New to photography! Feedback on a picture wanted!

[ErSimon]

Hey guys,

I've always enjoyed taking pictures but only recently have I REALLY gotten into it. I have a Nikon D5100 with the stand 18-55mm lens.

I took this picture at a cemetery in Montreal and I really thought it turned out great. I did a bit of editing in Lightroom but that's about it.

What do you guys think? What's good? What's bad? What needs to be better?

All feedback is MUCH appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: The quality looks much better on my computer... Not sure what happened here...

 

[tirediron]

Moved to the General Gallery.

 

[WesternGuy]

Welcome to the forum. You will find all sorts of folks here that are quite ready to provide comments on your images - some may appear a little harsh, but remember, everyone is just trying to help.

For this image, it is generally not too bad, the only problem is that your main subject(s) - headstones, the monument, etc. - are underexposed. This is a problem that you will often have if you are shooting in this type of situation with a bright sky as background. Your camera's meter always tries to make everything 18% grey, so you end up with sky that is slightly blown out and the "main subjects", as noted, underexposed. You either have to open up your shutter by 1 to 2 stops, which you can get to by using exposure compensation to adjust the aperture during exposure, or you have to go to manual and adjust the exposure from what the meter reads. You can try HDR in this situation, or you can expose one shot for the highlights and another for the shadows, and then merge them in Photoshop.

Some other points; 1) I would crop out the building on the right as it is a bit distracting. 2) I would use a larger aperture to blur the "far-away" backgrounds, as the buildings in the background are a bit of a distraction as well. 3) I would also crop out the bit of pathway in the bottom right part of the picture.

Some advice for your consideration - always watch your backgrounds to ensure that there are no distractions creeping in. If there are, then set your aperture so that they are OOF. As well, watch the edges of the frame to ensure that there are no distractions or "unwanted" components creeping in from the sides of your image.

WesternGuy

P.S. I just noticed that this is my 2000th post - a milestone for me. Hope it is helpful to you.

 

[FanBoy]

You can also make the foreground landscape more inviting by trying to shoot a path leading up to your subject, the large monument.

 

[Benco]

It's a bit cramped, the big monument needs a bit more room, particularly at the top.

 

[AfterAll25]

I am new, so take my opinion with a grain of salt... the whole picture is a bit dark, and I agree with the PP that it is a bit cramped... it seems like there is a lot going on and there is really no one focal point to look at.

 

[Lightfibre]

Alright, so looking at this after I'm done writing, I conclude that it's actually pretty darn hard to read! XD
So I'll write it down.

1. As mentioned before by others, try to take a few steps back and frame your subject a little more naturally--offering it some more space.
By offering your subject some more space, you'll naturally lead the viewers eye toward it. If your subject ends up being too tall to frame nicely, try either cropping a part of it out or turning your camera on its side. Play with it!

2. You're on location anyway, so shoot lots and try new things!
The only way for a photographer to get better, I think, is by shooting photos. Lots and lots of photos, so the more things you try, the more you will understand about the practice of photography. Something that's not always mentioned is the importance of framing the picture in your mind, before framing it in your viewfinder. If you try to use your imagination in that way, you'll get better at seeing nice pictures to take (and, I think it's a lot of fun)

3. From what I can tell, the picture is actually pretty level, but I put that thing in there anyway, because it looks like it's not.
I'm a beginner at photography too, so I'm sorry, but I can't explain how that's bugging me, all I know is that it's the floor-plane that's making things look odd for me. Just telling you what I noticed, here!

P.S.
Sorry it's so long, I hope you don't feel like I'm getting on your case or anything!

 

[Qveon]

My one piece of critique is that you framed from an average point of view which produces little interest to me. Lay on the ground or get up close and use wide angle etc, play with DoF.