The Bad Photographer » My Education http://www.badphotographer.com Donald Jackson's Photographic Journey Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:08:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The Comeback http://www.badphotographer.com/2010/02/the-comeback/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2010/02/the-comeback/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:25:27 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.badphotographer.com/?p=123 So you’re probably thinking I’ve been lazy. Alas I have not been, I managed to get a small hair on my camera‘s sensor. In addition to this something happened to the USB port so I could not transfer any images to my PC. Anyway, I have the camera back, USB still not working but I do have a card reader and some compatible cards now so that I can copy some photos again.

I went down to the promenade as it seemed like quite a nice sunset on the go and I managed to come up with these photos, let me know what you think? I am definitely considering a genuine ultra-wide angle lens to make sure these photos are as good as they deserve to be.

I also took a few shots the other night with my cousins, I wasn’t super impressed with the results but I’m putting them here just for completeness sake :)

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2010/02/the-comeback/feed/ 0 The Trip to the Farm http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-the-farm/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-the-farm/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:30:50 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.badphotographer.com/?p=112 So today I went with my family to my Dad’s farm just outside of PE. I was testing out a new filter that I bought, a circular polarizer to see what effect it had on the photos. It had positive effects, but I was simply unable to capture the scenes that I was hoping to. I think its definitely time for me to take a photography course. Anyway, there are some spectacular views there so I thought I’d upload some of the shots I took on my day out there.

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-the-farm/feed/ 2 The Christmas Lunch http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-christmas-lunch/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-christmas-lunch/#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:45:35 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=105 Well let’s get the pleasantries out the way first, Merry Christmas ( or Happy Holidays as some people prefer ;) ) to all . As always our family gathered and we had quite a serious feast. I decided to whip out the macro lens and get some shots of the food. I think they turned out OK, but I am still struggling to get the depth of field correct on my shots, tips anyone?

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-christmas-lunch/feed/ 4 The Trip to Port Elizabeth http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-port-elizabeth/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-port-elizabeth/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:49:24 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=78 So I made my way down to Port Elizabeth for the Christmas holiday. I took the ‘back way’ via Worcester and Robertson and on the road between Robertson and Swellendam dawn started which really allowed for some awesome views and shots. I’d never tested out the bulb function to catch ‘car drag’ on a road so I thought I could try and capture both the dawn as well as one or two of the few cars on the road.

This shot came out well for me, and there is a green light in the sky moving across the frame, but it was unintentional and I’m still not sure what it is, possibly a plane? I like it, but I am still struggling to focus the lens correctly in the dark.

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-trip-to-port-elizabeth/feed/ 4 The Beach http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-beach/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-beach/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:34:23 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=71 I was having a tough day getting my brain into gear so I decided to take a few hours off to get some inspiration. I headed down to Camps Bay beach in Cape Town with my camera. I saw this little boy playing on the beach and managed to catch this snap of him. For those of you in the know, you’d know I am not a fan of child photography but I thought this came out too well!

I was testing out a new mode on the Canon 7D which is called “Creative Auto” which has some presets, in this one I intentionally blurred the background as much as possible. I quite like it.

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/12/the-beach/feed/ 5 The Sunshine http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-sunshine/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-sunshine/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:57:29 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=55 I was at Alex’s house-warming party and she requested I bring my camera. It was another awesome day of spring in Cape Town, and her friend Lorien suggested the technique for taking this photo. I think it really turned out well and that’s a great happy face!

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-sunshine/feed/ 1 The Flash http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-flash/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-flash/#comments Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:48:23 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=47 I had always seen online the photos taken at night by ‘professionals’ and I thought wow I wish my night shots would look that nice. Well last night I had the chance to test out my new external flash (Canon 430 EX II) and literally the first shot I took was up to the standards I had always wanted. I took many photos but I liked this one, very realistic skin tones and just a happy moment I think.

What this night did teach me however, was that I needed to start watching my depth of field. My most used lens (Canon 24-70mm) is a f/2.8 which does by default blur out background subjects, which is a great effect. The problem was though that if two people were sitting next to each other but one slightly further away than the other, they would be blurred out. Working on it ;)

]]> http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/the-flash/feed/ 1 The Arrival – Canon EOS 7D http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/its-arrived-canon-eos-7d/ http://www.badphotographer.com/2009/11/its-arrived-canon-eos-7d/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:51:12 +0000 Donald Jackson http://www.bad-photographer.com/?p=7 So the day has finally come. My shiny new Canon EOS 7D arrived today.

I think this is the beginning of a long and enjoyable journey for me into the world of photography, unfortunately I don’t have a lens yet but at least the ball is rolling.

Obviously this was taken with my cell phone camera :) Hopefully this will be the end of bad photos!

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