I need help/critique with my photos..

[MontanasMomma]

I was told that my following pics have the following flaws, can you critique or help me? Flaws were:

Focus - Train, Branches in water, Cows, Mud truck, Sunset mountain top, Snowy tumbleweed, Windmill, and Cruise Ship
Poor Lighting - Train, Branches in water, Mud truck, Sunset mountain top, Water rocks, and Snowy tumbleweed
Noise - Cows, Mud truck, and Windmill
Composition - Branches in water, and Snowy tumbleweed
Trademark - Train, and Cruise ship
Lighting Problems - Snowy tire tracks



Any help is appreciated, Thank you!

 

[Designer]

Lots to look at here, and kind of difficult to offer a thoughtful C&C. As to the overall presentation, these are not too bad.

In the future, if you could just post one or two in each thread or at least number them, it will be easier.

 

[MontanasMomma]

Sorry, my first time and first thread here. I'm a Newbie!!

 

[WayneF]

I agree, not too bad at all. Certainly not bad for the dumb reasons cited. The stuff said (branches in water and tire tracks and logos and whatever...). This stuff was there. People tend to say stupid things. Those people were just trying to find some way to criticize anything. It is like being given a thousand dollars, and then someone saying "you know the bank looks at you funny when you bring in a $1000 bill". Give it back I guess...

I would say, all reasonably exposed and focused, all reasonably well cropped to highlight the subject of interest, etc. Not bad at all. The picture should be what you want it to be. If you are happy, they are masterpieces. If you see something you could do different next time, try it next time.

 

[MontanasMomma]

Thank you! I love my pics. It's my creativity view and sites (won't name) told me these flaws.

 

[Designer]

I agree with WayneF. On some individual shots, I might have some suggestions, but as I can't judge focus on posted pictures, I usually don't comment on that aspect. But hey, I'm not the world's greatest photographer, so the comments that I do offer should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[The_Traveler]

Thank you! I love my pics. It's my creativity view and sites (won't name) told me these flaws.

With due respect to the previous commenter, there are multiple flaws and you don't see them.

Photography may be your creative outlet but, just like any art, one needs to get knowledge and develop skills.
Your pictures look like those of any novice where the camera is responsible for most of the exposing and focusing.
Learning the rest is up to you.

Let's look at just one picture for example.
It looks to me like the horizon is tilted and there doesn't seem to be any artistic reason for it.
The snow is dull and a gray-blue color because the white balance is off.

 

[lambertpix]

Just a shot in the dark here, but are the flaws you listed reasons a stock photo site rejected the photos? The "trademark" flaw looked like something only a stock photo site would really care about.

 

[astroNikon]

I only looked briefly but as Lew stated .. I didn't realize it was snow until his post. I thought it was sand. WB issue.

 

[BrickHouse]

Lew (sorry to hijack OP) but if you could: how do you know how far to push the white balance for snow. I have the toughest time knowing when enough is enough. I push it, I come back, still looks too cold, I push it a little again. I don't know that I ever really have a great feel for when the snow is warm enough. Any tips?

 

[vintagesnaps]

It looks like most of the photos aren't very sharply in focus, and they look like you didn't get a proper exposure and still need to learn how to do that. Composition is lacking in the one of the weeds in the snow because it doesn't seem clear what you want the viewer to see, and there's a line in the background that's an edge of something that makes for a distraction.

If trademark was a concern in feedback you received then that seems you're trying to sell your photos, and it's most likely a violation of a registered trademark to make money from using it without the company's permission. I don't think it's realistic to be a newbie and try to sell your photos just yet til your skill level is at a point where you can have success with it.

As far as shooting snow, where I live we don't usually get all that much but of course it was plentiful this year. I got some nice photos - shooting Portra, so I didn't have to set WB! lol But I took some photos with my digital camera which were somewhat dark and I had to brighten them up - learning curve I guess since I haven't tried to photograph snow in years. I found the exposure was a little tricky, I think the camera's meter is reading how bright it is and indicates that the shutter should be closed down more than will work to get a good exposure. So I had to figure out how to adjust for that, and by the time we have a winter again like this one I will probably have forgotten what I did!

 

[MontanasMomma]

The sunset and both snow pics where taken with my brand new Nikon D3100, all of the others were actually cell phone pics, so I can understand the noise and non-clarification on those pics. My very 1st pic with my Nikon was the snowy tumbleweed and I was ecstatic with how it shows all of the glitter of fresh snow. I hate using Photoshop programs, so how would I go about using my WB and ISO on my camera?

 

[The_Traveler]

The sunset and both snow pics where taken with my brand new Nikon D3100, all of the others were actually cell phone pics, so I can understand the noise and non-clarification on those pics. My very 1st pic with my Nikon was the snowy tumbleweed and I was ecstatic with how it shows all of the glitter of fresh snow. I hate using Photoshop programs, so how would I go about using my WB and ISO on my camera?

If you look in the box the camera came in, sometimes the manufacturers put a little booklet in there that tells about the camera.

 

[astroNikon]

or download it here
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/noprint/D3100_ENnoprint.pdf

or read a good book about it
Amazon.com: Nikon D3100: From Snapshots to Great Shots (9780321754547): Jeff Revell: Books

 

[The_Traveler]

Lew (sorry to hijack OP) but if you could: how do you know how far to push the white balance for snow. I have the toughest time knowing when enough is enough. I push it, I come back, still looks too cold, I push it a little again. I don't know that I ever really have a great feel for when the snow is warm enough. Any tips?

I usually do it the way you do, by eye, and sometimes use the eye dropper tool and get a reading of the snow.
I expect shadows to be bluish because blue wavelengths of light are smaller and thus scattered more easily (Rayleigh [sic ?] scattering) but snow in the sun should be close to an even r=g=b with a tiny tinge of blue.