Help with pics (To bland)

[disruptfam]

When i take pics with my cannon s3.They never seem to stand out if you know what i mean.

Any tips to get them out there as in clearer more pleasing to the eye pics.Is this the best my s3 can do or if i tweak the settings can i get so much more?

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc30/disruptfam/Adamsworklog171.jpg

see what i mean.bland

I still have figured out the perfect settings for this camera.

maybe lighting is my problem?

cheers guys

[Soulburner]

Looks like you need more light - otherwise the pic looks pretty natural to me.

I take my hardware pics next to a big window when the sun is out.

[begrip]

Can't u on the canon cameras adjust the lightning? on my powershot g9 i got like -2 -1 0 +1 +2 how much it will light up

[Nate P.]

You might want to up the contrast a tad.

[MaxxxRacer]

You absolutely do not need more contrast. More contrast wil only make the picture look worse. Look at my two examples below. The first a I added alot of contrast and the second I set the contrast VERY low and turned up the brightness alot. You can see how much better it looks with less contrast and more brightness.

All you really need to make your photos look better is light. Lighting is what make pictures "pop". With bad lighting even a professional photographers photos will look like crap.

ADDED Contrast
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9229/editcontrastgm9.jpg


Added Brightness and REMOVED Contrast

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3892/editbrightgm7.jpg

[Sam__]

very good examples there MaxxxRacer. I shal keep this in mind when i take pics.

[disruptfam]

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc30/disruptfam/Adamsworklog171.jpg

better lighting

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc30/disruptfam/Adamsworklog189.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc30/disruptfam/Adamsworklog196.jpg

a lil blurry though

I run these settings. Manual ,daylight,darker skin tone,spot, superfine, 100iso.

should i take pics @ lower iso eg 80iso? or should i get more lighting?

[Magnj]

light is your friend.

[MaxxxRacer]

Lower the ISO, the better and more light the better. P&S cameras dont do well at high ISO, so using the base (lowest) ISO setting gives the best results.

[Soulburner]

Actually on the S3 there were some aberration issues at ISO 80, and it was deemed that 100 was the best for most uses. I'd never go over 200 though, its just too noisy.

I always use Aperture Priority and let it adjust the shutter speed, I find it does a fine job. There are only a few cases where I need a different speed that its choosing.

disruptfam, those look better. The last one isn't necessarily blurry, you just have a thin depth of field. You can clearly see where the focus is, and anything in front of or behind that spot will be out of focus. You'll find this often in Super Macro mode (and its desirable for subject isolation).

[disruptfam]

Actually on the S3 there were some aberration issues at ISO 80, and it was deemed that 100 was the best for most uses. I'd never go over 200 though, its just too noisy.

I always use Aperture Priority and let it adjust the shutter speed, I find it does a fine job. There are only a few cases where I need a different speed that its choosing.

disruptfam, those look better. The last one isn't necessarily blurry, you just have a thin depth of field. You can clearly see where the focus is, and anything in front of or behind that spot will be out of focus. You'll find this often in Super Macro mode (and its desirable for subject isolation).

ahhhk thanks for the tips.

Where is aperture priority?

[Soulburner]

Av mode.