Composition C&C Needed

[FattyChalupa]

I just picked up photography as a side hobby after my dad gave me his D80. Its a really relaxing thing to do to get rid of high school stress!

I know that most if not all of these shots are painfully underexposed, but I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind giving me some pointers on composing these shots better, because right now to me they look extremely vanilla- And of course any other kind of c&c is always welcome!

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[Sherman Banks]

How dark do you have your screen? They don't look underexposed to me, maybe some areas that could use better lighting, but not painfully underexposed. The shots of the kids are all framed the same way, which is ok but you will want to learn to vary the framing. Also, cut out more of the frame above the head and include more below. While you want some space up there, the additional people in the background distract from the subject. I really don't know about the cake photos. I guess if the toppers are the subjects, it might not matter that you've cropped the edges/bottoms of the cakes, but you may want to consider including the whole cake in the fame and cropping out later. Hope this helps!

 

[Torus34]

Backgrounds!

In your pictures, emphasis on the subject is weakened by the backgrounds. The two cake pictures, as examples, could be improved dramatically by simply removing the other cakes 'n stuff in the background. In particular, look at the rightmost figure in the second photo. See how it is diminished in interest by the background compared to the left and center figures? The cake figures would really 'pop out' if not surrounded by a welter of out-of-focus jumbled colors.

Take time to look at the subject in relationship to the background. Move stuff or change the angle or crop [move closer] as required.

 

[tinafaecarroll]

I would say mostly, watch the backgrounds. I can't help but notice that there's a person farting in the child's ear in #4. haha