My first day out shooting - C&C please!

[violakat03]

A good friend of mine is taking a photography class at her high school and needed some time to take photos. I brought her to my college campus and we walked around for several hours taking photos of anything and everything we found interesting. I got a few that I'm rather proud of and would love some feedback on. None of these have had any PP.

1. Her assignment this week is motion, and I grabbed this one on that theme.

DSC_0144 by violakat03, on Flickr

2. Last week was repetition, so we took some shots of this cool walkway.

DSC_0153 by violakat03, on Flickr

3. Came out better than I expected.

DSC_0169 by violakat03, on Flickr

4. First real attempt at portrait. She started giggling.

DSC_0194 by violakat03, on Flickr

5. A more normal smile. Hoping I can learn to do the editing necessary to take that small branch out. I couldn't tell it was there through the viewfinder.

DSC_0196 by violakat03, on Flickr

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[greybeard]

#1 does a descent job of motion
#2 needs to be corrected for distortion. This can be done easily with Photoshop

inside building by GREYBEARD12, on Flickr
#3 is just too busy with all the tangled brush
#4 and #5, the tangled branches around her face are a no no, they look as though they are growing out of her head. Try to keep you backgrounds as clean and simple as possible when shooting on location.

Looks like you had a lot of fun and that is the most important thing.

 

[violakat03]

With #2, I had no idea you could do that so easily. Thanks for showing me what a difference it can make!

And I completely agree with you on #4 & 5. I didn't really notice just how many branches there were going everywhere until I got them on the larger screen of my computer. I'll know to watch out for that in the future now.

Yes, we had a ton of fun!

 

[greybeard]

I had to tweak #2 a little more......
inside building by GREYBEARD12, on Flickr

 

[violakat03]

I'm playing with the lens correction to straighten out the photo. I'm not getting it to look quite as good as yours, but definitely an improvement. This is my first time doing PP.

On my favorite of the day (even though it's far from perfect), I adjusted the color and did some retouching/blemish removal. The model made it her Facebook picture.

Original:

DSC_0196 by violakat03, on Flickr

Edited:

Elizabeth by violakat03, on Flickr

Would love some feedback on the PP if anyone could. Like I said, first attempt. I'm happy with the results but if anyone sees anything additional that they would have done, I'd love to know.

 

[manaheim]

That first one was very clever. I almost wonder if you realize how clever. If you do, keep at it and you'll be a way better photographer than many. Me included. I never would have thought of something like that.

You need work in the basics... exposure and composition. More than I could comment on. Read "Understanding Exposure" ... would be a good start.

 

[violakat03]

I'm definitely proud of the first one. I like to think I have a good eye. As for exposure and composition, I'm new to the DSLR so I know I have a long way to go still. Do you have any specific tips on the photos for either of these two areas?