Any good?

mad_malteaser · Jun 3, 2005

Something I was trying out - hit me with your worst!

Nikon Fan · Jun 3, 2005

I'm not sure what the point is? My eye has no where to land b/c it's too busy. But I'm not sure why you took this? What stood out to you that made you want to take the pic? The only thing that seems to be working is the nice textures in the tree...What were you trying to accomplish, do you think you achieved it?

mentos_007 · Jun 3, 2005

well I think that the picture has to show something deep. I dunno if you wanted to show us a tree or a forest or maybe something completely different. I know that landscapes and views are great to take photos of but it lacks the subject imho.
I see that you played with the DOF here and a bit with exposure. Those were pretty hard light conditions because of many shadows and almost direct sun.

thebeginning · Jun 3, 2005

allright i'm going to try to do this as best i can and hit you with my 'worst'. of course none of it is personal. i know you take nice stuff, i've seen it before. so i'm not calling you bad. because you are definitely not.

onto the critique. to be honest, i dont like it, really. i cant find anything to look at (the tree in the foreground could have been a more interesting tree, and you didnt show enough of it). there are hot spots on the path and the trees in the background, and it's just very very busy and a little confusing for the eye. I do, however like the detail in the foreground. It seems almost like you were trying to make it seem like you were peeking out from behind the tree at the path (?). However, like said before, if you accomplished what you were going for (which of course does not always mean perfect exposure, etc.), then great job!

terri · Jun 3, 2005

Hi mad, I actually don't have a problem with the composition here - the lone large trunk in the foreground and what looks to be a path with several trees in the background.

But technically, this photograph appears to have missed the mark. It's way overexposed and the hot spots right in the center of the image are too large to be anything but a distraction. The highlights are blown throughout the entire image, from the sun hitting the large tree in the foreground, to the background trees.

I am guessing it was a very pretty, sunlit scene. I'm just not sure what led you to expose it in this manner. What were your thoughts behind presenting the scene like this?

mad_malteaser · Jun 4, 2005

Thanks for all your honest opinions. Personally, I thought it was a bit of a crap shot with a tiny bit of potential. Given the chance of a re-shoot I'd look at the scene in a completely different way.

I am still learning how to use the camera - I've been slowly moving into manual mode and this was one of the first examples of that.

Largely I wanted to capture the textures on the tree in the foreground - they held my interest and I wondered how best to go about shooting it. When I head back to Malta I will definitely have another go at this shot - so thanks everyone for the critiques. A gals gotta learn by her mistakes after all!

thebeginning · Jun 4, 2005

the best way to get quite alot of texture in trees is to use film and a very deep DoF (at least 22). but then again, if you want shallow DoF, this will not do.

It's pretty tough getting used to manual! Did you use a meter?