15 for C&C My finished class assignment

[Snakeguy101]

I was assigned to take 15 photographs showing 5 techniques (3 each) including Great and Shallow DoF and the three types of motions (stop, blur, and pan). Here are my selections. I would really appreciate some honest C&C. I know some are better than others but it is what I have to work with. I have one more opportunity to get some more pictures before this is due so I would like to know what my weakest ones are so that I can concentrate on getting those types of photos. The rules are only basic editing, no portraits (animals or humans) for DoF shots and no cars for panning. Thank you so much in advance.

Shallow DoF

Great DoF

Stop Motion

Blur motion

Panning motion (I still need one more)

I know it is a lot but I really appreciate your help with everything!

 

[Snakeguy101]

Also, photobucket has reduced the contrast and saturation a bit so just imagine them as a little more saturated and with a little more contrast. Thanks again!

 

[wlbphoto]

The first 3 I liked as well as the water fall and plane was my fav

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req: It may be my monitor, but I'm having trouble finding any point of focus. The other two seem like good examples. The far shore in #3 of your 'Great DoF' series seems unfocused; it's hard to say just how much DoF there really is there. Other than that, they're good with the exception of the panning shots. I would suggest a little more practice there, as the subject is blurred in all of them.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[radiorickm]

I like everything very well, till we get to the blur photos. And, this is why photograhy becomes a very subjective hobby.

Blur phot #3, the one of the jet in the plain blue sky just looks like a an out of fucus jet. #4, the little airplane is pretty good, but #5, the cat, again just looks like an OOPS.

JUST ME, but its really great to show a subject moving against a constant background; or you can have a constant subject against a moving background. But when both the subject, and background are moving it becomes a real challenge to prove that you meant it that way, and it's not just a bad picture. It can be done, but it takes an extreme amount of work.

Good luck

 

[OrionsByte]

Shallow DoF:

1. Seems like there's not enough in focus, but I can't tell if it's just missed focus or if the DoF is just TOO shallow. Based on the bokeh I'd guess the latter.

2. Nothing wrong with this as far as the technique.

3. Good example of shallow DoF, but I kinda wish the camera were a little higher so I could see the top of ALL the stalks.

Great DoF:

1. Neat picture, not sure it's the best example of long DoF though. I mean I can see that you must have used a small aperture because of how close you were to the ball, but this doesn't really say, "Great DoF" to me. I may be nit-picking though.

2. Underexposed.

3. Overexposed.

Stop Motion:

1. I like.

2. Not crazy about it. With such a tight crop it's hard to see that any motion was actually frozen, IMO.

3. Cute, but motion moving away from you is easier to freeze and harder to capture than motion moving across you (laterally), so I don't know what kind of grade you'd get on this. There's nothing that really implies motion here - she could almost be standing posed like that and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Blur Motion:

1. Beautiful.

2. Interesting application, underexposed though.

3. A missed opportunity I think. That plane has got to be moving awfully fast, and you only got a tiny bit of motion blur, which almost makes it look like an accident. I don't know how much time you really had to set this up, but a longer exposure would have smeared this out over most of the frame, which IMO would have been more interesting. I peeked at the EXIF for this one, and at f/5.6 and 1/800 you definitely had headroom to work with as far as the light was concerned.

Panning Motion

I can't comment on these much because it's a technique I haven't tried much. First one looks pretty good, but the second one is really busy and really doesn't work.

Hope all that is helpful!

 

[mrpink]

This is what you are looking for in a panning shot....


RedBull Air Race 2010 540ww by Matt Francosky, on Flickr

See how the subject is completely in focus and looks to be motionless, while the background is OOF and moving? In your shots, both the subject and background are in motion.







p!nK

 

[Snakeguy101]

Yeah, like I said, some are better than others. I am having a very tough time with the panning since I can only find so many subjects in the time given. I am going to make my friend ride around on a bike some so that I can at least get some practice with panning. Thanks for all of your input, I agree with the comments 100% and I will go back and fix them up accordingly as best I can.

 

[OrionsByte]

The only time I ever did panning was at a boat race. I put my camera (p&s at the time) on continuous shooting mode, tracked the boats on the viewscreen, then held down the shutter and let the camera fire off three or four frames while I continued to track. If I did it today with my SLR I doubt my technique would be much different.

The trick is to pan and shoot, not shoot and pan, if you get my meaning.