New to the photography world

[pulse]

Hey guys, i just got an Olympus E-510 DSLR the other day and i am practically new to photography (other than some point and shoots). I decided to join this forum mainly to gain some extra knowledge that i desperately need aswell to show off some of my photography.

So here is a few photos that i have taken. Note, these were taken within about an hour of first using the camera. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
1)

2)

3)

4)

 

[Ptyler22]

Those are all nice shots, I especially like the dice though, nice!

 

[GermanyBert]

Welcome.

I like all but the first one. For me the background in photo #1 is too busy and distracting. You could improve it in Photoshop or Elements.

 

[Computer_Generated]

All are good, but the cat is out of focus on the first one. I'm okay with the background, it's blurred enough to not make me spend too much time there. Just personal opinions though.

 

[tinfish]

I think they all look good as well. I agree in the first pic if the focus was on the eyes of the cat I feel it would be a little stronger shot, but that is only an opinion. For someone who is just getting into photography, you utilize the composition of your photos well. Congrats on the new camera!

 

[pulse]

Thanks for the comments!

I definitally see what you guys are talking about with the focusing in picture #1. If i would have focused it more on the cats face it would have turned out better. Ill keep this in mind for future photos.

 

[icassell]

Actually, I think the leading eye on the cat isn't too bad and the face of the cat is at an angle. This makes me feel you just chose too wide an aperture (too small an f-stop) putting everything beyond that leading eye into the OOF background. Welcome to the forum.

 

[pulse]

So basically i should have used a higher F#?

sorry if im wrong im just having trouble understanding aperature functions and what exactly they do/ there effect on a photo.

 

[icassell]

So basically i should have used a higher F#?

sorry if im wrong im just having trouble understanding aperature functions and what exactly they do/ there effect on a photo.

Exactly. Let me recommend a book that will help you understand all this:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216072011&sr=8-1

 

[andrew99]

Some random comments:

The camera focused on the blades of grass on the first one.. Aperture might help a little but won't solve the problem, you just have to watch what the auto-focus is latching on to.

Why did you do the flower shot in B&W?

The dice shot is pretty cool.

The last one looks like it could use a bit more contrast to get rid of that hazy look.

Definitely good shots for the first day!

 

[Easy_Target]

1. Focus should've been on the cat, rather than the grass in front of it. Good idea on the perspective, needs a bit of work though. Perhaps a bit more to its left for an "about to pounce," type shot although that might be a bit overused.

2. Contrast issue, you've got your blacks, but all your whites went grey.

3. The dice in the foreground are nice and crisp, you have solid blacks and good whites. It's smoothness is contrasted by the texture of the carpet it's on. Overall, good photo.

4. Shot is a rather...dull. It's too uniform. Uniformity can work in a picture, but not when there's not much in it.