like so many other peeps! Thanks!

[Dr. Jeff]

I just did a little more reading on the subject, it appears LR reads some but not all of the NEF file, so you loose some of your custom "in camera" settings. The easy solution if you wanted to use LR would be to set up your custom setting there and then they would be applied to every picture you want them applied to, either by camera body, or by batch or whatever. I haven't used Nik and maybe its the answer, but its hard to go wrong with the LR + PS duo. Give them both a try and see what works better for you.