Light growth - looking for feedback

[trase]

I am very new to photography, and besides knowing the technical basics, I have no idea what I'm doing. It would be great if somebody pointed my nose in the things I did wrong.

 

[KmH]

If you used the Monochrome setting in your digital camera I would suggest that is wrong.

It is better to make a color image and then convert it to B&W post process.
That way you have lots and lots more control of the contrast and density of the B&W tones.

 

[Ysarex]

Nice idea -- I would have tried to move forward past the two trees left and right and use a wide lens if necessary to catch the tree with the pigeons.

Joe

 

[Derrel]

This looks liike a tricky situation for a number of reasons. You're already at a wide lens setting, as the corner distortion shows. The left upper corner, with the building and the name of it, is distracting. The degree of contrast between the sky and the dark tree bark is very high; neither the wood, nor the sky show much detail, the sky being so light I assume that might be why this was convertet to B&W.

This is also a busy scene, shot at medium-close range. I do LIKE the pigeons in the branches, but there are some elements that distract, like the building and sign, and the potted plant, and the streetlight. I dunno...this seems like a tricky shooting situationt to me. With JUST the right camera-to-subject distance, just the right camera height (low to the ground I think), and JUST the right focal length, perhaps you could have minimized the background buildings (camera very low to ground) from up-close, with a fairly wide angle lens.

But I'm not 100 percent certain about how good an image could have been made here: there is a LOT happening, and it looks challenging, to say the least.

 

[trase]

Wow, thank you all for the invaluable advice!

If you used the Monochrome setting in your digital camera I would suggest that is wrong.

It is better to make a color image and then convert it to B&W post process.
That way you have lots and lots more control of the contrast and density of the B&W tones.

The original is a color .RAW. When developing I try each photo in B&W and decide if it's better that way or not.

Nice idea -- I would have tried to move forward past the two trees left and right and use a wide lens if necessary to catch the tree with the pigeons.

Joe

Sadly, 18-55mm is all I can do right now (kit lens). I'll expand when I get the feeling of what I'm doing and what I want to achieve.

This looks liike a tricky situation for a number of reasons. You're already at a wide lens setting, as the corner distortion shows. The left upper corner, with the building and the name of it, is distracting. The degree of contrast between the sky and the dark tree bark is very high; neither the wood, nor the sky show much detail, the sky being so light I assume that might be why this was convertet to B&W.

This is also a busy scene, shot at medium-close range. I do LIKE the pigeons in the branches, but there are some elements that distract, like the building and sign, and the potted plant, and the streetlight. I dunno...this seems like a tricky shooting situationt to me. With JUST the right camera-to-subject distance, just the right camera height (low to the ground I think), and JUST the right focal length, perhaps you could have minimized the background buildings (camera very low to ground) from up-close, with a fairly wide angle lens.

But I'm not 100 percent certain about how good an image could have been made here: there is a LOT happening, and it looks challenging, to say the least.

I noticed the building and the tree, but didn't think that it would be a point of critique because I can't do nothing about them. Thanks to you I now understand that this is a wrong mode of thinking, instead I should have spent a couple of extra minutes finding the perfect spot and given each shot in general more respect that I did with my old point and shoot.
When you mentioned the distracting streetlight, did you mean the one on the side? Because the one that's "growing" out of the tree is the centerpiece, I'm afraid. Thus, the name

I definitely can move a bit closer and lower to cut the distractions, will try again when the weather is nice.

 

[Peeb]

I tried cropping out the side trees, using software to 'stretch' the tree a bit taller (it just seemed a little 'squatty'), and bumping up the contrast. It was already a pretty contrasty image so I just went with it!

 

[Peeb]

PS- if the light 'growing out of' the tree is your focal point, you could consider reshooting at dusk or shortly after sunset with the light illuminated to accentuate that the light is the focal point of your image, as the current image suggests to most (I suspect) that the subject is the tree with birds- not the light coming out of the tree.

 

[KmH]

How do you get from the color image to a B&W?

 

[trase]

How do you get from the color image to a B&W?

Lightroom

 

[Derrel]

Peeb's rework is a great example of elimination of distracting elements.