my first photo excursion!

[edwintheeskimo]

hi everyone, i'm edwin. i recently picked up a nikon d3000 for leisure purposes. I took a photography class in high school and found it relaxing and enjoyable so here I am at 20, furthering my experience. Anyways, i'm sure there is plenty wrong with my photos, so please let me know good or bad so i can grow as a photographer! thank you for your time! its greatly appreciated


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thank you again for your time!

 

[Markw]

IMO:
Focus seems to be a tad off in the first two. For the second one, unless there is something specific in the middle that stands out, you usually want to choose an end to focus on. In general, after the first two, a less shallow depth of field wouldnt have hurt. I like 4 the best. Great texture and sharpness (in the depth of field range)

:thumbup:
Mark

 

[edwintheeskimo]

thanks mark!
yeah, #4 was the only one i took with auto so i guess i'm doing something wrong! lol
thanks for your input i appreciate it

 

[JSD]

I think you are on the right track and you have a good eye for composition and exposure.
#1, I think this could be improved by cropping out some of the sides and closing in on the roses. Some of the back ground seems extraneous to me. Maybe try a vertical composition?
#2 I like the composition but are you really interested so much in the dirty greasy things? How about showing more of the fire truck, or the hoses? If you're interest is the grease then you did well.
#3 Again, nice composition, I like the balance between the upper pail and the lower flower pot, and the central boards. But is this stuff really so interesting?
#4 this one I like pretty much as is.
#5 Very nice composition, well balanced foreground to back, and top to bottom. I am not a fan of B&W, but that's just me.

I guess what I am saying is that in my subjective opinion you did well in general with focus, composition and exposure, but the interest in the subject is lacking.
My 2 cents, JSD

 

[edwintheeskimo]

find more interesting pieces! got it!
thanks for your input i greatly appreciate it jsd

 

[Vicelord John]

your depth of field is too shallow. try bumping the fstop and adjust shutter just watch your meter in the viewfinder it will tell you when to snap.

 

[JSD]

find more interesting pieces! got it!
thanks for your input i greatly appreciate it jsd

I hope it helps.....

 

[JSD]

find more interesting pieces! got it!
thanks for your input i greatly appreciate it jsd

To go into a little more detail: in the first picture, the roses, the slice of flower in the upper left and its branch is distracting, it tends to lead my eye right out of the picture. I like to crop out any distracting elements near the edge, unless they lead the eye into the composition. It can be done while shooting or in post-process, either way an easy way to improve. Also the rope picture might be improved if the left edge were cropped off a little. The left portion of the coils is softly focused already so any clutter beyond that could be eliminated.
More 2 cents...

 

[edwintheeskimo]

your the second person to mention something about the depth of field, so its something i need to improve on lol.
thanks for your advice on how to improve on it vicelord!

and i see what you mean there with the distracting background jsd and i agree. I'm about to crop it now.
thanks again!

 

[redtippmann]

Yeah when your just starting out the best thing to do is shoot all the time. Even long time professionals shoot whenever they can. Thats the best way to improve. (at least thats what an older photographer said, and I think it's true)

And remember everyone had to start sometime and they weren't automatically good. So don't be too hard on yourself. I know sometimes I think that my shots aren't any good and that my photography wont amount to anything, maybe thats right, but you cant be too hard on yourself.

But it looks like you off to a great start! And you aren't doing anything wrong in manual mode, it just that #4 is a little more interesting to look at. So if you keep your camera with you, you'll be able to get some really interesting photos.

 

[djacobox372]

In this shot if you cropped it tight to focus only on the weathered boards with protruding nails you'd have something interesting. The texture of the worn paint and the crazy nails are "interesting," but with everything else in the photo it just becomes a pic of a bunch of old junk.

 

[edwintheeskimo]

thanks for the advice redtippman and djacob!
looks like everyones hammering me down about making it more interesting! haha
i'll definately work on that.
still trying to figure out all the settings on my camera, but having fun with it!
i really appreciate all the feedback guys.

 

[Layspeed]

When you're beginning, it's hard to make things interesting. I'm still trying to find interesting subjects or at least make them evoke some kind of thought when viewed. I get lots of comments on improving my focus, depth of field and lacking interest also. With encouraging words and critique, one can only hope to get better...so keep shooting!