This is new to me

[d1blet]

This whole photography thing.

Especially nature/landscape photography. My entries for the photography contests here aren't anything too special from me - they're just plain bad lol.

Anyway - I picked up 2 new lenses:
Sigma 30 f/1.4 EX
Canon EF-S 10-22

And I am absolutely in love with the 30. Here's a few shots I took right outside my dorm at school. Very little PP done (WB and exposure compensation) and no output sharpening done as well.

This ain't the type of photography I'm in to, but that 30's bokeh makes me drool. Anyways, with further ado, the results:

1. Shot with Canon 10-22 with a Hoya Pro CPL (don't know how to use a CPL to save my life lol)

2. Shot with the Nifty Fifty

3. Sigma 30 @ f/1.8. I think this might be interesting with some more intensive PP work.

4. Sigma 30 @ f/8. Did I mention I love primes? Like a lot?

5. Here's the best from the Sigma. I'm digging the bokeh a lot.

Critiques are welcomed. 3 & 4 aren't too particularly interesting, but show the difference with DoF between f/1.8 and f/8 pretty well. haha

 

[CG6Lemon]

 

[dynasty]

#1. you should take a picture of the trunk of the tree just to show some composition.

#2. try to add something in the background that is blurry. like if there's a broken down house in the background, that would be awesome!

for the rest of the picture, everything is nice! i would try to bring out more out of the colors though. #4 is my fav.

also, i love my canon 20mm f/2.8 prime. definitely auto focus quicker than a zoom lens. mine was a USM so it was quiet also. only zoom i have is the canon 75-300mm. trying to sell my other wide-angle zoom because i hate stock lens.

 

[xluben]

All look a bit underexposed to me.

Care to post EXIF on #2? Bokeh looks very odd, maybe camera shake?

I like #5 a LOT!

 

[dynasty]

All look a bit underexposed to me.

Care to post EXIF on #2? Bokeh looks very odd, maybe camera shake?

I like #5 a LOT!

yeah, after xluben said about the camera shake, i looked a little closer and it does look like there's a little shake but hey, that's a cool effect because you still kept the main object focused.

 

[ryan s]

#4 could do well if there was a sky present. taking pics of backlit subjects (and making them look good) is hard.

i prefer #4 over #3 because when the frame is filled with details i like to have everything sharp. having a fast lens to only highlight the target is nice like in #5.

i do agree though...28-35mm on a crop sensor is perfect! and you have a hella fast 30mm. the 31mm i want to get is f/1.8 so you have almost a half-stop advantage...not to mention its tons cheaper than the 31mm

primes for life

 

[d1blet]

Thanks for the responses.

Here's the EXIF data for #2:
Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO Speed: 100
No Exposure Bias

I selected the right focus point and then re-cropped the picture to apply the rule of the thirds. When I first looked at the shot, I thought the bokeh looked pretty weird. But this is a freaking bush growing next to the dorm building lol.

For #1, I was debating if I should add the tree trunk. But this being a dorm (with a tree outside), there were bikes, litter and other junk that would have ruined the overall picture, so I made way with I could.

All of them are a little underexposed. I was fuming because you can't see the browns of the branches in the trees and in the bush. I didn't want to do too much in Lightroom as I was afraid of losing detail. I forgot what metering mode I was in, but it could have been "Centered Weighted Average".

I was taking pictures when it was overcast. It started raining so I ran back inside.

 

[ryan s]

dont know if LR is the same as PS... ctrl+L and adjust the middle slider in "levels"

 

[d1blet]

Well I upped the exposure sliders and turned down the brightness while upping the contrast.

I think my tendency to underexpose everything is starting to become a bad habit.

 

[xluben]

dont know if LR is the same as PS... ctrl+L and adjust the middle slider in "levels"

^Better method

Well I upped the exposure sliders and turned down the brightness while upping the contrast.

^Worse method

I do think the change look a bit better.