Pics on the bay (First Post, still learning)

[KW Ladner]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. A couple of these are of my 10 year old son. He appreciates the artistic side of taking photos. Let me know what you think.

1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[SarasotaTim]

I like the old weathered look of #1...I know everyone will say it's underexposed lol

And, #4 is way overexposed...

 

[PhotoWrangler]

And, #4 is way overexposed...

That depends on what he was exposing for. If he were exposing for the sky, yes its overexposed. However he was exposing for the subject, which is ok. If he exposed for the sky, the subject would be dark, if he exposed for the subject the sky is going to be blown - he had to make a choice. And because he didn't have an off camera lighting source, or a reflector, his options were pretty limited.

 

[JamesB]

Some thoughts from another complete beginner

I like number one, but I think it might look better if you could see more detail on the far bank of the river, but keeping the tree framing the foreground as a silhouette

I think number 3 would work slightly better if you'd taken a step or so back and to the right and framed your son a bit more off centre

For situations like number 4, your camera has an auto-bracketing option that will take three consecutive pictures at different exposure levels (try -2,0,+2). On a bright day like that looked, you should easily get fast enough shutter speeds to handhold the camera (turn on the high speed shooting option and it should just take all three for you), and then you can blend them together so that you can see the detail in the sky and river without overexposing your subject

 

[bazooka]

You'll probably get more input if you give more information... what do you like/dislike about the shots? #1 and #2 are pretty vague. I'm not sure what it is that you thought was interesting. What was the subject?

#3 and #4 are easier to see where you were going because the subject is clear. #3 is going to be an impossible shot to expose correctly without bringing your own light source or combining exposures. He doesn't take up much of the frame either so he's fighting many similar sized piers for attention.

#4 is not bad, but could also be easily improved. Fill more of the frame with him, and reposition so the green pole isn't behind him. For this shot, framing him dead center is very awkward because I'm drawn to the empty area to the right of the tree halfway expecting something to be there. Off centered composition is going to work much better here. Check out the "Golden Rule" on youtube. Also, you chopped half his flip-flop off.

 

[thierry]

Good composition but need to work on things previously stated

 

[o hey tyler]

Good composition

Other than the fact that the subjects are centered... So I'd work on composition, rule of thirds, leading lines, etc. All good things to google.

 

[KW Ladner]

Thanks everyone for the replys, each and every one are encouraging.
Christopher Coy, you are right, i did take that pic in several exposures and that one looked the best. I was really to far away to use a flash so I settled for overexposure on the water. JamesB, I havent tried the auto bracketing but I will now, thanks. In pic #3, I really wanted to go for more of a silhouette look, but I wasted to much time and lost all sun before I knew it. I will get better on the rule of thirds....Thanks everyone.