New member and would like a critique of recent photos

kris0227 · May 23, 2011

Hello, my name is Kristen and I'm new here. I used to dabble in photography many years ago before the digital age. I finally got a Nikon D3000 for Christmas and I just love it. I've started taking up photography again and am trying to improve my skills, if for no other reason than to have nice pictures to hang on my own walls.

I would like to know what you all think of my recent photographs and where I can improve on them.

As a note, none of the these photos have been edited with software except for some cropping on the horse because I don't yet have a decent zoom lens.

Thanks in Advance!

KmH · May 23, 2011

You can improve the lighting, exposure accuracy, subject selection, and the composition.

mwcfarms · May 23, 2011

I think if you work on composition and exposure first and foremost you will see a definite improvement on your pictures and the reception of them here. Research the rule of thirds and how to expose properly with a digital camera. Tonnes of great info here and on the internet. Then try and take them during a time of day where the light is complimentary rather than in your face. Most of these pics look to be taken in midday full sun which is not generally the greatest time especially if your not using fill flash or a reflector to balance the light. If you like to take pics of flowers etc do some research on flickr and see what you think is a great picture. Then analyze the why of it. I know Mishele from here has some amazing flower pictures on flickr and could probably offer more valuable knowledge on that subject. Keep practicing, read and read and read some more and then apply. Keep sharing and when you do, let us know what you like about the picture and what YOU think is wrong with it. This helps you be more objective and critical of your own work. Makes for great growth.

WesternGuy · May 23, 2011

To follow up on what Dee has said, I quite agree with her, but my initial response is that some of the flower images look a little fuzzy, not that they are necessarily out of focus, but more like they need some sharpening, particularly 1,3,5 and 6. I am not sure if you shoot RAW or JPG (you didn't indicate this), but in most cases, images from a DSLR do need some sharpening to make them stand out, particularly if you shoot raw. There is nothing wrong with post-processing in an editor, we all do it (well maybe not all of us) and it simply improves the image quality. I tend to think that when I have my images from my camera downloaded into the computer that there is still some work to be done to make them ready for presentation. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

kris0227 · May 23, 2011

I've been shooting in jpg, and I don't have an editor that does much other than crop the photos. Like I said, I'm an amateur, taking pictures mostly just for me or my friends, and I don't have a lot of money to spend on software or equipment.

mwcfarms · May 23, 2011

GIMP is free. You can learn to use it and improve your pictures after you learn to improve the above mentioned factors. Don't get discouraged, Keep practicing and analyzing. Keep sharing.

Raian-san · May 23, 2011

Try to shoot it in raw+jpg. Raw file allow you to fix a lot of things. Also get the book Understanding Exposure or search on this forum and there's a lot of links to website that teaches how to become a better photographer. Learn the rule of the third, because it seems like all those photos, the subject is in the middle. GL

KmH · May 23, 2011

Your D3000 has a menu that allows you to adjust the amount of sharpening, and the amount of contrast and saturation it applies to every JPEG. Some sharpening, contrast, and saturation adjustments are made to a JPEG automatically by the camera software, even when those setting are set to at their lowest levels.

A Raw capture has none of those adjustments applied, and in fact a Raw image data file cannot be seen as a photo until it is converted by software outside the camera. Your D3000 came with software that can do that, outside the camera Raw conversion, and it can also do other edits to a JPEG.

That software is called View NX.

kris0227 · May 23, 2011

Thanks KmH! That helps, I wasn't sure why I would want to shoot in one over the other. I will have to look at my camera when I get home tonight and figure out how to use the settings you mentioned.

KmH · May 23, 2011

It goes beyond that. The main issue is called bit-depth.

Your camera starts every photo as a 12-bit Raw image data file, but when the camera is set to JPEG the Raw file doesn't get recorded and gets converted to JPEG.

But to get from Raw to JPEG, a lot happens.

JPEG is a lossy, compressed, 8-bit file format that is intended as final, ready-to-print image. Consequently, to achieve the compression part of the conversion, the vast majority of the image color data is discarded (that's why it's called - lossy) and the image pixels are converted into 64 pixel squares (8 px by 8 px) known a MCU's (minimum coded units).

A 12-bit Raw file can render 4096 gradations of color per color channel. There are 3 color channels: red, green, and blue, and the 3 channels are called the RGB (red/green/blue) color model.

A 8-bit JPEG can only render 256 gradations of color per color channel, which is why most of the color data your camera's image sensor can record has to be discarded to make a JPEG image file. The low bit depth and the MCU's leave JPEGs little or no editing headroom. In other words, if you don't get a JPEG right in the camera, the chance of improving it with editing software is slim.

More advanced DSLR's can record 12-bit, or 14-bit Raw image data files. 14-bits can render 16,384 gradations of color per color channel, which is part of why some photographers would choose a Nikon D300s over a D3000.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/bit-depth.htm

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/RAW-file-format.htm

WesternGuy · May 24, 2011

kris0227 said:
I've been shooting in jpg, and I don't have an editor that does much other than crop the photos. Like I said, I'm an amateur, taking pictures mostly just for me or my friends, and I don't have a lot of money to spend on software or equipment.

As well as GIMP, you might want to check out Paint.net...Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing

WesternGuy