people framed at Angkor Wat

[Akhsan Aziz]

These photos were taken at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, during my vacation with family.
I used Canon 1200D
I tried to capture people and tried to make composition.



Below is my sister's photo



Below is my parent's photo



Thank you for viewing

C&C are welcome

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, each are a bit soft, what camera settings and camera did you use? Also, could you describe your monochrome conversion technique?

[Akhsan Aziz]

Hi Mr John,

Thank you for your comments. I used Canon 1200D.

The 1st photo, I used Picassa for editing.
The rest, I used "monochrome", a feature provided in the camera.
Then I edit again in Picasa.
All photos were taken in manual setting.

Hope it answer your question.

[Shadowman]

Hi Mr John,

Thank you for your comments. I used Canon 1200D.

The 1st photo, I used Picassa for editing.
The rest, I used "monochrome", a feature provided in the camera.
Then I edit again in Picasa.
All photos were taken in manual setting.

Hope it answer your question.

Hi Muhammad,

Yes, questions answered partially. I noticed your shutter speed for the image was only 1/50sec, nicely exposed but perhaps a bit too slow of a shutter speed? Were you handholding? And John is fine.

[Akhsan Aziz]

Hi Muhammad,

Yes, questions answered partially. I noticed your shutter speed for the image was only 1/50sec, nicely exposed but perhaps a bit too slow of a shutter speed? Were you handholding? And John is fine.

Hi John

Yes when I took tthose photos was using my hand. I just got my Canon so that I still have to wait for tripot..hehe..
And just started taking photos. Thanks for your info about shutter speed. Would you suggest the suitable speed I shpul use ? Fyi, I use standard lens (18-55 mm)

[Shadowman]

Hi John

Yes when I took tthose photos was using my hand. I just got my Canon so that I still have to wait for tripot..hehe..
And just started taking photos. Thanks for your info about shutter speed. Would you suggest the suitable speed I shpul use ? Fyi, I use standard lens (18-55 mm)

Muhammed,

It takes practice handholding, good stance, see attached video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDsx3-FWfwk

[Akhsan Aziz]

Muhammed,

It takes practice handholding, good stance, see attached video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDsx3-FWfwk

Hi John,

Thanks for the video..it is useful.
btw, pls call me Akhsan..

[IzzieK]

John has already mentioned the softness of your images, so let me go another way:
In #1, can you do a square crop in Picasa? It will be nice if you remove some parts that is not necessary in the image at the left hand side..

In #2, in my eyes, the frame need straightening, then just cropping on all sides just to show the frame and a little bit... Can Picasa have straightening tool? I do not use Picasa so I have no idea how that one works...

#3 -- your parents looks very young...how old are you? Your mother is very pretty too...no nits, just that the photo need straightening too...all of these three shots does.

I have not tried shooting in mono at all, I guess I should try that -- saves a lot in processing...

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

Thanks for the video..it is useful.
btw, pls call me Akhsan..

Akhsan,

Glad it helped.

[Akhsan Aziz]

John has already mentioned the softness of your images, so let me go another way:
In #1, can you do a square crop in Picasa? It will be nice if you remove some parts that is not necessary in the image at the left hand side..

In #2, in my eyes, the frame need straightening, then just cropping on all sides just to show the frame and a little bit... Can Picasa have straightening tool? I do not use Picasa so I have no idea how that one works...

#3 -- your parents looks very young...how old are you? Your mother is very pretty too...no nits, just that the photo need straightening too...all of these three shots does.

I have not tried shooting in mono at all, I guess I should try that -- saves a lot in processing...

Hi Izzie,

Below is the cropped photo.


There is straightening tool in Picasa. below is the revised one. My sister also like photography, she also join this community. Her name is Febriana ayu. Actually, she inspired me



I am now 13 years old and in grade 7. Thank you, my parents look younger maybe because of the camera effect (They both are in early 40s). My mother is an architect and I sometime discuss about composition with her.

Below is the revision.



Thanks for your suggestion, I think the photos look better

[chauncey]

I am now 13 years old and in grade 7

It's wise that you waited to mention that as we, as it should be, offered C&C and treated you
as a new adult photographer.

To add to what others have said...long ago, it was mentioned to me that folks in the west read
print and view images from left to right and, as such it, sometime helps to rotate images horizontally
to have people facing and walking toward the right.

Welcome...it's nice to have you here.

[Cantab]

Akhsan, welcome to Cambridge in Colour. I like the composition in the photo of your parents, with the path leading away into the distance.

Shutter speed is important if you are holding the camera by hand. The speed you need to avoid camera shake depends on several things including the focal length of the lens. A shutter speed of 1/125 might be worth trying, but with good stance you should be able to use something a bit slower if there is not enough light for 1/125.

[jcuknz]

Th rule or fomulae for shutter speed and focal length is the reciprocal of the focal length. Bear in mind that with an APS-C camera that 55mm lens is equal to an 88mm and 18mm = 28.6mm so you have a range of minimum shutter speeds of 1/30 to 1/88
BUT that assumes that you know how to carefully release the shutter .... "caressing" the trigger rather than pressing/punching it.
The other point about sharpness is that the final stage in editing before you send it away is to apply some sharpening after you resize it for here.

[Cantab]

Akhsan, one of your photos seems to have been replaced by an image from a computer screen. This sometimes happens randomly when TinPics has been used to upload photos.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

I very much like the first image, of the monks. I like the oblique lines of the robes against the vertical lines of the background, and their implied movement. It makes for a dynamic image. The dark figures against the light background also works well. Because of the dynamic feel of the image (people in movement) I prefer the original, off-centre composition to the cropped one (putting your point of interest in the middle makes a picture look static and stable. Positioning it off to one side gives the image a sense of imbalance that can make it more interesting. Have a look at the Rule of Thirds. It is a "rule" to be broken if you have a reason to, but a good place to start). It also gives the figures some visual space to move into. We can feel uncomfortable if an image shows someone looking or moving into a space and there is no space for them to look or move into. So, that works well.

You have a real eye for this. It will take time to learn all the technical stuff, but don't stop going out into the world and capturing images whilst you learn it. And an interesting but technically flawed photo is a hell of a lot more interesting than a technically perfect but uninspired one. Keep going!

[rpcrowe]

I like all of these pictures but, I agree with Izzie regarding straightening of the building lines.

I copied the images into Photoshop and sharpened them just a bit using the unsharp mask. It helped the sharpness considerably.

Generally a bit faster shutter speed might have been better. The standard formula for hand held shutter speed is 1 / focal length x crop ratio. Or in the case of using a 50mm lens on a Canon crop camera, the minimum shutter speed might be 1 / 50 x 1.6 or 1/80 second.

However, your lens might have image stabilization with which you can get away with a slower shutter speed.

Here is the image of the monks with unsharp filter applied



BTW: This is an all-around swell image. Congratulations!

[Akhsan Aziz]

It's wise that you waited to mention that as we, as it should be, offered C&C and treated you
as a new adult photographer.

To add to what others have said...long ago, it was mentioned to me that folks in the west read
print and view images from left to right and, as such it, sometime helps to rotate images horizontally
to have people facing and walking toward the right.

Welcome...it's nice to have you here.

thank you

[Akhsan Aziz]

Akhsan, welcome to Cambridge in Colour. I like the composition in the photo of your parents, with the path leading away into the distance.

Shutter speed is important if you are holding the camera by hand. The speed you need to avoid camera shake depends on several things including the focal length of the lens. A shutter speed of 1/125 might be worth trying, but with good stance you should be able to use something a bit slower if there is not enough light for 1/125.

Dear Bruce,

Thank you for your advice. Will keep in mind.

[Akhsan Aziz]

Th rule or fomulae for shutter speed and focal length is the reciprocal of the focal length. Bear in mind that with an APS-C camera that 55mm lens is equal to an 88mm and 18mm = 28.6mm so you have a range of minimum shutter speeds of 1/30 to 1/88
BUT that assumes that you know how to carefully release the shutter .... "caressing" the trigger rather than pressing/punching it.
The other point about sharpness is that the final stage in editing before you send it away is to apply some sharpening after you resize it for here.

HI John,

Thanks! Will keep in mind. I did some trial and error

[Akhsan Aziz]

Th rule or fomulae for shutter speed and focal length is the reciprocal of the focal length. Bear in mind that with an APS-C camera that 55mm lens is equal to an 88mm and 18mm = 28.6mm so you have a range of minimum shutter speeds of 1/30 to 1/88
BUT that assumes that you know how to carefully release the shutter .... "caressing" the trigger rather than pressing/punching it.
The other point about sharpness is that the final stage in editing before you send it away is to apply some sharpening after you resize it for here.

HI John,

Thanks! Will keep in mind. I did some trial and error