Missing "The Pop" in my photos

i got my alpha 580 a few weeks ago.i previously was using cyber shot t900.then i thought it was the right time to move on to the dslr world.i thought it was some sort of magic point and shoot which was supposed to take pictures full of colors and crazy sharp every time i click the shutter,but guess what?its not!! i took,like 1000 pics with this cam,some came out ok sharp,the color was also ok,not breath taking.and in lowlight i can see a large amount of noise when observing at 100% res.i know i know nothing about advanced photography,but is this common for a cam like this?i took some pics (raw) and then converted to jpeg a few hours back,sharing 3 here.
all of them was taken at iso 1600 and straight out of the camera













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http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninika77/

you say you shot raw and converted to jpeg, and that the results are straight out of camera. if you did no processing of the raw images first, it's no surprise your results are flat. i suggest you stick to jpeg for the time being, get to know your camera, and only then consider raw. raw has its advantages, no doubt, but it's not a free lunch

and, no, dslrs are not magic point & shoot - if you want the best results you need to put some time and effort in. it sounds like you really don't understand the features that differentiate dslrs from compacts and bridges - have a look round the internet, there's plenty of material that will help you get the best out of your new camera
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i know what i know, which is a fraction of what i don't

Zisun_ahmed said:

i got my alpha 580 a few weeks ago.i previously was using cyber shot t900.then i thought it was the right time to move on to the dslr world.i thought it was some sort of magic point and shoot which was supposed to take pictures full of colors and crazy sharp every time i click the shutter,but guess what?its not!! i took,like 1000 pics with this cam,some came out ok sharp,the color was also ok,not breath taking.and in lowlight i can see a large amount of noise when observing at 100% res.i know i know nothing about advanced photography,but is this common for a cam like this?i took some pics (raw) and then converted to jpeg a few hours back,sharing 3 here.
all of them was taken at iso 1600 and straight out of the camera

Click to expand...

"i thought it was some sort of magic point and shoot"

That's your issue right there. Sell your A580 and go buy a high end Point and Shoot. DSLRs require more manual work, but have a much higher potential. There's something called editing. Also, I doubt your settings for jpeg are that great if color is an issue. Perhaps use Vivid with -1 saturation and +1 sharpening if you aren't going to post process.













Those are some of my shots. All three have been post processed just a little bit, and that alone created a dramatic change.

--
A Beginning Amateur Photographer

same here: raw and no pp does not work... you have to do something, so adjust colors, noise reduction etc.

another point is to shot a red roboter with an orange background, there is not this much contrast, that could be optimized...

A point and shoot is like a frozen dinner. Quick, easy, don't even have to know how to cook.

A DSLR is like cooking dinner yourself. It can turn out bad or good. Depends on how much you know about it and how hard you work at it. The ones who know a lot about it, studied it, worked hard at it can make masterpieces!

--
Lance

lehill said:

lehill wrote:

The ones who know a lot about it, studied it, worked hard at it can make masterpieces!

Click to expand...

and produced a lot of rubbish, too

I think the respondents above have not addressed what could be the basic issue here. You took the pictures in RAW and then converted them, so they were not in fact ‘straight out of the camera’ as you claim. It is well known that some RAW convertors make a poor job of conversion so that, when the file is saved as a JPEG, it has colour distortions etc.

So what conversion did you use?

As for noise, shots at ISO 1600 will always contain noise to some degree compared to the camera’s base ISO level (normally ISO 100 or 200 for DSLRs). But the A580 will always be way better than a P&S in this aspect. And the noise can easily be cleaned up.

1 - You have to learn how to control light and shoot photos better

2 - You have to learn how to edit them to give "pop" if you shoot RAW

I took your orange photo and edited it - I will remove it if you wish.

You were really underexposed on the photo and it looked very dull.

I imported it into Lightroom. I upped brightness and contrast a little bit, I ran Topaz Denoise on it, then sharpened it just a hair.



Apologies for my watermark showing up on your image, I forgot to change my Lightroom export options (don't worry this image is hidden on my flickr, it's only visible in this thread)

--
JL Smith
http://jl-smith.smugmug.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jl_smith

jl_smith said:

jl_smith wrote

Apologies for my watermark showing up on your image, I forgot to change my > Lightroom export options (don't worry this image is hidden on my flickr, it's only > visible in this thread)

Click to expand...

its ok i guess ur watermark can stay intact untill this photo is going to the "international crappy photo contest".

i use image data converter sr to convert raws.i know very little about editing,u can visit my flickr account where i have few more craps.back to the topic,how can i manage to make my raws look good?i use P mode most of the times,use vivid mode,with +2 sharpening and +1 saturation.but still the results are not that much satisfying.
there are few more jpeg's attached below









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http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninika77/

DSLR cameras are set up with rather neutral JPEG settings as the feeling is most users will adjust settings or post process. I recommend you experiment with adjusting some of the settings. Start with moderate adjustments and increase or decrease until you get the type picture you like. Settings to look at are: Contrast, sharpness, and saturation. Try setting them at +1 and take a few shots, if you see improvement but not enough you can increase this--but probably not too much.

After this you should just adjust each one seperately to see the effect it has. Do some experimenting.

The Depth of Focus will not be as great as with the P&S type camera unless to "stop down" (use a bigger number which represents a smaller aperture). The advantage of this is that you can focus on an individual object and keep the background out of focus by using a large aperture (small number).

Check your ISO on the shot with too much noise. High ISO will give more noise. Also veiwing at 100% will often show faults which wouldn't be visable at all in normal usage.
You sample pictures did not show up so I can't give more specific advice.
If you are post processing, what are you using to do this?
--
Dave

I hadn't noticed that you were using 1600 iso. That is really way too high for general shooting unless you are shooting in low light. Try shooting around 200 or at most around 400 unless you absolutely have to go higher for low light or to stop very high speed motion.
--
Dave

to get the best out of any camera's images. But you don't need to break the bank to do this. I use PSPX3 (about $70US or cheaper on specials), and this is what I got on your oranges image with just a one-click auto-fix and some minor sharpening. I could have lightened it more to get closer to another poster's sample, but elected to leave it like this, because I felt it looked more realistic.



--
Jerry
Sony V1, H5 and A350... Still learning...

'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.'
-- Dorothea Lange

http://www.pbase.com/icicle50/root

start with lowest iso, fix the aperture and adjust the exposure timing till you see the picture that pops and press the shutter to record the image. Try the Vivid setting with saturation -1 contrast 0 and sharpness +2.

Zisun_ahmed said:

i use image data converter sr to convert raws.i know very little about editing,u can visit my flickr account where i have few more craps.back to the topic,how can i manage to make my raws look good?i use P mode most of the times,use vivid mode,with +2 sharpening and +1 saturation.but still the results are not that much satisfying.

Click to expand...

Try a couple of RAW converters. They often take a time to learn so that you get the most out of you images, but you can usually try them for a month to see if they fit your particular processing needs.

I use Dx0 and don't mind it. It was the "cheapest" of the good ones because I got it when they had a half price sale. The one I really liked was Capture One, but it was a LOT more.

So, go here, download the trial copy and give your RAW files a second try.

http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/free_trial_version

Others on here use different RAW developers, and they can give you a lot of other tips and suggestions that can help you. Don't be afraid to ask, and if anyone gives you a hard time, ignore them, for if they do, they have proven that their opinion lacks validity.

Everyone needs time to learn how to do this stuff. Good luck!

--
Gil
Sardis, BC
Canada

Great job, Jerry! As you say, simple PP quite often fits the bill beautifully.

Gil

JerryCurtis said:

to get the best out of any camera's images. But you don't need to break the bank to do this. I use PSPX3 (about $70US or cheaper on specials), and this is what I got on your oranges image with just a one-click auto-fix and some minor sharpening. I could have lightened it more to get closer to another poster's sample, but elected to leave it like this, because I felt it looked more realistic.

Click to expand...

JerryCurtis said:

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Click to expand...

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Gil
Sardis, BC
Canada

Shooting at 1600 on the a580 shouldn't be a problem but, if possible, I would definitely drop down to 400 or less . There are so many factors that go into "making" a photograph it's hard to know where to start. What lens do you have - was image stabilization on - was the subject contrasty or flat - was the camera fooled by backlight - was the speed/aperature combination appropriate for conditions - what focus/metering settings were you using - did you have it set on "AUTO"? It's hard to say what went wrong without actually seeing the results. The a580 is a marvelous camera and it has a gazillion combinations of settings. Read the manual; take lots of test shots; take notes. You'll get it!

I have a new Sony a580 and shoot almost 100% RAW. I use the Sony RAW Converter and it seems to be as good as anything else I've used. I have one problem - after editing in Sony RAW, I send the 16MB files as a .tif to Photoshop (the original version 7.0). For some reason they arrive in PS as a 91MB .tif! Needless to say, it's hard to work with a file this large. Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a solution?

You can experiment to find the settings that will often give you the "pop" you want, and you probably don't have to mess with RAW. But the more you know about exposure (, etc.) and about your camera, the more you'll be able to always get what you want out of it. If you're willing to spend some time and effort, it'll pay off ... and I recommend you get the following ebook and make it your "bible" (apologies if someone else already suggested this; I didn't have time to read all the entries):

http://www.friedmanarchives.com/alpha580/index.htm

This will teach you lots about photography and how to get much more out of your camera; it's well worth the price.

P.S. just realized this thread is a bit dated; my apologies for helping to bump it up!
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Rich

http://philosurfer.zenfolio.com/