New and ready to learn.

[AlohaBethie]

Hi - I found this site through my brother Todd - who is a member. I am new to photography - I purchased a Nikon D60 and have been experementing with it. I want to learn more about the technical side of photography -- Right now I just like taking pictures of pretty things Truly, I am not afraid of criticism, I am new and learning and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Here are a few of the photos I have taken in the past couple months...

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2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[AlohaBethie]

I truly would appreciate any comments and criticisms people have...

 

[BTilson]

I am by no means an expert, but here's my crack at them:

1) I like this shot quite a bit. I think it would be compositionally stronger if the fence was going into the frame instead of out of it. Maybe if you could've pulled back a little and turned right just a tad? Colors look pretty good and the slight tilt to the image helps it quite a bit. I think it would've been significantly less interesting had it been straight up and down.

2) Seems nice and sharp with a nice vivid green, but I would've liked to see the entire leaf, and I find the shadow on the camera left side of the leaf kind of annoying and distracting.

3) Very nice, could've used a slightly bigger DOF (smaller aperture) to bring the underside of his chin into focus. Also I think it would like to see it somewhat brighter. The eyes are tack sharp which is critical when photographing anything with eyes. Also, if he had been looking into the frame instead of out, it would've helped.

4) Doesn't interest me very much, but that's just my personal preference. I think this shot is hurt by the fact that there isn't one clear subject, all the flowers have equal dominance and presence in the shot, and the one thing that would've helped the shot a lot (the bee) is severely out of focus.

5) Nice and sharp on the eyes again as well, but you cut the dogs head off, and compositionally it just looks like a snapshot to me.

Overall, very nice work, especially for a beginner. I look forward to seeing more. What lens do you have with your D60?

 

[tirediron]

I think Brooks has pretty much nailed the critique; I don't have anything to add on that score. As far as "shooting pictures of pretty things", that's fun, but maybe not the best way to learn the technical side.

There are two aspects to photography; artistic and technical. Artistic is generally the much more difficult to master since it requires creative thought. The technical is merely learning how your camera works, and what effects the various settings have on the final image. Much like learning how to improve as a baseball player where you would do series of exercises, you can learn much about the technical side of photography.

Set your camera on a tripod (or any permanent surface if you don't have a tripod) in your back yard. Set it to "Aperture Priority" and then take a series of shots from largest to smallest aperture. Note the way the focus and the amount of area that's in focus changes. This is DoF and is your single most important factor in still photography.

Stand on the side of a busy street with your camera set to "Shutter Priority" and take a series of pictures of traffic at decreasing shutter speeds. Note the degree to which the subjects blur at various shutter speeds and the point at which fast-moving objects become sharp.

Repeat these exercises in different environments, always looking closely at the details in the images. It's not the most fun part of photography, but then neither is spend an hour running bases, but it helps you become a better player.

Good luck!

 

[AlohaBethie]

Thank you for the comments. I really appreciate any help I can get, and any chance I have to learn - I will accept! Right now I am currently living on top of a mountain about 1 mile outside of Yosemite National Park -- So I can't complain about beautiful areas to take photos... See - there I go on again about "pretty pictures" I got to get away from that!!

My lenses are 18- 55mm VR and 55-200mm VR.

Thank you for the excercises- I will work on them this week! Everyone here has been very kind - thank you.