11/20/2009

HDR Images

I have different feelings on HDR images. I sometimes like HDR shots having futuristic peculiarity. They looks very interesting. I also like HDR images, which look realistic. What I do not like is unnatural finery of colors. I do not like when every color, every tone shine in the picture, like an advertisement.

Creating HDR images from technical point of view is interesting for me. But, I prefer the shots made by camera. It does not mean that I am fun of SOOC. I am far from it. I believe that some postwork makes the photo better until it garbles the truth.

I like to try everything new, so, I wanted to create my own HDR image. It was not easy to find good tutorials. The only problem was that almost all tutorial was created for Photoshop users. I do not have Photoshop. Maybe, it is very good software; but it is too expensive for me. I spend enough money for buying photography accessories. According to my wife’s opinion, I waste too much money for my hobby. It is why I became a GIMP user. I have not found a good tutorial for GIMP users; I created my own method. The idea of the technology was stolen from Photoshop tutorials. If you have a better method to create HDR images, please leave comment to this post or send me an e-mail.

Let us start. To create a HDR images, you must have at least to shots, which differ only in exposure value. I usually use 3 shots. I read that others created a HDR images from 5 or more shots. I tried it too, but I did not see the positive effect of usage of more than 5 photos.

The keywords of taking shots for HDR images are fastness and accuracy. Fastness is important especially if the subject of the shots is movable or moves. For example, it is very difficult to take such shots of trees moving in the wind. The result will be blurry. My first HDR shoots were taken manually. Then, as I became cleverer, I used the AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing). It is faster and easier. :)

Covered Path HDR

I use one or two exposure values difference between the shots. I usually take three shots. The first shot is taken with correct exposure, the second is overexposed and the third is underexposed.

Accuracy is provided by the usage of the tripod. I do not want to waste my time with adjusting images, so I want my subject to be exactly on the same place in all shots. Somebody wrote she could hold the camera without tripod. Well, I am far from being superhero. My advice is to use tripod.

Now, let us say you have 3 different shots. Open your GIMP and load the shot with correct exposure value. Then create two transparent layer on the shot. Open the underexposed (darker) shot, select the whole image and paste the middle layer of the base photo. When you are ready, do the same with the overexposed shot, but insert it in the third layer.

Right click on the middle layer, you will get a menu. Select the “Add Layer Mask” menu. In the opening window, select “Greyscale copy of layer” option and add it to the image (Add button).
Then click on the third layer containing the overexposed shot. Select the “Add Layer Mask” menu. In the opening window, select “Greyscale copy of layer” option and be sure that “Invert mask” option is clicked. If you are ready, then add the mask to the image (Add button).

That is all; you are ready. I usually Merge down the layers until I have only one layer. It is worth to adjust levels (Adjust color levels) to make colors more vivid.

Castle HDR

Fairyland HDR

Protector HDR

10/20/2009

Darkness in the Wood

I always admired water shots taken with long exposure time. I tried to capture water, but the photo became overexposed, as it was not dark enough. Finally, I bought an ND8 filter. I wanted to try it as soon as possible, but I had to wait until the weekend.

I remembered a nice place, where I met waterfalls and cascades in every 10 minutes. I had not been there since my teen ages. Nevertheless, I hoped that my memories would not play the fool with me.

We arrived and I realized that my expectations were correct. The wood was wonderful and hidden streams ran in several places among the trees not far from the side path.

It was the first time I had used ND8 filter. I read that it was difficult to use, because the photographer could not see clearly through the dark filter. My bridge camera has an acceptable live mode, so I did not really meet this problem.

I took some shots of blurred streams and I like them. I realized that long exposure time made colors deeper in the capture. Of course, I used my good old tripod. The LCD screen on my camera contains few pixels (260.000 ?). In the wood, I did not think of the size of the LCD screen. I was just happy looking at the awesome colors.

Well, the colors were wonderful and the waterfalls were blurred nicely. I wanted more. I wanted a white silken stream instead of the water. I took out the CPL filter from my bag and put it before the ND8. Such way, I gained more exposure time. I enjoyed taking shots very much.


Tiny Waterfall 2

I was excited while I was downloading pictures from the camera to my notebook. When the download process finished I opened the images in the picture browser. I realized only at home that most of my shots were overexposed. Well, not the whole photo was overexposed, just its parts, where the sky could be seen via the trees. The sky was white. Tones were lost beyond recovery.

I selected some shots that could be rescued. It was not an easy lesson for me. I knew I would never forget to check if there is overexposed part on the capture.


Torrent


Purplish Cascade 2

Next time, when I was in other forest and used long exposure time, I took shots and checked every shot carefully on the LCD display. I think the photos became better, at least from technical point of view.


Autumn Bench


Water Course

9/24/2009

Mini Photo Studio

I bought a Dolica PS-240 Portable Photo Studio Kit. It contains two studio lamps, a small camera stand, a dual-sided non-reflective background screen and 4 background drops (black, white, red and blue). The main element of the kit is a bag, where you can store lamps, camera stand and background drops. It is very easy to install, in fact the bag itself is a tent. The dimensions of the tent are 45 * 9 * 45 cm (17.5 * 3.5 * 17.5 inches). Its price is very low approximately 60 USD. Of course, it is not the highest quality photo studio kit, but, it is a quite good solution for hobby purposes. Studio lights are just a lamp having professional design. Unfortunately, they can work for no more than 10 minutes without a break.

So, I was working (or playing) with this kit. Before starting, I had to iron out the background drops. Well, I am not very good at ironing and I was afraid of burn the background. Some process of ironing lasted for about half hour. The white background looked better; the black one remained a bit creased.

The first subject to be captured was an old Soviet camera. I decided to use white background. It was my first experiment with lighting. My approach was far from scientific; I just switched on the lights and moving them checking the result. I did not have much time to experiment, as the light can work for only 10 minutes. However, this stage is very enjoyable. Believe me. :)

The most problematical was the usage of the camera stand. Fixing the camera is not easy. I had to hold the camera, find its horizontal position and fixing the bolt at the same time. I hated it.

The tent and the camera stand stood in a table. It was also a problem, as I could capture only the top of the subject. The only solution was to bend the tripod. Here, there was a possibility to play again while fixing the camera. I had to say this camera stand is not my favorite. Later, I took it away and use my tripod instead.

At the end, I could take some shots. The subject, the old camera was black with some shine metallic lines. I realized that a bit overexposing the photo, the white background became almost invisible.


Lubitel 166_2

This technique works well until the subject is dark. If you examine the sample shot, you can realize that the background is not white enough. It is because I used the automatic white balance. It would have be better to use manual settings.

I met a problem during using the white background. I was in a hurry to install the photo studio so mush that I forgot to take away the tablecloth. I cannot realize it until I switched on the lights. Then I was too lazy to take the tablecloth out. Now, I have a pretty nice shot, where you can see its pattern through the white background. :(


Vegetables

I had some problem with the black background, too. As I mentioned it was not smooth enough, as I was not very good at ironing. The tine waves could be seen on my every shot.

I started playing with exposition like in case of the white background. Of course, I wanted to make my capture darker. But, it did not work well. The subject itself became dark too.

I do not have PS, as it is too expensive not for me but for my wife. :) She tries to limit financial outgoings on my new hobby. Well, I would better buy a DSLR camera instead of PS. Fortunately, the GIMP is always with you. I made a small postwork on my shots with black background with gimp. With adjusting color levels function I cut off the black tones from my capture. Such way, I got a nice black background instead of dark waves.


Companions 2

8/15/2009

Shots Of Ducks

Everybody hates shots of ducks. According to my friends’ opinion, capturing ducks is good-for-nothing. Last week, I read an article explaining needless of taking such shots. However, I am sure everybody took shots of ducks. I believe everybody had so called duck period in his/her life.

I admit that there are dozens of photos of ducks and these shots are very similar. It is very good to take interesting duck photos. In addition, I admit I do not find interesting such shots including my ones. It is interesting why people do not count capturing lowering sun useless. There are dozens of such photos. They look the same, not counting some interesting captures. What is the difference between duck photos and shots of the lowering sun? I do not know. Why is so funny to capture ducks and why is not funny to capture the lowering sun? I do not know. What about the flowers? You must be very talented to take interesting shots of flowers. You must be very creative if you would like to take a unique shot of flowers. Are flowers better ducks?

Please, do not misunderstand me. I know that most of duck shots are not interesting. Look at this photo taken by me. Nothing special.


Mallard

My most interesting photo of duck is capturing a water drop with the duck. But, this shot is not very interesting.


Drop

However, taking shots of ducks was very important to me from point of view learning photography. I tried to capture other bird, too. But small birds can be taken hardly with my bridge camera. From this point of view, ducks, mallards and swans are ideal subject. They do not fear of people, so you can go very close to them.

I learned much taking such these half-wild birds. For example, I was very proud on my swam shot, until somebody did not mention that it was too white. The title of the shot is White Hunter. Somebody made a comment “It is indeed white”. :) From this point, I have started to use exposition correction. I do not know where this shot is. I can show you other shot of white swam like an example of a bad shot.


Hunting Swan

What can I say? Do not be afraid of taking ducks. Your photos may not win the photo of the year award, but you can learn much about the photography and you can earn useful practice.

Last but not least, you can enjoy the moment of pushing the shutter button on your camera. Is not it the most important for a hobby photographer?


Over The Water

8/08/2009

Panorama Shots

Interesting part of landscape photography is panorama shots. There are special cameras for this purpose and many other cameras support panorama captures. My camera is one of them.

I liked the wide panorama captures and I wanted to take such shots. It is very easy. Panorama shots can be created without any support if you have a picture manipulating software like Photoshop or GIMP. All you have to have is a tripod. Just mount the camera to the tripod, make a shot, turn your camera horizontally, take the second shot and so on. In the end, you will have series of captures, which can be united with GIMP or other software. The only requirement is that pictures must have common parts.

I have a good book, the author of which suggested marking the first and the last picture of the panorama series. His method is simple. Before taking the first picture, capture your finger and after finishing the last shot, capture two of your fingers. Such way, you will know that images between “fingers” belong to one panorama series.

I applied this method. Later, when I uploaded photos to a computer, I realized that it was not necessary to do, as my camera supports the panorama shots and it put series into different folders. Now, I have very good capture of my fingers. :)

The software of my camera is able to create a panorama shot from the standalone photos. It is very easy; I selected the photos in the preferred order, set the direction of moving the camera and pressed the Create button.

The software cannot create a panorama shot from one of the series; other shots were good. I do not understand the reason of failure. I just suppose that I left too much time before two shots and the landscape changed too much. Do not forget, clouds fly over the sky, and if the sky is fairly big on the shot, then it is difficult to find the common part.

Now, I know there is no time to waste. I must take shots without delay, just turn the camera and press the button and turn and press, very quickly.

Groups

Floodplain 2

8/01/2009

Landscapes

Recently, I started taking shot of landscapes. I enjoyed watching awesome landscape shots taken by others. Once, I got a book written about my home county. This book contained many photos of the countryside. The photos were awful. They were so awful that I could not describe them. I am still a newcomer hobby photographer, yet I knew I could make better photos.

When I was on holiday, I grabbed my camera and sat in my car to travel around and take some shots. This trip was very enjoyable to me and I took many photos. Of course, I met challenges. Before going to this trip, I read some books of landscape photographer. These books said the photographer must have woken up early to catch the wonderful lights of sunrise. I planned to wake up early morning. But, it was just a plan and when I went out of the town it was about 10:00 AM. I missed the colorful sunrise. :(

I was sure that I was wasting my time, but I did not give up and continued my tour. I stopped my car very often to take shots. Some interesting clouds swam across the blue sky.

The first challenge I met was setting the proper exposure values. I measure the light on the sky and the fields became dark. Measure light on the field, the sky became whiter and the clouds disappeared. Clever books I read did not say anything of this problem.

I tried different settings of the camera, and the optimal seemed measuring light on the clothes and increasing the exposure collection by about one positive number. Such way both the clouds and the fields were shown on the shots. Maybe it is not the standard way; however it gave the best result for me.


Fence


Trust 2

As I mentioned, I took many photos breaking one of the rules. This rule said that the photographer had to give a title to a shot before taking it. With other words, the photographer must know the reason of taking shot. Capturing wonderful landscape is not enough, as there are many shots of awesome landscapes. This rule is easy to understand, but very hard to keep. :)

Later, when I was browsing among the photo files, I learned importance of this rules. Next time, I will not waste my time capturing lovely but boring landscapes. I will save my time to find something really interesting.


The Guardian

Patches 2

7/22/2009

Night Shots

I enjoyed watching other peoples’ shot taken in late afternoon or night. I was reading a lot about this theme and I knew I did not have any chance to take nice shots without a tripod. I bought a tripod and there were nothing, what would stop me going to take photos.

In the articles, I found an often-mentioned phrase named as “blue hour”. Blue hour is the end of the afternoon or the beginning of the night, when the sky has wonderful blue color. According to other articles, the sky has many colors from the red to the blue color. Then what is the blue hour? Honestly, I have no idea. I do not know, but it does not have a real meaning. I will explain why a bit later.

Well, I grabbed my camera and went out to the street at about 7PM. I found an interesting subject, the building of the parliament and set up my tripod. There was nothing to do just to wait for the blue hour.

I decided to take shots during waiting. It was a very good decision, because while I was busy with settings of my camera, I realized the color of the sky was changing in every second. Some minutes later, I realized that car owners switched on headlights and the street lamps started to work.

I was taking photos, as many as I could, the lights and the colors was changing permanently. I do not know if the blue hour arrived or not. I was too busy to listen to it.

I can suggest you to take photos when you see the subject is beautiful and do not care of the blue hour. However, you must hurry because the lights and the colors of the sky changes very quickly. You do not have second chance. If you miss something, then you must come next day to compensate your failure.

It is worth to use small aperture (the biggest value), then the lights radiating from the lamps look like a stars. Usage of big aperture size convert sthe light of the lamps into a ball.

I mentioned in the previous post that I preferred AV mode of the camera. This case the AV mode is not the best solution. It worked well until it did not become very late. Later, my camera could not find the proper shutter time related to the selected aperture size. The capture remained very dark. The best solution for the night shots is the manual mode. You probably use tripod, so the settings can be done easy, as you can use both your hands.


Night By Danube

On the first day, the sky was deep blue on my shots. Later, I can capture the sky having reddish and bluish tones. They were beautiful, also. As I mentioned the colors of the sky would change permanently. But, do not forget, any light is essential to take shots. If your photos remain hopelessly dark, then you have to find a lighter object with lamps. Alternatively, maybe, it is the time to finish taking shot for today. The black sky does not look nice on the photos, even with awesome floodlit building. You will know when the day will end. :)


Calm City

I like some abstract photos. Playing with the lights and the part of the building makes excellent conditions to take such shots.


Lurking Sun

7/17/2009

Shooting Modes

The real photographer never use automatic mode. The professional photographer takes shots only in manual mode. I often hear such sentences. It is interesting that I read many books written by professional photographers and I never met such sentences in their books. It is also worth wondering why the cameras have many shooting modes and why some of them are called creative.

I decided not to listen to people who demand other to use only manual mode. I admit the manual mode is extremely useful and it cannot be avoided in some situations. Furthermore, I admit taking photos in manual mode is cool and it has unique atmosphere.

In most of cases, I prefer aperture mode (AV). This mode gives me freedom over DOF and it help me in calculation the related shutter speed. I welcome this help. However, the calculation sometimes does not meet my requirement. In this case, the setting the exposure correction illuminates the problem.

I sometimes decided to capture in Program AE mode. For example, when I was too excited to waste time with camera settings or in case of landscape shots. A week ago, I found a fantastic scene. Imagine a large cornfield on a small hillside with a fresh green tree in its middle. I jumped out of my car and take some shots. I realized that the shots were not taken according my will only at home, some hours later. I wanted sharp spikes in the foreground and the sharp tree in the distance. The automatic module of my camera did not know it and only the spikes became sharp in the picture. So, I will remain in the aperture mode to avoid such problems.

Patches

Of course, there are cases, when the only solution is manual mode. In night photos, the camera settings will not be the best. I usually take macro shots in manual mode, too. Please, understand I am not against the manual mode. I sometimes like it. Just I like to use the features of my camera. It is big help for me. Usage of AV mode prohibits me to listen to other useful things, like the subject of the photo or the composition.

7/14/2009

Moon

In January, Moon and the Venus stood very close to each other. It was very beautiful and I wanted to take a shot of them very much. That time, I had LC50, which has creative modes. The only problem was that I had never used any of creative modes and I had no idea how to do this. I was disappointed during taking photos. The moon looked very small and it looked like a white – yellow patch on the photos, without the detailed view I liked on other peoples’ captures. The only acceptable captures I could make were shots from the distance.

Moon And Venus

Therefore, I was very happy, when I received SX10 camera. I was sure that I would capture the Moon in its beauty. So, I grabbed the camera and went ahead. I took shots and I became disappointed again. I do not even paid attention on the size of Moon. It was not necessary, as there was only a white patch on the photos.

There was nothing to do but reading what I did wrong. Some articles later, I realized that I did nothing wrong and it was the problem. I had used automatic mode of the camera including autofocus.

I made a try again. At this time, I used manual mode, as the articles said. Moon looked nice!

My First Moon Photo

Now, after taking dozen shots of Moon, I know that the most important thing is manual focus. Auto focus modes do not work properly and Moon looked like a patch nothing more. So, before taking shots, set your camera to manual focus mode and set the distance to infinity or beyond the infinity. You will realize the result at once. If you take shots late night, then setting the focus manually is enough to take good photo of Moon. Its size was a bit disappointing. But what to do. I have to accept the limits of the camera.

However, I recommend using spot metering mode and select the most wonderful colors changing the white balance. Finding the right aperture and the shutter speed makes your capture better.

If you want to capture great craters then you better to take shots of growing or decreasing Moon, when the light reaches its surface from the side and makes pretty shadows. Look at the moon pictures, you can see nice crates only on the inner side of Moon. Full Moon is also great but you hardly will find cool craters on it.

I like these photos. I wanted more. I wanted the background to be blue instead of dark. It seemed very easy. I just must go out afternoon when there is not night and Moon is on the sky. I met new problems taking shots of early Moon. In this case, settings of aperture and shutter speed are essential. Forget about the viewfinder; the LCD screen is your only friend now. It is worth verifying the captures after the shots. The lights are fragile and checks are indeed important.

The Bed Of The Moon

The last advice is the most useful. Always use tripod unless you are a superman.

7/07/2009

Viewfinder

I knew much of the theory of taking nice shots. It is good, but it means nothing if you do not have the proper practice and if you have poor knowledge of the camera you have. Believe me; it is my personal experiment.

I grabbed the camera and went out of the room to take photos. I shot some images. I was not content with the result. My camera drew nice pictures. Even so, the photos were not cool. My first wall picture was a simple wall, nothing more. At this time, I could not handle the focus settings of the camera. That was one of the reasons of failing.

The Wall

It took much time until I found out the source of failure. There were unnecessary parts in the photos. Can you see the earth above the wall? I did not remember if I had realized it during taking the photo. After hundreds of shots, I learned that the problem was around the viewfinder. I did not like the use LCD screen of the camera. However, it has live view functionality. The resolution of the viewfinder is too small for my old eyes. :)
I suggest you to look your viewfinder or LCD screen very carefully if you do not want to waste part of the shot cropping out disturbing parts.

In my opinion, this wall looks better.

Wall 2

7/04/2009

Taking Possession Of The Camera

Thus, I am a proud owner of the Canon PowerShot SX10 camera. I opened its box and admired my new beauty. When I was moving it, I could hear a soft clack from inside the camera. I turned it on and the disturbing noise stopped. I switched it off and turned the camera slowly. I heard clacks again. There was nothing to do but to call the call center of the shop. A lady with lovely voice told me that it sounded like a serious problem. She suggested returning the camera as soon as possible. It was evening, after the traffic jam time. I sat into my car and went back to the shop.

The shop assistant was moving the camera as I told to move and was looking at me with a question on his face. He could not hear the noise until I did not pay his attention on it. He started to smile and explained that this clack came from the auto focus system of the camera and it was in good order. Thus, do not worry of the clack if your camera is switched off. It was my first adventure with the auto focus system. :)

I took some shots to try if the main functionalities of the camera worked well. Then I continue reading the manual. I read almost all except the focus features, as this part was large and I was too lazy. Now, I know it was a mistake. I should have read the manual to save time and not to be nervous in the future.

7/02/2009

Choosing The Camera

I was browsing the Internet and talking with my friends to learn as much as possible. It was the race against the time. I read more and I wanted to have a camera sooner. I decided to buy Canon camera instead of Nikon. Why? It is not simple. I did not care much of advertisement. It was clear that marketing of Nikon was far better than marketing of Canon. Having good marketing always makes me revisit my point of view. I felt that more people had Canon camera. But, I warn you; do not believe emotions. Choose your camera manufacturer alone. I did and I believe I mad a good choice.

I learned that there were 3 types of digital cameras:
  • compact,
  • bridge and
  • DSLR.
I did not want a compact camera. The budget allowed by my wife made possible to buy Canon PowerShot SX10 or Canon 450D (Rebel XSi). The real answer was to buy a bridge or a DSLR camera. I knew that DSLR better. At this time, I knew about the better quality of drawing pictures. DSLR has changeable objective, which made this hobby more expensive.

My choice was the bridge camera, Canon PowerShot SX10. After 3 months of photography, I can tell you that my decision was right. I could try landscape, portrait, macro, bird and everything I wanted photography. To try these all with DSLR I had to spend dozens of money to buy objectives. If I had bought DSLR kit, then I would have had a break. Because, having only one objective is very hard limit.

Comparing SX10 with my old LC50, I have to admit that a new world opened for me. I had to admit also that I would buy DSLR camera, now. I still do not know how to explain it to my wife.
Taking shots with SX10, I sometimes thought that I reached the limit of this camera. Then I learned that it was not too, I just had to improve my skills. However, it is possible that I indeed reached the limit of SX10, now. :)

Beginnings

I always liked to take pictures. However, I never did. When I was a child, I had a Smena 8 M camera. I bet only few of you are familiar with this type. It was made in the USSR for children. I remember how much trouble I had with its settings. I usually set the distance and the force of the light. If you became interested in reading more of this retro camera, then follow one of the next links: on www.rus-camera.com, www.sovietcams.com.

I gave up taking picture. I do not know why. Probably, the difficulties with the settings without knowledge and the long time of development soured a child like me. I forgot the photography for many years.

Next time I met photography was about 15 years later, when I work, after graduating. I beheld a digital camera Kodak DC20. It was not very expensive; my wife allowed me to buy it. :)

This camera was more interesting than useful. From one hand, I liked IT, from other hand it was a point and shoot camera and there was not need to develop captures. I enjoyed this camera. It was great technical achievement at that time, but it was only a toy. Time to time, I took pictures, but there were more important things in my life. I put aside the photography again.

Some years later, I received Panasonic DMC-LC50 camera. This compact camera is a good one, it was especially great in some years ago. I took pictures occasionally of my friends. I did not love photography; it was just a hobby on holidays.

In The Wood

Foggy

By Night

I captured nature, too, but very rarely and I did not think of the art of the shots.

Stream

I always wanted to capture people. My wife does not like to be my model. Once, her sister arrived to us and I learned that she was a born model.

Tropicarium IV

Without Makeup

Budapest Parade XII

The holiday elapsed and forgot about the photography until I behold an advertisement on the Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd camera. It was very cheap and my love to photography resuscitated. My wife and I were on the shop. When my wife read the name of the manufacturer, she started to protest. She demanded me to buy a Nikon camera. I was not sure, because the price of the cheapest Nikon camera was about 3 times higher then the FinePix. I adjourned buying a camera. I had to gather more information before saying goodbye to dozens of money.

7/01/2009

The Goal Of The Blog

I am a newcomer hobby photographer. I started with simple aiming and clicking the exposure button. Then I descended deeper in the world of photography and I realized how difficult to take good shots.

Reading about the photography and taking pictures are very different. I often forget something during capturing. Practice is very important; I strongly believe in it. Almost every book, article of photography is very theoretical. I have only one book giving practical advices.

Trying to have more practical suggestion, I joined some photographer society web sites. I am from Hungary, so it was obvious that I registered in Hungarian web sites. It was not the best idea. I found 2 good society sites, but I became disappointed. On the first site, there was a requirement to write criticism to some photos to gain the right to upload one. How many comments should you do before uploading? I do not know. Maybe 50 or 100. It was very uncomfortable to write criticism a photo made by a photographer better me. I was newbie and I joined to get knowledge. I was unable to write good comments. Do not forget such comments like “Great shot” or “It could be better” are ignored.

The other site was a nightmare. According the rules every people can upload one shot per day. It sounds good, does not it? Unfortunately, registered users are envy. I am sure some of the self-appointed leaders enjoy to laugh at newbies instead of help. Looking some very good shots and reading the rating the shot receive, I thought that these people just did not want any competitors. The system of comments allows to give rating without any word.

I left this community, when one of my pictures received 2 of 10 and when I asked about the problems with my shot, nobody could tell a single problem. Now, I know that this shot is far from perfect. But, I know why. Giving poor rating and being unable to say the reason is very common in this site, especially if the photographer is not one of the self-appointed leaders. It is not very good to say but this is a typical pattern of behavior among us, Hungarians.

Then, I found the flickr. It is a great site and great community. I am very happy because I joined. However, there is a problem. People on flickr are very gentle; you will not receive much criticism. Development is very difficult without criticism.

In this blog, I would like to share my experiment gained in practice. I will not give advices; I will not tell the right way how to take perfect pictures. The reason is simple. I do not know the right way; I am searching for it now. I just share with you what I did and how I did. You can decide to follow my methods or you can improve them.

I will be very thankful for your comments, suggestion. :)