First Images

virtue_summer · Feb 27, 2008

This is my first post here in the photo forum. I consider myself to still be a beginner to photography. I just started venturing into manual mode on my camera and these are two of the first photos I took. What do you think?

nealjpage · Feb 28, 2008

Not bad. I like the dog quite a bit, partially because of the pose and also because of the exposure, which I think is pretty good, too.

The first one, IMO, isn't as good. The little hunk of the tree branch in the upper right is distracting and the scene lacks quite a bit of contrast.

Congrats on experimenting with the manual mode.

Fun, ain't it? Careful, though: it might open the door to all-manual vintage cameras.

Furlock · Feb 28, 2008

Hi,

I like the second shot. Pets are great friends of getting attention, and some of them are real stars in front of a camera. This dog is a star, no doubt.

The first shot - it seems to me - was taken looking in 'color' mode. Maybe the yellow flowers would attrack your attention, and then the shadows of the trees on the white wall would lead you combine both. Maybe, if you rescue the color of the main bush of flowers...

Another approach could be positioning yourself where the brick or stone is. If you could get close to it, and fill with it a third of the picture, and the rest with the shadows, maybe it could turn out into a very interesting shot (vertical frame).

Kind regards,

Miguel

virtue_summer · Feb 28, 2008

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I noticed the tree branch after I took the first photo. I think the shadows just got me too interested when I saw them so that I snapped the pic without thinking it through enough. Maybe I should have changed position. I think you're right about the contrast, too. I've been looking at some of the other b&w photos around here, and mine does look kind of washed out.

As to the second, this dog (Precious) is one of my favorite subjects because although I have two other dogs in the house, she's the calmest about having her picture taken.

I don't think I'm going back to automatic mode or even program mode. I like the feeling of manual mode and being more in control of the different things that determine the expsosure, even if I still have a lot to learn.