Beginner's photos need C&C

[sujeshs40342]

Hi all,
Here are some photos I took while on a trip to Nandi hills (a place near Bangalore) please give your opiniions ans sugestions to improve my photography. Also suggest a good software for editing photos.

Hope it is ok to post 7 photos in the same thread .

 

[NikonNewbie]

Just....wow!
I love them all! :thumbup:

 

[ayeelkay]

I love the first photo. Just wish the top of the tree wasn't cut off.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. LOTS of potential here; I think this would have been a stronger image without the wall to the right. Peraps a portrait orientation capturing the tree and the stone structure image left. I'm not sure that this semi-sepia treatment works however. Perhaps straight black/white?

2. Very nice; I like the serene nature of this image. The only niggle is that I would have preferred you to be a little more to the right so that the path seemed to come directly out of the camera lens.

3. This would have worked better had the background been less focused. Try it with a much larger aperture and longer glass to isolate the foreground trees. Also you might want to clone out the guy-wire uppre right.

4. A little too bright I think. I understand your intent here, but unfortunately the blown areas really detract from the quiet nature of the image. A crop to remove the light standard and cloning out the sign on the trunk would help as well.

5. Too little DoF and too many blown highlights to really work IMO.

6. Nice capture; a shooting position slightly further to the left would have allowed you to have only the tree trunk in the background and given the monkey on the left a little more "breathing room" between his elbow and the edge of the frame.

7. Doesn't do much for me.

Overall, some very nice images, with minor niggles. For future reference, try and keep it to four or less images per post for the best critique. Seven is getting to be a little much.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[sujeshs40342]

Thanks for all suggestions and comments.

 

[Tulsa]

Just....wow!
I love them all! :thumbup:

Just wanted to point out what is NOT c&c.

C&C per req:

1. LOTS of potential here; I think this would have been a stronger image without the wall to the right. Peraps a portrait orientation capturing the tree and the stone structure image left. I'm not sure that this semi-sepia treatment works however. Perhaps straight black/white?

2. Very nice; I like the serene nature of this image. The only niggle is that I would have preferred you to be a little more to the right so that the path seemed to come directly out of the camera lens.

3. This would have worked better had the background been less focused. Try it with a much larger aperture and longer glass to isolate the foreground trees. Also you might want to clone out the guy-wire uppre right.

4. A little too bright I think. I understand your intent here, but unfortunately the blown areas really detract from the quiet nature of the image. A crop to remove the light standard and cloning out the sign on the trunk would help as well.

5. Too little DoF and too many blown highlights to really work IMO.

6. Nice capture; a shooting position slightly further to the left would have allowed you to have only the tree trunk in the background and given the monkey on the left a little more "breathing room" between his elbow and the edge of the frame.

7. Doesn't do much for me.

Overall, some very nice images, with minor niggles. For future reference, try and keep it to four or less images per post for the best critique. Seven is getting to be a little much.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Just wanted to point out what IS c&c...

 

[DanBrown]

Gooood!!! Some of them are very mystic!

 

[NikonNewbie]

Just....wow!
I love them all! :thumbup:

Just wanted to point out what is NOT c&c.

C&C per req:

1. LOTS of potential here; I think this would have been a stronger image without the wall to the right. Peraps a portrait orientation capturing the tree and the stone structure image left. I'm not sure that this semi-sepia treatment works however. Perhaps straight black/white?

2. Very nice; I like the serene nature of this image. The only niggle is that I would have preferred you to be a little more to the right so that the path seemed to come directly out of the camera lens.

3. This would have worked better had the background been less focused. Try it with a much larger aperture and longer glass to isolate the foreground trees. Also you might want to clone out the guy-wire uppre right.

4. A little too bright I think. I understand your intent here, but unfortunately the blown areas really detract from the quiet nature of the image. A crop to remove the light standard and cloning out the sign on the trunk would help as well.

5. Too little DoF and too many blown highlights to really work IMO.

6. Nice capture; a shooting position slightly further to the left would have allowed you to have only the tree trunk in the background and given the monkey on the left a little more "breathing room" between his elbow and the edge of the frame.

7. Doesn't do much for me.

Overall, some very nice images, with minor niggles. For future reference, try and keep it to four or less images per post for the best critique. Seven is getting to be a little much.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Just wanted to point out what IS c&c...

:greenpbl: that was my c&c...I loved them...opinions are like buttholes everyone's got one...that was mine

 

[LCARSx32]

You'll be smart to listen to Tirediron's advice. He (you are a he, right?) pretty much nailed it. The only thing I would add is the picture of the monkeys around the tree trunk is slightly out of focus.

I really liked #1, 2, & 5.

#1 would definitely gain from being in portrait orientation. I would have liked to have seen the top of the tree.

#2 is quite nice. I wish the pole to the right of the path and wires above weren't there. Perhaps a different section of the same path would have been clear of distractions? I love the foggy, early morning look. It gives it a strong spiritual feel.

#3: Watch your composition. The centered trees make the image look bland and boring to the eye. If you crop off the dead space to the left of the trees, you get a slightly more interesting image. It would have been better if there had been an interesting subject to the right of the trees because your eye is naturally drawn to the right of the image thanks to the diagonal line the trees create. Here's a quick edit I did. I just removed the dead space and cloned out the cable:

#4 is too over exposed. Perhaps a good candidate for HDR?

#5 I disagree with Tirediron on this one. I like it. I don't know why, but I do. It doesn't bother me at all that the droplets are blown. It just has a neat texture to it.

#6 Again, just a little too much dead space. I would crop the image to get rid of everthing just past the monkey on the right and what's below the monkeys. Also, they are slightly out of focus.

#7 makes an interesting abstract image. I could see this blown up and hanging on a coffee shop wall. lol. Kudos.

All in all, you're doing very well. You have a good eye, you just need to keep practicing. Watch out for distractions like power lines. Try to avoid them if you can, especially when your subject is nature.

Oh, and 7 pictures is a bit much. Try to limit yourself to 5 or less. Many people won't critique each image if there's a whole bunch of them. That's why you keep getting "looks good!" but little explanation or advice.

Last paragraph. I swear. As far as photo editing software goes, I use Photoshop CS3 (not free). I've heard good things about GIMP (free), but have never used it myself. You can also try Paint.NET (free), but I believe it's more limited, feature wise, than GIMP or Photshop.

 

[sujeshs40342]

Thanks for taking time to give detailed C&C. Will keep number of images within 5 next time.