wow Ruby that is really AMAZING!!! Drop dead amazing, I'm serious, excellent job

Aw, thanks so much guys!! I don't know about you, but I've been in the holiday mood for the past few weeks. Here are some photos from Thanksgiving/Christmas decorating. None of them are edited or anything.

holiday cheer

OK, I'm finally sticking my head in here. I'm a Journalism major and I'm taking Digital Basic Photography next semester! I'm super excited. I'm waiting to declare my concentration within Journalism until after that class. I'm leaning heavily toward Photojournalism as my concentration and if I like the class, I'll know that's the direction I want to go. Anyway, so expect a lot of stuff from me this coming semester. For now, I'm taking pictures with my cheap, old, point-and-shoot digital camera. They loan us DSLR cameras for the class but, if I enjoy it, I'm going to invest in a nice camera for myself once I've learned a little more about the different types of DSLRS. The one I've been looking at is the Rebl T3i from Canon. I've heard a lot of good things about it. It's a beginner/intermediate DSLR.

Out of curiousity, what cameras do you guys use?

Anyway, so here are a few pictures from me. They're completely unedited: no cropping, no color enhancement, nothing. The only thing I did was add the watermark in the corner.

View from Grapefruit Rocks

Basilica in Quito, Ecuador

My dog during a hike

Wow, narnian_at_heart, I can already tell you have a really good eye for photography! That's the most important thing. The second most important thing is just taking lots and lots of pictures all the time! Photojournalism sounds like so much fun. I really want to invest in a nice camera sometime as well. Right now, I just use my dad's Fujifilm digital. It takes fairly decent pictures, though it's not a professional photographer's camera at all! It has 14 megapixels and the pictures come out in pretty good quality and it does a little more than most digital cameras.

I really want to learn how to manually set a digital camera to do exactly what I want it to do. But, of course, I don't have the camera to do that. Investing in a camera is something I'm definitely going to do at some point in the future. Hey, I think I know someone who has a DSLR Canon Rebel T3i! They're pretty sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your pictures.

I really want to learn how to manually set a digital camera to do exactly what I want it to do. But, of course, I don't have the camera to do that. Investing in a camera is something I'm definitely going to do at some point in the future.

Yea, that's what I want too! I don't take pictures near as much as I want to (or should) because I don't have a camera that I can make do what I want. On my point-and-shoot, the color never looks right and it's not as sharp. My camera has different modes and I usually scroll through all of them and try to find something good but usually, I can't find something that lets me get the picture how I want it.

Also zoom. When I push the zoom button, it zooms in or out in pre-set increments. I can't zoom in or out exactly as far as I want between the pre-set increments like you can with a DSLR. Also, I like doing close up shots and I simply can't with my point-and-shoot. If I zoom in as far as I can, it won't focus and if I move the camera closer to the object, it won't focus either.

The other annoying thing with point-and-shoots is the delay between when you push the button and when it actually takes the picture. I have a fairly long delay on mine so a lot of times, especially if I'm taking a shot of my dog or out the window of a car or at anything that's moving, it's very difficult to get the picture before I move or whatever I'm shooting moves.

All those problems just add up to make it so irritating that I don't take pictures near as much as I'd like to.

OK, enough ranting. Now for some comments since I forgot last time.

RubyGamgee: I love the "Mamma's China" one. It's so pretty and I love how you set it up. Also, both candle pictures, the picture with several ornaments, and the picture of Christmas lights on the ground. Really cool!

violetfirekrazed: I love all of yours! My favorite is the one with the dog with it's head in the fence. That's such a cool shot.

MinotaurforAslan: I agree, that screencap looks really cool. I love the light that way coming through the trees.

SnowAngel: They're all really pretty! I especially like the last one with the river.

Some of pictures I took on Saturday.

The woods behind our house:
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... G_5644.jpg
Sunshine through the trees:
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... G_5620.jpg
The woods behind our house again: http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... G_5618.jpg

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!

Great pictures, Ruby! Your tree is beautiful!

I love your first pictures, Julie. Where is that? Julie, have you tried using the macro setting for close-ups? I use it all the time when I take pictures of flowers and baked goods. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures. Hope you post a lot! I'm saving up to get a really good camera, and I'm would like to get some kind of Canon Rebel.

SnowAngel

I love your first pictures, Julie. Where is that? Julie, have you tried using the macro setting for close-ups?

It's the view from Grapefruit Rocks in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Yes, I've tried the macro settings. I've tried just about everything, I think! It still doesn't work very well because it's such a cheap camera.

Ruby: those are so beautiful, I love the ones with the candles best

narnian_at_heart: I love your pictures, the first is my favorite though, the view is so amazing, so beautiful.
I'm not really sure what kind of camera we have, we just got a new one and it's somewhere in my parents room and I'm to lazy to go and see what kind it is when I do look I'll be sure to post

SnowAngel: very beautiful, just breath taking, I especially love the second one

here are a few from me

red bobble
Christmas light
bell
with the last one I worked with the colors just a bit cause the lighting was horrible and the picture came out pretty bad, all I really did was work with color saturation just a little

*skips in after discovering this thread* My, my, Wild, I do love the Bokka you have on your three pictures, though I suppose I should use the 'technical' name for it. So I love the 'Spherical out of focus high lights in you pictures Wild.

I have a few pictures to show you all. I'm afraid that they aren't that good though.

This one and the next are pictures of a pathway from the board walk to the beach at an undisclosed location. The second one has my mom and youngest sister down towards the end of the path.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... G_0038.jpg

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0037_2.jpg

The next four pictures are of a necklace I found on the rocks, at the same beach

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... G_0021.jpg
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0018_2.jpg
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0016_3.jpg
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0013_3.jpg

This next one is the beach, as I first saw it, I took this picture from the car, so forgive any blurriness.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0005_3.jpg

This last picture is of the waves breaking on the rocks with a seagull flying over head.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l48 ... 0009_3.jpg

Sorry there are so many.

Jedi

Thanks, wildrose! Your pictures are really pretty. I love the first one.

The Jedi Clone, your pictures are really neat. I love the black & white.

Three from me. These were taken the beginning of the month at a lake not to far from here. It was great weather for taking pictures. My personal favorite is the second one, the sunset that evening was gorgeous.

The lake:

Sunset on the lake:

The lake on a cloudy day:

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

SnowAngel

wild rose: I like the red bobble one. I love the bits of gold garland around the edges. The one suggestion I would have is if you could tone down the light spot in the center. I like the light just maybe not quite so bright. I'm assuming it's something with the flash so I don't know how much that could be adjusted. Also, I love the grey scale in the bell photo and how the bell is partly hidden by the garland.

jedi clone: I love the first picture you posted. I like the grey scale coloring and the path and the fence posts leading down to the ocean. It looks very cool. I like all the necklace ones but I especially love the first two. and the last one. I like how you positioned the necklace off to the side of the shot instead of dead center. I like the grey scale and sepia coloring in those two and I like how the background is out of focus but you can still see the rocks and the ocean. Also, the third one is very neat with the rock face in focus on the left side of the frame. The last two are very nice as well.

SnowAngel: Unfortunately, I can't pull up any of the large versions of your pictures. It gives me a 404 error. From the thumbnails, I love the middle one especially. I like the coloring and the dock in the foreground.

And here's two from me. I took these the other day with my little sister's Canon Powershot. I've borrowed her camera a bunch recently (I'm home for Christmas) but most of the pictures that I really like, I can't post because my family's faces show up in them.

My dog

RMK. I'm not sure how I feel about this last one. It's a picture of part of the side of an RMK Polaris snowmachine.

narnian_at_heart, I love that picture of your dog! it's gorgeous! I love how the light colors of the sky and snow contrast against the dog's warm colored fur.

~Riella

Ooh, Snow Angel, the middle picture is just lovely!!

And, oh my word, the picture of your dog is so professional, narnian_at_heart!! :O I'm speechless. What Canon Powershot is that?

*joins in to the camera discussion to ask a question*

I had talked about a Canon Rebel XS, and while that would be great, it's kind of out of my budget and, as I'm extremely basic and amateur at photography, it could very possibly be too much for me to handle.
I currently have a broken-beyond-repair Canon Powershot and, since I was young when we got it, I have not read the manual that is now lost. Anywho, I've only used the Auto and video function (plus the function by the video, that has those two little squares, since it has the coloring and lighting settings. But I also have no idea what aperture is, and have no idea how to get shutter speed, and I don't know many things on that camera.) There is sort of manual focus, so I am able to get focus on something I want (but since we got it a while ago, it's only 5 megapixels so the color interpretation is great, but not excellent or realistic) Point of this ramble -- I am now interested in a Nikon Coolpix L120. It looks interesting--I do like the bulkiness of it that some point-and-shoots with the same MP and optical zoom do not have because it's easier to hold and, also, it looks cool. However, is there manualish focus on it? (like that little flower thing so that I can at least function how the focus is. )
I really am not into the new Powershots that render one helpless and at the camera's mercy for effects. (but this is exaggerated and it could be my ignorance that made the camera like this for me) If not the L120, I don't mind the L100 (which is more in my save-for-two-years budget. ) Do these allow someone to control? And, also, do they have shutter speed settings? [/ramble]

I'm sorry it's not working for you, narnian_at_heart. Here's the link to the album: http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc471/revelation1025/The%20Lake/. Did you know it's really mean to post a picture of a snowmachine? It is! I haven't been on a snowmachine in eight and half years!

I know what you mean, Aslanisthebest, I really, really want a Canon Rebel XS and have for years. It's going to take me forever to save enough money to buy one. I know nothing about Nikons, so I can't help you.

Some more pictures from me...

Click pictures to enlarge!

SnowAngel

Here are a few of mine:
http://i39.tinypic.com/1zefpc0.jpg
Took this Christmas 2010. Turned out really cool.
http://i41.tinypic.com/9100ie.jpg
From my Chicago trip. On the 17th floor of a building.
http://i40.tinypic.com/fjdk3p.jpg
Also in Chicago.
http://i43.tinypic.com/fxfh45.jpg
Again, Chicago. My Chicago trip ended up with a lot of good pics.

I'm not that great, I'm mostly an amateur photographer. My little sister is probably better than I am, and she's never had any lessons...