Please rate me

[okwori12]

I started photography this week with my first DSLR (canon T4i). Here are some of my shots as a learner. YouTube video has been my guide.

 

[dennybeall]

Interesting ideas. I like to see more subject and less background. Really like the expression on the young man in the plaid shirt but for me there is too much of the blue background.
Nice start - keep going.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Nice start but most of them are slightly out of focus or have motion blur

 

[weepete]

Ok, I'll bite. PS you asked so here is my take.

From those shots I'd give you a 3 out of 10.

I don't mean to discourage you but there are issues with these shots. Here is my reasoning:

Framing is sloppy except 3. Eg 4 a bit wider and include the extents of the arm and a bit of space on top gives us a defined uncut C curve in the posture. 1,2 and 4 ard just shots of stuff, lack compositional arrangement. Other than 5 no attention has been given to background. Except 1 and 3 lighting isn't great. All have distracting backgrounds that detract from the central focal point. It's also a bit random, no consitency in the set and as ZombiesniperJr points out they are all bit soft too

 

[Light Guru]

I started photography this week

Really it looks more like you started 2 weeks ago.

I agree with what others have said. Keep making photos!

 

[dunfly]

I pretty much agree with everyone else. I suggest you work on focus and camera shake first. All the photos are soft. Get that solved and then work on lighting. Once you get lighting down pat, then you can go for composition.

 

[okwori12]

Waoh.. Thanks for all those wonderful comments, I really appreciate it. I will try out what you've all said.

All the pics were taking from a distant zoming. Could that be responsible for the softness? How do i make my photos sharper?

 

[dunfly]

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” - Robert Capa

Get as close as you can before you shoot. That way you will be using a shorter focal length, which should help with camera shake. Make sure you are shooting at a high enough shutter speed (at least 1/focal length, that is at 50mm focal length you should shoot at least 1/50). I assume you are using auto focus. I would use spot focus and make sure the spot is dead on your subject. And last, consider using a tripod whenever practical.

 

[dennybeall]

A zoom lens is sharper in the middle of it's range usually. Some lenses are sharper than others so the best you can do is to maximize the use of the equipment you have. Also some sharpness can be obtained in post-processing.
Also, your camera has a fixed number of pixels and you want to get as many of those on the subject. That says less background and get as close to the subject as you can.
One other thing. It's a learned skill to hold the camera steady in your hands. Use a tripod, monopod or beanbag whenever possible and practice handholding the camera.
Enough babble from me - shoot and enjoy....

 

[okwori12]

I took this one yesterday. Hope there is improvement?

 

[weepete]

Yes, that looks better to me, though there is still a softness about his facial features. Are you dong anything to these in post, focus recomposing or something?

 

[DGMPhotography]

Here's a thread that may help you: Biggest eye openers?!

For these images, I would say to make sure your shutter speed is at least as fast as your focal length. So if your lens is at 50mm (and on a 1.5 crop sensor that would be 75mm), your shutter speed should be at least 1/50th of a second, though preferably faster. If the subject is moving, you generally want at least 1/200th of a second. And then adjust the exposure triangle as necessary. Also switch your camera to single-point focus if you haven't already. That will help a ton.

 

[The_Traveler]

You are going about this the hardest way.
You knew to learn something, read about actually using your camera and then making pictures.
This way you are accumulating little bits of information in an unstructured way and it will take a million pictures to get all the information that a few day's reading will implant in your head.

The reason this looks OOF is because it is unsharpened.
And you probably don't know what that is or why it needs to be done.
Start reading about your camera and everything else you find.
Use your camera to understand and take examples.

 

[Braineack]

remove the filter on your lens.

 

[okwori12]

Wa

You are going about this the hardest way.
You knew to learn something, read about actually using your camera and then making pictures.
This way you are accumulating little bits of information in an unstructured way and it will take a million pictures to get all the information that a few day's reading will implant in your head.

The reason this looks OOF is because it is unsharpened.
And you probably don't know what that is or why it needs to be done.
Start reading about your camera and everything else you find.
Use your camera to understand and take examples.

View attachment 142320

This is great. How did you achieve that sharpness?