Some more birds

[Alun_D]

Hi folks, new to the forum and to the FZ38. I have taken a few shots of some birds in my garden, as i havn't been out with it much yet.
(total beginner)
Cropped and resized in Irfanview.

[maryintexas39]

alun,

what settings did you use? those are some great shots!

[dbnnet]

Alun, interested to see that you were using Spot Metering - Nice

[Alun_D]

Thanks Mary, the settings were pretty much standard in P mode. Iso set to 80 or 100 i think and spot focus. I have found a huge in improvement by manually setting the white balance for indoor shots, though outside, auto white balance seems ok. As a total beginner i am very pleased with some of the photo's i have taken so far.
Alun

[mtclimber]

alun_d and Mary-

Welcome to the Forum. We're delighted that you dropped by.

It looks like you are off to a good beginning with your Panasonic FZ-35/F-38. The consensus of most posters here is to avoid athe IA mode. The "P" for Programed Auto mode yields better image quality than Auto or IA. The FZ-35/FZ-38 is able to determine the proper exposure very well. In extremely bright condition you may have use some minus Exposure Compensation to cut back on the exposure a little bit to prevent clipped highlights.

But, all in all, the FZ-35/FZ-38 actually requires very little "tweaking" or minor adjustments. Have a great day.

Sarah Joyce

[Raghu]

Nice shots. You have beautiful birds in your place.
Raghu

[Paul O]

Beautifully shot Alun, you have beautiful birds in your area. I enjoy taking photo's with setting Iso to 100, lovely tone & clear shots.

[Raghu]

As you progress with the camera, I suggest that you also get to know photo editing. I hope you wouldn't mind my using your photos just to show how editing can further improve an already good shot. Picasa can be a good program to start with. Once you learn the basics there, then you can move to advanced editing with Photoshop or GIMP or Irfanview or any such dedicated photo editing software. Good luck!

Raghu

[Alun_D]

Thanks raghu,
i know that post processing is something i will have to learn as well. I am trying hard to get the technique of holding the camera steady while taking the shot, i took a few today but when i press the button after focusing, the camera moves after the final press, i need to practice that.
I like uploading the photo's here for people to see what the camera can do in the hands of a beginner like me, and for people to suggest ways of improvement as that's the quickest way for me to learn.
Here's another of the male chaffinch.

[Joho]

You should try the burst shooting function of the FZ35. The first picture will suffer from the pressing of the button - but when you keep the button down two additional pictures will be taken without any shaking.