My first week in photography....

woodyracing · Jan 21, 2012

I've had and have been using my camera for just over one week now and these are my favorite shots so far. Criticism is welcome, I have really barely even started learning yet, this week has been mostly just playing around with the camera and figuring it out.

Image #1 is just my parents' dog Maggie that kept hanging around as I was trying to take some pics of a dirtbike I was selling on craigslist.

Image #2 is my day #2 "what you wore today" pic for a photo challenge I'm doing with a friend

Image #3 is a bird fountain that has been sitting at my grandparents' house for YEARS. We do family gatherings there all the time and we always just walk by that thing like it's not even there. I was walking by it today and it just caught my eye so I grabbed a couple of shots.

(direct link to full image: http://woody-racing.com/photos/maggie.jpg)

(direct link: http://woody-racing.com/photos/helmet.jpg)

(direct link: http://woody-racing.com/photos/frog.jpg)

cbrown222 · Jan 21, 2012

They all look pretty good.

On #1 I think that a tighter crop around the dog's face would have been nice. Also cropping out the ropes on the right hand side would have been good too.

With #2, a more front-on helmet orientation would be nice. It's a little too to the side, if that makes sense

#3 would have been a bit better of the front of the sink was in focus. Maybe stopping down a few stops could have helped

cgipson1 · Jan 21, 2012

#1.. focus is decent... exposures is decent... don't cut parts of the dog if you are going to show that much body. Typically... you would want to show the whole dog.. or a portrait type shot (head / head and shoulders). The thing on the right is very distracting... avoid distractions. This was basically a snapshot, but at least focus and exposure are good. There is no Exif data in the photo... so I cannot tell what you shot it with, or how you shot it. Hard to make suggestions without that.

These are links to wildlife photo composition.. mostly applicable to other animal pics too...

Murray Feist Photography - Article 1

The Master Guide for Wildlife Photographers: Wildlife compositions

You might consider reading up on basic composition a bit:

Basic Photography Techniques - Photographic Composition, Center of interest, Subject placement, Simplicity, Viewpoint and camera angle, Balance.

10 Top Photography Composition Rules | Photography Mad

#2 - in focus.. boring though to the average person. We can't see the WOODY.. so it doesn't tell us anything. You like it because it means something to you.. what does it mean to us? We don't have a connection to it!

#3 Tilt is usually not a good idea.. unless used with a reason. This is a somewhat whimsical shot.. so the tilt isn't a bad choice. A soft background would make the subject stand out better... larger aperture would have done that (assuming you have that capability). You basically have the subject in to the lower right powerpoint thirds line too... although I don't think it was intentional, but it does help the photo somewhat. for a first week shot not bad..

what camera do you have?

Frequency · Jan 21, 2012

Good images

woodyracing · Jan 21, 2012

Camera is a Canon T2i with the 18-55 it came with and a 70-200 f/4L

Thanks for the tips, I've definitely got a LOT to learn

On #1, I'll keep that in mind, but I don't plan on making too much of a habit of shooting animals. Especially that one, she wouldn't stay still for anything, that was the only shot I got that she didn't run to me as soon as I aimed the camera in her direction lol

On #2, I had a slight issue, on the other side of the "S" logo on the top, there is a vent broken off and it looks pretty bad, so I kinda had to shoot from the side. Not saying I would have done any better otherwise lol but that's the reason for the side shot.

On #3, well whimsical was kinda what I was going for but it's good to know not to use the tilt too much. Honestly I did it both ways and just liked this one the most but I've definitely been known to have bad taste before haha. I'll try a different aperture next time I go back there.