hello, looking for a serious critique!

[chadrbaldwin]

hello all, my name is chad and i am a art student from michigan... i am currently going for my associates in art/design... i have allways been interested in photography.. but i have not taken a photography class yet... i just picked up my first dslr a few weeks ago and i have done a little shooting with it... what i am looking for is for a hard critique... dont take it easy on me because im new... hard critiques have allways been a great way for me to learn!

as for my gear... im using a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm kit lens, shooting in raw and editing in lightroom... i am currently trying to save up some money to get a decent sigma zoom lens.

shoot 3-18-13 - a set on Flickr

 

[shefjr]

Welcome to the forum Chad. You would be better off to actually post a few of your finest here on the forum so that people can give you some "serious critique" on just a few at a time. That is going to be your best way to get "hard critique"

 

[ceeboy14]

Other than the No Trespassing sign on pole, your other images are fair to middlin, partly cloudy. The first B&W is good but the second has blown out highlights. Most of the rest of the images have too many extraneous things going on in the frame to figure out the focal point...and, while I am at a critique, I might suggest some brush up in English grammar.

 

[chadrbaldwin]

the no trespassing is my favorite photo of that day and for the "partly cloudy" i did notice that. they came out of the camera like that, i think it might be because im not using a lens hood. thanks for pointing out the blown out highlights.. im gonna go back into lightroom and see if i can fix that. in some of the images i think that i was trying a little to hard to have a good composition and forgot about focal point although im not sure what my focal point could be in the images... the no trespassing is a obvious focal point and if you look at dsc_0146 and dsc_0148 they also has a obvious focal point... and i think the way i used out of focus objects in the foreground to draw you into the focal point worked out well and gives it more of a 3d look..

english grammar yes yes i know. what can i say, i went to a catholic school but its ok i would rather express myself through art than words anyway.