Can someone give me some feedback on some of my photos?

[Jambrosio]

So I'm a pretty much a total beginner. I've been photographing shows for a few months and have now started to try to photograph other things and could use some feedback on both.

Here's the Flickr account I just made: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123398029@N02/with/13908547364 The first few photos are from a show last week, the next dozen are from an assignment for a journalism class and the last dozen are from walking around with a camera for a day.

I could use input on how I'm composing my shots, what I'm doing wrong from a technical sense (I know I DEFINITELY haven't mastered my camera's manual settings, but I'm trying), and what I can be improving in post. Since I am a beginner, I would appreciate it if you could explain these directions in as much detail as possible, but any input would be helpful, really.

Thanks!

 

[W.Fovall]

I would say don't be afraid to get the F stop down further, seems like some of the photos might look better with some background blur.. plus if you shoot down at 3.5 with that lens you could lower the iso to get a sharper image. the band pics look good but sense everything is in focus it distracts from the subject.

So I'm a pretty much a total beginner. I've been photographing shows for a few months and have now started to try to photograph other things and could use some feedback on both.

Here's the Flickr account I just made: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123398029@N02/with/13908547364 The first few photos are from a show last week, the next dozen are from an assignment for a journalism class and the last dozen are from walking around with a camera for a day.

I could use input on how I'm composing my shots, what I'm doing wrong from a technical sense (I know I DEFINITELY haven't mastered my camera's manual settings, but I'm trying), and what I can be improving in post. Since I am a beginner, I would appreciate it if you could explain these directions in as much detail as possible, but any input would be helpful, really.

Thanks!

 

[Jambrosio]

I would say don't be afraid to get the F stop down further, seems like some of the photos might look better with some background blur.. plus if you shoot down at 3.5 with that lens you could lower the iso to get a sharper image. the band pics look good but sense everything is in focus it distracts from the subject.

My f stop on my lens only goes down to 4.5 (and for most of these it was set at like 5.0 or 5.6) so it's about as low as it can go. Is there any other way to get more background blur? Also, I'm actually looking to get a new lens soon, would you be able to suggest one that would be better suited for these kind of shots?

 

[Braineack]

not every picture demands a wide aperture. I dont see any pictures in your Flickr set that would have been inherently improved if they were shot with less DOF and more background blur. Although some of your indoor/dark shots were shot at an f-stop higher than you min. which could have allowed you to bump the shutter speed and/or ISO.

One thing that will help is the resistance to the dutch tilt, and working on framing on compositing.

 

[IronMaskDuval]

I would say don't be afraid to get the F stop down further, seems like some of the photos might look better with some background blur.. plus if you shoot down at 3.5 with that lens you could lower the iso to get a sharper image. the band pics look good but sense everything is in focus it distracts from the subject.

My f stop on my lens only goes down to 4.5 (and for most of these it was set at like 5.0 or 5.6) so it's about as low as it can go. Is there any other way to get more background blur? Also, I'm actually looking to get a new lens soon, would you be able to suggest one that would be better suited for these kind of shots?

For the concert photos, getting a fast lens would help, but you'd still have to bump your ISO a bit. With the T3i, you may get some noise in the photos, but the wider your aperture is, the better it'll do in low light and blur the background. But like brain mentioned, your photos don't really need it. Try shooting wider with your kit lens to get the widest aperture possible and then crop down to tighten up the composition. You can also slow down your shutter a bit from 1/100. If you're not too steady, look into getting a mono pod. Even then, if the ambient light doesn't light up the face, you'd end up needing a speedlight that you can use with a diffuser-- just not head on. Trial and error is a great thing with digital.

 

[Jambrosio]

not every picture demands a wide aperture. I dont see any pictures in your Flickr set that would have been inherently improved if they were shot with less DOF and more background blur. Although some of your indoor/dark shots were shot at an f-stop higher than you min. which could have allowed you to bump the shutter speed and/or ISO.

One thing that will help is the resistance to the dutch tilt, and working on framing on compositing.

So what should I be doing differently with the shutter/ISO/aperture settings?

Also, I usually have to resort to using a tilt when I'm at an awkward and angle and can't move (which was most of this last show), but what else can I do to work on framing my shots better?

 

[W.Fovall]

if you stand back a bit farther and zoom in it will compress the background a bit more making the subject a bit more isolated.
i recommend getting a 70-200 f/4L .. its the cheapest L lens
or getting something like a fast 50mm or 85mm prime

 

[AlanKlein]

Good luck on your photo course and career. I like your pictures. Just a few things I noticed. The show pictures have nice action but the tilt in so many of them seem to be too many. I understand you want to make them different. But you don't want to get the viewer dizzy. The pictures are too dark as are the subway shots and the indoor restaurant/bar. Either raise the ISO, add a flash or use a lens that has a bigger aperture. You could slow the shutter, but that might just blur the picture and action to much.

The boxing shot: two of them have the legs cut off with too much space at the top. Squat down if you have too. The people in the background are making the pictures too busy and taking away from the boxers. Since you can't get rid of them for these shots, if you opened the aperture (corrected), you could have thrown them a little out of focus. You could raise the ISO and use a faster lens as in my comments above. What kind of camera and lens did you use?

Picture of man holding his left arm outstretched with girl in background: Don't let the edge of a part of the body just touch the edge of the photo frame (his head). That usually doesn't work. Either cut into the body like you mean it. Or leave some space between the edge of the body and edge of the photo.

Two outdoor musicians: Watch the tilt. I'm still dizzy!

The other shots seem like snapshots. Nothing seems to be happening or they don't have aesthetic quality just for beauty. Why did you shoot them? What do they mean?

You seem to be off to a great start.

 

[AlanKlein]

Second paragraph was corrected after original post.