Afternoon Fun. C&C Please

[NebraskaNewGirl]

What a better way to spend my birthday then out in the beautiful weather taking pictures. I'd like to share a few of my favorites to see what you all think. Thanks!

1. f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 100

IMG_0710d by asvphotos, on Flickr

2. f/5.6, 1/100, iso 200, +1/3 comp expo

IMG_0762c by asvphotos, on Flickr

3. f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 100

IMG_0720b by asvphotos, on Flickr

 

[NebraskaNewGirl]

Hmmmmm....I'd really, really appreciate some feedback. I've been working on composition, exposure and WB and would like to know how I'm doing. Thanks.

 

[BlackSheep]

Can you list what exposure settings you used for them?
The Exif data doesn't show up on the photos.

A quick thought on composition for the first image; it might have been stronger if the entire front of the church was shown, did you shoot any like that for comparison?

ETA Happy Birthday!

 

[bigtwinky]

Ok... sorry if no one got back to you within the hour. [insert eye roll here]


1. The image feels incomplete due to your cropping. I like cropped buildings, but it has to be cropped in a specific way so as not to leave an empty feeling. Like taking a portrait and cropping at the joints, it makes the image feel weird.
If you do want to crop in tight, do it tight. This is kinda of like an in between close and far...not sure where you want to be.
Looks like some really nice lines in that church, I'd tear it apart really close working angles.
Processing is nice, tones are smooth.

2. the crop is odd here again. The bird house is too much on top of the frame. I'd zoom in tighter here as well to really make the bird house the subject of your image. You have alot of dead space at the bottom and tight on top.
Again, tones and colours are nice.

3. I'm sensing a trend here. Get in closer or move out wider and make patterns with the tombstones. You are kind of in between far and close here.
Other thing is that I find there is too much ground in the image. Composing slightly different to cut out some ground and add more sky might help, as the ground is pretty much boring.

In all three, move in closer!!!
The one thing that makes a vacation picture a snapshot (and not calling yours this, just saying) is that people are afraid to get in close. Chose what your subject is and fill the frame with it.

 

[NebraskaNewGirl]

Can you list what exposure settings you used for them?
The Exif data doesn't show up on the photos.

A quick thought on composition for the first image; it might have been stronger if the entire front of the church was shown, did you shoot any like that for comparison?

ETA Happy Birthday!

Thanks. Here is the entire front of the chapel. I cropped it the way I did because of the unappealing sign in front of it. Was that a bad idea? I'll edit my original post to include the settings. Thanks.

IMG_0711b by asvphotos, on Flickr

 

[BlackSheep]

Thanks for including your exposure settings!

You got some good advice from bigtwinky, for sure. Technically your exposures are reasonable, it just seems like that you aren't quite committing (so to speak) to a specific subject in your images. For example, with your original church shot (BTW you did a really good job on the B&W conversion!), perhaps a wider shot (say on a foggy morning) showing the church and a wide view of the surrounding gravestones would have set a nice mood for the photo.

Or, if you choose to get closer in, there's a bunch of detail shots that you could get of the building. I cropped your original image to get a couple of bits that caught my eye, but of course this is just my personal take on the building and yours will be different. These will be tiny:

Its a great place to shoot, and you are getting some good shots, I hope all of this helps!

 

[MK3Brent]

Everything is washed out.
Greens are grey, and whites are bright white.

I agree with the crop comments.

1 looks cramped, and the tombstones are uninteresting to me. Maybe making a patterns with them and others while playing with a more shallow depth of field would look more interesting.

 

[GnipGnop]

I personally like a bit more space above the building to frame it in the composition.

Agree with everything else.