New Photographer First picture comments?

[krisso123]

Hi everyone,
Just went out today and took some pictures, heres one im happy with but need some constructive criticism as im new to photography. Ive had a little play with it on PS.

 

[AgentDrex]

I like the story of the toy amongst the rubble. There are very few photos that this tilt would make look good, this is not one of them. Being an overcast day, you'll get nice even lighting but any shadowed areas will look very dark. This is one of those photos that bracketing would work wonders...

Another note, the toy is too close to the edge of the frame...makes it really difficult to fix photo and keep subject from being cut...

Here is an edit (albiet, not a good one)...I recorrected the tilt...but lost a lot of the photo due to the extreme angle of the original...I did a little cloning where there were black corners due to the tilt correction...dodged some of the dark areas (which produced some horrible artifacts where the original was the darkest) and did a little high-pass filtering...

Also please keep in mind for future shots, if the sky is bland and grey...don't let it into the photo...unless it works for the photo...I guess its subjective...but anyways, keep shooting...

This is what I like to think when I start to go to correct some of my mistakes in Photoshop/GiMP/Etc, , put a pretty ribbon on a piece of poop, its still crap...
Make your photos look good in-camera...accentuate it if necessary in an imaging program, but if its a bad photo..post-processing generally won't assist with correcting the problem...

 

[krisso123]

Wow thanks for the advice, I see what your saying, and the edit you did really puts it in perspective what shot can work alot better. I'l have to go and have another bash at shooting this again if its all still there and see what I can get. This is exactly the sort of comments a new photographer needs. Also im liking the 'saying' at the end, i will remember that

 

[AgentDrex]

Well, you're welcome. That's what TPF is all about, people helping each other grow. Sometimes people can get out of hand, but its entertaining none-the-less...I saw the other photos in your other thread...I like your dog as well...
I have more photos at Flickr: Ag3ntDr3x's Photostream if you're interested, I'm not all that good, but I sure like taking photos...a lot of them...over 40,000 since August, 2010...

Before you press the shutter make sure everything looks right in the viewfinder...sometimes I'll sit there for 10 or so minutes making little movement corrections until its just right and then ...bam...I screw it up anyways...oh well...like I say keep shooting...one of them will come out decent...

 

[KenC]

Agree with all Drex has said and done, except I think the drab sky actually works in this kind of shot. Some people have props they bring to locations like this. You could bring stuffed animals, toys, or anything else your imagination comes up with when you go back.

 

[krisso123]

Had another quick bash at it, not the best improvement but getting there..

 

[AgentDrex]

Sweet! Much better....

If you had a kid along, you could have them with a mischievous grin looking at all that carnage...

That greyish sky is growing on me. It does seem to work for this sort of photo...its the dreary after-math of something horrendous...but then there is this nicely colored, clean looking kids toy...awesome job...that's what good photos are all about...telling a story...most of mine are boring...so in that regard...I should really keep my eye on you...you'll end up teaching me things...

 

[krisso123]

Both really helpful comments, thanks alot guys its made me feel alot better about my photography skills, and AgentDrex I got the idea from your edit remember, so I definitely wouldn't call your pictures boring!