Coming home

[kat]

I took this picture at the dock as this man and his dog where coming home.

We are having a photo contest here and I am limited on the entries.. I want to enter this but should I fix things..color..

Should I bother?

And when I download my files..do they ataumatically go to the 110k? Not to computer savy here!!

[Marko]

This has a lovely feel but I'm not at all crazy about the shadowed subjects. You would have needed some fill flash here IMO.
Also for me a 1 inch crop on the right side might strengthen the composition.
Hope that helps
Marko

[mindforge]

I can dig the shadows here. For me, the problem is the color. Something doesn't feel right in it. I think it is the lack of other vibrant colors the powerful yellow tones are too powerful.

Marko is right here a little flash or maybe increasing the exposure a little and burning them in a little to see if you can get some of that shadow detail.

[kat]

When you say flash do you mean the main one or the internal..

I took one with the flash and I got that white cirle of about ten feet around me..

The internal..how do you get that to work.

I have no clue about flashes..that's the next on my reading..any advice on it..books?

[kat]

The first photo isn't the original I took. I used Lightroom (which adore and now lost :( ) and used one of the processing options they have. Is this what you mean about having shadows?

[Ben H]

Using flashes properly is one of the trickier parts of photography.

Bottom line is, to do it well, you need to invest in a separate flash unit, ideally some means to get it off camera (remote triggers etc), possibly some light modifiers and start learning about flash exposures and how they are different to ambient exposures, and balancing them.

On-camera direct flash is basically useless for anything other than a bit of fill - you certainly won't get much fine art photography using the inbuilt flash...

[kat]

Well..now I'll have to get my husband to read this!!! I've been thinking it's time to invest in a flash system (what yet I don't know but research should do the trick!!)

I have lots of hockey kids in my family so I realllllly want a good one!!!!! If not a couple :P

[mindforge]

Like a wireless flash inside of the boat would have been incredible probably.

[Marko]

Like a wireless flash inside of the boat would have been incredible probably.

100% correct! A small portable flash IN the boat would have made this photo fantastic. You would have needed a way to trigger (set off) the flash though.

This is a bit more advanced stuff and I recommend getting a fuller grasp of basic photography before introducing flash into the mix.

That said - here are 3 podcasts that deal with flash if you are interested.
http://www.photography.ca/blog/?p=8
http://www.photography.ca/blog/?p=63
http://www.photography.ca/blog/?p=96

Hope that helps
Marko

[kat]

Ha ha..a flash in the boat would of been great if I knew who the boat owner was and that it was a planned shot!!!

Thank you for the links and help everyone!!!!!