My FIRST photos - C&C if you please !

[YoungPhotographer16]

Hi , I'm Asia . Some of you might have heard of me from my dad , Naptime . I got my new camera today , and we went out and took some pictures . These are my FIRST shots with an SLR . I know that they are not great , but I am looking forward to learning . This was my first day so they were all shot on full auto . These are just a few from around the house , and we went to the zoo . I don't like the fences

1.

R3-02064-0020 by AThomson16, on Flickr



2.

R3-02064-0021 by AThomson16, on Flickr



3.

R3-02064-0004 by AThomson16, on Flickr

 

[bazooka]

#1 is quite sharp. I also like that you have an extremely limited color pallette. This makes the photo very effective.

There are two things I see that you can do to watch for in the future. First, watch your vertical and horizontal lines... if they are supposed to be vertical and/or horizontal, it's best to keep them that way in the frame as much as possible. There is quite a tilt here. If there were no lines in the background, it may not even have been noticeable.

Secondly, the door handle in the back left... because it's a strong contrast against the darker area of the background and it's an unusual shape compare to the rest of the background, it stands out and is a distraction. I'm not a fan of the darker area to the left generally, but if the door handle wasn't there, it wouldn't be so bad. Bottom line is, pay close attention to your background.

#2 I'm not experienced with film but I believe this low contrast is a result of overexposure. Overexposure looks a bit different on a digital body. It's not 'wrong' persay... but in general, you want to have a good range of dark tones to light tones for the image to be stimulating to the eye. Can you make great low contrast images? Absolutely 100%. But it's usually not by accident. And for this one, I'd rather see the high detail of the shadows. On the positive, I do like how you seemed to have bounced the light off the ceiling which creates great highlights on the wood finish.

#3 The exposure looks quite good except for the tree is a little 'hot'. It's quite sharp as well. But as you already know, the environment surrounding the.... I'm guessing snow leopard.... is not photogenic. The fence, the branches going everywhere, etc.... I realize you have no control over where the animal is, but try to get in as tight as possible and try to juxtapose the subject against a background that is a little distracting as possible. This may have been the best you could do, that's something you'll have to evaluate on your own.

Overall, not bad at all.

 

[TwoTwoLeft]

#1 is a keeper! Here's a crop suggestion...


The entire face from the nose to the tips of the ears are nice and sharp and the DOF starts to blur behind the head. Nice job.

Here's a tip for fences... If can get up close enough to the fence you can actually focus through it to your subject ans the fence will disappear. For this you'll want to use manual focus

 

[ConradM]

Yea your dad is a cool guy and he's been talking about using those cameras for a while!

I like #1 even if it does need a slight crop.

#2 is cool too... Looks vintage.

#3 is just ruined by the fence.

 

[photo guy]

1 is sharp and nice, 2 is a little too light and zoomed in or cropped too close cutting off part of the object, 3 nice shot as it is hard to shoot good photos in a zoo.

 

[naptime]

the violin has an interesting look. But nothing like actual instrument.

she used the hotshoe flash and bounced it off the ceiling. But the walls in that room are tangerine.

the violin is actually a light golden brown with some hints of red and blonde. It was handbuilt in Germany in 1898 it's vintage alright. She'll have to work on some more shots of that. She's got hundreds with her p&s

 

[Robin Usagani]

You shot these with film too? I like your set better than your dad's

 

[rexbobcat]

How does this look? Just thought I'd try some things....

 

[naptime]

i like it.. that's very close to what it looks like !!

 

[naptime]

You shot these with film too? I like your set better than your dad's

oh heck no. she is not gonna come in here and steal my thunder!


seriously though.. yeah her's are film also. same cameras.

although, she shot all day with the canon 35-80 f 4-5.6 lens. and i shot all mine with the quantaray 70-300 which i'm thinking was not the best choice. i was able to get up close on some things, but i think the quality was not as nice as the canon lenses.

i also missed a lot of shots trying to get the thing zoomed in or zoomed out and focused.


tonight we went downtown on the river front and shot some long exposure stuff on the tripod with cable release. we both used the kit lenses. can't wait to see how they come out.

we played with an LED and some light painting also.

 

[Josh66]

I like #1 - it makes me sad a little - the cat's expression, I guess.

#2 looks like a bad scan from the lab to me. Like they (more than likely) just hit the auto adjustment button.

#3 - With the right aperture and/or shooting position, you can make that fence disappear.

 

[blackrose89]

Nap time, just a question, if your daughter gets uncalled for, mean spirited snobbish CC, will the protective father be able to refrain from going crazy and keep his cool ????

 

[Robin Usagani]

I like #1 - it makes me sad a little - the cat's expression, I guess.

#2 looks like a bad scan from the lab to me. Like they (more than likely) just hit the auto adjustment button.

#3 - With the right aperture and/or shooting position, you can make that fence disappear.

The beauty of digital photography. You are the lab technician also! I am really tempted to try film but digital photography is just way too convenient!

 

[Josh66]

I like #1 - it makes me sad a little - the cat's expression, I guess.

#2 looks like a bad scan from the lab to me. Like they (more than likely) just hit the auto adjustment button.

#3 - With the right aperture and/or shooting position, you can make that fence disappear.

The beauty of digital photography. You are the lab technician also! I am really tempted to try film but digital photography is just way too convenient!

Once you have your own scanner, it's a moot point. Even with the lab scans, it's salvageable, as rexbobcat has shown.

edit
My point is - don't be afraid to edit your pictures. You're not shooting for CNN - it's OK to change things to fit your vision. (But it's always best to get it right in the camera. Less work later.)

 

[LightSpeed]

Nap time, just a question, if your daughter gets uncalled for, mean spirited snobbish CC, will the protective father be able to refrain from going crazy and keep his cool ????

Let me take care of that right off the bat.
The daughter seems to have a better eyes than the father. Plus she's shooting with film.
Unlike the father, she didn't opt to take the " easier" way out.
The daughter in my eyes, is stealing the ole mans glory. lol

Besides that, if folks decide to get nasty with these two, I don't mind going on another vacation, again. lol