Blitz187's Photography: Update! Airshow@Volkel, Holland 15/06/2013

[Blitz187]

Hey guys! As some of you know I bought my first dSLR camera a couple months ago and have been getting my head around the features and such, thanks to the interwebz! 👍 I've made this thread to document the pics I take and see how my skills develop as time passes. Any tips and comments, be it good or bad, are more than welcome since it will only enrich my knowledge. Take a peak and I hope you like what you see...

Gear

Sony Alpha SLT-A55V

Sony DT 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T

Minolta "Beercan" AF 70-210 f/4

Minolta AF 24mm f/2.8

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7

Sony DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM Kit Lens (rarely used)

Sony HVL-F43AM Flash unit

Soligor 62mm Circular Polarizer
​

 

[Blitz187]

First few pics I took with the kit lens when I first got the camera. Unedited.

 

[Blitz187]

Some recent pics. With some slight editing like levels adjustment and sharpness etc.

 

[Neal]

I like mate 👍 Fairly straight forward compositions but that's not a critisism as they all look great and overly "arty" photos can be a bit pretentious sometimes plus they're all the subjects are sharp.

 

[Azuremen]

Butterflies and bananas is pretty neat.

The 4 liquor bottles is amazing. Very simple yet the tones and exposure are spot on and give it this moody feel.

And the clarity in that cat's eyes is impressive.

 

[Blitz187]

I like mate 👍 Fairly straight forward compositions but that's not a critisism as they all look great and overly "arty" photos can be a bit pretentious sometimes plus they're all the subjects are sharp.

^^ Composition is something I need practice a bit, but hopefully that will come with time It took a while and some testing to figure out what everything does on the camera since I was only use to point and shoot cameras. But I like having control over everything and the types of pictures you can take are endless

Butterflies and bananas is pretty neat.

The 4 liquor bottles is amazing. Very simple yet the tones and exposure are spot on and give it this moody feel.

And the clarity in that cat's eyes is impressive.

Thanks Azure. The 4 liquor bottles are actually mini ones... Its a long exposure shot which turned out a bit dark in the end and is the picture which prompted me to try out some editing for the first time. After adjusting levels, a tad of sharpening and bit of contrast this is how it turned out. I really liked the way it turned out as well

 

[Ibonibo]

Me like. the last one is really cool.

 

[Speedster502]

Nice shots, the bottle shot is very sharp and has a great exposure. The cat shot is great too, looks really sharp.

Only thing I can really think of it is that the Smirnoff shot might have looked better if the bottle was turned a bit more so you could read the name, but still showed the little bits of ice on it (and had the space on the right hand side). Other than that great set! Look forward to seeing more. 👍

 

[Blitz187]

Nice shots, the bottle shot is very sharp and has a great exposure. The cat shot is great too, looks really sharp.

Only thing I can really think of it is that the Smirnoff shot might have looked better if the bottle was turned a bit more so you could read the name, but still showed the little bits of ice on it (and had the space on the right hand side). Other than that great set! Look forward to seeing more. 👍

Thanks for the comments 👍 I was thinking exactly the same thing after I was done with that photo. If the label was turned just slightly more towards me it would have been a nicer shot. Learning experience for next time...

 

[Blitz187]

Back from a two week vacation in the south of Spain. Had the opportunity to take some pics and practice a bit with the camera and lenses. Here's a little preview of whats to come 👍

1.

2.

3.

 

[NINE_HUNDRED]

Where do you upload your images? I don't see any of them

 

[Blitz187]

^ Strange. I have them on Picasa and just link them from there. Anyone else having the same problems? Otherwise I will have to make some changes. I can see the pics when I load the thread...

 

[Neal]

I can see them and they're looking good 👍

Rather annoyingly some of the picasa photos I've linked in old posts have broke, possibly due to changing album properties

EDIT: I had set the album to limited access, changed it back to public on web and all the links are fixed hew:

 

[Beerz]

They're showing up fine for me.
My favorite is the 2nd one, would be killer if you made the windows' colors pop up more. 👍
The 3rd one has great exposure and tones, though I'm not so keen on the horizon in the middle.

And these are just great photos:

Fantastic work, Blitz! 👍

 

[Blitz187]

I can see them and they're looking good 👍

Rather annoyingly some of the picasa photos I've linked in old posts have broke, possibly due to changing album properties

EDIT: I had set the album to limited access, changed it back to public on web and all the links are fixed hew:

Thanks Neal Will have to check into that to see what the settings are on the albums in Picasa.


@Beerz

Thanks for taking a look and the kind comments. I'm still learning post-processing for my photos. I know the basic things to do, but I don't have any idea how I would make the colors in the windows pop more in number 2... Where would I start to try that? I use Gimp at the moment, but will invest in a better program later down the road.

**Edit: I've looked at some tutorials on the web on how to make colors pop... A lot of work, but will try it one day

 

[NINE_HUNDRED]

Ah, the first lot work now. They're looking good, the cat 1 is my favourite, keep up the good work 👍

 

[gagtooth]

Loving your work mate

Whiskey

The Cat and Smirnoff shots are fantastic.

 

[Blitz187]

Just practicing some panning shots from my window.... Will be heading to a Time Attack event at Zandvoort this weekend to try out panning for the first time... Although I think I'll be horribly restricted by my focal lengths (80mm is the longest I have so far)... Need to invest in a decent telephoto lens...

 

[dxm8975]

Just practicing some panning shots from my window.... Will be heading to a Time Attack event at Zandvoort this weekend to try out panning for the first time... Although I think I'll be horribly restricted by my focal lengths (80mm is the longest I have so far)... Need to invest in a decent telephoto lens...

Nice work man! I do love the scenery the Audi running in the street, by the separative traffic zone - unimaginable for me as I don't see such a car near my residence...

As for your previous update I prefered the shot of whiskey bottles, and some batterflies having a squeeze of a potato(?), wings are beautiful and attractive!

 

[Blitz187]

Thanks for the comments Yellowbird! 👍 After the weekend I should have some pics of some crazy Time Attack cars... So keep an eye out

 

[Blitz187]

Weather was terrible yesterday so I skipped out on the Time Attack event at Zandvoort Circuit. Planned to practice some panning shots there, but didn't want to do this in the pouring rain... Will have to postpone this to a different event when the weather is better.

 

[Blitz187]

Small update. Pics from my vacation in Malaga/Torremolinos.

 

[Blitz187]

Granada/The Alhambra/Generlife

1.

2.
Old Arabic city in Granada

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.
The Harem Room... I wonder what they did there???

10.

11.

12.

 

[Boffin]

Totally remember going there!! Nice pics man - not too sure about the off level balance in some of the later ones, but I like the 1st 3 in your last update!

Please tell me you went to Puerto Banus?

 

[Blitz187]

^ Yup, went to Marbella/Puerto Banus as well Thats where all the phat rides and crazy yachts are of course

As for the pics.... I'm still practicing and when I was taking these pics I was still shooting in JPG. I've actually only recently discovered the improved quality of pics you can make shooting in RAW.. So I'm going to be fooling around with that in the near future... And post processing is not a strong point with me yet.

 

[Blitz187]

Trying to be artsy...

 

[TB]

Previous update - I agree with 80Y 2C2 - shots 11 and 12 need to be a bit straighter. Slow down, take that extra second to make sure you're level, then fire off the shot. They're coming along, though. 👍

Latest update - I like the abstractness of the last shot. My only suggestion would be to crop out the orange bit in the bottom left corner. 👍

 

[Cano]

I really like this one.

 

[Blitz187]

Previous update - I agree with 80Y 2C2 - shots 11 and 12 need to be a bit straighter. Slow down, take that extra second to make sure you're level, then fire off the shot. They're coming along, though. 👍

Latest update - I like the abstractness of the last shot. My only suggestion would be to crop out the orange bit in the bottom left corner. 👍

Thanks for the comments TB! Taking the pics in the Alhambra I was a bit rushed because I was on a tour... If I stayed back to long for photos I'd lose the group. But you are correct, I should relax and take a bit more time to frame the shots.

I've been quite disappointed with my shots recently and I suspect thats because I'm too worried about the camera and settings... I'm trying to concentrate more on the picture/composition than my camera settings when I take shots now. Anyway, fall is right around the corner here which will bring out nice photo ops soon. Leaves are already starting to change color.

**AlleyCat.jpg**

I really like this one.

Thanks! Thats one of my favorites as well 👍 The cat just wondered into view there while I was framing it, a pleasent surprise

 

[Blitz187]

Radios....

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.