new to photography

jeffw22 · Feb 23, 2010

Just getting into photography.a couple shots

iAstonish · Feb 23, 2010

The colors in the last one are awesome. That is a great photo, not just a great beginner photo. Nice work.

Chriss · Feb 23, 2010

I agree that the last is a very nice photo but its tilted. Beautiful colors.

mrmacedonian · Feb 23, 2010

20seconds in Picasa. Wonderful picture

reznap · Feb 23, 2010

Quick edit to rotate #3 and it's a 10/10... what a sky..

The picture of your dog has too much snow in it imo, I'd crop it down some.

myfotoguy · Feb 24, 2010

Hi Jeff, welcome.
WOW, that last one is incredible!

The one of the dog, I agree wotj reznap, a crop in may make it better.
I noticed in the exif data your flash was off. A little flash would help lift the shadows in the face. If you have a speeedlight - TTL-BL. If using the on-board flash then -1.0 to -2.0 flash compensation to start and experiment from there.

Your going to love your camera, A D80 was my first DSLR. I still remember the feeling!

Eventer · Feb 24, 2010

The last one is excellent, but the horizon lines a littlw wonky

Gaerek · Feb 24, 2010

I don't want to be the curmudgeon here, but #3 needs some work. First, fix the horizon. Were you hand holding? Because it really looks like it. The foreground objects are fuzzy. I'm on my work computer, so I can't install plug-ins, so I can't check your exif data, but I'm going to guess you had a pretty slow shutter. For landscapes, especially sunsets, you really need a tripod. The colors are very pretty, but the fuzzy foreground really kills it for me.

I just want to help, so please don't take this personally. I think it's a much better shot than I ever took as a beginner, but there are definately things that can be done to make it better. Do a google search for landscape photos. There are two things in common you will notice about most of the good ones.

1) They are tack sharp throughout the frame.

2) There will almost always be a close foreground focus, a middle ground interest area, then the back ground. The landscape itself is almost always the background.

You have #2 pretty good (though, something a bit closer would be really nice), but #1 is lacking.

To get both 1 and 2, you need to use a small aperture. This means at the very least f/11, but f/13 or f/16 would be much more preferable. Unfortunately, at this aperture (and with a relatively low ISO to prevent noise) this means a slow shutter. A slow shutter means you need a tripod. It's very difficult to hand hold a landscape and make all the pieces fit together.

Again, I'm not trying to offend, and I don't want you to take my critique personally. You have a great eye for composition and pre-visualizing the frame, but there are a couple of technical issues you need to work out for this to go from a 'neat' shot, to a 'great' shot.

billy_the_kid43 · Feb 24, 2010

I agree with gaerek. I would also suggest the rule of thirds. In both the first two captures the main subjects were in the middle of the photo.

I do like the colors and beautiful sky in the third and I liked the PP that mrmacedonian did to correct the horizon and cropped out the tip of the boat on the left side.

Good job for the most part.

hankejp · Feb 24, 2010

Number 1 didn't really do anything for me. Maybe crop close to the dog.

Number 2 is a nice scene. I may have had the barn down and to the right or left more, but not in the middle.

Number 3 - As the others said, nice photo. I found the edge of the boat on the left side a bit distracting along with what others have said.

Over all I like them.

jeffw22 · Feb 24, 2010

No offense taken.I appreciate the feedback and will take all the the help i can get.As this is all new to me.Yes i was holding the camera while taking the picture.Just started a class on photography to try and learn the In's and outs of taking pictures and correcting things like mrmacedonian was able to do.Here's a couple more i took of the sunset.please let me know what is wrong and what i should have done,

thanks

tdiprincess · Feb 24, 2010

I really love the sunset coloring! In the last couple it looked like the horizon was better than the first one you posted... Also something I'm working on is paying attention to those things... Really awesome though! and your pooch is a cutie!!

Gaerek · Feb 25, 2010

The first one in the second set is alot better. It's still pretty soft, but we already went over that. I really like that you have a close foreground element added. What I would have liked to see is the horizon less centered. Decide which is the main focus of your shot, above the horizon, or below the horizon, and make that take up the most room. People will usually cite the rule of thirds, but having your horizon 1/3 up or down isn't the end all be all. The main thing is to have the horizon off centered.