Assorted pictures

[blkout]

Looking at the quality and creative of a lot of the other photos on here, I am a little nervous about posting mine as I am a complete newbie with my dslr. Here are a few shots I have taken. Would love any sort of constructive feedback.

Thank you in advance!

[Iguanasan]

Hey, blkout. Don't be shy about sharing. We all start off at the same place. Well, almost all of us. There's a few here that I think were born with lenses for eyes ;)

It's hard to critique three in a row but I'll give it my best shot.

#1. Going for an interesting and dramatic sky and I think you got that. The trees and car at the bottom are not really worth having as part of the shot.

#2. Nice portrait. Well lit, nicely composed, pretty decent focus. It's one of which to be proud. There are ways to make it better and your in the right place to learn about it.

#3. This is a great product shot. DOF is interesting and the "Blackberry" text, though out of focus, is iconic enough that I think the shot works.

Hope that helps! The best way to learn is to take a shot paying attention to the decisions you made about the shot. Post it in the critiques forum and then take notes. Then take another shot. The more you shoot, the more you learn.

Cheers!

[Mad Aussie]

Hey Blkout ... welcome to Ph.ca

As Iggy said many of us started with DSLR and little idea of what we were doing. Many of us failed to produce photos as good as these 3 first up also. I think almost all of us got better due to prolonged usage of this site.

That 1st shot has some serious dramatism going on in those clouds. Easy to see why you went for that shot. I think the bottom of the photo needs to be there but only as a silhouette, not enough detail to enhance the photo there.
I'd clone out or crop that street lamp out that's part way up the frame on the right also.
Mostly I'd balance this shots levels using either Levels or Curves in your desired editing program. Enhancing the brights and darkening the darker sections would help lift the constrast somewhat and create more 'pop' as they say around here.

The 2nd shot of the little princess on the swing is a gem. Great composition and moment captured there. Surprizingly good exposure considering how bright it was out there too.
Unfortunately her eyes are a bit soft (not sharp enough)
I think if that cord (handle of a handbag perhaps) wasn't around her neck I think the photo would be better also. It's a bit of a distraction.

Lastly the 3rd shot is a good closeup. I think the background of nothing is about all I could critique here. I would ahve used the blackberry mat you have there to fill that I think.

[Marko]

Welcome blkout!!

good critique guys.

For beginners, ask yourself why am I taking the shot? (Then ask the following)
- what should I the artist and god of the shot include in the shot.
- what should I the artist and god of the shot exclude from the shot.
These are active choices that experienced photographers make but newbies sometimes forget about while they are shooting. Every frame is a canvas.

Shot 2 is my fave here as it's a nice bright, fun active close-up. The eyes as MA mentioned are soft though, so next time.....actively focus on the eyes. Hope that helps -- Marko

Please note - IF the shot was greater than 250K before you uploaded it, the forum software compresses the image and some softness can occur. If the shot was less than 250K it should look quite good.