I cordially invite YOU to view, comment, and critique!

[Meekminx]

Good Evening,

This would be my second attempt at posting my pictures. I use Picasa 3 (mostly because it's free, and I'm just starting), shoot in Raw, use a Nikon D5000, and have zero experience in this kind of thing!

So, without further ado, I would like to show you what I think isn't horri-bad.

1.

I really wanted to get the dewdrops and the tiny spider web into focus. I was very happy that the background wasn't too distracting but I would have preferred it to be all one color. The white light blur on the bottom is distracting to me. I have the 18-55mm kit lens, but I had the camera set to Macro just to see what it does. Do I think it's a masterpiece? No. But it is cool!

2.

What bothers me about this shot is the fact that I focused on the top portion of the gazebo, which blurred the rest of the roof. I like the lighting, but again, I'm not sure if this shot benefits from being in B/W or if I should have just scrapped it. I like the little roof's location, I think you guys say something about the rule of thirds? I know it's not very sharp at all, but I really want to go back and try again. I was balancing on the deck railing to get high enough.

I ordered Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure. I can't wait for it to arrive! (Can you tell that I've been stalking your threads? )

Thank you for your time away from the Wedding Threads and the Trolls!

 

[KenC]

Interesting subject matter, but not good lighting - not under your control, I know, but sometimes you just need to go back another time. For example, the bright spot in the background of #1 that you mentioned and also very contrasty light on the bud. In #2 the background is too bright - better probably to shoot it when the sun is behind you. The second one is also a little tilted, but please don't fall off the railing trying it again!

 

[Meekminx]

Thank you KenC!

I almost wish I had "drama attracting" pictures, but I'm happy to have few good comments instead of a lot of bad ones.

 

[DiskoJoe]

use flickr. its better quality. or deviantart. deviant will not alter the images at all.

 

[Meekminx]

I do use Flickr to upload. Picasa is only used for editing.

 

[levinest]

First I want to say I'm just starting to get serious myself so take my opinions as highly non-professional.

The flower one has a hair or something right in the middle that was distracting when I first looked at the photo. I actually clicked the enlarge button on the picture to be sure it wasn't my screen. You might want to edit it out in Photoshop. Also, while I like the composition the fact that the flower has eat mark circles in it somehow left me feeling it detracted from the beauty of it.

Funny, I just bought the same book a week ago. Working on finishing a different book specifically on my camera (Nikon D7000) then I'm going to delve into Bryan's tome.

 

[Aayria]

Hi, welcome to the forum! =)

I like the clarity of your first shot, but I agree with the poster who said the lighting isn't ideal for it.

The second shot seems very underexposed, and the highlight seems to be the patch of sunlight falling on the tree trunk in the left of the frame.

Keep shooting, you're off to a great start, with a great camera =)

Also..if you're looking for some better software on a budget (I really really really dont' recommend picasa), look up Gimp. It's a free program that operates and does pretty much everything you can do in photoshop if you can take the time to learn it. A bit of a learning curve, but there are great tutorials online!

 

[subscuck]

A bit of a learning curve, but there are great tutorials online!

And books. Which are better since you'll learn what you need to learn as you need to learn it, and in the process you'll gain a fundamental understanding of both the software and post processing. Tuts are very hit or miss, and how do you know what you need to learn if you don't know what you need to learn?

I used to be pretty anti-GIMP, and I personally wouldn't use it as I'm too invested in Adobe (and prefer PS anyway), but at this point in time, I was pleasantly surprised to find there are actually quite a few books available. This time last year there were maybe two.