C&C please

Archer · Feb 3, 2012

I’m new at this. Had the camera for a while but only recently started to understand anything but auto. Graduated from the KR school of photography :0 before I got my camera. Hey, at least he made me feel like I could take some pics

. So now, here I am, wanting to learn more. I have about 30 favorite pics I’d like to get opinions on…but I won’t do that to you. I’ll post 3-4 in a few sets over the next few days.

Buddy of mine wanted to go squirrel hunting (yea, I’m country). Filet-o-squirrel's not my thing (I know, I know, everybody loves it) so I told him I’d just take the camera out. D40 w/Nikon 55-300VR. JPEGS cropped and tweaked in Picasa ‘till they were pleasing to my eyes. Any help appreciated (you’ll notice a trend with the ISO…guess I thought it was on auto). At this point I suppose I’m mostly curious about composition and white balance since I didn’t really understand my settings when taking these. However, any thoughts on settings will help in the future.

1. Program mode, 100mm, f4.8, 1/160, iso 1600.

2. Program mode, 130mm, f5, 1/160, iso 1600. It occurred to me that his hands might seem awkward like he’s stuffing something in his mouth. He was actually just trying to warm his hands.

3. Program mode, 55mm, f6.3, 1/160, iso 1600. Everything seems overexposed here. Sun was just peeking over the trees and starting to get bright.

4. Program mode, 280mm, f5.6, 1/1000, iso 1600

Trever1t · Feb 3, 2012

I love me some squirrel fryed in a cast iron skillet with garlic....mm mm mm!

#1 Would have been nice to see his head.
#2 Subject is cut at back and bottom.
#3 Lacks any clear subject.

While your focus is ok (as far as I can see) and exposure is ok you do not exhibit any real grasp of composition and I suggest you focus your studies with the basics first.

#4 OK, subject is clearly defined but because you shot so close and in "landscape" mode you failed to nail the shot. There's reason it's called "Portrait" orientation, eh?

Archer · Feb 3, 2012

Trever1t said:
I love me some squirrel fryed in a cast iron skillet with garlic....mm mm mm! That actually sounds pretty good.

#1 Would have been nice to see his head. Can't fix that - he's long dead . Just an empty shell of a man...er - turtle#2 Subject is cut at back and bottom. That I can fix if I can figure out where Picasa stored the original
#3 Lacks any clear subject. I was thinking subject was the gear but I could narrow it down.

While your focus is ok (as far as I can see) and exposure is ok you do not exhibit any real grasp of composition and I suggest you focus your studies with the basics first.

#4 OK, subject is clearly defined but because you shot so close and in "landscape" mode you failed to nail the shot. There's reason it's called "Portrait" orientation, eh?