See where I stand (a critique please)

[Sasquatch]

Hey all, I'm new here but I wanted to share some of my latest shots and maybe get a grasp of where I'm at and what needs improvement. I know that as an artist, sometimes it's easy for me to get too close to my work and I lose some objectivity. What better place to find it than the internet, right? Anyway, here are a couple shots that I took for my Sis-in-law of my nephew. These were taken on his 2nd birthday. Following a very active 2 year-old around, it can be a challenge to get good angles, lighting, etc. I was pretty happy with these but wanted to know others' thoughts and see what I might be missing.

 

[vtf]

Overall I think the images are very nice. Clear focus and good lighting with the background nicely blurred.
My only issue is with cutting the body parts off. Be careful, take a step back and crop down if needed to prevent the cutting. :thumbup:

 

[Derrel]

First shot needs a little bit more space on top I think, and is cropped-in a bit tight on the boy. I dislike having the top of the head so,so close to the top of the frame--it's distracting and causes visual tension at the edge of the frame. An alternate approach would be to eliminate the hair hearly touching the top of the frame, and to just crop wayyyy in, and crop well down into the hair, and in that way, positioning his eye a bit higher in the frame. If yuo try it, you can see that eliminating much of the hair on the top of his head focuses the picture more on him, his eyes, and his expression.

The second shot has absolutely beautiful lighting that looks like open shade with soft dappled sun patches coming in. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the way the eyes are positioned left of center, giving him the proper amount of space to "look into". Super job on that! If there is anything that could improve the bottom photo, it might be to darken (burn in) the upper, right hand corner's bit of exceptionally bright green background--that bright, vibrant green pulls the eye away from the foreground and the boy, and to the background, over and over. Skillfully cloning it out with darker green with dappled OOF highlight circles from other parts of the image will make this just a super candid portrait. The kid's also just at that adorable age, and he's dressed well, hair's combed, looks photo ready. And he's got a stick!!!

I wish the bottom of his hand was not cropped off on the edge of the frame. If there is any more original image area, I'd like to see a little bit MORE of the tree that the lens is peering past, which is in the lower right hand corner and lower right side of the frame...that to OOF foreground tree bark adds another (the third) depth plane, and is a nice visual clue, a reminder, that this is an outdoor "woodsy" candid portrait.

 

[Sasquatch]

Thanks guys! I find that I do tend to move (or zoom) in too close to my subject at times. I focus so much on expressions that I tend to ignore or forget about leaving myself enough room to fine-tune my composition in post.

 

[WesternGuy]

I would agree with what has been said so far - nice images, sharp, but the crops are way to tight - for me anyway - because I do really like #2, but the cropped stick and the hand leaves me wondering what the rest looks like, because I am also not one that likes cropped body parts. You might want to look up the "Rule of Thirds" if you are not aware of it and while I don't necessarily believe in "rules", it is a good guideline for a place to start.

Cute kid by the way - good age for this type of photography and he really doesn't seem shy which is a bonus. Keep on trying - good so far...

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Sasquatch]

I've studied a lot about the rule of thirds and other compositional "rules" but it seems like when I get into the shoot, some of it goes out the window. I think as I get more and more comfortable with getting my exposures correct, I'll be able to focus a little more on the subject and other aspects of composition during the shoot instead of camera settings, etc. Hopefully, it'll come more natural as I progress. I'll definitely be more aware of it now. Thanks!

 

[Vtec44]

I've studied a lot about the rule of thirds and other compositional "rules" but it seems like when I get into the shoot, some of it goes out the window.

Ahahaha... I have the same problem and it's worse when I'm trying to figure out the new camera. Thanks to all the comments here, I now actually pay attention to head space and not cutting off limbs... too much.

 

[WesternGuy]

I've studied a lot about the rule of thirds and other compositional "rules" but it seems like when I get into the shoot, some of it goes out the window.

Know what you mean...I was there once and am still "there" on occasion, but I now think of an article I read about a year ago and the main question in the article was something to the effect of "do you want to take pictures or make pictures". This got me thinking seriously about what it is that I wanted to do and I decided that I wanted to make pictures rather than take them...maybe this is just semantics, but it did change my approach to my whole image-capturing process...well...at least most of the time..sort of like a recovering addict (?) I do drop back into the "old" habits once in a while, but, you know, the more I tend to think about take vs. make, the less I find myself reverting to the old ways.

On another aspect, you indicated that you needed to become more "comfortable" with getting your exposures correct...how do you shoot now, manual, aperture priority, shutter priority...what sort of ISOs are you using...and what sort of gear do you have? I do understand that shooting little ones is a "get it now or not at all" proposition, but maybe you should try to hone your composition skills on things that don't move...simply as practice, e.g., flowers, trees, buildings, statues, and anything else that isn't moving...after a while, they (composition skills) become almost a habit...alternatively, (and I don't like this approach very much, but I do use it) leave enough space on your images so that you can crop in post-processing and do anything else that you need to do to improve the composition of your image. My 0.02¢.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Sasquatch]

On another aspect, you indicated that you needed to become more "comfortable" with getting your exposures correct...how do you shoot now, manual, aperture priority, shutter priority...what sort of ISOs are you using...and what sort of gear do you have?

In this particular shoot, I started out shooting in manual. I dropped my ISO down as low as I could and still get decent shutter speeds. I think I ended up bumping it back up to 200 because it was a little darker in the shady areas and my shutter speeds were getting pretty slow. As soon as Josh (the subject) started wandering around into different lighting situations, I couldn't keep up with him and manually changing my camera settings. I eventually switched over to shutter priority and let the camera do some of the work. In this case, I was shooting a Nikon D90 with a Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 lens.

Also, I get what you're saying about making pictures versus taking them. I've loved to draw and paint since I was a kid, so the camera to me is another way to create art. I'm going to Yellowstone N.P. this summer, so I'm excited to try some nature photography there....landscapes and such. Maybe something a little less active than a 2 year-old.

 

[KmH]

The devil is in the details.

Most advanced amateur or pro photographers see/notice/knows to look at, 10 times more detail and other information in the camera viewfinder than typical amateurs do.

That is what is meant when people suggest "getting it right in the camera", rather than compromising a shot from insufficient attention to the details, or getting into the habit of 'fixing' screwups with image editing software, post process.

Be advised - Since you are using the D90, if you use any of the Lo 1.0, Lo 0.7, or Lo 0.3 ISO settings that are below ISO 200 you are losing dynamic range, because those setting are accomplished by software rather than by the amplifier circuits adjacent to the image sensor.

 

[WesternGuy]

...
Also, I get what you're saying about making pictures versus taking them. I've loved to draw and paint since I was a kid, so the camera to me is another way to create art. I'm going to Yellowstone N.P. this summer, so I'm excited to try some nature photography there....landscapes and such. Maybe something a little less active than a 2 year-old.

You have hit the nail on the head so to speak as to why I stick to nature and wildlife - I don't have the patience or the knowledge/skills to shoot people - well maybe once in a while for family snapshots - have fun in Yellowstone - must get back there some day soon - would love to try some HDR on the geysers, if that is at all possible - and good luck with the landscapes and such. Share some when you get back. :thumbup:

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Sasquatch]

Be advised - Since you are using the D90, if you use any of the Lo 1.0, Lo 0.7, or Lo 0.3 ISO settings that are below ISO 200 you are losing dynamic range, because those setting are accomplished by software rather than by the amplifier circuits adjacent to the image sensor.

I wasn't aware of that. Good to know! Thanks.:thumbup: