learn it.

[britalit]

Hello all, I'm brand spanking new to the photoforum, so I thought I'd say hi & share some of my pictures. I really want to learn and become a successful photographer (even if it means only taking pictures for fun, not $$). As of right now I have a Canon Rebel with pretty standard lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) and a zoom lens (75-300mm f/1.4-5.6). I'm about to buy a 50mm f/1.4 and am pretty excited about it. I've only taken pictures of my family so far because I don't feel that I am experienced enough to spread my wings quite yet. I'd love some feedback on my photos from people that I don't know, since my family will always be nice

Does anyone know why I can't add my pictures to this message? I am selecting to add as an image, but when I try it says "undefined" & doesn't upload them...

 

[Overread36]

Welcome to the forums Britalit!

As for the photos - the upload button does not work but design; we do have a gallery on the site which is open to all members or you can use a 3rd party hosting site such as flickr or photobucket. Full details are in this thread here:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

 

[britalit]

Critiques are welcome! All of these pictures were taken on a bright sunny day, so I played with all my settings a bit. I also removed a few things (picnic table, stroller, 3 people, & a trash can) from #2 & a mustard bottle in #3. I know these aren't the best, but I'm starting slowly.

 

[12sndsgood]

welcome to the site, and don't be afraid to take pics of anything that interests you. only way to improve is thru practice

 

[bazooka]

The exposure in your images is very very strange. #1 looks like you used a 3 stop grad diagonolly across the frame. #2 has really muddy edges. #3 has similar strange vignetting around the corners, but the kids face is completely blown out and yellow. #4 has an out-of-place blown out hotspot behind the girl. I suspect that this is post processing gone horribly wrong. I don't think I've ever seen images come out of a camera like this. Do you have any ideas on why these images have these issues?

 

[britalit]

You're right, I've edited the crap out of these. This was my first time out to specifically take pictures of a day at the park, so I knew I wouldn't come out with anything great. However, for #1 I really like the darkness of the top corner & how the light shines through the leaf on the man's face and how it shines on the boys. #3 was too sunny for me to correct the light on her face but I liked it a bit because it looks somewhat angelic.

I am setting up sessions with a photographer for classes & mentoring, so hopefully everything will improve!

This one didn't get much editing at all, what do you think?

 

[KmH]

If you want tips on photography post unedited photos.

If you want tips on image editing, post both the edited and unedited versions of a photo.

 

[bazooka]

To be honest, I never even noticed the leaf on his face in #1. I think if you want us to see that, then you should work on isolating that in the image.

The last one you posted is much much better in every aspect. Good fill light, acceptable composition. I don't like the way the guy's legs are dangling, that just looks uncomfortable... however, I simply don't know enough about nor have enough experience posing full body shots to give you any help.

 

[britalit]

Haha, I never noticed how awkward his legs were dangling! It does look kind of strange...

Thanks for your input! I didn't know I couldn't put edited photo's on here, I'll try to put some more unedited ones up & work on my editing skills. Like I said, I'm a total beginner. What kind of editing software do you all use? I have Photoshop Elements but am really wanting Adobe Lightroom (I've heard lots of good things about it).

 

[bazooka]

It's not that you can't, but these first 4 photos are so heavily modified that you have really hurt them to the point that it's difficult to critique any other part of them... we don't know what, if anything was originally wrong with the image and what you did to it. Also, it's over the top processing that draws attention to itself... kind of like another subject being in the picture.... a very very ugly subject. So if you want critique on the images themselves, it's best to restrict your editing to simply "processing"... adjust white balance, crop, and saturation, or just use the RAW defaults. If you are not shooting in RAW, I recommend only applying crop.