Some photos of mine, c&c welcome

[TBAM]

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Any help with composition, PP, subject matter etc would all be appreciated.

I'm reasonably new to photography and am self-taught, so would greatly appreciate the help.

 

[Chewbecca]

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Any help with composition, PP, subject matter etc would all be appreciated.

I'm reasonably new to photography and am self-taught, so would greatly appreciate the help.

First one, the sign on the right is driving me mad. Other than that, not too bad.


I LOVE the second one. But I'd black and white, I think. I really, really, LOVE this shot.


The bird is perfect as is, I think. Wait. I'd crop more off the top.


The fourth one...hm...slightly underexposed and DEFINITELY needs a crop. I'd aim more for having the bench and tree in the shot. The bench, imo, gets too lost or pushed aside in this shot.

The last one is good, but it appears to have a haze over it. Possibly try some contrast to it, if possible.

 

[esszeeeye]

Agree with all above,except would leave the color in 2,its great the way it is !

 

[Chewbecca]

Agree with all above,except would leave the color in 2,its great the way it is !

oooh, I just realized that this used selective coloring!
D'oh!
See, I might have tried the opposite.
Selective color everything BUT the couple. I think it might emphasize their age and give it more of an older feel. Like, they remained in a time while everything else went on and they remained where they were. I don't know. hahahaha. I'd try it. I know, my reasoning is cheesy.

 

[Hock]

Like 1, 2
Love 4

Too much white on 3

but that's just me

 

[maulrat]

#1 has a really nice sky. I wonder if you could brighten it up a little to see more of the people and buildings without killing the sky. I'm afraid you might blow out the lower part of the sky unless you mask two exposures together. You might want to take this photo a little faster next time in order to get rid of the motion blur of that person walking in the intersection.

#2 I like to do this technique too. I think you missed some B+W areas in the lower left corner. I think that grass is still green. And also a little green grass near the woman's left arm/top of the bench. A little vignetting wouldn't hurt either

#3 The pigeon. A little boring on the plain white background but sharp and correctly exposed. Like someone mentioned earlier, too much wasted space up top.

#4 Too dark for my taste.

#5 Brighten up if you can. If the sky starts to get blown out, just mask in a darker exposed sky. Give it some saturation boost and maybe try a tad of vignetting. *On a side note* that is one cute bride :thumbup:

just my 2bit newbie suggestions.

 

[TBAM]

Thankyou greatly for the comments.

As for some explanation:

1.
I agree about the sign, however to not get it I would have to walk onto the road, and the shutter speed on that is quite slow as you can see from the blurry person, I actually used another pole to hold the camera against to try and get as much of a solid exposure as possible.

As for brightening it up, that's a good suggestion, thankyou. I guess I could mask up or separate the sky from the ground with a bit of deep etching and adjust the curves or brightness/contrast for the land only.

Only prob is I can't really reshoot it, as due to daylight savings and different seasons, that sky usually happens just after work in winter.

I like the blurry person though, for some reason. Gives the photo some action, the hussle and bussle, or movement of people after a day's work. What do you guys think? Should she be nice and solid, or do you like the blurry woman?



2.
Thanks for the tips on colouring the background and desaturating the subjects, i'll give it a go, however in theory, without bumping the contrast up significantly, it would tend to take the focus off the subjects and your eyes would wander to the background a lot easier if it was in colour.

Thanks Maulrat, I'll get rid of those colour areas.



3.
I'll try cropping it up a little, however composition wise I thought it might have been better with the eye in the centre of the image. Though, as you say, creates a bit too much white up top.

As for it being a little boring, do you have any suggestions on how I might jazz it up a little?

I, personally, find pigeons quite peculiar, and always look quite funny and weird to me. I have another shot of a pigeon cleaning its back, and it looks like it's neck is in this weird angle. Should I give that a go?



4.
Where do you find your eyes being drawn to initially? Or where do they settle?

I'd like the bench to be the focus, however I like the whole "I could be sitting on that looking at that" approach, where the trees, foliage and textures are the focus, but I want the chair to be there to be an "it could be you there" moment.

It was originally shot in colour with infinite depth of field, so the blurring that is present there was added by me. But for me, the original looked too busy, and distracting. Would you like to see the original?



5.
I agree about the haze, it is quite soft. I shot this with my old Pentax and unfortunately the image is actually out of focus, i've tried to fix it as much as possible however. I'll try fixing the haze by upping the contrast. Is the out-of-focus-ness obvious, or is it ok?

Do you really think I should mask in another sky? I've tried normal clouds, however it tended to take your eyes off the subjects. Perhaps I should shoot some overcast clouds, and put them in with not much contrast, just so there is something there.

I'll also give a go at vignetting.

The Bride is actually my sister, hehe.

I'll give your suggestions a go and post the results. Thanks again for your feedback.

 

[rub]

I really like #4. Its dark and lonely. I wonder what it would look like just a touch brighter...

 

[maulrat]

As for some explanation:

1.
...I can't really reshoot it, as due to daylight savings and different seasons, that sky usually happens just after work in winter.

I definitely understand. Sometimes, you just have those day that you can't recreate.

2. ...Thanks Maulrat, I'll get rid of those colour areas.

Anytime, bro.

4.
Where do you find your eyes being drawn to initially? Or where do they settle?

Composition in this photo is fine for me.

5.
The Bride is actually my sister, hehe.

Your bro-in-law is a lucky man.

 

[sdesha]

Aww..The old ppl are so cute sitting on a bench! I love that one....