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DanniCupcake

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Hi there!

I just wanted to make a post to introduce myself and post a couple of pictures that I've taken. If you could suggest any tips for me, that would be great. I just got my Canon in January, mainly for video, but I also what to do photography as a hobby because I love capturing the moment, but also seeing the beauty and angles that some people don't see. I take a lot of pictures of my dogs, nature, family, and just about anything else I can. I want to buy some new lenses, but I would like to master my camera first.

Please go easy on me because I am a "beginner" but I would love some feedback on some of my photos so you can get an idea.;)
$270900_10151595481393856_81643806_n.jpg$428728_10151595480878856_1464249350_n.jpg$16989_10151454539648856_218519424_n.jpg$533960_10151543867253856_2036380251_n.jpg I have more stuff, just picked a few for now.
 
OVERALL FEEL/SUCCESS/IMPACT:
The lower left photo is the only one of the 4 that comes across as a pretty intentional, "artistic" photograph. It shows a nice clear excited, love of life sort of feel.
The upper left looks like maybe you were going for a feeling of tenderness or something, but it is too subtle. The dog could just be sniffing the other one's ear or being bored and looking in that direction. There's nothing really anthropomorphic or obvious enough here to convey any sense of anything exciting or meaningful, you know?
The upper right one is clearly supposed to be an action shot, but the angle kinda ruins it. The dog almost looks more like it went rigid and is halfway toward falling over than it looks like it is running. A running shot would be much more successful from the side, where you can see the legs splayed out an in active gait, clearance from the ground, etc. Also, a Dachshund in general is a particularly difficult subject to show running, since its legs are so short, making this a tough challenge in the first place.
The lower right photo is just plain odd. The others I kinda see what you were going for, but this one I have no idea. It's kinda like a creepy paparazzi neighbor was spying on the dog's butt, and it just noticed him??

Think: Do these photos optimally capture the feeling you were going for? If not, how would you make them do so better? Don't worry about technical details at first, just think about how you would want them to look if you could snap your fingers and make it happen. Then practice or research how to make that happen technically.

COMPOSITION / CROPPING:
A bit off in all of them, but not by much. Be very careful about irrelevant, distracting random things in your photos. The shadow of the girl's leg in the bottom left (if the whole shadow were visible, it would be fine, but one foot/ankle is distracting and draws the eye off the image). The leg of some metal chair in the upper right. The hint of some hedges in the upper left, the architectural elements in the corners in the lower right. These should all be cropped out and could be with just a few more pixels. Ideally though, you want to always consider this in-camera. For example, in the upper left, you could have taken the photo from a slightly steeper angle, allowing yourself more grass above the dogs to frame the picture, while still cropping out the hedges. Here, the angle is shallow enough that you don't quite have room to comfortably crop them and still have the dogs comfortably in frame.

EXPOSURE:
upper two are fine.
Bottom two are not so fine.
The bottom left: you need to expose about 1 stop darker than you did, to make her completely a black silhouette and to show more detail in the water (the highlights are "blown out" now). OR if you wanted us to see the girl and have her not be a silhouette, then still expose less, but also use a flash to light her up to match the surroundings. As is, it looks unintentional and awkwardly in-between. Like you weren't sure if you wanted a silhouette or not or just missed the exposure (which is likely the case, lol =P but that's what we want to work on fixing, right?!)
The lower right is sort of the same deal. Since the dog is backlit, it is way too dark, while at the same time, the pine needles are overly blown out bright. You needed to take the photo from the other side, or use some sort of flash (off camera flash) or something... I don't even know. This is a very difficult lighting situation that would probably best just be avoided.


COLOR:
Looks okay-ish, but also looks unintentional. I'm guessing you didn't adjust color at all, but the camera did a decent job of getting it right. Do you have an image editing program or anything? As you get better, youll want to practice adjusting color to your own tastes as a main step in editing. (the reason it looks unintentional here is that the color is tolerable but also noticeably different from shot to shot and does not seem to convey a signature preference on your part). Color and editing is a big part of your "look" that you produce as a photographer. Same goes for contrast and things like vignetting or dodging and burning, saturation, etc.
 
Gavjenks, thanks for taking the time to write all that!

I forget when I'm taking pictures of the pups that others aren't always with them, so they don't see the connection with them like i do. When I took that picture I 'was' trying to catch the feeling of tenderness, but that's so true about the sniffing thing! I suppose I need to think what will others think when they see this, as far as the feeling. As far as the action shot, I was trying to get her from the front, and I worked so hard for that shot, but I didn't even think to get it from the side! LOL
" It's kinda like a creepy paparazzi neighbor was spying on the dog's butt, and it just noticed him??"- this made me laugh so hard! haha :) I can see what you mean though.

"Like you weren't sure if you wanted a silhouette or not or just missed the exposure (which is likely the case, lol =P but that's what we want to work on fixing, right?!)" We are gonna go with that option. ;) If I had to choice though, I defiantly think a silhouette would be best.

Where just gonna pretend that the bottom right picture doesn't even exist. ha! :)

I didn't really adjust the color. I'm still learning my camera, and Photoshop (which is the software that I have). I was just trying to work with the natural coloring. :)I think I'm gonna work on learning that next. I know when I see other peoples photos what types of coloring, I guess you could say, I like and don't like. However, I haven't figured out that part yet.

Thanks again for your feedback! :)
 
I'm not sure if I replied to myself or to your post, so I wanted to reply again to make sure. Sorry! I'm still learning this forum/site :)
 

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