New Camera

[wpenm]

I wanted to see what advice the pro's in here can give me. This picture was taken with a new Canon EOS Rebel XT with the Canon Macro Lens EF 100mm. I know nothing about photography so any help (in simple English) would be greatly appreceiated. The picture was taken on our front window sill with just a couple small lights and I used the auto everything mode.

Thanks for any help. Good or bad comments welcome.

 

[txbatons]

A larger photo will be easy to judge/critique. At this size, it's difficult to see if things are focused correctly.

 

[wpenm]

Brian, I put a bigger picture in. Hope this helps.

 

[Daniel]

It looks to me like you have good detail, I can see the nicks or smudges on the nib. a little more light from the front would help soften the shadow along the bottom edge of the pen. The focus looks like it may be just a bit off but it could simply be that it was resized for the forums. that alone can wreak havoc with a sharp image. look at your original to see if it is sharp. I can see the difference betwen the window light and the artificial light. defusing the artificials would help knock down the reflections. the clip is simply a bright light in this photo.
for being a new camera you have a very good picture.

 

[wpenm]

Thanks Daniel. With help from the photo experts around here and alot of camera time I hope to get some good pictures in the near future,

 

[toolcrazy]

First, you best to learn how to use the camera in manual mode. Some cameras don't handle no flash in automatic, very well. Second, get a tripod, if you don't have one. It looks to me, that the white balance is a bit off. And it seems a bit over exposed. Don't let this get you down, you have a pretty good photo for your first. Here is a couple sites I found informative.
http://www.lexar.com/dp/tips_lessons/index.html
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

 

[wpenm]

Steve, thanks for the information.

 

[toolcrazy]

Also, it helps too, to get a good photo editing program. I have Adobe Photoshop, but I find Photoshop Elements easier to use for quick edits.

 

[gketell]

I'm on a mac and have photoshop too. but for quicky pen edits I just use the iPhoto.

GK