couple photos ive done.

[invisibledemon]

yep. just play with zooming in and out while moving closer to and away from your subject.
observe how much more/less of the background is visible in different situations.
but, do your best to keep the subject the same size in the viewfinder. dont let the item take up any more or less space in one photo vs the others.

 

[awptickes]

Looks like you need to do some reading on this stuff:
Fill flash
depth of field
bokah
background
rule of thirds
element balance
line leading
framing

Any good book on photography will help you with that. The older books will teach you the technique, while the new ones will help you leverage your non-film camera's features.

 

[lostsoulzprophet]

Ok will try

 

[eg6sir]

here is a shot i did from my front yard not long ago.. its highly edited obviously, but it shows the rule of 1/3s

also, when post pics to forums.. use a free Flickr account.. picture quality will be a lot better

 

[lostsoulzprophet]

ok here is a couple pics i took over the last day or so

 

[invisibledemon]

1. crop bottom
2. crop right
3. crop right
4. crop bottom.

color is looking better.
last is my fav, good use of the bokeh.

 

[phunky.buddha]

yep. just play with zooming in and out while moving closer to and away from your subject.
observe how much more/less of the background is visible in different situations.
but, do your best to keep the subject the same size in the viewfinder. dont let the item take up any more or less space in one photo vs the others.

Shoot prime lenses, and move yourself instead of screwing with zoom, then adjust aperture to tweak depth of field and peripheral focus. Image quality = better.

ok here is a couple pics i took over the last day or so

Gettin' better.

Partly to show what your T3i can do with a cheapo prime lens, one of my favorite shots from 2 months ago:

And to show what the differences in lens structure can do to the light in your picture, these two shots are with the T3i body of the same scene (an hour apart, so coloring is different) but with different lenses- the first with the kit 18-55 and the second with the "nifty 50." You can see what the aperture structure does to the sunburst effect. For whatever reason, these are showing up like crap in the browser, but you can see how the lens affects the streaks of light coming off the sun.

 

[newb]

Your shots are getting better. Keep it up.


One thing I keep noticing is sharpness. Could be the lens though, Ive had that problem myself. Magnify your shots in review and check for sharpness. If its not razor sharp, recompose and try again. Rule your self out as the cause of blur.

If you want to get into editing, try GIMP and UFRaw. Theyre free, yet very powerful. Great place to start. I still use them along side CS5/LR3.

 

[invisibledemon]

Shoot prime lenses, and move yourself instead of screwing with zoom, then adjust aperture to tweak depth of field and peripheral focus. Image quality = better.

well, for one, the nifty fifty is a must in any arsenal. but, personally, i have found the 50mm to be useless for most of my needs. indoor shooting which requires me to be closer to the subjects than the 50mm will allow.
and prime lenses are too costly to have every step.

my favorite lens for my rebel is the 17-85is. loved that thing, until it broke. lol.
great walkaround lens and a great shooter too. excellent zoom capabilities for getting that far shot, and not enough barrel distortion to be terribly noticeable at 17mm. always shot crisp and did great in low light situations thanks to the IS.


also, you (op)should keep in mind that the camera you have, and a lot of other dslr's, have APSC image sensor. which means that the image is already cropped from what it should be. any lens you use on your camera (the 50mm for example) isnt a true 50mm shot on your camera (the lens is truly a 50mm in itself). take whatever length lens you are using and multiply that number by 1.6 (or it may be 1.9, cant remember) and you will get what you are seeing through your pics. so, a 50mm on your camera is actually an 80mm when compared to a full frame or 35mm camera.
80mm sucks for taking pictures of people in a regular sized room. too close.
a 50mm on a full frame or true 35mm camera is an excellent lens and can be used in just about any indoor casual situation, but the apsc crops it to where its too close.

Your shots are getting better. Keep it up.


One thing I keep noticing is sharpness. Could be the lens though, Ive had that problem myself. Magnify your shots in review and check for sharpness. If its not razor sharp, recompose and try again. Rule your self out as the cause of blur.

If you want to get into editing, try GIMP and UFRaw. Theyre free, yet very powerful. Great place to start. I still use them along side CS5/LR3.

gimp is great. i love that program. cant beat the price of free, legally. lol.

im starting to think a lot of the sharpness of his pics is mostly due to the hosting.

 

[newb]

Crop sensors shoot at 1.5x magnification.

Good point on the hosting. Didnt think of that. Could very well be what Im seeing.

 

[invisibledemon]

1.6

Canon EOS Rebel T3i (EOS 600D) Camera Optics - Full Review

1.5 i think is more common in nikons.

op, read that article. lots of good info on your camera.
i used to have a link to a page that did really in depth reviews of lenses, but i lost it the first time my comp crashed. ill search later and see if i can find it.

 

[eg6sir]

Flickr has much better quality right?

 

[newb]

Your right. I was thinkin of Nikon lol.

 

[eg6sir]

i shoot an Olympus E330 .. i believe it has a 2x crop

 

[BigJ]

I learned a lot in this thread just reading the comments. Thanks guys. Keep it coming!

 

[lostsoulzprophet]

yep im learning. next time i get a chance to do pics im going to try harder lol

 

[lostsoulzprophet]

 

[phunky.buddha]

well, for one, the nifty fifty is a must in any arsenal. but, personally, i have found the 50mm to be useless for most of my needs. indoor shooting which requires me to be closer to the subjects than the 50mm will allow.
and prime lenses are too costly to have every step.

my favorite lens for my rebel is the 17-85is. loved that thing, until it broke. lol.
great walkaround lens and a great shooter too. excellent zoom capabilities for getting that far shot, and not enough barrel distortion to be terribly noticeable at 17mm. always shot crisp and did great in low light situations thanks to the IS.

Yeah.. I want the new version of the 30mm 1.4 or 1.2 Sigma. I was pissed I didn't get in on the outgoing Sigma 30 at $289. Just couldn't fit it in the budget.

And Canon = 1.6x, Nikon = 1.5

 

[invisibledemon]

yeah, for the budget shooter, a good walk around lens is the best one to add to the lineup.

glass gets expensive. lol. but, a great piece of glass could make the picture.

i hate the crop factor crap. one day, i'll get my hands on a full frame camera and love the shit out of a true lens. so so many times i found myself wishing i had a real 17mm to get the right shot vs having a 17mm x 1.6

 

[newb]

If you upgrade any thing at all, I highly suggest you buy glass. Its pretty rare that anyone really "out grows" a modern DSLR body.

I shot at a local race track for an entire season with an entry level body and lenses worth triple what the body was, and got some of the best shots Ive ever captured.