NOOB Here! Giving it a second try...

[EGutierrez91]

Took some shots yesterday in Ithaca (Cornell University). These were done en route to the library, so there are better places to shoot, but these happened to be along my way.

1.

IMG_0599_EDIT by LimeLitePhotography_NYC, on Flickr
2.

IMG_0612_EDIT by LimeLitePhotography_NYC, on Flickr

3.

IMG_0616_EDIT by LimeLitePhotography_NYC, on Flickr
4.

IMG_0633_EDIT by LimeLitePhotography_NYC, on Flickr

For number 3, I wanted to create a bigger bokeh effect, but I was unable to. Any tips on that? Any advice for the other pics?

 

[apples]

these look eerily like my university as well...

shooting with a wider aperture can increase the bokeh blur, but i think youd have to recompose a bit too.

 

[slackercruster]

BW is kinda flat. Needs more contrast. Make it B& W not Gray & W.

Other ones are OK, but they don't say much.

Would be nice if you can get down in the gorge and shoot with a WA. The building looks kinda neat. But is too far away to tell much about it.

Keep on blasting away and don't give up.

 

[LuckySe7en]

try bumping the contrast in #1 to make that b&w pop. Are you doing any pp?

 

[shootermcgavin]

#2 is pretty flat, I like 1 but it looks kind of soft on my screen... not bad compositions on any of them

 

[jaomul]

I like the angles you used on 2 and 4, they are nice scenic shots. As said 1 could do with bit more contrast but personally i like symmetrical photos and its mostly that way so i like it also. 3 does nothing for me

 

[EGutierrez91]

these look eerily like my university as well...

shooting with a wider aperture can increase the bokeh blur, but i think youd have to recompose a bit too.

Yea, that's what I wanted to try with #3 but didn't work. I'll go wider and get closer to the sign and retry.

BW is kinda flat. Needs more contrast. Make it B& W not Gray & W.

Other ones are OK, but they don't say much.

Would be nice if you can get down in the gorge and shoot with a WA. The building looks kinda neat. But is too far away to tell much about it.

Keep on blasting away and don't give up.

I've been trying to get down there as there are old trails still there. Unfortunately they are fenced off now since they are deemed dangerous.

try bumping the contrast in #1 to make that b&w pop. Are you doing any pp?

I see that I need to bump up the contrast a bit. I'm doing a bit of PP to fix the colors a bit but I'm mostly working on exposure which I didn't change on any (which I guess is good) since I was happy with the outcome right from the camera.

#2 is pretty flat, I like 1 but it looks kind of soft on my screen... not bad compositions on any of them

Yea, I need to fix up 1. I'll try that tonight. What did you mean by "flat" on number 2? Trying to learn all the terms so I can get better!

I like the angles you used on 2 and 4, they are nice scenic shots. As said 1 could do with bit more contrast but personally i like symmetrical photos and its mostly that way so i like it also. 3 does nothing for me

I'll try doing some PP on #1 and then I'll post it up again. #3 was more so me wanting to experiment a bit, and now I know what I need to try next time I go there.

 

[KmH]

For number 3, I wanted to create a bigger bokeh effect, but I was unable to.

I suspect you mean you wanted a shallower DoF, because bokeh is not adjustable.

A shallower DoF would have produced a more OOF (out-of-focus) background.

The EXIF data for #3 show you used a lens aperture of f/8 and a focal length of 40 mm. A wider lens aperture, say f/4, would have blurred the background more.

Your T2i has a DoF preview button on it.

 

[KimGG]

1. I agree with the others re more contrast. I like the comp though
4. Love the lighting with this one. Especially the colour of the sky.

 

[scorpion_tyr]

As KmH said, DOF and bokeh are not the same thing. And for something like that you wouldn't want to get too shallow. If it's just a sign and nothing else recognizable in the BG... what's the point?

I like #2, and to me that scene is just begging to be shot at a much lower angle if possible with a wide angle lens, maybe using a slow shutter speed to get the motion of the water, and/or maybe an HDR shot? I'm not saying this picture needs to be improved, I'm just saying if that's an easy location for you to go back to that there's lots of possibilites.