Tips, please?

[Twinney]

I'm not into portait photography, at all. I'm no good at it, and most people over pose, even when asked not to... I like to do animals, because you can't tell them to say cheese. I like wildlife because it's challenging. There isn't a wild animal in the world that will come back for you when you didn't take a good picture the first time. I take an awful lot of pictures of ducks and geese, and occasonally pheasants, as I work with them, and they are fun IMO for photography.
I'm into nature photography, although I don't know why.

1)

This is the first photo I took with my Panasonic. The green is distracting, now that I look at it. In this picture I wanted the bat in there, but I hadn't expected the background to be blurred, and I was pleased with that. Shows the quality of all my other photo's with before cameras.

2)

A rodeo I went to last weekend. It has only been cropped once, and that was because of a bar in the way.


3)

And a question about this picture, aside from the obvious flaws (extra ducks, etc.) what do you think about the drake facing away? This picture was shown and the judge said it would look better with the drake facing me, but I like him looking out over the water. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance. :mrgreen:

 

[tirediron]

Thoughts per req:

1. A nice picture. I would crop it tighter on the bat to eliminate the blown spot lower left, and some of the glare off of the face that he is hanging on, lower right. With this sort of close-up work, it's generally safe to ignore the 'rule' of thirds.

2. Almost a really good image; the use of a circular polarizer would have really 'popped' the colours in this image, and improved the sky. The main issue however is the fact that the animal and rider are going away from you. The backs of people and animals are never as interesting as the fronts. Always try and get them leading into the frame.

3. Again with this one, I'm not too fond of it for the same reasons I mentioned in #2. I think this might have worked if you'd moved around to your left or right so that you had at least some of his profile in the image.

Overall some nice shots. Your exposures are good, just a little more practice on the creative side.

Just my $00.02 worth - your milage may vary.

~John

 

[Harmony]

Welcome to TPF, by the way!

In number 1, did you use a fill flash? It's reflected on the green sprig and the bark, and it's distracting, in my opinion.

I like the exposure in number two, and the focus, but I'd prefer more room on the right of the horse.