Relatively new to photography...feedback appreciated!

[ny lapsetime]

Well I got my camera a little less than a year ago, and have gotten some good use out of it. I'm fortunate enough to live in a great city for photography - NYC. Here are some pics I've taken in the last year. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Manhattan Bridge at Night by Neil F, on Flickr

nyc0320-18 by Neil F, on Flickr

nyc0320-4 by Neil F, on Flickr

nyc03082-1 by Neil F, on Flickr

Statue of Liberty at Dusk by Neil F, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

Your photos have a very carefully reigned-in feeling of chaos and movement to them. Your lens seems to have a lot of color fringing (see the purple tree limbs, the pant legs of the men,their shoes) at times, probably an 18-55 kit zoom I'd guess. These scenes are BURSTING with energy and a feeling of movement. Really a LOT happening, and the slow shutter speeds you use add a temporal quality--I love the sailboat, slightly blurred, withe Statue of Liberty illuminated by her lights at twilight as the subject. Your Bleeker Street corner shot has loads of wonderful little details in it!

These photos have a lot of contained energy within their edges.

It looks to me like you have a cheap lens, and a good eye. I think you deserve to buy yourself a really FINE lens, or two, a lens or two that will give you biting clarity, faster focusing under dimmer light, and just better optics, to do more justice to your eye. A fast-aperture 35mm, 50mm, or 85mm, all of an f/1.8 maximum aperture value, would be awesome tools for you. You deserve at least one, or two, FAST prime lenses.

 

[ny lapsetime]

Thanks for the compliments...guilty as charged regarding cheap lenses. Although I do have the 35mm 1.8 nikkor, which the bleeker st shot was taken with. I looked it up and it turns out that this lens has fringing problems wide open, and that shot was taken wide open. I'll have to remember to stop down a bit with that lens. But you're right, I should invest an 85mm prime, as I like to zoom in - a couple of those shots were taken with my 55-300 nikkor which doesn't have great reviews.

Here are some other shots I've taken with the 35mm prime which might be better examples. Although these are wide open as well, I guess the fringing is just especially bad in bright sunlight.

nyc0502-3 by Neil F, on Flickr

nyc0502-13 by Neil F, on Flickr

nyc0502-6 by Neil F, on Flickr