E-510 help needed

[readysetgo]

hey, this is my first post so hi all!!
i own a olympus e-510 and i really want to like it but i keep seeing these nice clear shots online and when i look at my photos they are not blurry but they just a lacking in that clear and "poping out of the photo" look.
i know its me and not the camera but i just wonder what i am doing wrong.....i have played around with the manual focus and also the white ballance, iso ect. and just resently i tryed different setting with contrast ect....
any tips or tricks or advice?
by the way i use the two kit lenses could that be my problem? i read that kit lenses usually are not the best.....
well thnaks in advance from casey.

edit:sorry i miswrote the titel.

[Max@Home]

Hi readysetgo,

Welcome aboard the Camel!

It would help of you could post (ah, you need to do more postings before you can do that ....) or link us to your images, or upload some to your free Camel gallery ...

Nothing too wrong with the Olympus kitlenses, among kitlenses, they are regarded as the better ones

...so yes, it'll probably be you or the way you use/set your camera...

Hard to tell without seeing some, sorry, but perhaps the 'true Olympus users' can give you some general hints and tips ...

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[readysetgo]

hey max@home , i will look though my photos and pick a couple to show actually i have two photos on betterphoto i dont do there courses yet but you can see two of my photos....one is over exposed i know this and the other is bad because the back ground went black....but the none the less they are two of my photos.... i hope this works....Photo Gallery by Casey Argall ...from casey

[korman]

Originally Posted by readysetgo

[...] and when i look at my photos they are not blurry but they just a lacking in that clear and "poping out of the photo" look.

Hello Casey,

try to load your image in any photo editor and fool around with your colour controls. In the example of your garden image, simply spreading the histogram so that the flat side on the left (dark) is removed (that's about 30 levels out fo 256) changes the colour a lot.

If this produces the desired results, you then can go back to your camera and play around with various settings that affect the colour handling in your camera. Put the camera on P mode and then try things out like: White balance - Gradation - Picture Mode (Vivid / Normal / etc) and so on. (Some might not exist on your camera). This works best with a tumbler of cognac while sitting in the garden shooting always more or less the same picture of your garden. Having the manual of the camera ready helps too.

This should give you some ideas what does what. If you then select the various pre-set picture modes Olympus included in the camera (Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Forest in the morning with blue-ish elves running around naked, etc.) you should have a better idea what it really does. You should see the changes in the settings on the summary displied on the LCD.

The other way to go, if you feel ready for it is to shoot raw format pictures and do the same in your raw converter. Although I think going with the garden and the congnac is more fun.

For further colour popping effects, a polarisation filter is handy, but I would go that way only after having a sound understanding what the camera can do on its own.

I hope that helps a little.

Korman

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by korman

...If you then select the various pre-set picture modes Olympus included in the camera (Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Forest in the morning with blue-ish elves running around naked, etc.)...

LMAO!



Max@Home

[readysetgo]

hey korman, thanks i just experimented with the gradation setting trying high key and low key and normal and seeing the difference....this helps HEAPS, THANKYOU .
i actually shoot in raw and jpeg together but end up just using the jpeg, i have photoshop elements 6 so that comes with camera raw basic but i dont like it ....it makes my images look bad LOL ok its not really the editers fault.
actually in about a week i will be doing some photography of my older sister for her and coz i love taking people pictures so lets hope i can keep her happy with the results...
from casey

[Paul Shields]

Hi 'readysetgo'. Post some examples here and I'm sure we'll have lots of advice to give you. The E-510 will produce excellent images, even with the kit lenses (which are actually very good at their price point). A lot of the time it's the guy behind the viewfinder and not the gear that is the limiting factor. Not aimed at you - this applies to us all!!