First Pic... Need Feedback Please?

Knickle25

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Good Morning All,

This is my first pic after taking a few online photography classes and learning a little about ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. I am still trying to figure out the triangle to balance the light and learning to blur the background and make my thing of interest sharp. I could use a all the criticism you guys have on this pic,... good or bad. I dont have any post processing software yet, so all i did was used the little bit of stuff in the upload to touch it up a little. This was taken on my old Nikon D3100 with the 55-200 basic lens that came with it i believe. I gave this camera to my niece years ago and she brought it over for a picnic so i decided to try it out. Please any and all of what i did right and wrong will only help me! Thanks alot guys...

Pond-Flower-7-1-2019.jpg
 
Generally, I think it's relaxing to look at but technically, I don't get it. The panorama crop is confusing. The subject, which I assume is the flower, takes up a very small portion of the frame and is in a weird location in the shot relative to everything else. And the green and blue is just kind of a sea of Blah. There are distracting dark objects in the bottom left and top right and bottom right. At full size, nothing is truly sharp.

It's a pretty image but you should share what you think about it. What does it mean to you? What are you trying to convey with this picture?
 
I was trying to get the flower to be sharp with the white contrast against the blue and green background. I was hoping the flower would pop more. I am just learning the post processing part of this. I dont have any software yet to use so im just going with what the uploader gave me,... I was hoping by the landscape view it would show the contrast off more. Thank you for pointing out the flaws, gives me some things to think about and work on! Thanks!
 
I think this is fine. Color, exposure, focus are all spot on. The crop is not standard and could have been applied with more thought to composition, but otherwise this is better than some of the stuff I see posted - even from people with more experience. Keep shooting!
 
The principle I'm guided by is that I try to take pictures I enjoy looking at. I enjoy looking at this picture and I don't want to sound harsh as if it has lots of flaws that need corrected. It has technical issues but if you like it don't worry about what people on the internet think about it. If you're goal is take technically perfect pictures, you have a long way to go and it's all totally subjective. I don't critique pictures that much because it's subjective and what I see as a flaw is only my opinion and I have no idea what the photographer was trying to show. So take any critique or opinion with a grain of salt. Shoot for yourself and don't get too hung up on the technical stuff. That's my advice to a noob lol
 
JonFZ300 - Nope, wasn't harsh at all. Im very thick skinned. Im just looking to get some ideas to think about to make my pics better overall. I figured any advice from folks wayyyyy more experienced than I am can only help. Its ok if you point out a lot of negatives. Wont hurt my feelings at all. Makes me aware of things I need to work on and think about for the next time. Like the way its set up, after looking at it longer, I do see a lot of what you said. The stuff in the corners and there is ALOT of blue green to just a small little patch of white. Nope, I get it, and want all kinds of advice good and bad!

Sliest - Thanks for the kind words! Im still lost in the dark on what I should be doing but that helps knowing im doing a little bit right! lol. I need to start studying post processing some it seems...
 
This is my first pic after taking a few online photography classes and learning a little about ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. I am still trying to figure out the triangle to balance the light and learning to blur the background and make my thing of interest sharp. I could use a all the criticism you guys have on this pic,... good or bad. I dont have any post processing software yet, so all i did was used the little bit of stuff in the upload to touch it up a little. This was taken on my old Nikon D3100 with the 55-200 basic lens that came with it i believe. I gave this camera to my niece years ago and she brought it over for a picnic so i decided to try it out. Please any and all of what i did right and wrong will only help me! Thanks alot guys...
Good morning!

You can generally ignore the ISO end of the "triangle", and set your camera to "auto ISO". You should not, however, ignore the light. Here you have strong midday sunlight which is doing you no favors in this shot.

In trying to generate separation of the focal point, you should use a wider aperture. The depth of field is affected by several factors, and even if you're hindered by one or two, try to maximize the effect by manipulating whichever factors are in your control.

Also, speaking of "focal", I think the camera missed focus on the flower. Set the focus area right on the flower.

In selecting the crop, (in post-capture editing) position the flower at the "thirds" of the frame. Try some different compositions to see which one you like best. Crop to a fairly "normal" aspect ratio, such as 4x5, for instance, in preparation for printing and mounting.
 
Without being too critical at first glance I like how the water has that black 'mirror like' quality about it and you can see some of the blooms reflection on that blackish water. the color appears ok at first glance also. If you're asking for suggestions I would suggest moving in a little closer, centering that flower and zooming in on it so that you get a little bokeh going on to help suggest what's on your mind and what the viewers focus should be on. I would also try just a standard 3:2 aspect ratio and see how that looks but of course you can try others, it's your playground and ultimately your choice. You will never please everyone no matter what you do so keep that in mind and don't be too hard on yourself. My best advice.
 
It's fine and if you're just starting out, not bad at all. I have no idea what my first pictures ever looked like... and I've been a photographer forever so who knows what they might have been!

I just find the lilypads are rather tight in the frame. There could've been a little more space around them so it's more apparent that's the subject.

The only real visual distraction is whatever is dark in the lower left corner that you probably got in the frame accidently not realizing it. One thing to learn is to see everything in the viewfinder/on the viewscreen.

It will take time to get good at it, so take your time framing shots and having fun with it. I think a couple of key things are learning to get proper exposures and framing well. Learning more about composition could be something to do over time. Try searching for 'elements and principles of composition' in art, rather than photography, and that should pull up some useful websites (that can be helpful for younger as well as adult learners).

With photography the post processing is the editing; if you take good photos you shouldn't need to do lots of post. If you ever pass this lilypond again, think if there are other perspectives you can get, move around and see if there are other vantage points that may give you a better photo. A different time of day could give you different light and shadow and make for more contrast (since the blue and green are about the same tone). There is some nice shadow along the edges of the lilypads so I wonder if a different angle/vantage point could give you something different.

If you're done borrowing from your niece maybe you'll have to starting looking into used. If this was your first picture you could probably do fine with your own camera!
 

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