Idaho Dunes/Yellowstone C&C pic intensive!

[VegasPhotoNut]

Hey everyone, went up to Idaho this past week for some fun quad riding in the sand and headed over to Yellowstone for a day. this was my first my time at Yellowstone and i can't wait to go back. It was amazing. Anyways, i am hoping to get some critique from you all. Tons i need to work on, but always trying to get better and ill take all the help/criticism i can get! Overall i took close to 700 photographs. Here is more than a few. Thanks all!


1, Had been trying to get a shot of this lonely tree in the sand dunes.

2. A pretty big storm was rolling through but never came over head. Never tried to get lightning shots before. Think i did okay for my first time!

3. Just a stump near a swamp. Nothing special, was just trying for good composition and exposure

4. In Yellowstone now at a hot spring

5. Another Hotspring in the Biscuit Basin of Yellowstone

6. My first attempt at a black and white photo through PP.

7.Some horses in a farming area in northern Idaho

8.My 2nd attempt of black and white.

9.One of my friends' daughter. 99% of my pics on the trip were with a 17-40 f/4L so i was mainly just experimenting with DOF. I think this would probably look better really wide. But came out okay considering that and on camera flash

10. A sunset on the lake of Egin Lake.

11. Same sunset, a little later with my friend Alex silhouetted.

12. An Old GMC bus sitting on the side of the road

13.Same bus, different Angle.

I know its picture intensive!!! But it was hard just choosing these!!! Any CC on any picture is appreciated. But most of all just wanted you guys to enjoy! Thanks again for looking. Trip was amazing.

 

[VegasPhotoNut]

no replies at all??? Bah, figured it would was too many.

 

[Virtuosos]

If it means anything, the lightning shot is pretty f-ing good

 

[johnh2005]

Wow, ok that is a lot of shots to look at! Anyways, here ya go for what it is worth. I am by NO MEANS an expert. Just my humble opinion.

1. I want to like the shot. I really do. I just do not feel drawn to it. To me this is just like some of the photos I take. It looks really awesome as a whole when you are standing there and a photo of it just does not do it justice. Maybe try a vertical crop of it to get rid of the open sky on the right? Make it a portrait of the tree? Not sure if this makes it any better or not.



2. This is a great capture. I like it a LOT. About the only thing I might do with this is to clip out the lighted area in the bottom. Though I like the lit area there... Just my 0.02c

3. Good practice shot. I like the composition. I like the framing. I like the colors and the focus. Good job.

4. & 5. I think both are nice but could benefit from some cropping. Play with them and see what you think.

6. Has quite a few problems. First, the horizon is dead center. This might be ok if there was a reason for it. The sky is just dead space in this shot. It adds nothing to the shot. So, no reason at all to have the horizon in the center. Get rid of the sky. Find a subject in the shot and bring it out. Right now, there is just nothing to look at.

7. I like 7. But a little fill flash for the horses face would have been cool. Some people will complain about the horizon being way off. I think it works in this shot as the horses face is "vertical" to the camera. Great capture for some farm horses!

8. The white on the horses' mane on the left is completely blown out. See what you can do to recover that. I think it needs something else to make it pop. Not sure what that is.

9. Not bad! Trim this one up. Get rid of the stick at her foot and the ones between her legs. The flash seems a bit bright maybe? Not sure someone better than me will probably comment on it.

10. & 11. I think both of these are freaking fantastic. I would love to be able to get some shots like this. Very nice work. Keep these shots in mind when you take others. The only nit pick I might have with 10 is a little more tighter crop leaving out the bush on the right and making it narrower top to bottom. More of a panorama look.

12. & 13. Nice powerful flash. Not a terribly interesting subject. Good practice shots.

I hope this is what you were after =)

 

[VegasPhotoNut]

Damn, i appreciate it John. Now i know it was too pic intensive considering all the reading! but i do appreciate it!!

 

[johnh2005]

No problem. Been sitting in the hospital with my Father in Law for the last two days. I had plenty of time. Go ahead and try some editing on these particular photos you posted. Some people here say PP (Post Processing) is 50+% or more of taking great photos. It may be something as simple as setting the White Balance, and cropping it. Or could be much more intensive. Either way, taking a moment to look at your SooC shots and doing a minor tweak or two will go a long way.

 

[VegasPhotoNut]

sort of the same as what you did, cropped the bottom a little more and tried my best to heal the brown post in the bottom right.

 

[Malone]

sort of the same as what you did, cropped the bottom a little more and tried my best to heal the brown post in the bottom right.

I personally prefer the first crop. Instead of cropping out the lighted area, I would try to darken it, but leave the light reflecting on the fence posts like on the right side.