Backyard Sheds

[Lindsay05]

A few pictures I took in my backyard today. Please critique!

[Mad Aussie]

Shot 1 - I don't mind the composition at all ... for my taste, there could be just a little more room at the bottom of the frame and the closest corner of the house though. There appears to be a halo effect around the branches above the buildings roof line. I wonder if this an HDR converted to B&W? Although I don't see any other clues to support this.
Was this a colour photo converted to B&W? It appears that way but the conversion can be better. The snow, and indeed the whole look of the shot is quite 'muddy' ... lots of greys that don't seem right. You could possibly get those better using a levels or curves tool.

Shot 2 - The composition itself is very good I think. Although it appears to have a very obvious lean to the left. COuld be the terrain I guess but it looks more like you haven't levelled it due to the building also leaning left.
Again I see halo around the building. Maybe you are using a dodge tool to get this or it's an HDR converted to B&W as I mentioned on shot 1? Either way it's something to work on.

Also again we see a darkness, a muddiness to the overall image and the snow. A good B&W conversion process like Photoshop has usually helps to reduce this and if you use the curves or levels well it shouldn't happen.

[Bambi]

MA gives a good critique here (as always ). I really like the composition of the first shot. Snow is a struggle to get the correct exposure. Last year when I got it right it was mostly by accident. Marko has a really good podcast on shooting snow.

[Marko]

MA does give a good critique here. For me both these shots are underexposed especially the second. I prefer shot 2 because it has more drama. The whole shot is sloping to the left though.

A good rule of thumb for shooting snow is always open up 1-2 stops when snow takes up a significant part of the scene (as it tends to trick your camera's meter into underexposure)

[Lindsay05]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes these were both colour that were converted to B&W. I played around with the levels, curves and HDR. I am very amateur and still learning the basics! This is helping me so much! I will continue to play around with them!