C&C pleaseee!

kfin22 · Sep 17, 2010

any advice on my editing and/or picture taking is greatly appreciated! are these any good?

DanFinePhotography · Sep 17, 2010

#1 her skin looks a tad overexposed. the greens look a little over saturated. #2 the coloring is a little odd, and she looks very tall in the image. #3 the shadows are a bit harsh might have considered portrait orientation for the camera and cropped a little tighter on the model. Welcome to the board, your images are good and look forward to see them improve further

Derrel · Sep 17, 2010

These look low-rez and fuzzy. Your highlights are not very well-controlled. #3 would have benefitted by rotating the camera to tall orientation, thus not lopping her off just below the knees...that's a standing pose...and she's just floating in air with a double amputation.

AgentDrex · Sep 17, 2010

ZZ Top is playing in my head, guess which song...

Anyways, the only thing I see is the overexposed problem that has already been mentioned...very pretty subject

kfin22 · Sep 17, 2010

I agree, they do look fuzzy. How do i fix that? i've sharpened them in gimp but that doesnt seem to help.

reznap · Sep 17, 2010

Were you taking these on the 'Auto' shooting mode?

kfin22 said:
I agree, they do look fuzzy. How do i fix that? i've sharpened them in gimp but that doesnt seem to help.

Could be that you missed the focus, did you have a focus point set or was the camera handling that?

I'm not asking these questions to put you down, trying to help you for next time..

kfin22 · Sep 17, 2010

yes, i was shooting in auto mode ... ive tried shooting in manuel but i feel like i have a lot more to learn first

reznap · Sep 17, 2010

kfin22 said:
yes, i was shooting in auto mode ... ive tried shooting in manuel but i feel like i have a lot more to learn first

I can understand where you're coming from. What I would do if I were you though - stick to M, A, S, P on your Nikon's scroll wheel.

P (program) is very automatic - you set your ISO (which should be at 100/200 for daytime shots like these) and the camera decides the rest.
A (aperture priority) is for setting the size of the hole in your lens and the ISO, and letting the camera decide the rest. It might have been nice if you used this for some of your portraits, setting the aperture to the largest size (smallest number) and getting in close will help to separate the person from the background (blurring the background). It also helps to have the 'background' far away..
S (shutter priority) is for setting the shutter and ISO - letting cam do rest - and is good for when you are trying to freeze motion and need a fast shutter speed, or with a telephoto lens.
M (manual) simply lets you set everything yourself.. it's important to learn sooner or later but it's not always practical for everyone and could cause you to miss shots as well - especially if you're not familiar with it.

Another benefit to sticking with these, your flash won't popup on its own - which can be annoying.

Ok, sorry that was long - and all that info is in your instruction manual that comes with the camera, not saying you haven't read it.

Also, while I was typing this super long post, someone has probably advised you to read the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Petersen. I've honestly never seen a more recommended book.
EDIT: nope, looks like I beat them to it.

Good luck, keep posting

SrBiscuit · Sep 17, 2010

AgentDrex said:
ZZ Top is playing in my head, guess which song...

sharp dressed man?

im seeing tints of green in the first and 3rd.

kfin22 · Sep 17, 2010

thank you SO much for all the info!!

misstwinklytoes · Sep 17, 2010

Only one and three are loading on my Droid. The snakey stick about to attack her in one is distracting. As is the about to burst boobies button. The lost left arm in the last is a lil weird.

Counterpoint · Sep 17, 2010

The highlights in the first photo are pretty strong. I like the pose and composition though.

I don't like the effect that you used in the second photo. I also would crop a little from the left side and top of the frame.

I would have used the portrait orientation on the third photo. Again, I like the pose.

Overall, I like these. They just need some polishing.

Edit: Forgot to add: In the third photo the huge highlight on her left arm is a problem.

JasonLambert · Sep 17, 2010

AgentDrex said:
ZZ Top is playing in my head, guess which song...

'Rough Boy'? Odd.... But okay... To each his own.

BuS_RiDeR · Sep 17, 2010

#2.... In my opinion is a great composition... I find the white balance is a bit off though... As an example of what a couple minutes (literally) in post processing can do to/for your work...

Using Gimp I edited this by doing:

1. Auto white balance
2. Auto color Enhance
3. Boosted the sharpness a little bit