Trying to Play with my Camera

[MysticPhotography]

So I wanted to get out and practise this weekend with my camera and play around a bit, but then I got sick and it dumped snow (which is not a good combination). So I was gonna wait till I could get out, but got bored and grabbed my camera and shot the boring things in my apartment. Terrible lighting (strictly indoor lighting) so high ISO (around 2000 for more shots I think) and relatively slow shutter speed (which made shooting my bird a bit annoying as he was unhappy with the camera in his face and moved nearly constantly). Taken with the crappy lens that came with my camera (canon 50D) But let me know what you think anyways.

1. First shot is one of my faves, but I can't decide between color, and black and white

2. My poodle, distracting busy background, but his facial expression was hilarious. Wish I could have gotten the focus on his eyes rather than his nose.

3. Poodle ear

4. Space Heater

5. Turkey. Tried to make it a bit interesting with framing.

6. Turkey Portrait

7. Bright Toy

8. Vase on Curtain. My favourite picture of the evening I think. (except for the staining on the curtain, should have paid more attention)

9. Love. Would have liked to crop it differently but there was other stuff in the way.

Other than 1 and 8 I don't find the rest really intriguing, but I thought I would post them anyways.

Here are a couple pics I've taken before and after editing. How do you think I did?
Hunger Games

Red Rock at Sedona

Thank you. I do a decent amount of horse sport photography but not much at all of 'artistic' stuff so trying to work on it.

 

[weags77]

First off don't be so negative about your photography. I see the words "boring" and "terrible" and "crappy". Exercises like this aren't about getting that "technically perfect" shot. Your living room isn't a perfectly lit modeling studio and your pets aren't highly trained professional posers. They aren't supposed to be. It's about looking at your environment a little closer and communicating how you see it. And I think you did that quite well.

Most of all, the minutes or hours you took to just stop and really take in your surroundings, and to look at them a little more closely, will be far more beneficial to your photography than worrying about a stain or the lighting. There's a time and a place to worry about those things. This ain't one if em.

This is just my extremely unprofessional opinion. I have nothing to base this on but my own thoughts and experience. Unfortunately I have more of the former than I do of the latter.

Not every shot you take will be a wall hanger but the goal is to appreciate what we did well, not only what we did wrong. My only suggestion would be to go back over these photos yourself. Look at them again and instead of looking for flaws, look for things you did right. Things that you like about them.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you did well if you look at them from a creative standpoint, given that these are photos of things you look at everyday. And looking at something you see everyday in new and interesting ways is way easier said than done.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, that it is a lot easier to find a pretty girl in a modeling studio than it is to find a diamond in your couch cushions. I hope that makes even the least bit of sense to anyone haha.

 

[MysticPhotography]

THank you for your reply. Those are definitely good things to think about. I do have a habit of being a bit negative.

 

[robbins.photo]

THank you for your reply. Those are definitely good things to think about. I do have a habit of being a bit negative.

Couple of quick thoughts here, first I rather liked the images. The blanket is definitely more interesting in color, IMHO. With shot #2 you might try rotating it slightly and recropping it so you get the poodles face but not much else in the frame, that way the background won't detract and I think that would really emphasize the facial expression to boot.

For future shots I've always found when shooting kids and small animals it's best, when you can, to get down to their level - it's hard on the old knees but in the end I think it's worth it.