DSLR Photography Forum

Hi! I'm Steve G., and I currently live about 40 minutes north of Denver (Colorado, USA). Hmm.... what to tell you about myself? I'm a software engineer by trade, but I love photography. I got started on a Pentax SLR (film) when I got married to my beautiful bride 20 years ago (the camera came with her). When I received a Nikon 885 back in 2000 I started taking tons of pictures, knowing that I could toss the bad ones and not have to pay the printing costs. I'm now on my 2nd camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT with 18-55mm kit lens and a 70-300mm tele/macro lens) and I've taken around 20000 pictures. I have yet to throw one away! Ah well, the option is still there.

I'm trying now to venture into making some money on the side from this beautiful and frustrating hobby, although to no avail. I have a website with a hundred or so of my photos on it (go to the gallery if you visit). I think something is missing, but I can't tell what. I'm currently reading up on composition, as that feels like one of my weakest points. I have some of my photos displayed in a coffee shop nearby, but it's been a month and I've had no purchases and it's time for the photos to come down. Ah well, I'm in this for the love, not for the money (although a little money would be nice, eh? Perhaps it would help offset the cost of the toys. :-D).

Anyway, it's nice to meet you, and I look forward to chatting with everyone!
-- Steve G.

Welcome Steven ,

Glad you found us . I am sure you will enjoy it here ......

..... Shawn

Hi Steven, welcome to Shuttertalk.

It sounds like you have a great foundation. Your website looks good -- and most professional photographers are mostly in it for the love, not the money.

I have to put in a plug for the assignments here on Shuttertalk. I certainly learn a lot from them, and there are several that touch on composition and different techniques. But I have to admit that the best suggestion that I've ever heard is simply to turn off your central focusing point.

Hi Steve,

Welcome to Shuttertalk. I had a quick look at your site. You have some very nice images there. I noticed on a couple of them that they could use a little more contrast and were a little over exposed (only a few). The one with the bee really caught my eye - wonderful picture.

I don't think your composition is too bad. One thing that really makes a difference is the light. Early morning and late afternoon light can add a very dramatic look to your pictures. One of Australia's greatest landscape photographers (Ken Duncan) constantly refers to the need to be there when the light is right or wait for the right light to come.

Welcome to Shuttertalk...

You have lovely pictures in your website... I liked very much your birds in flight...

Wow... Thanks for all the feedback! Good points on the lighting and contrast. I'm still (!) trying to figure out how to properly balance these aspects. Hmm... I guess (?) I could use a histogram to help me with the exposure/lighting, yes?

Irma: the birds are among my favorites. The one entitled BirdInFlight is the first bird I caught in motion, and it is relatively untouched (some digital noise reduction, a bit of saturation and a bit of "clarify" -- all via PaintShopPro). Hmm... if this reply works well, that bird will be my avatar! :-)

I think this is a beautiful picture for your avatar Steve, and shows nicely your kind of photography...

I also take birds in flight but most of them are in flight shows. Some seagulls in the lakes too, but not big birds in the wildness as I would love to...

I take my pictures in RAW so I can work with my exposures in case I have any problem. I am sure you know that sometimes it is hard to predict if your background will be dark or light when you are shooting birds in flight, so the best is to try to have something neutral and correct any exposure problem in the computer, in case you had any...

Here and here you can see some of my birds in flight pictures...

Those are very nice photos! What equipment do you use? I'm surprised by the clarity; how did you get that? Did you preset the focus and wait for the bird to be in range? Is you lens particularly fast? I'm just trying to learn anything I can. :-) Any chance of seeing the raw image (or a portion of it)? Hmm... it would be interesting (in general) to see before- and after-post-processing images, to see what magic can be done.

I'd love to get some of the raptors in our area, but they are not exactly willing to pose. Patience... and some research on habits and habitats. They're usually sitting on a fencepost when I'm driving past, late to a meeting. I'm sure they're laughing at me. ;-)

Thanks so much for your comment about my pictures, you are very kind...

I take my pictures with a canon 5d my lens in the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM. My settings to start are ISO800 f8.0 Av, AF servo, continuous mode and IS in the lens is on in 1. Depending on the weather I change my ISO to 1000 and f5.6.

I focus in the bird before they start flying and I follow it while shooting. Some birds are very fast and the place is too small to try to focus them in flight so you have to wait until they are still to get them in focus again. About my lens... I really don't know whether it is fast or not. I haven't tried any other one so I couldn't tell.

Here is the before and after ...

Here I really didn't do anything, I just crop to give composition in the frame. I don't have any adjustment layer in my tif, maybe I just remove the noise and desaturated the background but I can't tell for sure... Anyway, here you have them.







Here is another one. When they are flying over the people I try to desaturate the background and work with the colors of the birds so it will stand out...

Welcome!

Thank you, Irma, for sharing the photos and info. Now I need to ask Santa for a nice piece of glass (a new lens) for Christmas.

Thank you, Adam (and others) for the warm welcome!

Nice post ! Very Nice.. I am not a photographer, it was my hobby and as such I got into photography for 2 reasons only !! Just two

#1 to create beautiful photographs

#2. So that I could make $$$$.!

The later was more important than the frormer for me.!!

I have never been to any schools or classes in photography, yet I have taught in college, teaching pro's, color labs, and others how to process color film and creative color darkroom techniques which are all outdated due to the influx in the digital media.

COMPOSITION: There are two ways to learn this. One, read everthing you can get your hands on & practice > Yawn.!!! boring.

The second way in which I teach newbess composition is this: STUDY: the images you look at carefully in magazines, books, etc. They are all taken by pro's. Learn to look, study the details, fill your frame with detail and always watch the light !!!

I do things very differently from most people for one, I do not use any lightmeters, I learned in the early 70's how to read that light and just expose one frame of film for the results THAT I WANT.!!

Now with digital, "everyone" is a photographer. but how do you cash in on the money ?

Photography is one skill... .. .. Marketing your images is another part of the trade that few are successfull at regarding huge amounts of money.


I have a few tricks that work, but it is still hard work and it will cost you money.

Post cards,& Notecards can bring in large amounts of money (over time) if you have your stands in many places,

Photographers Market Book is another way to generate sales of your images. Buy this book EACH AND EVERY YEAR. Learn how to use this book and submit your images.

I got involved in Photography in 1969. In the year 2000 I retired from the electrical industry at the young age of 48, due to huge volume of sales of my images all over the world. This didn't happen over night, but I was successfully marketing my images in Boston in the early 70's. Making enough money to support my new young family.

I do things different. I do not want to sell one image for $600.dollars.. I much rather sell my images very cheap and sell thousands of them @ 2 dollars each.

Everyone can afford 2 dollars, but selling an image for 500 all framed and matted.. your gonna starve !! if this is your only source of income.

There is so much to learn in the marketing end of photography.!! For one you just don't squeeze a button to get the results you want, it consists of dedication and perservance and hard work.!!


It takes time, practice and always have your portfolio with your very best images to show to people to generate interest.. You must convince the client that you are better than the rest out there.. you gotta have some incentive to generate interest in your works.

Hope some of this information has helped !!! Good Luck. When I was out creating images, one question would always arise just as I was about to squeeze that shutter relealse, Q:? > Can I sell this image I am about to create ??? If the answer was no.. I would not squeeze that shutter until the answer was YES !!! F.A.S.T. Focus, Aperature, Shutter, Think !!



FILL THAT FRAME.. .. .. with DETAIL !!!