Any constructive or deconstructive criticism?

tdunn06 · May 24, 2012

I'm new to photography and got my first dslr (t2i). I've been trieng to get used to adjusting settings, and expecially the tediousness of post edits, (i use the program that came with camera, Digital Photo Pro). I have a few examples of my efforts, feel free to say anything you would like about them. Any input would be greatly appreciated. These are frpom a few different days and lens varied from 50 1.8 to 50-250 and of course the popular kit 18-55.

GeorgieGirl · May 24, 2012

Ok. Let's take the Pansy...you know what Background Blur is..aka Bokeh? Yes, its present here in this shot. This is good and nice and somehting to want to have in certain shots to isolate your subject.

Let's take the last one, the waves crashing over the rocks....you know what blown out area is? Yes, its very present here in this shot. This is not good and its somehting you do not want to have in shots where the majority of the image is based on the area that is blown out.

Keywords:

Bokeh

Blown Out Highlights

Keep at it, it only gets better from here. :thumbup:

tdunn06 · May 24, 2012

GeorgieGirl said:
Ok. Let's take the Pansy...you know what Background Blur is..aka Bokeh? Yes, its present here in this shot. This is good and nice and somehting to want to have in certain shots to isolate your subject.

Let's take the last one, the waves crashing over the rocks....you know what blown out area is? Yes, its very present here in this shot. This is not good and its somehting you do not want to have in shots where the majority of the image is based on the area that is blown out.

Keywords:

Bokeh

Blown Out Highlights

Keep at it, it only gets better from here. :thumbup:

Yeah I see the blown area now and I actually think I did that post edit by cranking up the highlights to get a bit more contrast on the slashes.. Didn't even realize the center was blown ha... Thanks though appreciate it

SoCalTiger · May 24, 2012

tdunn06 said:
GeorgieGirl said:

Ok. Let's take the Pansy...you know what Background Blur is..aka Bokeh? Yes, its present here in this shot. This is good and nice and somehting to want to have in certain shots to isolate your subject.

Let's take the last one, the waves crashing over the rocks....you know what blown out area is? Yes, its very present here in this shot. This is not good and its somehting you do not want to have in shots where the majority of the image is based on the area that is blown out.

Keywords:

Bokeh

Blown Out Highlights

Keep at it, it only gets better from here. :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Yeah I see the blown area now and I actually think I did that post edit by cranking up the highlights to get a bit more contrast on the slashes.. Didn't even realize the center was blown ha... Thanks though appreciate it

What tool are you using? If you are using Photoshop, use the Curves adjustment instead to try to avoid clipping.

Espike · May 24, 2012

Look up the rule of thirds to add some composition to your shots. Where is this? It looks like an awesome place!

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

Espike said:
Look up the rule of thirds to add some composition to your shots. Where is this? It looks like an awesome place!

Small place in Gloucester mass. The dark fog shots and sunny beach shots are 5 minutes down the road from each other haha.. Gotta love new England... I will look into Rule of thirds though thanks for the input

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

SoCalTiger said:
What tool are you using? If you are using Photoshop, use the Curves adjustment instead to try to avoid clipping.

I just use the app that came with camera.. Digital photo pro. Still figuring it out right now kind of just sliding bars around till I like what I see.. I'm working on getting a better understanding of it.

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

here's a few more.

GeorgieGirl · May 25, 2012

Ok lets go with the one in the middle on the top. Two Questions for you:

1. What do you like about this shot?

2. What don't you like about this shot?

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

GeorgieGirl said:
Ok lets go with the one in the middle on the top. Two Questions for you:

1. What do you like about this shot?

2. What don't you like about this shot?

I'm assuming you mean the random one of the rocks peering out of the water with bridge off to nowhere. That slipped into the mix when i was loading the other pictures, but if i were to say what i like about it i would have to go with the exposure looks pretty spot on (to my untrained eye) and the contrast of the rocks peaking out of the water looks pretty good. As for what i like artiscaly about it, i would have to say, not much. but fundamentally i believe its not horribble...

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

The one below that i think was a great shot, i liked everything going on with it but that fog was killer. those beached shots and the crashing waves were shot 5 minutes apart and 1 mile down the road.. new england is killer. Had it been a clearer day it would of been a great shot, but i also do like the chaos of it all and how the water fades into the darkness of the fog.. if only the shot came from the outskirts and not directly within the fog it could of been great i think. even though its not the best exposure i think its probably my favorite of them all. rule of thirds, although accidental, worked pretty well and although hectic its still strangley organized.

GeorgieGirl · May 25, 2012

I was looking at the one labeled b vm.jpeg in your new group. Sorry about that.

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

that was one of my first attempts of using the polarized filter to get better contrast with the sky and sun set, and i may have over edited and got to crazy with it but i like the sillouetted tree line, and soething about powerlines and sunsets has always been cool to me, as weird as that sounds.. natural beauty and almost the scars of man come together in a weird way for me (strange probably ha)... if i had blacked out that one reflective area in the center bottom left i think it would be great.. although this was one of my first edits (and i would really go nuts at first.. overly so) i still think this is one of the few that worked out for me.. thoughts?

GeorgieGirl · May 25, 2012

Well, the sky sure is nice. I see night after night after night of skies as pretty as these from my window and I always wish I was somewhere else as I never take a single shot because of all the wires and the clutter. You and I have two completyly opposite points of view. Funny, no?

tdunn06 · May 25, 2012

i agree the picture would probably be more acceptable if the lines weren't there and may even look better to most.. but that might also be why i like it.. it could also just be because im so new that im pumped if anbything is even just half correctly exposed haha, not quite looking for the infamous "perfect shot" yet. im sure ill get plenty more picky as i take more shots.. for now just having fun though, we'll see where it goes