C&C- Just starting out, Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR

[WadeMack]

I'm really new to photography, and will be the first to admit that I don't really have too much of a clue what I'm doing yet. I recently purchased an old Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SLR with a few lenses. Here are a few shots that I got with it. I used my Takumar SMC 55mm f/1.8 lens and Kodak Gold 200 on these ones. I'd appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism on my composition, exposure etc. As well as any editing tips, I left these as the lab scanned them.

#1

- Point Prim, Prince Edward Island.

#2

- Point Prim, Prince Edward Island.

#3

- New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island.

#4

- Cattail in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island.

#5

- Old Truck.

#6

 

[Patrice]

A few of these have a depth of field too shallow for the subject. The yellow flower is out of focus. Your camera has a little tab near where the lens attaches to the camera. This closes the lens to the selected aperture. When you activate this you will notice your viewfinder will get dimmer when you are using an aperture smaller than wide open, however you will not be able to see which parts of the image are in acceptable focus.

Nice well made little camera, enjoy it.

 

[WadeMack]

Thanks for the feedback, from someone not all that far from home.

Yeah, I've basically classified all of my shooting so far as experimentation. As you can see, it's certainly showing me what I can and can't do with my aperture. I believe I shot that flower with a wide open aperture for example. Film photography is also teaching me patience, if not draining my coffee money a bit.

So we've established that I need to pay more attention when setting my depth of field, and focusing. I plan to keep on practicing. Any tips on the composition of my shots, as far as positioning goes?

 

[Ron Evers]

First off, number your pics for easy reference.

First & last are out of focus. You should have turned your camera 90° to shoot the lighthouse in portrait orientation.

 

[WadeMack]

Done and Done. I edited my post to number them. Thanks for the tips, next time I'm out shooting I'm going to force myself to be more patient with focus and aperture.

Edit: Edited again with correct numbering