Congrats on becoming a photographer and for posting your first pic.
Nice clean shot. The tower and smaller structure to the extreme right are tilting inwards, try to correct that in your editing software.
Hi Bobo
Thanks for the advice.
I is still need to get me some software. What would you recommend for starters?
nice shot ryan this appeals to me as im an electrician
i am a novice also but would think the best and most popular software is adobe photoshop with lightroom.
keep the photos coming
Ryan - Well done and congratulations. What camera have you got?
As for hints/advice etc - Practice, practice, practice. Get to know that camera like the back of your hand. Get so familiar with it that someone could lock you in a black room and you'd be able to everything without even being able to see the camera. Get it to become an extension of your fingers.
If your tempted to use the camera on 'Auto' - don't. If you have the option of 'M', 'Av', 'Tv', on the Mode dial make yourself a rule that you'll use one of these three settings.
If you have the option on your camera to shoot in RAW rather than JPGs, go onto RAW now and never come off it (unless you're into photo-journalism and need to get stuff back to your newspaper quickly). If you're not familiar with the different file types, then please do read this CiC tutorial.
And finally - enjoy it. Your practice and your learning will be rewarded when you start producing the sort of images that you've looked at and wondered 'How did they do that?'
Software-wise, I would recommend you get your hands wet first with GIMP (free) and go Photoshop full or Lightroom at a later stage.
Sorry, I meant to comment on PP software, but Bobo's said what i woudl have done.
The other option is Adobe's Photoshop Elements. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the full-blown Photoshop, but it doesn't cost anything near as much either. But many, many people find it does all that they need. And, I believe, it includes Adobe Camera Raw, the bit of software that attaches on to the front and allows you to process your RAW files before finishing them off in Elements.
Quite a few of us use the GIMP, but some folk feel it is a steep learning curve. The GIMP is 'open-source', meaning it is free to download, but you can make a donation towards the development costs and overheads of the volunteers who devote their own time to its development. But, because the time goes into development, there is little time left for development of support information. But there is a superb series on video tutorials developed by a German school teacher. If you do go down the GIMP route, let me know and I'll give you the link. They are free and they are as good as any commercial online tutorials you'll get for any other product. I learned everything I know about the GIMP from them.
The great advantage Adobe products like Elements and Photoshop have is their ability to puts lots of resources into support and teaching aids. And because they so popular lots and lots of people club on the bandwagon and produce books and online tutorials teaching you how to use the products (all for a cost of course).
Thank you Bobo
Will google an downlaod it ASAP
Ryan - Like we always say - There is no such thing as a stupid question here on CiC. I remember asking myself the exact same question and being too embarrassed to ask it (that's before I found CiC).
See my last post above. Yes, you need RAW processing software. You can also down load open-source RAW processors. UFRaw and RAW Therapee are two that I know about. UFRaw works seamlessly with teh GIMP in the same way that Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) works with Elements or Photoshop (i.e. they effectively feel like two bits of the same package).
You need to process your RAW file (think about it as developing your negatives in the old film days) before you can 'print your negative with the enlarger'; i.e. take it into something like the GIMP to produce your final image using the various tools that are available.
If you plan to have a look at the GIMP, then also look at www.meetthegimp.org. That's the site for the tutorials I mentioned above. You'll find there's an archive of the older tutorials. Rolf, whose site it is, recommends the following sequence of viewing for the GIMP beginner.
001
066
037
025
003
004
005
009
010
Donald
Can you please provide me with the link for GIMP
Thank you Donald.
I will play download the pogram an let you know if i`m winning.
super excited.......
If you need the link to download the GIMP, then it is www.gimp.org
Last edited by Donald; 7th April 2012 at 09:03 AM.