Walk Around London

[Charlie155]

Hi all,

I have just signed up and look forward to learning lots in the future! I have just bought my first DSLR, a Canon 550d and would like to share a few of my very first photos with it that were taken on a stroll around town at the weekend.

Any comments and criticism are very much welcome, I am keen to start learning!

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 42mm 1/60 f5.0

IMG_0185_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 18mm 1/50 f5.6

IMG_0199_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 18mm 1/100 f3.5

IMG_0215_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr
This one is somewhat distorted, any help with fixing this in Canon DPP would be greatly appreciated!

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 55mm 1/100 f5.6

IMG_0217_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!

Charlie.

[Camellia]

Welcome Charlie. You are going to have lots of fun with your new camera and this forum.

I'm not in front of my home computer which has DPP on it, so from memory I'll try to point you in the right direction. To adjust the distortion, you need to find the tools adjustment feature. It has these sliding scales that allow you to change the perspective - one horizontal and one vertical. For your image 3, you want to adjust the perspective to make the lamp posts parallel with the edge. You'll lose some of the image with this adjustment so you'll have to adjust the scale slider as well until the image fills the frame again.

I started with DPP before moving to PSE8 and then CS5. I still use DPP for my initial viewing of my images to see what's worked. Not sure how much you know about DPP, but you can do all the basic adjustments in it. I always check the exposure and fiddle with contrast and increase sharpness. I'm doubling up because I then move to CS5 for the images I like but I use it as a starting point.

You'll enjoy the people and the information on this forum.

[Shadowman]

Welcome to the group Charlie.

It appears that you are attracted to leading lines and shapes and you have used the camera well in capturing those shapes. Take a look at your composition and see what interferes with the supposed center of interest and what could be added or subtracted. For instance, in the first image it appears that the lamp posts are the center of interest only because you used the frame vertically to capture the tops of the posts, however the red phone booth competes equally with its splash of vivid color. What is distracting in this image is the cropped tree on the right and angle of the buildings that are not very straight.

In the second photo again the telephone booth appears to be the center of interest yet there are other distractions within the frame.

[Donald]

Any comments and criticism are very much welcome, I am keen to start learning!

Like I said in the welcome thread, Charlie, congrats on the new camera. Great to see you posting into this forum and asking for C & C. It's one of the most effective ways of learning.

IMG_0185_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

The question I had about this one was - 'What's the subject?' It feels a bit busy and jumbled and I'm not clear what vision was in your head as you lined it up and pressed the shutter. I think the idea of the benches leading to the red phone box is good, but everythig else is cluttering the view.

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 18mm 1/50 f5.6

IMG_0199_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

Now, this one was more on the money for me. A strong composition that is very much says 'London'. The sky out to the right is blown out. But that's something that can be thought about as your knowledge increases and you read more about mastering exposure.

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 18mm 1/100 f3.5

IMG_0215_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr
This one is somewhat distorted, any help with fixing this in Canon DPP would be greatly appreciated!

You've noted the distortion on this on yourself. I don't think there is perspective correction on DPP. You get it on other post-processing packages. I'm sure it's not in even the newest version of DPP. (EDIT - Oops. Just read Raylee's post above ... and it does!) So the solution will have to be found at the shooting end of the process; i.e. at the time of capture. You can, of course, go for distortion for effect. But I don't think it works in this one.

Canon 550d, 18-55mm IS Kit Lens, 55mm 1/100 f5.6

IMG_0217_1 by Charlie 155, on Flickr

But, now this!! I think this is a beauty. Well done. I love the tigthness of the composition. You've really got in there and shown that you don't have to get the whole of an object into the frame to make a powerful representation/interpretation of it. I'd be tempted to learn cloning skills so that I could remove that light bulb and wire at the bottom left.


Good on you for producing this set. You're approaching your learning in exactly the right way. Get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot. The more practice the better. Look at your own stuff and make yourself critically analyse it - what is working what is not. Become someone who studies images, rather than just looks at photos.

[Camellia]

You've noted the distortion on this on yourself. I don't think there is perspective correction on DPP. You get it on other post-processing packages. I'm sure it's not in even the newest version of DPP. (EDIT - Oops. Just read Raylee's post above ... and it does!) So the solution will have to be found at the shooting end of the process; i.e. at the time of capture. You can, of course, go for distortion fro effect. But I don't think it works in this one.

Beware - I may be leading you up the garden path. I know you can adjust the perspective in the latest version of DPP but I'm now doubting my memory of the precise tools. It's somewhere with the cropping tool. Sorry! The memory is failing with age...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Charlie,

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, great to see you start so well.

I like the telephone box, but think it and the London Eye might have been better shot from a side step or two to your right, to put a little more space between them.

Here's the lamp and wheel corrected for perspective using Elements 8;


Best regards,

[Charlie155]

Great, thank you all for your comments! I have a lot to think about and know that I need to spend more time composing each shot. I may have to go out on a few shoots alone - the other half was getting somewhat frustrated at stopping every few minutes to take photos in the cold!

Thanks again,

Charlie.

[Donald]

I may have to go out on a few shoots alone - the other half was getting somewhat frustrated at stopping every few minutes to take photos in the cold!

There, told you CiC would help. You've already learned the first key lesson!

[Pohled]

Hi,

I'm a very begginer, so I won't do any real techinical comments.
The picture 2, of the Telephone, is really great. I have just the same feeling of Donald "That's London", for me it could be a postcard or a souvenir of holidays for a friend.
As for the first one with poles and the bench. I liked it. I agree somehow that there are too many things on it, but I think that the fact of the telephone cabinet be red helps, it is like "I need to call someone, where's the phone? O, that red spot" =)

And congratulations again for picture 2.

[ToadSlayer]

It's a great set of 'walkabout' pictures. As a collection they give me a great feel of your meanderings that day.

By far the one I enjoy most is the close-up of the London Eye. I personally appreciate the discipline of the 'close-cropped' image.

Very often "Less is More" in visual images. When editing an image, I always ask myself "What can I leave out ?" in preference to trying to cram everything I can see in.

Hoping to see more of your work in the future.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

Hi and welcome,
Many years ago I was in London, for a very short time,though,I remember these phones.
Below You might see a very short pp
(worked for You with Adobe PSE)
Be a good year for You

[scyla]

Hi, Charlie! that was a great start in taking photos....you are like a pro....love all of them and thanks for sharing the corners of London...i've been there many years ago and love it...

[Peter Ryan]

Great, thank you all for your comments! I have a lot to think about and know that I need to spend more time composing each shot. I may have to go out on a few shoots alone - the other half was getting somewhat frustrated at stopping every few minutes to take photos in the cold!

Thanks again,

Charlie.

Ah! it is a solitary life as a photographer.

[Benbro88]

Hey Charlie!

Welcome to the forum!

By chance I also just bought a Canon 550D and also ended up in London . Because it's quite a coincidence I thought I'd share a few of the photos I took:
(Though they are less representative of London than yours)



Taken on the South Bank:


Taken in the Tate Britain:


What do people think?

[abwaterbury]

I rather like image 1of Charlie155. There are two leading lines, one from the tops of the light posts towards the building in the background and the second from the benches to the red phone booth. The first is stopped and balanced by the repeating lines of the windows in the building (i.e. the movement of the leading lines is bounced back by the stolid lines of the windows) and the second leads and ends in the booth. It has a combination of movement and solidity that creates quite a nice dynamic, bravo! Does anyone else see this or am I way out there?