New to photography, C&C welcome!

[crimbfighter]

Hello all,

I am new to the photography world, and like many, now can't seem to get enough... I got my first DSLR (Nikon D5000) and like many other beginners, would love some tips, tricks, pointers, suggestions, ect. Two of my favorite things to do, are 1. throw the camera in the saddle bag and ride around. If I see something interesting, stop and record it for posterities sake... 2nd, I love aviation and airshows. The last one I filled my 8Gb card... I'm sure I saw more of the show through the viewfinder than with my own two eyes! Anyway, given that airshows are dynamic and fast moving, does anyone have suggestions on tricks to achieve better composition when faced with fast moving subjects? Here are also a few of my better first attempts at good photos. C&C or edit as you please. I'd love to see what some of you could do with these photos!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

I messed around with the color in this one a little ^, but couldn't seem to make it pop.

7.

 

[smackitsakic]

I like picture #1 the best. It is appealing b/c of the sharp colours of the bike next to the soft colours of the background. I'd like to see either more of the horizon or more of the road, one or the other. By putting the bike in the top or bottom of the frame it would attract the eye even more.

Picture #2 kind of confused me. It's a neat concept, but I think you should show more of the bike to give the picture more feeling.

The airshow pictures are all nice. Nothing spectacular to me, but nothing wrong in my eyes either.

 

[SilentShutter]

#5...It's Godzilla! lol But I do think #1 is the best picture. But the rest aren't terrible

 

[crimbfighter]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not sure what I was going for with the second one either... I think the landscape was what was most appealing to me and maybe I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the bike, but who really knows...

As for the airshow pictures, I guess I'm looking for a good way to compose them. I sorta feel like my skill level for composition falls more toward the documentation end rather than invoking any emotion or emphasizing a particular portion of the photo. Would I be better off trying to leave the ground in the frame to give perspective?

 

[myfotoguy]

Welcome to TPF!

Composition comes with practice, just keep at it and posting here for critique, your photographic eye will improve over time.

Air shows can be difficult to track, so nailing composition on such fast moving targets can be difficult. It takes a bit of experience shooting them to "get it right". From what I see here you are not doing terrible.

Generally, a little more space in front of the planes, giving them space to move in the frame in the direction they are heading. The same for the truck. They also appear to me slightly underexposed. A bit of tweaking with levels and contrast would help. The samples here seemed downsized a bit, but I gave it a shot with what was available to illustrate.

This was cropped to get the planes out of the center area of the frame, and show how it looks different by giving them space to travel. I also used levels, and the advanced lighting tool (ACDSee Pro) to brighten it up a bit. The sky is looking strange, but with the original file you could probably make some great edits without side effects.

 

[crimbfighter]

I see how giving them that little extra space out front makes a big difference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ImNick]

first pic is nice. the rest make me miss going to air shows.

 

[burstintoflame81]

I think that composition is the main thing you need to work on. Many of the subjects are either cut off or touching the edge of the frame ever so slightly being cut off ( or have some distracting clutter in them like the giant random gorilla ). I know that some of the fast action shots are hard to frame perfectly, but maybe start by allowing extra room and then cropping for composition so you atleast can get a feel for how the pics look the best and then gradually try achieving that more and more in camera.

Nice start though, and nice bike.

 

[...take the shot!]

Nice air show pictures.
1st picture: Very nice.
2nd picture: No.

 

[BrianLy]

Number 6 is pretty cool.

 

[supraman215]

read up on the rule of thirds. You nailed it in #1 but the rest just have the subject centered.

 

[dak1b]

1) needs a color boost
2) either have the bike in the photo or not..i think the pic wud look better w/o the bike..landscapes are always cool...
3) coooool
4) plans cut off on both sides
5) saturation seems off...i find the kong in the background distracting.
6) damn son! FIRE!
7) horizon cub be straigter