Maine, NH, and CT

[RIEMT]

So I'm new to this forum, posting some photos I took to gain some feedback and hopefully prove I can do a little more than a "selfie duckface" with a camera (haha). So below are my photos, be gentle they were taken with a cellphone-- I'm new to photography, they were mostly incidental photos, but I've come to realize lately it relaxes me and according to some of my facebook "friends" I'm atleast 1/4 decent at it. I hope to hear feedback-- positive and negative-constructive.

I had a few more photos to add, but they're apparently too large. I was going to upload them to an imagehosting site but being that I am brand new and wasn't sure the protocol, I didn't want to violate any rules on my first day.

Don't mind the copyrights, they are my own (if anyone has a concern feel free to message me and Ill provide my license as proof they are indeed mine!)

 

[limr]

Hi Brandon, welcome to TPF!

I think the two pictures of the river are your strongest. Strong composition and exposure. The last waterfall picture also has good leading lines from the bridge, along the water, and then down the waterfall.

The other waterfall picture isn't quite as strong. The tree on the left of the frame doesn't really add much to the composition, and along with the rocks, it makes the image feel heavy on the left and cut-off on the right.

The flagpole shot...well, if I'm being perfectly honest, it looks like a shot that you accidentally took when you were trying to make a phone call or check email.

 

[RIEMT]

Sorry I was looking for a private message function but I didn't see one, so ill just answer here.

Could you explain to me what you mean by " feel heavy" and "cut-off"? Sorry I'm a newbie in terms of this stuff.

As for the flagpole. Honestly It was a quick snap. The original photo was a very foggy **** night and I remember the flag standing out to me was the flag, seemed like "old glory flying through everything" I wasn't really sure how to edit it, so if I'm remembering right I simply dehazed it and adjusted the sharpness--- if it would help ill gladly upload the original. Again, maybe it was one of those "more meaning seeing it in person". I just remember I was on an IFT and it was a **** night yet for whatever reason that flag stood out to me.

Always any input is good-- good, bad (constructive)--- I'd rather be a better photographer than let my pride get in the way.

No offense meant, just as I take none!

 

[limr]

Sorry I was looking for a private message function but I didn't see one, so ill just answer here.

Could you explain to me what you mean by " feel heavy" and "cut-off"? Sorry I'm a newbie in terms of this stuff.

As for the flagpole. Honestly It was a quick snap. The original photo was a very foggy **** night and I remember the flag standing out to me was the flag, seemed like "old glory flying through everything" I wasn't really sure how to edit it, so if I'm remembering right I simply dehazed it and adjusted the sharpness--- if it would help ill gladly upload the original. Again, maybe it was one of those "more meaning seeing it in person". I just remember I was on an IFT and it was a **** night yet for whatever reason that flag stood out to me.

Always any input is good-- good, bad (constructive)--- I'd rather be a better photographer than let my pride get in the way.

No offense meant, just as I take none!

These photo gallery forums were meant for comments, critique, and discussion, so it's normal to respond within the thread.

And I am happy to explain more but I'm afraid I have run out of steam for the night and am about 5 minutes from a nice coma, so I will be back tomorrow

 

[RIEMT]

No worries sorry used to other forums (miscellaneous).

No worries if you ran out of steam been there. Reply when you can, if you can. Hate to be a drain not my cuppa tea. But I appreciate it all.

 

[SquarePeg]

Hi. Welcome to TPF. I agree with most of what limr said but will add a few thoughts. The b&w shot of the river - the railing or whatever that is at the bottom is a bit distracting. I would crop that out. The color river shot is nice but it's a bit tilted so you should straighten that horizon. Just a few tips that may help you - taking landscape photos very early morning or late afternoon when the sun is low and the light is softer will greatly improve any landscape shots. Google "golden hour" and read up on how to use light. Also, look around before you shoot and take note of everything that is in the frame and also take note of what you may be leaving out. In the color river shot, there is a great reflection on the right side. Maybe a quarter turn that way to highlight the reflection of the clouds and trees in the water would have been a nice shot as well.

If you enjoy it, keep at it!

 

[limr]

I'm actually okay with the railing. I like that it adds a new texture to counteract the glassy smoothness of the water, and it provides some context, too. Let this be a reminder that while there are general guidelines of what makes a 'good' photograph, there's always room for different tastes and opinions

As for the heaviness:
Let me first talk about the waterfall shot with the brick bridge. When viewing a scene, the eye tends to naturally follow a pattern - light and lines. We tend to notice the brightest parts of the photo and then our eyes travel along lines (called "leading lines").

In the waterfall shot, the brightest parts are on the water, which is the main subject of the photo. The stream and the arch of the bridge also form a sort of natural line that leads the eye up from the bottom of the stream and up to the bridge, or vice versa. The bulk of the bridge then continues on along that line to fill in the rest of the frame on the top right. The composition feels balanced, like everything that belongs in the frame is there, and there's enough "breathing" space for it all.

In the other waterfall picture, the brightest parts of the image are the water, but there's also a large section of the frame on the bottom left that also draws attention but it doesn't lead the eye anywhere. There's nothing of particular interest that adds to the scene, and yet we can't help but notice it because it's brighter than the other half of the image and it takes up a lot of space.

Meanwhile, the line of the water is leading the eye towards the right of the frame, but then that second little splash is kind of cut off. It's like the water has nowhere to go. So even though the natural flow/lines of the main subject of the photo and the bright spots within the dark foliage all are trying to pull us towards the right, we end up being pulled back to the left by large, light spaces that take our attention away from the subject. And so it feels a bit "heavy."

It takes a little while to get used to seeing a scene in this way, or thinking of the image in these terms, but really, what you've shown so far is a pretty strong start, so definitely keep at it!

 

[limr]

The two river shots have very strong leading lines. It's the kind of thing that you probably thought "just looked right" - and it does - and now you know why

We actually just recently had a photo challenge: Leading Lines challenge - post photos here

 

[RIEMT]

I appreciate the reply’s!

Thank you for the help! See with light I’ve always found it to be a distraction, which is good to know why now... turn that into a positive distraction.

I’d say if I were to retake the bridge photos I’d bring my rapellint equipment and get down to a better angle. Unfortunately I thought it was going to be an easy hike down to the water (which it was borderline inaccessible) so I got stuck shooting from a more foliage packed area than I’d have liked.

Also what’s your opinions on using RAW vs a compressed format. Tried shooting some raw photos yesterday and maybe it’s just the chincy app on my phone but it seemed a lot harder to get a proper picture. I’d like to get away from the phone-photos soon but trying to work with what I’ve got!

 

[limr]

I appreciate the reply’s!

Thank you for the help! See with light I’ve always found it to be a distraction, which is good to know why now... turn that into a positive distraction.

I’d say if I were to retake the bridge photos I’d bring my rapellint equipment and get down to a better angle. Unfortunately I thought it was going to be an easy hike down to the water (which it was borderline inaccessible) so I got stuck shooting from a more foliage packed area than I’d have liked.

Also what’s your opinions on using RAW vs a compressed format. Tried shooting some raw photos yesterday and maybe it’s just the chincy app on my phone but it seemed a lot harder to get a proper picture. I’d like to get away from the phone-photos soon but trying to work with what I’ve got!

Ah well, now you've got me From what I understand, RAW will give you much more flexibility in editing because it captures more information. You can still edit the JPEG in Photoshop, or whatever you will use, but there are limits to how much you could torture a shot and still have it look good. If you're not doing any post-processing on the computer at this point, I'd say just stick to the compressed for now.

RAW photos can often look sort of flat and washed out before anything is done to it. Shooting JPEG in the camera is essentially the camera doing some of the processing for you. When you get to the point where you want to control that processing to a greater degree, I think that's when you'd be more interested in having the RAW file.

And now we have basically reached the end of my working knowledge of the subject I still shoot primarily with film and I don't do a lot of processing, so for my purposes, when I do shoot with a digital camera, it's usually JPEG.