I'm new and learning, please critique if possible

[kathytherookie]

Pics are on my facebook page.

Thank you!
Kathy

 

[kathytherookie]

Also, I was up at the crack of dawn to try and capture a shot of the beautiful sunrise on the lake with my tripod and my Canon T6i wouldn't work on anything I tried, low f's to high set on aperture priority. It locked right up. I was so chocked, I got nothing.

 

[tirediron]

If you want meaningful critique, you're best off to post a couple (<4) images here in the thread. Many members aren't going to follow off-site links, and there are a lot of images on your facebook page, so it's a little hard to decide which one(s) to critique.

 

[kathytherookie]

If you want meaningful critique, you're best off to post a couple (<4) images here in the thread. Many members aren't going to follow off-site links, and there are a lot of images on your facebook page, so it's a little hard to decide which one(s) to critique.

Okay, thanks! Will do.

 

[kathytherookie]

It's saying they're to big of a file, what size should I use?

 

[SquarePeg39 1]

Also, I was up at the crack of dawn to try and capture a shot of the beautiful sunrise on the lake with my tripod and my Canon T6i wouldn't work on anything I tried, low f's to high set on aperture priority. It locked right up. I was so chocked, I got nothing.

What were you getting for shutter speed when shooting in aperture priority? For sunrise and sunset I like to use manual mode and set the minimum shutter speed I can handle then set aperture to f/8 ish and use auto ISO. Also, make sure you're not metering directly on the sun or on a silhouette. I usually set spot metering based on the sky and then adjust in post if needed.

 

[astroNikon]

... and you can't critique on your facebook page as your security settings prohibit that unless you are a friend.

 

[tirediron]

It's saying they're to big of a file, what size should I use?

<800 pixels on the long edge and <250Kb is more than adequate for posting here.

 

[kathytherookie]

1. )

2.)

3.)

 

[kathytherookie]

I was disappointed with all three of those when I saw them on my laptop. ugh

 

[kathytherookie]

Also, I was up at the crack of dawn to try and capture a shot of the beautiful sunrise on the lake with my tripod and my Canon T6i wouldn't work on anything I tried, low f's to high set on aperture priority. It locked right up. I was so chocked, I got nothing.

What were you getting for shutter speed when shooting in aperture priority? For sunrise and sunset I like to use manual mode and set the minimum shutter speed I can handle then set aperture to f/8 ish and use auto ISO. Also, make sure you're not metering directly on the sun or on a silhouette. I usually set spot metering based on the sky and then adjust in post if needed.

I'm not sure what the shutter speed was at, there's one problem I assume, not paying attention to it. And I still don't understand what metering means, problem 2. ISO was on Auto.

 

[TheLibrarian]

Others can be more specific and knowledgeable than I.

1. Sun looks huge, pic of a sunrise i guess but seems to take up too much of the frame, is too bright and casts that yellow haze over everything. Some people like that haze, sometimes its nice, sometimes its not. Gives a bit of rustic childhood memories photo or something. I'm more bothered by the brightness than the haze though. Just on a viewers perspective.

2. Serious camera shake. You can see on the tree. Looks like a long exposure at night. Was this not with a tripod? Simply pushing the button may have made that shake as well. Tripods seem pretty much a necessity at night. Just note for my own reinforcement you have 2 choices with flowing water. Quick shutter to freeze it in place, which could prove difficult at night or long exposure to get the fuzzy blurred water look like you have.

3. Subject and composition. I assume the flowers are the subject. They are positioned in a less than purposeful way with no composition from this angle. Seems to draw my eye to the uninteresting tree in the background, the gas pump and the pabst blue ribbon umbrella. Even though the flowers are out front. Also seems blurry. Any shutter speeds of I'll just guess a second or more that you hand hold you really need to steady yourself, brace against a tree and exhale as you push the shutter if you're not going to use a tripod. On 3 though it looks like the blurry is a focus issue. The camera likely autofocused on the railing of the stairs or something. I'm still experimenting with (/need to... with) different focus modes but i believe there is a multipoint focus different from full autofocus, and you can try manual focus too seeing as we're trying to do everything else as manually as possible.

*when they say metering i'm mostly sure theyre talking about a light meter which is now built into the camera and there are different kinds.

If I knew how to pull it up and read it i still wouldn't know what to do with that info. Hate to confess my own ignorance but I figure if I followed/ learned the rules for how to do the calculation then I could just let the camera make that calculation if I'm going to abide by the formulaic results which shooting on A or S pretty much does. Though in use you set the box on the target which gives autofocus and meters on that spot.

 

[SquarePeg39 1]

Regarding metering - I'm not familiar with Canon but my Nikon has several different options. This is my very inexpert understanding - spot metering: the camera judges the light based on the specific subject that you have the focus point on; matrix metering: the camera judges the available light based on the entire scene. If you're using A mode and you spot meter on something dark, the camera is going to determine the shutter speed settings based on less available light and vice versa. If you're using manual and looking at the exposure indicators (the +/- line) and you don't understand how your metering is set up and how to use it, you will not get correct exposures.

Read your manual and then, when you are familiar with that, try one of the many books or online tutorials (usually free) that goes into more detail about the settings for your specific camera. It's a process, don't get discouraged.

I like your eye on that last one, just a slightly different angle to get rid of those crates on the right and include the full stairs on the left...

 

[BananaRepublic]

To be fare I think 1 and 3 are only a little wrong in a way. Image 1 is compositional right in general but from a technical sense there are errors, i.e. You had the right idea when you pointed the camera at the scene, although there may have been more to the scene on the right, but you fell down on knowing how to use it, thats why the Sun is a real distraction.

Image 3 is not a bad one, like pic 1 you had the right idea. if you were taking it again you could (A) take a step or two back so you get the whole of the front and back staircase, don't go back to far and get to much ground beyond them, and (B) get more of the left hand side of the scene in eliminating the gas pump.

 

[waday]

Hi,

This is how I see #1:

My edits:
Slight crop removing portions of the left and bottom of the photo, leveled it, changed white balance (temperature/tint), slight exposure/contrast/highlights/shadows/whites/blacks, increased clarity, reduced green, increased orange.