A boy and his skateboard - C&C please

[Pcubed]

I've taken several shots of my brother with his skateboard a couple months ago and these were the ones I thought turned out the best. I didn't do too much to the pictures, except for some cropping and playing around with the saturation, color tones, and fixing the brightness on DPP. Any comments are welcome. Thanks!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[Pcubed]

Any suggestions on changes to make? For the first one, I took the photo and realized I cropped off his upper body, but I thought I could turn it into something appealing compositionally and crop the photo to elongate it. I'm guessing the background in 4 is probably distracting and needs to be straightened too. I also realize some of the shots are "action" shots and maybe there should be a way to imply motion. However, I wasn't sure how to do that. I know I probably should've changed the shutter speed so I'd have some blur, but I don't know if that's the only way and if that'll make a good photo (ie how much blur needed?). Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[gsgary]

Sorry but i find them very boring

 

[christm]

Some of these could be great shots. But, you need to blur the background by making the aperture as large as possible. I.e. a small f stop will reduce the depth of field.

Heres an example: http://kernesti.com/Camera/depthoffield.jpg

 

[thebeatles]

...Some of these could be great shots. But, you need to blur the background...

I agree. 3 and 4 would benefit from this IMO.

 

[Pcubed]

Sorry but i find them very boring

No need to apologize. You're certainly welcome to give your opinion. I appreciate your feedback on my photos. And this information will only help me get better. =)

 

[William Petruzzo]

Some of these could be great shots. But, you need to blur the background by making the aperture as large as possible. I.e. a small f stop will reduce the depth of field.

Heres an example: http://kernesti.com/Camera/depthoffield.jpg

:thumbup:
Agreed.

 

[Pcubed]

Some of these could be great shots. But, you need to blur the background by making the aperture as large as possible. I.e. a small f stop will reduce the depth of field.

Heres an example: http://kernesti.com/Camera/depthoffield.jpg

I agree. 3 and 4 would benefit from this IMO.

Thanks for that info. I used my 17-50mm f2.8 for these photos. Photos 3 and 4 were both taken at the largest aperture possible, so I was cognizant of depth of field while taking the photos. Unfortunately, I wasn't zoomed in enough to really make it matter. Picture 3 was taken at a focal length of 26mm while photo 4 was taken at 22mm. I suppose that largely has something to do with it?

 

[KKJUN]

I like #4. I don#t know, somehow the composition looks really neat.

 

[mJs]

I would suggest shooting at different angles to make the photos a bit more dynamic (try going low, high...), also as you pointed out in the first one you chopped off his body and you've also cropped him in a bit too much in the second shot as well generally you don't want to chop any body parts.

 

[Vicelord John]

Sorry but i find them very boring

this

But instead of just telling him the pictures are boring, I'll add something constructive. The subject and ideas themselves aren't boring, it's just the way you shot them is. Try experimenting with some different angles, and have him do some interesting things other than just an ollie and riding around. If he can't do anything interesting on the board, either get him to improve or find a better "model."

 

[Inst!nct]

Sorry but i find them very boring

this

But instead of just telling him the pictures are boring, I'll add something constructive. The subject and ideas themselves aren't boring, it's just the way you shot them is. Try experimenting with some different angles, and have him do some interesting things other than just an ollie and riding around. If he can't do anything interesting on the board, either get him to improve or find a better "model."

its a girl btw..

and yes, these are "bland" i would say, maybe a different time of day, a faster shutter speed, a lower aperture, would do you some good.

 

[bhphotography]

I like the last two, the first few the boy looks bored.

 

[dyyylan]

Only one I really like is #4, just because skateboarding is such an active sport, and the pictures just don't really capture any of that, he's just sorta standing there

 

[GFreg]

I would suggest trying some more extreme angles. I am imagining #4 being shot from a low angle and you positioning yourself facing him. Capture the look on his face. I am not a skateboarder nor I have I shot skateboarders but I am going to assume that to pull something like that off he would need to concentrate. I think that capturing that facial expression would be wonderful. Honestly he looks like he can get pretty high off the ground. Depending on how daring you are have you considered having him ollie over you while you shoot up?

I like #5 but maybe a more interesting shot would be lower with more focus on the artwork on the bottom of his skateboard.

#2 and #3 don't do anything for me. He looks like he is bored and just standing around on his skateboard. For implied motion you would need to have some blur. Slow the shutter down and pan across the scene, following him. This will blur the background but should keep him pretty sharp. Stopping the action in a picture like #4 gives you implied motion because you are stopping a situation which is impossible unless there is movement.

Hopefully this helps a bit. BTW, what part of DC are you shooting in? There is a bunch of nice graffiti on 14th Street heading out towards Silver Spring. Might be an interesting background for a skate themed photoshoot.