New to this, helpful criticism appreciated

[Blindfire]

I pretty much picked up my first real camera about a week ago. I've been shooting 35mm for the past month, and took the plunge into digital.

Currently I am using a Canon Rebel XS along with a
- 35-70mm
- 50mm
- 24-105mm

This following picture was taken with the 35-70mm, any help with what I could have done different would be heavily appreciated.


Its a fancy bench by Bl1ndfire, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

There are a million things you could have done differently... BUT, start by telling us (1) What your intent or vision for the image was, and (2) did you realize that intent with this capture, and if not, where do YOU see it falling short? Knowing what you want to achieve will much better help the members guide you in the right direciton.

 

[Frequency]

The image would have been a better story teller if you had included the whole of the bench within the frame; for me the image suggests loneliness or something like that and in that case i would have avoided including the bright white wall on the left extreme; a wider aperture would have diffused the details away from the bench, making it more interesting...
Happy Clicks

 

[Haya.H]

I agree with Frequency ^^ the white part is out of place. I like the picture but the angle is kinda plain, i would have actually focused on the old and scratched up parts of the bench. I feel like that tells a story, and is more interesting than the whole thing all together. If i was shooting this i would get lower, get closer to the part of the bench where the damaged part is and shoot from either the end or a little towards the middle. so that you get the back part of the bench, the side and the mainly the old and rusty part. But thats just what first comes to my mind. its a nice picture the colors are vibrant & i actually like how the shadows turned out!

 

[pgriz]

For beginning photographers, one of the basic lessons in arranging the composition is to scan the image and the foreground/background prior to clicking the shutter. It takes time to acquire this habit, as it usually comes only after the more immediate techniques of getting the exposure right and getting the right focus and depth-of-field are learned and mastered. Yet, controlling what appears in the image frame is one of the differences between a snapshooter and a master photographer.

So let me tell you what I liked and didn't.

The light is pleasing, the bench is shot at an angle, which creates a nice set of diagonals, and the motif of the bench backrest echoes the vines on the wall.

On the other side, the bench is partly cut off (as Frequency has noted), there is that blob of white at the upper left that doesn't contribute to the image (as both Frequency and Haya.H said), and the block of wood at the leg of the bench is also not helping.

We don't know what your vision was when you took the picture (as tirediron noted), but assuming that you saw the pleasing light on the bench and the way it fitted into its environment, I'd suggest moving a little back from the bench to capture it all, changing the angle by moving to the left, thereby avoiding including the white wall in the image, and perhaps lowering the height at which you took. However, the elements that I would keep are the diagonal lines, and the juxtaposition of the bench against the vine-covered wall.

There are many potential pictures in the scene that you shot. Haya.H and Frequency both showed you some possible alternate views. However, we don't know what you were trying to achieve, and in that, it is difficult to tell you whether we think you have succeeded or not.