Some photos I took with my new cam (some more #14)

[Kirsten]

Okay, now I've got a couple of days to become familiar with my new Canon Powershot S5. After two days, I had totally messed up the settings, and had to reset the cam. :o After that, things got better, and I learnt how to use it. And when finally the sun came out, I was able to take photos without using flash, even inside here, and I took some photos of the girls.

Here's Luna. I was quite happy with the way the photos turned out because the white fur around her mouth was not overexposed as usual, but she was lying in the sun, and the pictures were yellowish/orange, and the rest of her face was too dark (I think you cannot avoid this completely). Anyway, I edited the colors with Corel Photopaint until they looked more natural, and I worked with 5 different layers to get rid of the dark areas (parts of Luna's head, and her eyes). Now in the final pictures you can see what she really looks like. Yes, that's my beloved Luna girl! :)

http://www.catmom.de/pix/luna210.jpg

http://www.catmom.de/pix/luna211.jpg


And here's Lily! She was sitting in the sun also, and the picture really turned out like this. I only added some sharpness to her eyes and nose, the rest is the original photo:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/lily230.jpg


Here's Emma! It's an outdoor shot, and turned out sort of bluish in the original, so I had to add some yellow and red to the photo. Also, I edited the background; I made it look blurry so the focus is more on her face:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/emma127.jpg

So far, there weren't many chances to take outdoor shots because the weather wasn't that great. Here's one of the very first, the colors look strange, but that's the way the photo turned out. I only used the "white light filter" in Photoshop:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/wald2a.jpg

And this suset picture was made from my bedroom window. I like the colors:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/sunset1a.jpg

Okay, I know, it's not much yet, but I sort of like these photos, so I thought I'd share them! :p

Kirsten

[Randi]

Oh Kirsten, these take the price! You have really done a good a job on them. Keep shooting! Luna has such a funny expression on her face, and the one of Emma is really great - and what a view you have to a beautiful sunset! :eek:

Kisses to your girls. :)

[finn's mom]

They are beautiful! You do a wonderful job capturing moments.

[Laura's Babies]

I was not dissapointed in any of them. I am always happy to see you post your beautiful pictures and these did not let down my expectations one bit!

[Felicia's Mom]

Those are all beautiful photos. Thanks for posting them.

[lizbud]

The closeups of Luna & Lily are beautiful. Of course, Emma is as
gorgeous as ever. Love them all. :)

[Russian Blue]

Congrats on the new camera! :D



Here's Luna. I was quite happy with the way the photos turned out because the white fur around her mouth was not overexposed as usual, but she was lying in the sun, and the pictures were yellowish/orange, and the rest of her face was too dark (I think you cannot avoid this completely).

If you've seen Gigi's photos, I'm having the same problems with the white being too white and the dark being too dark. It's quite funny when I take pictures of Gigi and Steve. If it's Gigi, I have to decrease the contrast and if it's Steve, then I have to increase the contrast otherwise he'd look like a ball of orange fur with no detail. ;)

Love the sunset picture! Good job!

[DJFyrewolf36]

Beautiful! Congrats on the new camera!

[Catlady711]

Very nice pix!

Since you mentioned your pix having a color cast to them...

Did you make sure to have your white balance set to the correct lighting? (ie; tungsten, cloudy, florescent)? Obvious question I know but an easy one to overlook when trying to get 'the shot'.

If you did set it correctly then there is another fairly easy way to make sure you don't have color casts.

While I'm not sure about the exact settings on the S5, I do own the S3 & S1 so it should be similar.

If you have a photo gray card, anything medium gray, or a pure white piece of cardboard you can set your custom white balance for the exact lighting you are in. This does not affect the other lighting settings and you can go back to those any time. Your custom WB will stay just as you set it until you re-set it again. This does mean that if you switch locations and want to use custom WB you will have to re-set it.

On the other S series cameras....

Once you are in the location you're going to be shooting in

Press FUNC

scroll down one, until you get to the WB settings

Scroll all the way to the right to a pix that looks like a flower opening (it does say CUSTOM also)

Have your gray or white item and hold it so it 'catches the light'. Meaning don't let the item be in the shadow. You may have to tilt it a bit to do this. Basically the same as you would use a mirror to make reflections on your walls.

Point your camera at your gray or white item that is catching the light. Make sure it fills the viewfinder. Focus is uniportant only the lighting on the card since it doesn't actually 'take' a pix that will go on your memory card.

Press SET

This will set the custom WB for that location and correct for color casts from walls, shade etc.

I have a dining room with light pink walls and frequently have nice sunlight coming in but it throws the pink cast onto whatever I'm taking a pix of. If I custom WB in the pink room then I don't have the color cast in my pix.

I once was trying to take a pix in the dentists office of a vase of flowers on the counter but their track lighting just would not color balance properly. Just over the counter was a medium gray printer under the same lights, so I custom WB using that and the flowers came out looking like they should.

This will save quite a bit of time on your cpu correcting the colors.

Any questions about it and I'll gladly help you.

[dukedogsmom]

Those are amazingly good! I was going to get that camera, too. But I didn't want the battery card and it's too big to carry in my purse all the time. Great choice! We'll expect many more good pics now, you know? I love the forest one. I'll have to try out that filter for my tree pics. If you have time, could you do this pic for me?
http://www.boomspeed.com/dukedogsmom/011808_3.jpg

[phesina]

That sunset picture is gorgeous! And you see that from your bedroom window every evening? Wow!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Beautiful pictures as always.:)

[Kirsten]

Thank you everyone! :) Since I had this accident at work last week, I'm late with my reply. :o

Catlady711, thank you very much for your explanations! I really need to find out how to use the white balance. Tried the custom settings a couple of times, but got weird color results. LOL Most of the time, I use the setting "cloudy" for WB because that usually makes warm, beautiful colors, but sometimes there's such a cold light in the forest where I go with Emma, and they still turn out bluish. So you're definitely right about learning to use the custom settings.

dukedogsmom, sorry for being late, but I've just downloaded your pic, and I will pm you the edited version later, okay? :)

Kirsten

[Kirsten]

Here are some more! :)

Hometown:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/muenden1a.jpg


The river Werra:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/fluss1a.jpg

http://www.catmom.de/pix/fluss2a.jpg


Some monochrome pics:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/kreis_a.jpg

http://www.catmom.de/pix/graeser_a.jpg


The forest last friday:

http://www.catmom.de/pix/wald3a.jpg

http://www.catmom.de/pix/wald4a.jpg




Kirsten

[Catlady711]

:) Very nice pix, I like them. Thanx for posting them. :)

[dukedogsmom]

Those are amazing! You live in such a beautiful area. Your photos could be sold. You really do well at seeing good photo opportunities. Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not any good. They're lying if they say that.

[Barbara]

Major wow here! The ones with the reed are magic!
You should travel and become one of these famous travel and landscape photographers.
Or no, you better go into cat photography...
There would be so many options !

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

WOW !!! EVERY picture you posted here is perfect to be used on a postcard!! I am truly impressed, Kirsten!!

[AnimalLuver90]

Very Nice Pictures..
I rate them all a 100

[gemini9961]

Kirsten those are lovely. I love the pic of your hometown. I like seeing landscapes with buildings in them. These are fantastic. :)

[Kirsten]

Thanks! :)



You should travel and become one of these famous travel and landscape photographers.
Or no, you better go into cat photography...

LOL, both options sound great to me! ;)

[karyn674]

Beautiful pictures! I really enjoy viewing your landscapes but even more your beautiful Luna and Lilly. You touch up your photos just enough not to notice....perfect!

I really enjoy photography but I'm unable to use photoshop or any like. I think that learning how to touch them up with all the functions that are at your disposition really improves the outcome. Of course I'm not saying that thouching up makes beautiful photos if they where not taken with a good vision.

What you think?

[phesina]

Kirsten, your photos are just achingly beautiful. I almost gasp in awe every time I see new ones from you.

You live in a lovely area, and you capture it with your own love for it shining through.

Keep on shooting! You truly have a gift.

Thank you,

Pat