(D50) This happening to anyone else?

Thanks alot, I'm going to really need to boomark this thread, everyone is offering great advice
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• Joe Provenzano

http://gallery.joeapro.com/



http://www.joeapro.com/

Hi Joe,

I think these look pretty good. The sharpness isn’t bad, I think the colors might be off a little. Remember though, if you ask 10 people about the colors, you are likely to get 10 different answers.

In the house I increased the saturation just a bit and also increased the contrast. Yours first, then mine.





With the bells, I thought the Reds were a little too strong, so I went into Saturation/hue and in the Red channel moved the Lightness slider to the right.





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Brooks

http://www.bmiddleton.smugmug.com

I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.
— W. Somerset Maugham

Your pictures look kind of wash-out and lack of dynamic. You should try the following setting and shoot again for outdoor landscaping:

1. Dial Mode at P
2. Exposure set at -0.3
3. WB at A
4. ISO at 200
5. Mterering: use center weight
6. Set to color IIIa (Optimize Image)

Shoot the pictures at the same location and compare. This setting may improve the wash out condition. If you need more dynamic, use CS2, go to Image, Adjustment choose Exposure. Move the slider bars until you are happy with the picture. Please send us the pictures again using this method. Good luck.

I'm like you - I think. The last picutre looked great but the others were just kinda there. It may be the settings as some have noted in the following reply's and it could just be some of the soft spots of the lense. Keep at it, those are good shots.

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'I'm not as smart today as I will be tomorrow.'

Thanks a great deal, the house image shocks me alittle as to how clear you got it to look.. funny what a little sat and contrast can do for a picture..and you're right, the red appeared to be alittle bright. Thanks for your help

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• Joe Provenzano

http://gallery.joeapro.com/



http://www.joeapro.com/

From reviews, I seem to recall that the 18-55 is very good at 18-35, and soft above, which is also what I experienced (except for close-ups, where 55 is quite ok). So quite the contrary of what you say.

Basil

I had the same issues, in regards to sharpness, even with the 50mm 1.4. Turns out that my inhouse camera settings were set at softer and warmer. Now that I changed my contrast, sharpness etc, in house, my pictures are MUCH better. I agree, oversharpened can be unnatural and too sharp, but soft and blurry isn't any better. Depending on what you are taking pictures of, you may want a clear, crisp picture and not always have to rely on post processing to achieve it.

Anyway, check your camera settings. Ken Rockwell had a step by step how to but read the manual, it tells you there.

Lisa
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There are some good learning aids available free Online.

Ron Bigelow, who is a dpreview forum member, has some good articles and you might want to look them
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm

epaperpress also has some nice articles on using Photoshop.
http://epaperpress.com/psphoto/

A couple Websites about sharpening.
http://www.lonestardigital.com/usm_fade.htm
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/high-pass-sharpening-photoshop.html

Haze removal.
http://www.lonestardigital.com/photoshop_quicktips.htm

Photoshop in general
http://luminous-landscape.com/
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/

There are hundreds (thousands?) more.

Oh and for your house, you might want to look at increasing the blue in the sky and the green in the plants. Again this is a personal thing about how much is too much, this is just meant as an example.





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Brooks

http://www.bmiddleton.smugmug.com

I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.
— W. Somerset Maugham

thank you so much, so very helpful. I've bookmarked the links you provided. These are going to come in really handy in trying to learn to use photoshop. Just so much to take in, my bookmarks folder is pretty near full of stuff I have to read through! Im really happy i stumbled upon this forum..

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• Joe Provenzano

http://www.joeapro.com/

Considering the cheap junky lens you used the images look rather good.
You should feel OK with it.

The lens is decent for the price and quite suitable for beginners but it's deficiencies soon becomes apparent.

It may have a bit less distortion at the wide end than the 18-70 but the positives end there.
I sold the piece of junk a day after I got mine.
John