new to forums.. rook at photography.. hello to all

[austriker]

hello,
so i have always had a slight interest in photography and never really explored it until my senior year of high school when i took basic photography 1 my last semester. i wish i had taken more classes. i learned a little bit like rule of thirds and black room techniques.

the summer after my freshman year (last summer) my dad had bought a d40x and i went shooting with him several times. about 2 weeks ago i bought a d40 off ebay for $300 (i waited forever for a great deal!) and started shooting.. i love it soo much and try to bring it with me everywhere during classes so i dont miss anything. my friend is rather good and he has been advising me.

i hope to meet yall soon as i will definately post some photos and hope for some advice.. right now i feel like i grasp basic concepts with DOF but not really all the settings like exposure and such (more advanced techniques)

my flickr account is listed under my website and i would love some feedback.

ps- is this beginner photo gallery the best place to post for feedback? or the general gallery

check out these few images, and let me know what you think! hopefully these links work

(1)
http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2861862646/

(2)

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2938588427/
(3)

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2938659315/

 

[Sebastian 16]

welcome to the forum! i like #2 but the corner of it is way hot.3 is good as well but it needs a little more dof. all in all decent pics look forward to seeing more.

 

[tirediron]

Welcome to photography and TPF. The Beginner's Forum is the best place to post right now; you'll find the critique and comments geared more toward your current level. Let's talk about your images:

1. A reasonably well executed mono conversion, but slightly under-exposed and mid-tone rich (overly grey). I'd suggest working a little more with levels and curves to bring out some detail in the foreground building. Now the big question: What are you trying to say or show with this image and why did you do a mono conversion?

2. Hmmm... for some reason, I quite like this image. There are a couple of issues; the blown area left background, and the cropped lower corner, but the perspective tells me that you're thinking about your compositions. Again, what's the message?

3. You say that you've got an understanding of DoF, yet in this image the focused area is a very narrow area of the middleground, with the [I assume] subject very softly focused. Why? Since your EXIF data isn't complete, I'm not sure what lens and/or aperture you used here. I think the best way to have composed this image would have been to make the person's face the centre of focus and use a very shallow DoF (large aperture) to keep the foreground and background as soft as possible.
There's a fairly basic set of exercises I recommend to a lot of begining photographers: Take your camera and set it to "Aperture priority" and place it on a tripod or other solid, unmoving surface in an area where there are lots of objects (eg NOT a smooth, open field). A long, straight fence with posts every few feet is ideal. Now starting off with either your largest or smallest aperture, take one exposure at each aperture until you get to the other end. Repeat this with your camera focused on a fairly close object (<10') a medium distance (25-30') and again at infinity. Notice the areas which are in and out of focus and the range of the image which is sharply focused depending on the distance your object of focus was.
With that done, stand on the side of a busy street with your camera set to Shutter Priority and starting off at say 1/500 of a second and working down in full stops (1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30) take pictures of the cars going by. Notice at what speeds they're completely frozen, notice at what speeds you can no longer hand-hold the camera. If you can, try this once on a suburban street with fairly slow traffic and again on a highway or freeway with much faster traffic.
These two exercises repeated in different situations should help to give you an understanding of the two single most important aspects of exposure. Shutter speed and aperture, and how each will affect your image.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[austriker]

okay well thank you tirediron and sebastian.. ppreciate it.

i only currently have iPhoto so i did go back and edit number 1, increased exp and shadows to place emphasis on the bldg in foreground. yea number 2 i thought was sweet too but that white light messes it up =( but i still like it...
john- my EXIF data is posted on flickr and i posted the links to the photos on flickr. you should find the info there about fstop and exposure. and next time i can i will do your little exercise. i do know that bigger fstop the more fuzzier the background is (i think, i might have forgot i guess)

what do you mean about "whats my message" i kinda just thought the stuff looked sweet and so i took em.

comment on number 3: the camera was backed against the wall and so i couldnt really see anything on it, thats kinda why its so amazinng b/c i couldnt see/change any settings and one photo just happened to turn out really well!

 

[austriker]

here are some more!!!
(4) heres some sweet pipes. the wood is distracting so i went back and reshot it but havent got time to edit them and upload

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2938648141/

(5) heres a pretty interesting perspective on a lock. i really like the lock but not really great compo so i went for a good angle

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2939470912/

(6) this is my favorite car (bmw e36) and would love to own one- so signifgant subject to me and i think pretty well done

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2920449399/

(7) 2 of my friends at chuck e cheese's for bday party gamin it up!

http://flickr.com/photos/27659703@N02/2914189986/

 

[tirediron]

okay well thank you tirediron and sebastian.. ppreciate it.

i only currently have iPhoto so i did go back and edit number 1, increased exp and shadows to place emphasis on the bldg in foreground. yea number 2 i thought was sweet too but that white light messes it up =( but i still like it...
john- my EXIF data is posted on flickr and i posted the links to the photos on flickr. you should find the info there about fstop and exposure. and next time i can i will do your little exercise. i do know that bigger fstop the more fuzzier the background is (i think, i might have forgot i guess)

what do you mean about "whats my message" i kinda just thought the stuff looked sweet and so i took em.

comment on number 3: the camera was backed against the wall and so i couldnt really see anything on it, thats kinda why its so amazinng b/c i couldnt see/change any settings and one photo just happened to turn out really well!

-Download The Gimp (www.gimp.org) It's free, and and almost the equal of Photoshop. A bit difficult to learn in spots, but well worth it.

-Right now I'm working with very limited bandwidth, so if your EXIF data isn't with the image, I'm not going to to go looking for it (and even when I'm back on a broadband connection, I only have so much time). If you can prevent whatever action is stripping off the data before you post here, it would help those who provide critique.

-Okay, if you took them because you thought they were interesting, what's interesting about them? Why are they interesting to you? I'm not being sarcastic, or putting you down, but again, this is an exercise; why did someone take a particular photo? Often times it's obvious, but with some things it's not. Your comment about the third image, while it doesn't make the photo any better does make it interesting.

 

[austriker]

okay i will try out gimp (i just iphoto right now). its just im not sure i want really sophisticated post-processing software because i might become lax and take great shots cuz i can just edit them. i want to perfect my shots before using it.. this make sense??

how do i keep the exif data attached to it? i have them hosted on flickr and posted them using

...

okay i will try and think more of why i take them.. like they should kind of tell a story? sorry im so new to all this photo stuff
thanks for all your help!!

how do the other ones in my other post look?

 

[zubin]

#6 is an e30

are you sure its your favorite car?

 

[camerainmyhand]

I like the one of the pipes. I think it is an interesting composition and also a cool looking pattern. I always enjoy when photos make ordinary things look extraordinary.

The lock is pretty boring. The lock is the main subject but it is darker than the chainlink fence. I think that the sun is shining from the left side of the frame. So the opposite side of the fence is getting the light instead of the lock. If it is really an image you want to capture think about the time of day the sun would provide the best natural lighting for your photo. Then go back and get the best photo you can. Also, I think the tree is distracting and it would have looked better with just the fence and the sky. I like that you're goin for different angles though.

The car doesnt really do anything for me. If you do a tight crop around the car itself it would def look better but I still wouldn't be that moved by the image. I think you could get a better perspective/angle on it. My general rule of thumb is to try and take a picture at least 7 different ways. It helps me to think about the composition differently.

When the subject of a photo is looking at something thats not in the photo it drags the viewers attention away from the photo. I want to know what they're looking at so I keep looking away from them. If I was taking that photo I would've stood behind them and gotten focused on the game they were playing.

Anyways, just my opinion. I am not a pro, but these are some things that work for me from time to time. I think you've got some good instincts and with some hard work and practice you'll do just fine.

 

[manaheim]

People your age at chuck-e-cheese? eek!

You have some nice images, and some kinda meh. I really like the lock one and the one of the suitcase (Despite whatever technical issues it may have.)

I'm too tired to comment further.

 

[austriker]

I like the one of the pipes. I think it is an interesting composition and also a cool looking pattern. I always enjoy when photos make ordinary things look extraordinary...
...Anyways, just my opinion. I am not a pro, but these are some things that work for me from time to time. I think you've got some good instincts and with some hard work and practice you'll do just fine.

i think thats kinda what im trying to do with my photography right now.. make normal stuff seem interesting. it might be from a lack of great material/being a student with no car, or just an interest- im not sure yet..