Critiquing my own, am I getting it right?

[mc1979]

Ok, so I wasn't going to post, but the only way to learn is to learn from my mistakes. I have done alot of reading, especially on this forum. I took some pics of acquaintances the other day after they asked me to and with a great understanding that I am a beginner. I'm going to post one, and give my critique of what I think I did wrong, just basically to see if you agree and maybe that will mean I'm actually learning something! LOL Of course, I'd appreciate any feedback.



Bevan2 by mchatham79, on Flickr



ok first things first, composition: I didn't follow rule of thirds. But since I took in portrait style and just really wanted to capture this one up close, in this instance, I do feel this is ok.Maybe, maybe not?
The tree...wish I hadn''t gotten it in the background, seems distracting. The horizon is a tad tilted, but we were in a shaded park, that isn't really flat anywhere. And looking at the top not sure if it really is tilted or it's just the shadow of the tree that is.

Secondly, exposure. There was alot of dappled lighting due to the sun (talk about freaking out for a hot second because I had not one clue what to do about this! LOL) So what I got was an underexposed subject with a very blown out background. I have attempted to adjust all of this in Lightroom, just frustrated I didn't get it right sooc. And to my undestanding, what would have helped this would have been a reflector right? Or any advice on how this works in dappled sunlight?

Ok so what have I missed? I have some others from that day on my flickr stream that I would like critique on as well, and will post later.
Also, i chickened out right before we started and switched to autofocus. The little boy was runnning around everywhere, so even in autofocus, some of them are OOF.

 

[vtf]

Meter for the background and use fill flash.
Auto focus is not chickening out, it's a photography tool.

 

[Stryker]

you missed kneeling down and shoot at eye level of the kid.

 

[Ecks]

This is actually a decent start. For the most part, you already mentioned most of the things that struck me immediately. I agree with your assessment on the rule of thirds, and a reflector would make a huge difference given the sunlight. Not only would it brighten up facial features, but it would even out the light intensity across the subject's shirt, allowing the currently whited-out areas to be properly exposed. One thing I can suggest is to recognize where the points of interest will be, and compose your photo to draw people's eyes towards them. For example, cropping or composing the photo such that the top of your subject's head is just barely cut off will draw interest to the eyes and other facial features, not to mention getting rid of any potentially distracting background clutter.

 

[mc1979]

Thanks for the response so far, and Stryker I was on the ground sitting on my rear..LOL, maybe I was a little higher up than he because the ground is so unlevel around there.
VTF, I admit one thing I haven't studied is the metering. Sometimes I get to reading so much I get overwhelmed. This will be my next area to focus on, I'm sure there are some good threads on the forum for this, I'll just have to do some research.
Ecks, thank you for your helpful feedback. I need to get a reflector!

 

[KmH]

The ROT is just one of many framing guidelines you can choose to use.

There is also the rule of diagonals, the golden spiral, and others.

I want to reiterate that fill lighting was needed. Reflectors often don't provide enough light to get the job done.

The tree can removed from the photo fairly easily by using either content-aware fill or cloning.

 

[mc1979]

Keith,
Thanks, as far as fill flash, am I right in that I can get that from the on camera flash right? I did try some shots with the flash firing but then it looked overexposed on his face even more. How do you go about that? I don't have have any type of off camera flashes right now.

 

[vtf]

Keith,
Thanks, as far as fill flash, am I right in that I can get that from the on camera flash right? I did try some shots with the flash firing but then it looked overexposed on his face even more. How do you go about that? I don't have have any type of off camera flashes right now.

If your subject is darker than that of the background and you meter to the lighter background, it will darken the foreground so the subject will not be overexposed when flash is used. You can also adjust the flash exposure down on your pop up flash by going into the menu under flash exposure compensation and taking it a stop or two down if still too strong. Should be in your manual.

 

[mc1979]

Thanks Vince for taking the time to respond. Don't you just love it when we pesky newbies ask questions before reading that manual thoroughly..LOL

 

[camz]

You know this is one of the best beginner's CC thread I've seen in here. You came in here with a premise and extended yourself to be open to other opinions. Screw the like button, I wish there was an applaud button! A lot of the upcoming photographers in this forum should lurk in here as an example for structured CC. You'll go places with this frame of mind and keep it up throughout your photography experience. Good Job! :smileys:


I think what you missed here is your background. You have to clean it up, from exposure to the composition of it. The tree in the upper right corner that can go, and your hotspots can do without. Be aware of that, it's especially challenging in on location shoots.

 

[vtf]

Thanks Vince for taking the time to respond. Don't you just love it when we pesky newbies ask questions before reading that manual thoroughly..LOL

Mind you, I'm no expert. I try to give people a starting place so they can go out and practice just as I do. I encourage reading the information given then going out and testing it out. In this case go out and practice with subjects (doesn't have to be human or alive ) that match the same setting you want then practice on adjusting your camera settings. Self-critique then go out again. You will begin to see others who are dealing with the same issue then you will say to yourself the face needs a little more light and bingo, you know.
The manual will tell you the technical side of the camera, it's the practice and feedback on the practice that I think is the key.
I do have my limits, a person should have standards. Those standards are based off the quality you want your images. Find examples of where you want to be then pursue it. Get each step down before moving to next. Show improvement with each step before moving forward. They may seem like tiny steps some times but they may make the most dramatic results i.e. fill flash, dof, angles, rot.
Post pictures every day and not show improvement or even practice on the issues presented the day before, go somewhere else.....
Enjoy taking pictures and good luck on your photography.

 

[OrionsByte]

I think you may have over-done the "Iris Enhancement" in Lightroom, but that's a pet peeve of mine so it may not bother other folks.

 

[mc1979]

Thanks Vince for taking the time to respond. Don't you just love it when we pesky newbies ask questions before reading that manual thoroughly..LOL

Mind you, I'm no expert. I try to give people a starting place so they can go out and practice just as I do. I encourage reading the information given then going out and testing it out. In this case go out and practice with subjects (doesn't have to be human or alive ) that match the same setting you want then practice on adjusting your camera settings. Self-critique then go out again. You will begin to see others who are dealing with the same issue then you will say to yourself the face needs a little more light and bingo, you know.
The manual will tell you the technical side of the camera, it's the practice and feedback on the practice that I think is the key.
I do have my limits, a person should have standards. Those standards are based off the quality you want your images. Find examples of where you want to be then pursue it. Get each step down before moving to next. Show improvement with each step before moving forward. They may seem like tiny steps some times but they may make the most dramatic results i.e. fill flash, dof, angles, rot.
Post pictures every day and not show improvement or even practice on the issues presented the day before, go somewhere else.....
Enjoy taking pictures and good luck on your photography.

Vince, thank you! That's great advice for anybody. And thus far, pretty much what I have been doing, trying to learn one thing at a time. And it has really helped coming here and seeing how other's were critiqued and applying that to my own pictures.
I am my own harshest critic. There is SOOO much to learn, my only wish is that I had some hands on.

 

[mc1979]

You know this is one of the best beginner's CC thread I've seen in here. You came in here with a premise and extended yourself to be open to other opinions. Screw the like button, I wish there was an applaud button! A lot of the upcoming photographers in this forum should lurk in here as an example for structured CC. You'll go places with this frame of mind and keep it up throughout your photography experience. Good Job! :smileys:


I think what you missed here is your background. You have to clean it up, from exposure to the composition of it. The tree in the upper right corner that can go, and your hotspots can do without. Be aware of that, it's especially challenging in on location shoots.

Camz, Thank you for the feedback!

 

[misstwinklytoes]

The eyes look overdone to me. They stand out and not in a good way. It's such a thin line between enhancing and overdoing and I often cross it.

I agree about the dappled lighting and I think you'd have benefited greatly from a reflector. Not a bad shot at all, but there's always room for improvement.