New to photography..some of my work

[Brandi D]

Here is a picture of my Kylie, this is an old picture..I am working on getting better.

My Favorite!

 

[Brandi D]

The Gorilla pictures were taken at the Bronx Zoo in NYC, NY. All of my photos were shot with a Nikon D40. I am still learning about exposure, aperture, ISO and so on. I love doing this so I am determined to get better!

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Good start Brandi.

I would suggest trying to focus more on the subjects eyes. The pic of the Gorilla is pretty cool... But I'd like it much more if the eyes werent so dull...

Perhaps adjusting the white balance in PP would improve it...

 

[DerekMellott]

Are you ok with us trying out some edits on your images? That gorilla picture is great but a little over exposed and I would like to show you what I would do, plus make the eyes pop a bit.

 

[Brandi D]

Sure, go ahead and after you edit it just let me know what you did please. Just for my own knowledge. I think it looks out of focus because i was shooting right up against plexiglass :/

 

[pbelarge]

I have been to the Bronx Zoo. Taking photos of the Gorillas is not easy, there is thick glass that is not very clean to shoot through, not to mention the reflections off the glass.

 

[DerekMellott]

I adjusted the contrast, coloring, tone, brightness, and blacks level, plus i used the dodge tool on the eyes. Hope you like it.

 

[DerekMellott]

I missed the thing on his? lip.

 

[AprilEye]

WOW! Great edit!

 

[Naphtali14]

Great start! I would look into learning how to post process your images. That is a huge part of photography now. Always shoot in RAW format and use software as your darkroom! Keep at it!

 

[fotofoto]

ths difference between the new and old gorilla picture ist great.
to edit some parts like color and cotrast was my first thought too, when i saw your pictures.
but: see whats possible, your photography is good

http://www.photoaxe.com/13-simple-steps-of-picture-editing-for-amazing-results/

 

[Brandi D]

Thanks for all the constructive criticism everyone Those pictures were some of the first ones I have taken..since then I do try and use my other P,A,S,M settings more than auto unless I just cannot get the lighting right, which is a big brick wall for me right now. I read about it all the time but when it comes down to adjusting my camera for the setting I am in I get light in some areas and dark in others..I am at work and the new picture of the gorilla isnt showing up so I will have to check it later. I do alot of post editing on portraits and just never thought to do it on my landscape (except for skies, andmaking some colors more vivid) or wildlife shots. I will be sure to now though! I will keep posting as I shoot more I am about to get out of the Army and start college so we will see how much better/easier things get once I have a personal teacher

 

[Brandi D]

I have been to the Bronx Zoo. Taking photos of the Gorillas is not easy, there is thick glass that is not very clean to shoot through, not to mention the reflections off the glass.

It was very difficult to get a good shot without the reflection of the flash on the glass >_<

 

[dcmoody23]

Maybe some members here will disagree with me on my method', but a large part of photography (IMO the most overlooked by beginners) is white balance. To better develop your white balance, try shooting for a while in RAW - your files will be roughly 3x the size of jpeg and need to be converted before loading to like 99% of places, including print labs - when you load the images to the computer open up the photo editor that came with your computer and find the white balance adjustment -- then just play around with the preset adjustments on different photos, and then if you get good with that try doing the custom adjustment.. Doing this will help you develop a sense of what to use for white balance where, and what your personal preferences are.

I know that the white balance presets seem easy to determine, but I know that lots of people will do things like use the 'cloudy' preset to warm their images (Bring out the warm colors better, like orange, red, yellow)

 

[Brandi D]

Ok, so all of these photos were taken while I was driving down the interstate today..I know, dangerous..but I just loved them

This last picture was meant to look the way it does..I wanted it to have a different look to it and this is what I came up with. Please feel free to critique the others if you would like, I would love any ideas on what I could do better next time (other than not driving and taking pictures at the same time lol)