Noob needs C&C/Advice...

[Scout]

Here are some photos that I took at Balboa Park today. They are completely unedited. I just bought Photoshop Elements and an instruction book that I need to read. All photos were taken with a Canon Rebel Xti, 18-55mm lens with a circular polarizer on auto mode, because I am still learning the manual settings.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[Restomage]

I've been there before, actually went there for a highschool photo class back in the day. To me these photos are boring, anyone could take these with a point and shoot. Personally I'm not much of the architectural photographer but I would try to make the photos unique and try to compose the shots in a way someone normally wouldn't do, not just by turning the camera on its side. There are a lot of nice pillars and statues and such there, use them as an advantage controlling your depth of field by making them stand out in the foreground while making everying in the background out of focus. Hope this helps a bit.

Oh and stop shooting in Auto!!!!!11

 

[doogan]

I have a D90 also - great camera aren't they.

I'm not an architectural photographer, and only rarely
take shots of buildings. It seems to me that all your
shots are a bit underexposed. I used to shoot in aperture
priority (shoot in manual now) and I almost always had
to do exposure compensation by +.3 to +1.0 These are
equivalent to plus 1/3 to plus 1 full stop, unless someone
changed them to half stop increments.

Why don't you try shooting in manual, it's fast and accurate.
Back to your photos. Somehow you have to find a way to
dramatize these buildings, and it's not that easy, otherwise
they are just snapshots. First is to get the exposure correct,
sharpen them in photoshop, perhaps put in a stormy sky or
a fake sun with a little lens flare.
As restomage said try to get unusual angles and maybe
selective focus. Happy shooting.
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[chammer]

#4 looks just a touch out of focus, but its still quite stunning. color is very good!

 

[jbylake]

ditto on the flower....pretty good for your first time out with a new/unfamiliar camera...

J.:mrgreen:

 

[shortpballer]

YOU should look at my previous posts. I have some pictures that are VERY similar to the pictures you took lol.

Here is a link:http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...t-photoshoot-dslr-please-comment-2nd-try.html

I think I did what you did and tilted too many of my pictures... I would recommend staying away from that.

But Balboa Park is one of my favorite places to go shooting. Very beautiful. Maybe we can get together and go shooting sometime..