Feedback on a few photographs wanted

[Compaq]

I went out and took some photos. It looks to me that some may be a little underexposed, but I'll need your trained eye to determine it. I think I've managed the focusing part pretty well, many of these are taken by using the lcd screen and zooming in making manual focus very accurate.

I've used Canon EOS 40D with Canon 50mm f1.8.

Constructive criticism, please

#1

I like this one, but perhaps I shouldn't have centered the thing.

#2

Too dark?

#3

It was cloudy, and not ideal light out. How to compensate?
(cropped)

#4

I like the DOF effect, but perhaps a little underexposed?

#5

Too dark? How is the composition?

#6

That tractor made the difference, apparently. I used spot metering on both, and the same exposure.

#7

I like the colours in this one, and the focus is nice, I think.


So, any tips to how to improve? And feel free to edit the pictures if you want to show me how it could have been !

-Compaq-

 

[flyingember]

they're under exposed. white isn't white. it's as simple as that. it looks like you shot in P mode and it averaged your brightness to gray. I'd learn the zone system and use manual exposure, especially in snow.

#1, 2 are blurry

#3 you're missing a subject. you have a background for your entire photo. it's seriously too dark.

#4, 5 there's nothing special to the composition. what's your subject?

#6- try cropping this. your subject is hanging with too much foreground which decreases it's effectiveness

#7 there's nothing special to this. I see a bunch of leaves and I honestly don't see why you took the photo

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

#5 is My favorite... with a slight edit...

In Gimp I did an Auto White Balance, Converted to B&W, added a bt of contrast and a touch of sharpness...

 

[Compaq]

they're under exposed. white isn't white. it's as simple as that. it looks like you shot in P mode and it averaged your brightness to gray. I'd learn the zone system and use manual exposure, especially in snow.

#1, 2 are blurry

#3 you're missing a subject. you have a background for your entire photo. it's seriously too dark.

#4, 5 there's nothing special to the composition. what's your subject?

#6- try cropping this. your subject is hanging with too much foreground which decreases it's effectiveness

#7 there's nothing special to this. I see a bunch of leaves and I honestly don't see why you took the photo

Blurry? Well, I did use a large aperture to get little of the subject in focus, but the subject is in forus, is it not? Btw, the details in the photos can't be fully appreciated here because they have been resized --> loses details. When I open them in their original size, you see clear crystals on the leaves and stuff. These versions aren't really at all representative for the originals when it comes to details.
As for #3, I agree completely.

General note: When I went out today I wanted to take some shots of the nice icey and snowy and wintery things, like icey trees and stuff like that. I can' macro with my current gear, and went as close as possible. When it comes to #7, I don't agree to it being just a "bunch of leaves". The leaves were very pretty, and I liked the colour of them. No offence, but perhaps you don't appreciate the nature the way I do?

As for the white balance, I did it manually. I pointed the camera at the snow by my feet (clean, white snow), and configured the manual WB after that shot. One question: which "standard" WB setting gives me the whitest snow? Obviously using manual WB is pointless if what you're using as template isn't actually white, but grey-blue-ish and whatnot that the standard WB made..?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[8ball]

I wish three was a little bit litgher I really like it.
And also I like the edit Bus rider did on number 3.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Tried my hand at #3 as well.... Using the same steps...

OP... Nice shots. Just fix your WB and they look pretty good.

 

[DogGoneGood]

That edit on #3 looks great, Bus!

 

[Compaq]

Tried my hand at #3 as well.... Using the same steps...

OP... Nice shots. Just fix your WB and they look pretty good.

Thanks for kind words and for your help. It has come to my attention that it is possible to edit the contrast in the camera itself. That may be a smart thing when taking pictures of white snow in white/grey sky (and very low clouds as well).

It looks a bit black and white, though But then again, there aren't really many colours in the pic to start with

Thanks again.

 

[flyingember]

they're under exposed. white isn't white. it's as simple as that. it looks like you shot in P mode and it averaged your brightness to gray. I'd learn the zone system and use manual exposure, especially in snow.

#1, 2 are blurry

#3 you're missing a subject. you have a background for your entire photo. it's seriously too dark.

#4, 5 there's nothing special to the composition. what's your subject?

#6- try cropping this. your subject is hanging with too much foreground which decreases it's effectiveness

#7 there's nothing special to this. I see a bunch of leaves and I honestly don't see why you took the photo

Blurry? Well, I did use a large aperture to get little of the subject in focus, but the subject is in forus, is it not? Btw, the details in the photos can't be fully appreciated here because they have been resized --> loses details. When I open them in their original size, you see clear crystals on the leaves and stuff. These versions aren't really at all representative for the originals when it comes to details.
As for #3, I agree completely.

General note: When I went out today I wanted to take some shots of the nice icey and snowy and wintery things, like icey trees and stuff like that. I can' macro with my current gear, and went as close as possible. When it comes to #7, I don't agree to it being just a "bunch of leaves". The leaves were very pretty, and I liked the colour of them. No offence, but perhaps you don't appreciate the nature the way I do?

As for the white balance, I did it manually. I pointed the camera at the snow by my feet (clean, white snow), and configured the manual WB after that shot. One question: which "standard" WB setting gives me the whitest snow? Obviously using manual WB is pointless if what you're using as template isn't actually white, but grey-blue-ish and whatnot that the standard WB made..?

Thanks for your feedback!

not white balance, exposure. cameras average in grayscale in P mode.

background for anyone who doesn't remember their art classes: shades are colors + black added, pastels are color + white added, the camera meter sees in the grayscale variant of shades and pastels

what it does it it makes the average brightness in the scene into an average gray. it doesn't make it an average of what you see but an average as if you have both white and black in the scene. if you don't you need to know how to adjust your exposure in a manual method to counter this. snowy photos show this the easiest as the white becomes a nice average gray and the photos of the leaves is better exposed because the leaves helps the camera average white down less

if you spot meter it treats this spot as your average point. so it darkens things that are slightly bright like that yellow tractor.

I suggest reading up on the zone system for color.

on the first two the core problem isn't that something isn't in focus, but that your composition isn't done in a way that you can ignore what's not in focus. I can see what you mean by size matters for adding detail, however to see my point, imagine you're printing a 5x7. does the detail come through? though, fairly this may just tell you to never print it at a 5x7

I have tons of leaves shots. the problem with the leaves you show is that I don't have a point of focus to make something special. it's just a drab composition no matter how interesting the leaves were in person.

here's some comparison shots of leaves. I'm not saying they're all great photos, but they give you an idea of why having a clear subject is so important with everyday objects

DSX_0489 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Oak Leaves | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pointed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
New Growth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_0485 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_8328 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Growth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_6646 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Compaq]

they're under exposed. white isn't white. it's as simple as that. it looks like you shot in P mode and it averaged your brightness to gray. I'd learn the zone system and use manual exposure, especially in snow.

#1, 2 are blurry

#3 you're missing a subject. you have a background for your entire photo. it's seriously too dark.

#4, 5 there's nothing special to the composition. what's your subject?

#6- try cropping this. your subject is hanging with too much foreground which decreases it's effectiveness

#7 there's nothing special to this. I see a bunch of leaves and I honestly don't see why you took the photo

Blurry? Well, I did use a large aperture to get little of the subject in focus, but the subject is in forus, is it not? Btw, the details in the photos can't be fully appreciated here because they have been resized --> loses details. When I open them in their original size, you see clear crystals on the leaves and stuff. These versions aren't really at all representative for the originals when it comes to details.
As for #3, I agree completely.

General note: When I went out today I wanted to take some shots of the nice icey and snowy and wintery things, like icey trees and stuff like that. I can' macro with my current gear, and went as close as possible. When it comes to #7, I don't agree to it being just a "bunch of leaves". The leaves were very pretty, and I liked the colour of them. No offence, but perhaps you don't appreciate the nature the way I do?

As for the white balance, I did it manually. I pointed the camera at the snow by my feet (clean, white snow), and configured the manual WB after that shot. One question: which "standard" WB setting gives me the whitest snow? Obviously using manual WB is pointless if what you're using as template isn't actually white, but grey-blue-ish and whatnot that the standard WB made..?

Thanks for your feedback!

not white balance, exposure. cameras average in grayscale in P mode.

background for anyone who doesn't remember their art classes: shades are colors + black added, pastels are color + white added, the camera meter sees in the grayscale variant of shades and pastels

what it does it it makes the average brightness in the scene into an average gray. it doesn't make it an average of what you see but an average as if you have both white and black in the scene. if you don't you need to know how to adjust your exposure in a manual method to counter this. snowy photos show this the easiest as the white becomes a nice average gray and the photos of the leaves is better exposed because the leaves helps the camera average white down less

if you spot meter it treats this spot as your average point. so it darkens things that are slightly bright like that yellow tractor.

I suggest reading up on the zone system for color.

on the first two the core problem isn't that something isn't in focus, but that your composition isn't done in a way that you can ignore what's not in focus. I can see what you mean by size matters for adding detail, however to see my point, imagine you're printing a 5x7. does the detail come through? though, fairly this may just tell you to never print it at a 5x7

I have tons of leaves shots. the problem with the leaves you show is that I don't have a point of focus to make something special. it's just a drab composition no matter how interesting the leaves were in person.

here's some comparison shots of leaves. I'm not saying they're all great photos, but they give you an idea of why having a clear subject is so important with everyday objects

DSX_0489 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Oak Leaves | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pointed | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
New Growth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_0485 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_8328 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Growth | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSX_6646 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I truly see your point, and I agree. Thank you for explaining What do you think if I crop away most of the photo, and just have a small portion of it. Still overkill of random leaves? And I did some contrasting.

 

[Compaq]

Just to see, is my editing of the following photograph an improvement?

Too much green?

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Thanks for kind words and for your help. It has come to my attention that it is possible to edit the contrast in the camera itself. That may be a smart thing when taking pictures of white snow in white/grey sky (and very low clouds as well).

Its always best to get the correct exposure out of the camera. But if you miss the exposure... A little post processing can go a long way.

 

[mwcfarms]

I think it's a bit too saturated now. Looks like spinach.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

not white balance, exposure. cameras average in grayscale in P mode.

Yes, it is an exposure issue. I say WB... because that is how I fixed it... "Auto White balance" in Gimp on the "Colors" menu.

 

[lildlege1]

I think they are great!! just keep shooting and you'll get better. Mine arent even this good yet so congrats to you!!!