First Post (feedback wanted)

Cowboy Copas · Nov 3, 2008

I have recently become very interested in this art form and really want to learn more about composition and using the camera to the fullest.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

jwsciontc · Nov 3, 2008

well they sure are entertaining, i love the first one, second one, and fourth, great subjects. 3 and 5 just seem not boring, but just plain pics to me. but 6 has a great depth of field

Muay_Thai_Dan · Nov 3, 2008

OMGGG that cat in #4 is amazingggggggggg:hail:!! where did you shoot these? zoo?

nice pics!!

Synnove · Nov 3, 2008

Nice photos. I especially like number 4. Where are you located and shooting?

sabbath999 · Nov 3, 2008

Just curious, do you live in Nashville?

Cowboy Copas · Nov 4, 2008

Actually the animal pics are from the nashville zoo. Thanks for all the words of encouragement!

jwsciontc · Nov 4, 2008

sabbath999 said:
Just curious, do you live in Nashville?

creepy lol

manaheim · Nov 4, 2008

Hey! A lorakeet!

The cat one cracked me up, so I think that was a good subject. The coke bottle with the funky color was kinda neat. Again, interesting subject. I looked at the coke can for a couple mintes. Neat subject, and I think you got this shot pretty nicely framed. The bird in 5 is a very pretty bird.

So now the things I think you should consider going forward...

1. A lot of your stuff is overly centered, which tends to leave a dull image as a result. (coke can, bird) You can certainly center things some times and have it work, but often the "rule of thirds" is a great way to go. (google that) (the framing on the cat is unfortunate... his face is off to the right, which seems weird for the shot for some reason to me... and he is dead center vertically... having him lower in frame would probably work better)

2. A number of these are underexposed. (5, 4, maybe 2) Just watch your exposure, check your meter on your camera when you take shots, bracket special shots so you make sure you got 'em, and consider taking RAW shots for really important things so you have more leeway.

3. Try to take up more of the frame with the subject... not always... but sometimes... I think #5 would benefit from this, but the good news is you could crop it a bit to move him off to the side and up/down in the frame, and get a great result.

4. Looks like your focus wasn't dead on for a couple... not sure. Mild sharpening would probably do well to fix most of this.

Overall, some interesting pictures- just need a bit of tuning I think.

MelodySoul · Nov 4, 2008

I love the colours in #6 and the shallow DOF looks great too. I would maybe crop a little off the top though.

Cowboy Copas · Nov 4, 2008

I tweaked the crop on a couple of the pics. Do these work better?
Could someone explain bracketing to me? thanks to manaheim for the comments. I see my faults with what was pointed out.

manaheim · Nov 4, 2008

Hey! Nice! Both are better. I think the cat is pretty much dead-on. I would just do an sharpening pass on it and you're good. Try like 75%, .7-1.2 pixels.

On the bird... I thought this earlier but wasn't sure since I wasn't on my color corrected monitor, but now I'm more sure. I think the color balance is off. I think it's a hair green. I think I would still boost the brightness a HAIR... maybe 10-20 points max (in photoshop), and then do a quick sharpening on it.

Regardless... good improvements! Very nice!