Please critique my first TPF photos :-D

kazwicca · Feb 27, 2012

Thank you for viewing my photos. If you can offer some critique, comments, advice and feedback that would certainly be appreciated.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=23364&title=josephine&cat=500

MLeeK · Feb 27, 2012

You might want to post a better size. Those are thumbnails and way to small to view

Josh220 · Feb 27, 2012

X2 on bigger pictures.

The one of the melons is intriguing though, very different!

kazwicca · Feb 27, 2012

MLeeK said:
You might want to post a better size. Those are thumbnails and way to small to view

Thank you - and followed the specific instructions provided on the forum but wasn't aware of the small/medium sizes.

KmH · Feb 27, 2012

You've got some greenish color casts going on in a couple of them.

MLeeK · Feb 27, 2012

The first 3 look kinda like a rough attempt at HDR. It's making them kind of muddy looking.
I have no clue what the first one is even of. It's EXTREMELY warm.
#2 the dog seems OOF and the walls/bucket/heater in sharp focus.
#3is a cool perspective. The color is really orange/warm.
#4is nice. Is that a person that is at the end of the pier or ? It makes me feel like it should be the subject with the sunset behind it. The extreme contrast takes a bit away from it.

kazwicca · Mar 3, 2012

Thank you for the feedback, I certainly appreciate you taking the time to have a look.

kazwicca · Mar 3, 2012

I have no clue what the first one is even of. It's EXTREMELY warm.

This is the wooden hand-rail post near a water-fall. I like the look of the moss growing in the crack. Perhaps a bit 'abstract', I'm not sure - but thank you.

Timoris · Mar 4, 2012

0th - Always shoot RAW

1st - White in the water is blown out. If you don't have an ND filter, or say, Circular Polariser, decrease your aperture size (say f/22 or f/32 if you can) and make a pic of several seconds long, see the magic!

Step back a bit, lower the camera, Rule of thirds, have the barrel to the right, waterfall in the back, smooth, cotton, magic.

2nd - I actually kind of like. Keep in mind what the others have said.
The following is strictly my artistic interpretation so take it or leave it, or rather, absorb it, think and explore!
I'd crop it a little closer, but, Deliberately have it Out Of Focus. The colours look quite similar to Oil paintings, perhaps a little like Van Gogh, in that respect, BOKEH FILTER! Make your own, or go the lensbaby route:

From the website

Lensbaby - Shaped Bokeh | Creative Aperture Kit for Heart, Star Bokeh

3rd - The composition is OK, not the best it could be but you have the right idea. I would have taken several more pictures from slightly different angles and distances.
The colours are off, but that's what I like about it, it feels warm and alien. Something I have a lot of trouble with is white balance, so don't necessarily take my word as law. I like off colours.
Again, see the Bokeh blurb above. Make it look like paint strokes.

Lastly, your picture is too noisy and soft. It looks as though you had enough sunlight. Consider investing in a tripod, or at least a Gorillapod. Longer exposure with slow ISO is your friend, especially in shots like these. Don't be afraid to close that aperture, f/6 to f/11 is usually where your lens' sweet spot in terms of sharpness is.

4th - I'm not too sure what you where going for, but it just feels too much like "Layer Cake". Try pointing more to the right, having the tree and house as point of interest, again, rule of thirds. (I say that a lot, don't I?

)

5th - I would have preferred it without the human element.

I believe you have two pictures here.
1st - Of and on the pier itself, framed in such a manner that one side of the lamps lead the eyes into the picture. As for contrast, B&W, colour, that's up to you.
2nd - Off the pier, it on the side, leading the eyes into the sunset. Colours, etc, would be interesting with what you have chosen. Feels fake. Not necessarily a bad thing, maybe like a postcard.

Right now you have those two mashed into one and it doesn't work too well. The pier leads the eyes away from the sunset, but the sunset calls to look at it. It feels unbalanced.

Those are my two cents, ENJOY!