First post, some pics (hope this goes right)

Basil


Rosehips


Grass



Ok - why did this one come out blue? same environment as the face of Basil above....?

All images are unprocessed in any way - just uploaded to photobucket and linked here - what's good? what's bad? all comments more than welcome

Some nice shots there Spoontoes!

I would be tempted to clone out the blue in the top left of the first pic, and maybe the dark bit on the right side too

Re the last pic, did it come out of the camera light that or did photobucket do that? (looks like the white balance is wrong)

Cheers for the reply Azz :

<snip>
clone out
<snip>

I'm guessing that's something to be done in photoshop? I've no skills in that department either (yet ), but what does clone out mean exactly?

As for the last shot - that's how it came out of the camera, I thought it might be a white balance issue - would I now correct that in phtoshop or is the image a loss?

I'm goin to be asking *loads* of questions - so be prepared hehehe

Clone out is post processing yes - it's where you 'clone' something out, make it vanish if you don't have PS, try something free like gimp.org

Re the image - was the photo taken in RAW if so you can adjust the white balance afterwards, if not you can try reducing the blue and cyans in photoshop, like so:



Or you can try replacing colour or messing around with it in photoshop. But it would be as easy as working with a RAW file.

First, welcome to YOP. As a beginner there's a lot to learn. I see by your profile that you've started with one of the new Nikon D3100 DSLRs. That's certainly a good start. If you aren't doing so I would suggest you shoot all your photos in RAW format because RAW files contain 256 times more data to work with than a jpeg compressed file. If you don't have a graphics editor yet GIMP is free and can be downloaded from www.download.com which is CNET's protected software site. All software is checked for viruses before it's made available for download. Other good software includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 or earlier and of course Photoshop CS5 which will cost you a pretty penny.

White calance can easily be addressed in any of the graphic software packages. Read as many of the YOP photography classes as you can. They are a good start to the language and skills necessary to get started. Good luck on your quest and never hesitate to ask questions. There are a lot of experts here to help you.

Thanks bobmielke

The first batch of pics I took (not the ones I posted) were in JPG format but I've switched to RAW after I'd read that it was the preferred format - I can see why now hehe.

I played around with that blue picture I posted in the free software that came with my camera: ViewNX 2 I found an 'automatic' white balance setting which has transformed the image nicely - I'm very pleased with that!

Just been out to walk the dog and took a few more photos - the camera goes with me wherever I go now - getting in as much practise and experience as possible

I also bought a few photography magazines - one of which had a coverdisc with GIMP on so I'll give that a look too a bit later.

Good for you. The more you learn the more possibilities open up. I've been at this for over 40 years and a day doesn't pass that I don't learn something new. It's the worst addiction possible. LOL Keep shooting!

Shots aren't bad for a beginner. I of course like the photo's of the dog!!

The top one is nice With plenty of practice you'll get there Some god advice already offered!

xx