First Post - C&C please

[abhineet]

Hello guys. This is my first post here. This is a quick snap from a journey of mine. C&C please. Please give your suggestions on how can I improve my skills. Thank you.

 

[Figment]

While I'm still new to this whole thing, I shall do my best. But don't hold what I say TOO important, as I'm still learning myself.

Personally, it feels a little...flat. The clouds aren't doing anything extravegant. No sweeping up, no depth to them. They're just kinda...there.
The colors are a tad dull as well.
Use Photoshop to see if you can maybe sharpen the sky a little, bring out some of that blue. Maybe even tweak it a bit to put some depth into those clouds.

*edit* My attempt at improvement. I like the coloring of mine better, but I might should not have cropped it. I dunno, it's 5AM, and I'm bored. But here's my attempt at playing with the colors a little. Still learning how to postedit a little in Photoshop

 

[Photog]

First of all, welcome to the forum!
I'm afraid it's very difficult to capture a good, interesting image when it's pretty much just sky in the shot. My suggestion would be to try and capture something of interest in the foreground, to give something for the eye to focus on. I think the loudspeaker pole is just a bit too mundane a subject for a shot like this.

 

[TamiyaGuy]

Welcome to The Photo Forum! I hope you have a nice stay here .

Although the sky is very nice, I think that there isn't much else in the photo. Although your basic composition is right (placing the subject slightly off-centre), the pole isn't quite interesting enough to capture the viewer's eye.

 

[abhineet]

Thank you all for the response.

@Figment - This is valuable advice. You are right in pointing out that the clouds are flat. Please could anyone tell me why is it so? In the same setting as this one, how could the clouds have been more 3D?
The edited image does look better. Really appreciate your effort.

@Photog - Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Actually I deliberately shot just a pole as the foreground.. looked interesting. But you are right as it doesnt really catch the attention of the eye.

@TamiyaGuy - Well i did not know much about composition when i took this shot. Just a lucky chance
Thank you for your critique.

 

[Figment]

Thank you all for the response.

@Figment - This is valuable advice. You are right in pointing out that the clouds are flat. Please could anyone tell me why is it so? In the same setting as this one, how could the clouds have been more 3D?
The edited image does look better. Really appreciate your effort.

@Photog - Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Actually I deliberately shot just a pole as the foreground.. looked interesting. But you are right as it doesnt really catch the attention of the eye.

@TamiyaGuy - Well i did not know much about composition when i took this shot. Just a lucky chance
Thank you for your critique.

Honestly, I'm still learning a lot of that myself. (And yes, welcome to the forum... Shoulda said that before.
I know a lot of it has to do with Composition. As the others mentioned, find something a tad more "interesting" to draw attention AWAY from the fact the clouds are flat.
I know that Exposure, ISO and Aperture have a lot to do with how a shot comes out. As I'm still learning this stuff, I can't tell you exactly how to set those things. I've mostly been focusing on Night stuff lately, and have yet to take many sky shots. I'm going out and about today. Perhaps I'll try a few and see how flat they come out.
A couple things I've learned since I started browsing these forums (Which are an INCREDIBLE WEALTH of information and a superb gathering of great and helpful people)
Learn the Rule of Thirds: It would appear, whether by accident or purpose, you already know something about it, judging by your composition.
USE the forums: Don't be afraid to use the search feature on the forums. Generally, if you have a question, you can find the answer to it by searching. 99% of the time, you're not the first person to ask it.
I'm not sure how long you've been in photography, but if you're like me, not very long. At least not with a DSLR Camera. Play with it. Don't be afraid to fire off several shots of the same thing. Try different settings each shot. Move your lighting around. Remember, it's digital. You're not burning through film. If you don't like a shot, you can always delete it.

 

[Samanax]

Hello guys. This is my first post here. This is a quick snap from a journey of mine. C&C please. Please give your suggestions on how can I improve my skills. Thank you.

Taken with a camera phone, right? And you really want C&C?

First of all, what is the subject of this picture? The light pole or the sky? And why did you take this particular shot? What compelled you to do so?

When I look at this image I just see a snapshot of a cloudy sky and a light pole. Nothing very interesting about that.

 

[abhineet]

@Figment - Thanks a lot buddy

@Samanax - Yes. So camera phone pictures are not supposed to be C&Ced? Well I am still learning the details of photography and will try to keep the concepts (subject, as you pointed out) in mind.

 

[willma88]

Its a good start, i remember taking a lot of pictures of lights and poles and stuff when i started out. However, the challenge here is to make the picture interesting!

Have a exploration of the Rule of thirds for a more creative and interesting composition! I think your doing it already but it could be worked on!

However, its a great start! you will only keep improving!

 

[Figment]

i remember taking a lot of pictures of lights and poles and stuff when i started out.

Hehe,
I took a ton of pictures of Lightpoles, a couple of Flag shots, and some random cloud shots the DAY I bought my Nikon. I hadn't even opened all the packages yet, I was so excited.

 

[dak1b]

your shot needs to be more interesting...too boring