Comments and critiques please!

[sidigirl]

I took these yesterday and would love feed back.

I used my Canon EOS 60D with EOS EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II

ISO 100 53 mm ) EV f/25 1/13


Untitled by sidigirl, on Flickr

ISO 100 55 mm 0EV f/29 1/20

Untitled by sidigirl, on Flickr

ISO 100 41 mm 0EV f/8 1/50

Untitled by sidigirl, on Flickr

ISO 100 34 mm 0 EV f/5.6 1/20

Untitled by sidigirl, on Flickr

ISO 100 49 mm 0EV f/5.6 1/200

Untitled by sidigirl, on Flickr

Thanks!

 

[ceeboy14]

I have to be critical with your shots. I went quite a way into your flickr stuff and there is a singular thing which stands out in almost all your shots and I think there is a relatively easy "fix" that will get you on the road to shooting crisper images. In almost every shot you've posted, including these, your focus is off and it's not terribly off but off none the less. I suspect it is because you haven't set your viewfinder diopter to your eyesight. If this is a DSLR, there should be a little knob of sorts next to the viewfinder. By moving that up and down, you set the diopter in the viewfinder to match what your eyes are seeing. Right now you are depending on the lens to do that for you and me thinks it is not. If that's not the case, I would suggest a trip to the optometrist. You'd be amazed at the number of my students who ended up in corrective lenses for just the same issue.

 

[spang1mw]

#1 and #4 are underexposed quite a bit. I'm just curious why you shot f/25 and f/29 in the first two shots? Out of the set the best one is #5

 

[Ballistics]

I have to be critical with your shots. I went quite a way into your flickr stuff and there is a singular thing which stands out in almost all your shots and I think there is a relatively easy "fix" that will get you on the road to shooting crisper images. In almost every shot you've posted, including these, your focus is off and it's not terribly off but off none the less. I suspect it is because you haven't set your viewfinder diopter to your eyesight. If this is a DSLR, there should be a little knob of sorts next to the viewfinder. By moving that up and down, you set the diopter in the viewfinder to match what your eyes are seeing. Right now you are depending on the lens to do that for you and me thinks it is not. If that's not the case, I would suggest a trip to the optometrist. You'd be amazed at the number of my students who ended up in corrective lenses for just the same issue.

Some of these do have slow shutter speeds as well.

 

[rnagoda]

For this set, my primary questions would be what your compositional ideas were, and what the intended subjects were? You have some pretty things which you are taking pictures of, but it's also important how you present those in your picture in order to create an image that says something to the viewer. In these pics the area upon which the viewer should focus is not clear, and the point of presenting the pictures is not clear either. Some easy places to start would be to perhaps get closer in so that the highlight is on a single flower among the group that has some interesting qualities, or to get further from the subject and show the whole scene - the tree/trees against an interesting backdrop, etc..perhaps get into a situation where you open the aperture up wide and isolate the subject with a nice bokeh in the background - just some thoughts.

 

[Ballistics]

For this set, my primary questions would be what your compositional ideas were, and what the intended subjects were? You have some pretty things which you are taking pictures of, but it's also important how you present those in your picture in order to create an image that says something to the viewer. In these pics the area upon which the viewer should focus is not clear, and the point of presenting the pictures is not clear either. Some easy places to start would be to perhaps get closer in so that the highlight is on a single flower among the group that has some interesting qualities, or to get further from the subject and show the whole scene - the tree/trees against an interesting backdrop, etc..perhaps get into a situation where you open the aperture up wide and isolate the subject with a nice bokeh in the background - just some thoughts.

Since when is it a must to have a single or defined focal point in your image?

 

[TheAverageCatPerson]

I have to be critical with your shots. I went quite a way into your flickr stuff and there is a singular thing which stands out in almost all your shots and I think there is a relatively easy "fix" that will get you on the road to shooting crisper images. In almost every shot you've posted, including these, your focus is off and it's not terribly off but off none the less. I suspect it is because you haven't set your viewfinder diopter to your eyesight. If this is a DSLR, there should be a little knob of sorts next to the viewfinder. By moving that up and down, you set the diopter in the viewfinder to match what your eyes are seeing. Right now you are depending on the lens to do that for you and me thinks it is not. If that's not the case, I would suggest a trip to the optometrist. You'd be amazed at the number of my students who ended up in corrective lenses for just the same issue.

Hold up, can you please go over the diopter a bit more?

I found the adjustment knob on my own camera (a canon T3) and I played with it a bit. When I moved it around a bit, and the more I moved it to the '+' the blurrier my view got, and the more I moved it to the '-' the better it got, so I just set it all the way to the '-' setting, as this seemed best. However, while I did all this the auto-focus still said my subject was in focus. (If that's important.)

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm a very new photographer and I don't know what this thing does, so can you please explain? I just want to make sure all my settings are okay, so as to take the best images, and when you said this could knock off focus I got worried.

Thank you.

 

[Rick58]

By moving the diopter, you are only focusing the viewfinder, not the lens. Move the diopter until the image information in the viewfinder is crisp and clear, then you are set.

 

[Mully]

Ya.... us old people know about diopter we can not get by without it.

 

[rnagoda]

Since when is it a must to have a single or defined focal point in your image?

I never called it a must. It was a suggestion, that's all. And it wasn't a suggestion directed towards you ... it was a suggestion directed towards a person who put their picture up asking for constructive criticism. :scratch:

 

[Ballistics]

Since when is it a must to have a single or defined focal point in your image?

I never called it a must. It was a suggestion, that's all. And it wasn't a suggestion directed towards you ... it was a suggestion directed towards a person who put their picture up asking for constructive criticism. :scratch:

I know who it was towards, and my post was towards you. Generic suggestions and advice help no one.

 

[rnagoda]

I know who it was towards, and my post was towards you. Generic suggestions and advice help no one.

Nice. Good to meet you ... sorry your ideas are different than mine. We'll both be just fine.

 

[DarkShadow]

I know a few people that set up there diopter adjustment with eye glass on and that's not really the correct way.I adjust my diopter with eye glasses off using street signs with small letters and when the letters look pretty clear its good to go. Not sure why they would want stray light in the view finder because they can't get up tight to the view finder with glasses on and then wonder why they can't see there meter very well.

 

[sidigirl]

Thanks for the comments.

As for the diopter, I have set it and have had my eyes checked recently and have repeated needed no correction on the eye. I have also check my diopter many times,, so I'm not sure if that is the fix.

 

[ceeboy14]

Then, it is also possible your camera has a back focus issue. There are all kinds of tests and corrective measures which can be taken, but I would STRONGLY suggest you have the mfg check it out before undertaking a rather arduous process to correct. try youtube for suggestions on that subject. I had a similar problem with my D7000 and Nikon was able to make a nice adjustment and I had the camera gone and back within 10 days.