Opinions on photos

[cjstarr]

These are but 3 of over a thousand pictures that I have taken over the last 30 days or so.
I have been using the setting on my DSLR instead of just putting it on auto and clicking so I wanted to see what you thought.

 

[cjstarr]

I must be close to setting a record!!!
Is this close to what you had in views a little while back Mark with no replies???
Someone has got to have some kind of opinion be it good or bad about the pictures that I took!!! How do you guys expect someone to get better if they don't receive any feedback.

Charles

 

[ukcatfan]

I must be close to setting a record!!!
Is this close to what you had in views a little while back Mark with no replies???
Someone has got to have some kind of opinion be it good or bad about the pictures that I took!!! How do you guys expect someone to get better if they don't receive any feedback.

Charles

Don't forget that there are probably three times as many people that read the board compared to the ones that actually post.

The first is a little under exposed, but it looks like little enough that you can up it in PP without problems. It could also benefit from the rule of thirds.

I like the action of the second shot being shown.

The third is good, but creeps me out a little. Possibly try to bring the shadows up in PP to make the other eye more visible.

Kevin

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think making the pictures smaller for easier viewing would have gotten you more replies. Maybe. This board does move slowly at times.

I agree with ukcatfan on #1. Enhancing the gekko would be good, or I might just crop the whole thing to show just the gekko, and brighten it a bit.

I like #3 because it's colorful and fills the frame. I agree it could benefit from lightening also.

#2, I like the way you captured the water beads. But honestly (and you did ask for opinions here ) if it were my photo I'd have to do something about the duct tape. The little yellow box on the pool is also distracting. I'd probably see if I could crop those out - which could come close to cutting off the foot. You could just leave a little bit of the tape and it might not be noticable. Maybe give it a try?

 

[thomas998]

Everyone else is going from top to bottom... so I'll start from the bottom up.

The clown... I'm sorry but I don't like clowns so its hard for me to say much... it just seems under exposed... a picture with so much bright yellow in it should pop out, you've got it so dark that the it looks down right dreary.

The splash... its not bod but it would be nice to see the faces of the kid sliding into the water instead of the top of her head... and the duct tape is a bet distracting...

Lizzard... probably closer to the type of thing I would photographing... it is slightly under exposed... but then that is only because you've got too much of the dark bush in the frame for my taste. I'm also not a fan of the main point of your picture being dead center of the photo... also the one odd ball plant in the photo is distracting I think because its in the part of the frame that would one would expect you to have tried to frame the lizzard.... I think if you cropped it so that the you had only the head and half the lizzard on one side of the fram taking up about 1/3 of the fram and the odd ball plant taking up the other 2/3s of the frame and then sliced off the top 1/3 of the picture and the bottom 1/3 of the picture you would have a better picture.... the other complaint would be that you've shot pretty much a top view of the lizzard's head. A better shot would be to capture the side view of the lizzard with it looking more towards the camera... but hey its a lizzard and they don't pose for you so you take what you can get... but next time you might try to wait and if you get lucky they might turn in the right direction.

 

[MHolleman]

These are but 3 of over a thousand pictures that I have taken over the last 30 days or so.
I have been using the setting on my DSLR instead of just putting it on auto and clicking so I wanted to see what you thought.

I have played with the photos some, and here is what I think others may have been saying you should do to them. Just simple touch-ups with a photo program. These are not perfect touch-ups, just quick fixes.

 

[safetymom]

I agree with the other that the gecko needs cropping to make it pop. The second photo not sure what the focus of the picture is. Is it the girl, the water, etc. ? Add me to the list of people who don't like clowns. It does need to be brighter though. You know it is yellow but it doesn't pop like yellow should.

Thanks for being brave and sharing!!

 

[cjstarr]

Thanks a lot for the opinions that is what it takes for me to see what others see and it is the only way I will get better.
As for PS or ULPI I have these programs but they cover up mistakes and I want to learn to take good pictures without the mistakes so I didn't use it before I posted them. That way I can learn more about what I do wrong.

Here is some of the exif data in picture order.
The first picture was in very bright sun and I was trying to keep it from washing out.
Exposure Time = 1/1600"
F Number = F5.6
Exposure Program = Manual
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Exif Version = Version 2.21
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 70mm


The second one was rapid fire just to capture the action and again it was real bright. I was trying to capture the water in this shot.
Exposure Time = 1/160"
F Number = F9
Exposure Program = Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Exif Version = Version 2.21
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 30mm

The last picture was at the Shriners parade here in Anderson, I had bright sun just to the left of me and a moving target with rapid fire and zoomming in at the same time.
Exposure Time = 1/320"
F Number = F5.6
Exposure Program = Manual
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Exif Version = Version 2.21
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 60mm

This might have been a better picture of the Clown to post.

Exposure Time = 1/320"
F Number = F5.6
Exposure Program = Manual
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Exif Version = Version 2.21
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 35mm

Thanks again for the help!!!

 

[fitzperry]

I concur with the other comments but would add that it would be nice to see the little lizard against a background that provides some contrast, although that's not exactly something you can control. Or is he a chameleon who would blend in anywhere?

Also, I'm on my uncalibrated laptop, so I may be mistaken, but #2 seems to have a slightly cool color cast (or maybe her legs are just cold )

 

[ukcatfan]

I have seen the lizard called a few things. Just for the record, I am about 99.9% sure it is an anole.

 

[thomas998]

I notice in each of your photos it says manual exposure... While I understand your desire to learn to take good pictures, I'm not sure you should be starting out by trying to set the exposure manually... since the two clown photos and the lizard/anole/gecko/whatever are under exposed... I think you might consider using the auto mode on your camera... then you can concentrate on things like framing and not worry about setting everything else... once you get satisfied that your photos are properly framed you could then move into some tweaking of aperture or shutter speed.

This is especially true since you seem to be photographing mostly spur of the moment things.... you might also set your flash to auto fill... the clown in my opinion would have been helped with some fill flash....

 

[cjstarr]

I notice in each of your photos it says manual exposure... While I understand your desire to learn to take good pictures, I'm not sure you should be starting out by trying to set the exposure manually... since the two clown photos and the lizard/anole/gecko/whatever are under exposed... I think you might consider using the auto mode on your camera... then you can concentrate on things like framing and not worry about setting everything else... once you get satisfied that your photos are properly framed you could then move into some tweaking of aperture or shutter speed.

This is especially true since you seem to be photographing mostly spur of the moment things.... you might also set your flash to auto fill... the clown in my opinion would have been helped with some fill flash....

I was shooting from the shade into bright sunlight and in the auto mode the pictures were comming out dark. So I went into manual mode taking test shots until I got the shots right. Otherwise I would have been spending a lot of time with CS3.

 

[MICKEY88]

adding to what thomas998 said.. I agree I've been shooting over 30 years and very rarely use full manual mode, and then it's when I'm doing portraits. or model shoot where I an taking the time to fully set up the shot..

with today's modern metering systems it's fairly safe to trust your camera,

I either use aperture or shutter priority, depending on whether I want to control my depth of field, or if controlling action/preventing blur is my priority..


post processing isn't neccessarily covering up mistakes, it's more like fine tuning your pictures..

even with film,,, in a one hour lab, there are adjustments made when printing the pics

 

[fitzperry]

I was shooting from the shade into bright sunlight and in the auto mode the pictures were comming out dark. So I went into manual mode taking test shots until I got the shots right. Otherwise I would have been spending a lot of time with CS3.

You could also have dialed in some exposure compensation or switched to center-weighted or spot metering in that type of situation.

 

[TheLionKing]

The clown photo really needed some fill flash or someone holding a reflector to provide mroe light on the face relative to the background lighting. One should think about balancing the light in shots, as camera sensors don't have as wide a lattitude in displaying shadows and brightness as our own eyes.

I prefer the tighter crop in your original... even if it will creep out some people who don't like clowns.

 

[jann1033]

post processing isn't neccessarily covering up mistakes, it's more like fine tuning your pictures..

even with film,,, in a one hour lab, there are adjustments made when printing the pics

i agree, it's not like film users didn't adjust things in the dark room i think most labs correct sharpness color etc unless you tell them not to even now
interesting article in pc photo about adjusting saturation...of course can't remember the specifics but do remember it said to use the sat sliders in lightroom after you set your black and white points, the ones that adjust each color separately rather than the master one( the second batch of sliders with the hsl/grayscale and something else in lightroom) which might have helped the yellow look less grayed
i would have cropped more of the evergreen looking plant material in 1 and left the bigger leaved stuff..truthfully i didn't even notice the lizard at first due to the busy-ness of the background. a smaller dof might have helped(didn't notice what you used) i might have liked 2 with a little action blur myself, might want to try it both ways,,,i just think the frozen shot while the droplets are nice, i'd like the girl blurred from movement to get more of the fun of the moment
glad you posted though, i agree it's nice and more helpful to get some actual critque rather than just "nice photo"