I'm new.. be gentle!! C&C

rommeeeezy · Aug 6, 2010

Well as the title says I'm new, but however it's just a humorous joke. Give all the C&C you want. I'm trying to develop my skills as a photographer so, give me some constructive criticism. My main work is with portraits so that's why many of these photos are just people doing things. It was at an outing my friends had for "Frisbee Friday" and I brought along my camera. All of these were shot with a D3000 and 35mm 1.8G beeteedubs.

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Morpheuss · Aug 6, 2010

they aren't to bad color is nice I'm not really into the subject looks like you and just some friends hanging out

Corvphotography · Aug 6, 2010

i like the colors. but i would have actually liked to have seen you guys throwing and jumping for the frisbee.

benlonghair · Aug 6, 2010

Every one except the girl with the football seems underexposed.

Breaux · Aug 6, 2010

Nice work!

#3 and #6 particularly have the problem of some dude way in the background. If you can't avoid the dude, use your largest aperture to throw him out of focus. Longer lenses will work better for this.

Also, for faces in bright sun, fill-flash usually helps. It looks to me like #8 has it, but the rest don't?

Stormchase · Aug 6, 2010

C&c as requested.
1 and 2 are much,more saturated then the others. Looking red. Maybe natural light?
3 the subject is too dark and sky is blown out. Fill flash might do well.
4 the hand is cut off onthe right with qnother person just touching inthe shot. Little distracting. Horizon Is off tilt and too centered.
5 Subject again dark. Maybe a different shooting position and tilted horizon.
6 not bad. Might have waited until the background person was out of the way but good shot. Nice dof.
7 not bad, knee Is cut off and diet right guy is distracting. Again tilt.
8 pretty good, little dark and would like to see a little more on the right, but good shot.
9 Butt cut off, uninteresting.
Hate tosay the "S" word, but they are snapshoty.
Take time to think what will be in the shot.

Don · Aug 6, 2010

Nice colors, maybe bordering on oversaturated, but the edgy look works with the scenes you were capturing I think. Your exposures could defiantly benefited from some fill flash.

rommeeeezy · Aug 6, 2010

Stormchase said:
C&c as requested.
1 and 2 are much,more saturated then the others. Looking red. Maybe natural light?
3 the subject is too dark and sky is blown out. Fill flash might do well.
4 the hand is cut off onthe right with qnother person just touching inthe shot. Little distracting. Horizon Is off tilt and too centered.
5 Subject again dark. Maybe a different shooting position and tilted horizon.
6 not bad. Might have waited until the background person was out of the way but good shot. Nice dof.
7 not bad, knee Is cut off and diet right guy is distracting. Again tilt.
8 pretty good, little dark and would like to see a little more on the right, but good shot.
9 Butt cut off, uninteresting.
Hate tosay the "S" word, but they are snapshoty.

THANKS! for all the C&C to you and everybody else. So Yes, 1-2 is natural light. I might've played around with contrasts and vibrance too much in lightroom 3. I haven't really perfected the art of "flash" photography yet. Let alone just regular outdoor photography. And it seems like to me, i like things a tad underexposed. Or, that i've just been playing around with lightroom settings too much to know what properly exposed and underexposed is.. It could turn to be a bad habit. As well "Snapshoty" is ok to describe these. I wasn't aiming to please anyone with these shots. I really at times just grabbed my camera to do something and take some pictures. If only i had a 24-70... That would've been the perfect time to use it for this. But OH WELL! It's hard to get good pictures besides the regular, "SMILE!" pictures. I'll have to look through a couple of my sets to really see if I have any non-snapshoty pictures. These were all just normal portraits, i liked them, but they could be very boring for others to see. There's no real artistic feel. But it's good to return home and look at would you did during the day!

THANKS!

raider · Aug 6, 2010

be gentle... then never mind.

Derrel · Aug 6, 2010

You hit upon the problem--you have indeed, played around with contast and vibrance too much in Lightroom. Your compositions appear haphazard, unstudied, and offhand...living in California, you need to be aware that the light there is very beautiful in the evenings, but the contrast ratio of the sunlight is still pretty strong, and is really pushing the limits of digital sensors unless you use reflector fill, or fill-flash.

You're on the right track, photographing young, thin, attractive people, but my suggestion would be to slow down and really work the shots....like the girl with the football...you have simply got to get rid of that 2-liter soda bottle and the knee of the other person next to her. The background has what looks like the restrooms in the park,and people milling about.

Using a D90 and kit zooms or short wide-angle primes, you do not have a lot of control over background defocus, like you would if you had a 300 f/4 or a 70/200 2.8 zoom lens, so when shooting with the two kit zooms, which top out at f/5.6, one has to be extra-careful about backgrounds. With your 35mm 1.8 G Nikkor, you really have to watch the backgrounds, since that lens has a wide angle of view **behind** the subject!!! Anyway, slow down, and "work" the shots....like the guy using the cell phone...needs more room around him at the top,and the Dutch tilt is unneeded. Ayway, I would say to work more slowly and methodically,until you really are positive that each shot has been done as good as you can get it, and only then move on to the next subject/pose, and watch your backdrops. This style looks like you and friends went to the park with no plan, you shot 200 frames, then picked these. That's not the way to do it.

Stormchase · Aug 6, 2010

ROM, your right that its all about looking at what you got for the day and enjoy. Computer monitors can vary a bit too. I like most of my shots a little darker as well.
Keep shooting and enjoying what ya get! The more you shoot the more things will change as knowledge grows.

Edit: just wanted to add somthing that has been on my mind lately while shooting thats good to do. Always try to get the correct shot out of the camera. Don't rely on PS to make the shot. Learn the custom settings and all the setting that your camera offers and you wont really need to worry if Its over or underexposed. Trust your light meter! my computer has a cheap crappy screen so I need to do this. Otherwise Im all over In ps trying to fine tune.wich I end up going bqckto the way it was or its messed up

That's always on my mind now. I learned photo before computers were in homes. There was little to change in a darkroom compared to PS now.

Steve01 · Aug 6, 2010

Personally I think to one degree or another they're all underexposed, over saturated and a bit to contrasty (if that's even a word)

rommeeeezy · Aug 6, 2010

Steve01 said:
Personally I think to one degree or another they're all underexposed, over saturated and a bit to contrasty (if that's even a word)

Yeah, that's just sorta like what happens with lightroom 3 editings. they're just a little tooo colorful. I'm colorblind myself.. NO i don't have the problem that i can't see colors, but i get mixed up with colors. So it could be a problem in the future.

To Derrel:

Thanks, i love your critiquing. I always find them useful if not very beneficial to the shooter. You're methodical thinking really enlightens me. OH and god no do i shoot with a D90. I'm a n00000b so i shoot with a D3000. the 35mm 1.8G is a little TOO wide for my taste so I'm switching to zooms for now maybe a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. Throw the background more out of focus. OH and that "dutch" on one of the photos is from doing "hip" shots. :lmao: I tried to just center it. Ended up being tilted.