Took some London pics

[AndyWRX]

Went to London yesterday with Allan, Emma and Lee for one of Emmas band jobs at Westminster Abbey Gardens , thought id take my SLR along and have a play, got some good pics but should of taken a bigger lense, Had a play with some of the settings but nothing major, 1st time really ive used it properly, any hints and tips would be more than welcome

[AndyWRX]

Also whats the best photo editing software to use?

[Steve_PPP]

liking the lighting on the first shot of Big Ben

best photo editing software has to be Photoshop, but not cheap unless you can find a copy somewhere. for basic brightness/contrast level tweaks, cropping etc, i use Paint Shop Pro. Mainly because its simple and i understand it but most photo geeks hate it because its a bit mickey mouse compared to Photoshop.

[Chunk]

Cracking pics mate

Was a good day

Roll on St James Park on the 31st

Good effort that man

As Steve said, photoshop of some description is the best way to go. But you can pick up Adobe Elements 8 for under £100.00, which does 90% of what Photoshop does, thats a great investment.

Looking at the pics, did you take them in Programme setting (automatic)? It looks like you have, as it has exposed the majority of all of the pictures well.

The ONLY criticism I have (and I hope you take this as constructive mate) is that a few of the pics would have benefitted from having a portrait orientation instead of landscape. So that you could have more of the subject and less of the background.

Andy, I took the liberty of grabbing one of the pics, just to show you what a difference photoshop or elements can make.

This is the original shot:



This is the option 1 pic. I haven't spent much time on these at all, but I have cloned out the leaves and the other distractions, adjusted the levels, cropped and centralised the picture and added a small vignette:




This is the option 2 pic. It is just a quick black & white conversion of the above picture, with a bit more contrast and a curves tweek.

[Chunk]

Nice one Worzel

Just checked on Adobe Elements 8 and it costs £78.00.

Download it from www.adobe.com/uk there is also an option for a free trial (30 days I think?)

It's money very well spent IMHO

I think it looks better upside down

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Crowman

I think it looks better upside down

Independence Day ship with green laser thingy?

Now, as Steve said, the pic you took of Big Ben (well the Westminster Clock Tower to be precise ) is a really nicely taken picture Good job matey

With elements you can really play with it though, if you fancy that.

The most obvious thing is a different crop. Cropping it square gives it a totally different look.

I have then made a duplicate rather crudely and quickly, cut out the tower, played with exposure / saturation / contrast in the sky. Then dodged and burned on the tower + a curves tweek. The two layers have then been flattened. Now these are not "classic" things to do to the pictures, it's just to show you how a few quick tweeks can change the picture quite a lot.




Then I did a strong black B&W conversion with contrast and curve tweeks




I hope you don't mind me mucking about with them

[SeanMcKnetic]

Not sure how much difference there is between versions 7 and 8 but Morgan Computers has a sale on Adobe Elements 7.

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/Sho...ProductID=6078

[SeanMcKnetic]

Just spotted they have a good price for Elements 8 also but it says they're out of stock...

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/Sho...ProductID=6111

Theres not much difference between the two really.

Elements 8 does have better stitching for panoramics and a few extras on the filters but apart from that they are fairly similar. I bet 7 is available at a steal too.

[Chunk]

Love the black & white of the westminster clock tower

Will have to get you to do a few pics i've got some time

[AndyWRX]

Originally Posted by worzel

The ONLY criticism I have (and I hope you take this as constructive mate) is that a few of the pics would have benefitted from having a portrait orientation instead of landscape. So that you could have more of the subject and less of the background.

All criticism welcome mate i need it so i can start using my camera properly and start taking some decent pics,

Cheers for all the comments and tips guys and thankyou to mr worzel for having a play around with some of the pics, as lee said were going to another bandjob next saturday at st james's so im gonna take a better lense and have another go at some others, hopefully the weather holds out

My dad's got adobe photoshop 6 iirc if thats any good? might have a go at installing it on the laptop and see what happens,

Thanks for all the comments guys, any more hints and tips are more than welcome

That will be elements 6. And yes, it is well worth getting put on your laptop. You can do pretty much all of the stuff in 6 that you can do in 8.

The only thing that isn't as good is the Panoramic stitching, it leaves very visible join lines. Apart from that, it's got all of the tools you will need.

Out of interest Andy, what camera and lens did you use up in London.

Lee, I can have a fettle with some pics for you, no problem. It's something I enjoy doing

[Chunk]

Cheers Worzel

Will get some pics sorted in the week

[Scooby Roo]

Andy

Like the Big Ben piccy. If I were to give a tip it would be the "Rule of Thirds". Simple rule that works wonders.

Otherwise mess around with the Shutter priority and aperture priority.

Roo

Originally Posted by Scooby Roo

Andy

Like the Big Ben piccy. If I were to give a tip it would be the "Rule of Thirds". Simple rule that works wonders.

Otherwise mess around with the Shutter priority and aperture priority.

Roo

You can set up a thirds grid in your viewfinder to help you there.

I personally started using Aperture Priority of the 2 first, making note of the shutter speed that it gave you, then after a while used shutter priority.

Good call Roo