Nature at Aland islands

Kani · Sep 13, 2010

Hello everyone! I'm kind of new to photographing. I got my first camera as a bday present last winter, and since then my interest for photographing has just grown. Now I think I passed the stage of just snapshotting for fun and am actually starting to put some thought in my pictures.

So with that said I would be really happy with some comments on what I can do better, what I should think about and what I'm already doing well

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken during this last year. I'm sorry if it's a lot at once.

These two are from the spring, while the ice was breaking up.

These are from the summer.

And finally, a snake which let me get really close.

I've had 3 different cameras over the last year which explains the varying resolution and quality of the pictures.

it'sangie · Sep 22, 2010

Photo 2 and 3 are very distracting with the little yellow boat (I have no idea what it's called

). It seems like that it the focal point, and I doubt that was your intention. Photo 4 is interesting, but what is it? Photo 6 is probably my favorite, but there is something at the bottom right that kept distracting me. I think it is a person. You may want to edit that out. I love the colors in the sky for photo 7, but I wish the house was completely blacked out. I think you did a good job though. These were just my opinions. Keep shooting and sharing!

Canosonic · Sep 22, 2010

1. The horizon isn't centered and you need some blues here ( well a pol filter)
2. I really like this one. Hats off. But the canopy really doesn't fit in. It basically spoils it. Maybe putting it in B&W could be fun.
3. Well, not that much. Heavy darks to the left, heavy lights to the right. A flash would might help a bit. Or HDR. But I don't think it's worth it.
4 :no smile: Oh, boy. Hope it's not someone in there.
Well, the background is bright and that " infestation " isn't centered. But I understand that you just wanted to capture the moment.
5 Just a nearly correctly shot standard sea landscape, if not for that hook and the boat deck.
6 This and....
7 .....this would have been great in HDR. Just try doing AEB next time you see this and pop it in Photomatix. And dodge the people.
8 The angle looks good here and better than....
9 ....here
Overall it's nice, #2 is my favorite.

Kani · Sep 22, 2010

Thanks for the response! I will think of it in the future, some of my mistakes were just because I hadn't mastered all the settings in my camera yet (still havn't I think

)

The yellow boat is a kayak and at the time I intentionally included it hoping it would give a feeling of sitting in it, but it obviously failed and if I could redo it I wouldn't include it

Another factor was that to take the photos I had to let go of the pedal and risked loosing it in the water.

I actually made an edited version of #2 without the kayak and where I fixed the slightly tilted horizon. You can see it here: Freezing reflection by ~KaniJonas on deviantART

The 4th photo is some kind of butterfly-caterpillar-nest. I think they grow their kids in there. The net protects them from birds etc.

Someone jumped in front of the camera just when i took the 6th photo and I didn't realize he was there until later when i got home and checked the photo on the computer. I'll be more careful next time

Thanks again!

rmpbklyn · Sep 22, 2010

1) avoid having shadow appear. Place the camera back to sun. many times I position myself out of the way if I'm casting a shadow

2) yellow boat: if the boat was leading into the sun, then it would be better.

3) yellow boat , river : set the light meter ( or focus/shoot for automated) to medium lighted area. In this case not the trees or dark areas, because the grass is washed out.

4) insects: zoom into one or two insects , the surrounding area is not compelling

5) again don't set light meter for sun or lightest points, in this case it made the land fade out. Is that a person is the pic ...... to the right hand side? red shirt

6) snake: it would better to focus on the face to see the eyes and details of the snake, especially that he/she blends in the ground.

it'sangie · Sep 22, 2010

Well I did figure you were sitting in the kayak. lol I guess you pulled off what you were going for. It was just distracting because it was so YELLOW!! Great photo anyway though. Neato about the caterpillars. Maybe you should just hollar "I'm taking a photo here so stay outta the way!" next time for a shot like number 6. haha j/k

it'sangie · Sep 22, 2010

BTW....I really like rmpbklyn had about zooming in on the insects. That would make an interesting shot.

Kani · Sep 23, 2010

Canosonic:

1. The horizon isn't centered and you need some blues here ( well a pol filter)

I'm still a bit new, so I'm not sure what a pol filter does? I checked wikipedia and if I understood it right it reduces reflections?
By horizon not centered you mean that it's tilted or that it should be in the middle of the picture?

2. I really like this one. Hats off. But the canopy really doesn't fit in. It basically spoils it. Maybe putting it in B&W could be fun.

Check out the one I linked to in an earlier post, I put some work into removing the kayak and fixing the horizon and colors etc

3. Well, not that much. Heavy darks to the left, heavy lights to the right. A flash would might help a bit. Or HDR. But I don't think it's worth it.

Yea, mid-day light

4 Oh, boy. Hope it's not someone in there.
Well, the background is bright and that " infestation " isn't centered. But I understand that you just wanted to capture the moment.

Ya this was actually just a snapshot that turned out pretty well, but as you say it's not perfect. And if you look carefully I accidentally got the hoop form the camera in the picture.

6 This and....
7 .....this would have been great in HDR. Just try doing AEB next time you see this and pop it in Photomatix. And dodge the people.

So many abbreviations to take in

HDR seems like a nice technique, I'll experiment with it a bit so I'm ready for next time!

8 The angle looks good here and better than....
9 ....here

Agree

Thanks for all the helpful tips!

rmpbklyn:

1) avoid having shadow appear. Place the camera back to sun. many times I position myself out of the way if I'm casting a shadow

You can see my shadow there? I'm not able to spot it. The sun is on my left and slightly behind me so it shouldnt eb there. Or do you mean the ice shouldn't cast shadows at the bottom?

2) yellow boat: if the boat was leading into the sun, then it would be better.

Yea that would probably give a more "being there" feeling. I'll experiment with it next time I go out with the kayak.

3) yellow boat , river : set the light meter ( or focus/shoot for automated) to medium lighted area. In this case not the trees or dark areas, because the grass is washed out.

Thanks, I will try it when I get a chance! I think the biggest problem was the time of day, but if that can be adjusted for I will be a happy guy

4) insects: zoom into one or two insects , the surrounding area is not compelling

Great idea! I'm so going to search for those things next summer and get some serious shots!

5) again don't set light meter for sun or lightest points, in this case it made the land fade out. Is that a person is the pic ...... to the right hand side? red shirt

I think I just sat it for "sunset" and let the camera do the rest. But I have a better camera now and know better how to control it so if I get another chance I will do it better!

6) snake: it would better to focus on the face to see the eyes and details of the snake, especially that he/she blends in the ground.

I will try if I get another chance, I'm still a bit bad at using manual focus

Thanks everyone for he input so far!

Canosonic · Sep 23, 2010

Kani said:
I'm still a bit new, so I'm not sure what a pol filter does? I checked wikipedia and if I understood it right it reduces reflections?
By horizon not centered you mean that it's tilted or that it should be in the middle of the picture?

Yes, A Pol will reduce all reflections. You might ask: Why the heck will I need that?
Removing the reflections means less light falls on your sensor (excessive light) allowing the sky to look more blue, the green - more green and so on. But there are some scenes that look better without them, f.e. the second photo.

And there is more ground in the picture than sky. It's best with 1:1 in this case. Yes, there is a rule of thirds (2:1) but the sky must have something in it and the ground to be monotonous OR the other way around.