http://www.pbase.com/martyland/d70_pictures Your photos are looking good Marty. Maybe this link will work for others. The good part about it is that practice is fun. Thanks for sharing.
—
Have A Nice Day, 🙂
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview http://www.myeyesviewstudio.com/ "Marty Landolt" wrote in message
James H and anyone who has a free minute.
I love this camera but need lots more practice.
pbase.com/martyland then click on the D70 gallery.
Marty
PS I wish they could guide you to my individual galleries but pbase
leaders seem to prefer the name maryland.
James, Thanks for looking. I will take Mark’s suggestion and make them larger. Marty
James and Mark, Please come back again. I made the pictures larger and would really like your opinions. I am still in the 99% automatic stage. I’d greatly apprecialte some advice.
Marty
http:\\www.pbase.com/martyland/d70_Pictures
Marty,
I left my comments at your gallery.
Marty, your camera works fine, but here are a few tips, based on your images.
Don’t place the horizon in the centre of the image; that is boring. Don’t shoot extremely high contrast images, but look for more evenly lit subjects as your camera cannot cope with these differences.
All these images with exception of the flowers have been shot from the same level: eye level. Often it works better if you are able to vary this level, like from close to the ground.
Keep on shooting!
Leen
Marty,
I left comments under each individual photo and a couple of overall suggestions as well. Keep up the good work!
Robert
I want to let you know that I envy your tact & grace. Suggesting the references as you did was a thoughtful and considerate approach that I’ve always struggled to achieve.
I applaud you!
Mark
Thanks for bringing the size to my attention. I didn’t want anyone to waste their time waiting but those were way too small.
James
I have never been able to get directly to my pbase galleries. It comes up mary.. instead of marty.. then I have to click on the right one below. For some reason I clicked on the address highlighted that you provided and, Voila, got there in a jiffy. Thanks
Leen
I will take to heart your tips. Thanks for helping me in this and all the other ways over the past.
Robert
Your suggestions were welcomed. I made a copy of the picture and what you said to do to improve it. That’s like a free expensive lesson.
Thanks for giving me so much of your time and thoughfulness. Marty
Robert, I did order one of the books and might order another later. I chose Photographic Composition because it was the cheapest but also because I liked the looks of its ‘insides’.
Marty
Marty,
Good choice. Turns out that’s the book my instructor Bob Kahn recommended to our class during the most recent seminar of his that I attended. That’s why I bought it.
Incidentally, Bob Kahn is one of only a dozen or so photographers in the United States to have twice made the Professional Photographers of America National Loan Collection in its most competitive category — weddings. If you really want to treat your eyes to some amazing wedding photography (not to mention world-class implementations of compositional principles), explore his website:
www.bobkahn.com
Good shooting!
Robert
Marty,
Also, regarding the other two books:
1) Composition Techniques by Ernst Wildi
2) Designing a Photograph by Bill Smith
it is understandable why you’d want to start with one of them. However, though their titles may sound a bit repetitive they actually complement one another very well and cover different aspects of photographic design and composition. I’ve read and perused hundreds if not thousands of photo books and articles over the past 25 years and if I had to narrow it down to only 3, these would be the 3.
Ernst Wildi writes photo books for Hasselblad. He is a true living master. In his personal book above Wildi shares lots of great tips on subtleties that separate "outstanding" from "very good" (how to control where your light falls in the picture, controlling the edges of the frame, etc.).
Bill Smith is a successful New York advertising photographer who shares lots of practical principles for designing all elements of the photograph, making intelligent exceptions to established rules of thumb, etc.
All 3 books share the same approach — they focus on sound principles rather than specific techniques. They are very rare in that regard.
There are all too many books on the glitzy stuff like lighting diagrams and 101 how-to tips (not to mention effectively becoming advertising brochures for the camera and film companies that sponsor their authors’ travels around the world!).
These 3 books will help you understand the core principles of photography, enabling you to understand why those lights in the lighting diagrams are set up the way they are, how to use light effectively and make the very most of any light you have available, what makes those 101 how-to tips work(!), and what features you really need in a camera.
They will also empower you to create your own how-to tips on the spot, tips you won’t find in any book. So you can shoot winning pictures with any camera anywhere under almost any conditions, however few or many features the camera has.
It’s well worth the investment, Marty. Think of it this way: you spent very good money on your camera, printer, paper and/or photo processing. Please consider investing a small amount more for a small number of priceless, reasonably-priced knowledge resources that will help you get the very most out of it.
God bless, and again good shooting!
Robert
