Amatuer Photographer Photos - Comment and Critique Needed

[.SimO.]

I would like opinions on the composition, lighting and the subjects. What was liked about the shot and what could be improved on.

A little background, I've been reading, practicing and participating in events with a DSLR(Canon T3i) for almost a year now(January 2012) and would like feedback on the likes and dislikes. I have always been fascinated with photography and take this hobby of mine seriously so input from everyone is highly requested. I mostly do photography of apparel and animals so these shots were out of my comfort zone. All the images were taken with my Sigma 17-50 except for "3.GF shot" which was taken with my Canon 50 1.4. Hope to receive great feedback on things I can work on and look forward to showing future images.

1. B&W/People - Philly Fashion Week - Took a different approach instead of doing the expected shots at the end of the runway.


2. Military - Exercise Event, Virginia


3. People - GF shot


4. Landscape - Waggoners Gap, PA


5. Cityscape - Taken from inside at Loews Hotel, Philadelphia PA


6. Animals - "Rockman" one of four Chihuahua's that we own.

 

[Starskream666]

Nice show of all your different styles! its pretty late and I'm about to go to bed but I can't see any faults with any apart from the GF one, I'm not a fan of that tone, it looks way too red :/

 

[.SimO.]

Nice show of all your different styles! its pretty late and I'm about to go to bed but I can't see any faults with any apart from the GF one, I'm not a fan of that tone, it looks way too red :/

Yes, I totally understand. This was prior to having a flash and utilizing the room lights available and trying to make a "warmer" mood, lol. Much appreciated!!

 

[.SimO.]

Nice show of all your different styles! its pretty late and I'm about to go to bed but I can't see any faults with any apart from the GF one, I'm not a fan of that tone, it looks way too red :/

I'm also not a fan of that vignetting. And since that image, I have been working on correcting white balance and doing less post processing.

 

[Frequency]

i could not see the first two images; i liked the cityscape very much; others are good too

 

[.SimO.]

i could not see the first two images; i liked the cityscape very much; others are good too

I think I fixed them now. Let me know if they all show up as attachments. I attempted to pull them from Flikr account but I must have done something incorrectly. Sadly, coming from a computer guy lol.

Thanks for your feedback, Frequency.

 

[pgriz]

Nice combination of images. I'd say, for an "amateur", you're pretty good. Not much to criticise that will give you massive leaps of improvement - you're already past that. Now you're in the incremental phase - honing and polishing, rather than hewing and slashing. Just a note: you tend to place the subject in the (lower) left part of the image (see #2,3,4,6). #1 was very well exposed, but I feel that a bit more space on the right would have given the image a bit more balance. As for the last one, while I recognise that you grabbed an opportunity, it would have been even better if a bit more light on your dog's face was present - but sometimes you have to work with what you have.

 

[.SimO.]

Nice combination of images. I'd say, for an "amateur", you're pretty good. Not much to criticise that will give you massive leaps of improvement - you're already past that. Now you're in the incremental phase - honing and polishing, rather than hewing and slashing. Just a note: you tend to place the subject in the (lower) left part of the image (see #2,3,4,6). #1 was very well exposed, but I feel that a bit more space on the right would have given the image a bit more balance. As for the last one, while I recognise that you grabbed an opportunity, it would have been even better if a bit more light on your dog's face was present - but sometimes you have to work with what you have.

Ah, much appreciated. I definitely understand what you are saying regarding the lower left being my go to spot. For some reason, when I compose an image, I create an imaginary block and do exactly that, pick from the lower left corner. I'll have to work on that. It's almost every time when I shoot in landscape orientation. I will definitely have to work harder on composition and maybe pick up another book and do some more reading. And the animal shot, I agree with you. I definitely should have prepped a couple more seconds to bump up the available light such as open the curtain more. It was definitely one of those, "do i want to chance and wake the dog up" lol. Thanks for your input!!

 

[Derrel]

Philly Fashion is just a lovely photo!!!! Waggoner's Gap, PA on the other hand, is quite dull as a landscape.

 

[.SimO.]

Philly Fashion is just a lovely photo!!!! Waggoner's Gap, PA on the other hand, is quite dull as a landscape.

Thanks Derrel. Yes, I was going to create a thread regarding taking trips for landscape shots. I drove out of my way to go to this location and unfortunately it was cloudy, foggy and starting to rain. So the original composition I wanted in the image didn't get to happen. I plan on going back soon on a great day but not before I do some more reading on peak times along with local weather, lol. Thanks for your comments!