First attempt with new camera

[benjc]

Hi Guys,

I recently laid my hands on a Panasonic FZ50, and I took it to the Cotswold Country Park. Any critisisms would be appreciated...

Please also bear in mind I am a complete novice and this is my first forray away from "point and shooot"!







Help me improve!!

[Gemm]

Looks like the first 2 shots have suffered from a camera shake. There's no EXIF with the 1st image but 2nd image was shot at 1/13s which is too slow for handholding (assuming you were handholding the camera?). 3rd shot is sharper and better but I would probably chop off the top (above the roof) as those trees are a bit distracting. Just my humble opinion.

[TonyHetherington]

I'd agree with Gemm above about camera shake. At first I thought the head on the first one was slghtly out of focus (it was difficult to look at, if you see what I mean) but I assume you had a very long focal length (i.e. were zoomed in from a long way away) which would make holding it still very difficult!

Also agree about cropping the last one....just the heads in a row (and only the heads) would look good I think - more impact

[benjc]

That makes sense, the first image was shot towards dusk and the second inside in a reptile house through a glass partition, so the light levels weren't great... I was playing with the aperture priority mode so the shutter speed was automatic..my this is more technical than I thought it was going to be!!!

I agree about cropping the camels (sounds rude!)the light blue does draw the eye.

Thanks for your comments!!

Edited by benjc on Wednesday 13th December 14:34

[Gemm]

Yes, low light photography is extremely tricky, but you were correct to be using aperture priority, but unfortunately sometimes there just isn't enough light, and tripod isn't always available. You probably could have increased the ISO by another stop, but it may not have helped much.

BTW, this is the crop I was thinking of. Better?