Having fun with my dslr

[photoexpressions]

These are a couple of my photos that I have got some good compiments on. I know there is a lot of room for improvement. Feel free to edit my phots to show me my mistakes. Thankyou.

[gahspidy]

The second shot down from the top is the better of the bunch. Great scene framed well with good exposure and sharpness.

The first shot has the horizon too close to center, too much uninteresting sky and heavy on contrast with no detail in any of the shadow fg areas.

The third (waterfall) is ok but underexposed a stop or so. Bring up levels a bit and it is not a bad shot at all.

The fourth (butterfly) is a beautiful close shot and nice composition but it suffers from lack of sharpness which i think is important in a close up like this.

The last also is soft and lacks sharpness but also has a weird greenish color cast which i find unflattering and distracting.

[n8]

Having fun with it is the most important thing. Gary covered most of the critiquing. Just keep shooting and get to know your camera.

[armando_m]

The one I like the most is the closeup of the butterfly, just have to take 3 steps away from the screen so I do not notice that it is blurry
it has a nice composition and interesting out focus light in the background

keep on posting !

[draymorton]

The second shot down from the top is the better of the bunch. Great scene framed well with good exposure and sharpness.

The first shot has the horizon too close to center, too much uninteresting sky and heavy on contrast with no detail in any of the shadow fg areas.

The third (waterfall) is ok but underexposed a stop or so. Bring up levels a bit and it is not a bad shot at all.

The fourth (butterfly) is a beautiful close shot and nice composition but it suffers from lack of sharpness which i think is important in a close up like this.

The last also is soft and lacks sharpness but also has a weird greenish color cast which i find unflattering and distracting.

Agree with all of the above.

[Anbesol]

Lol, I did Armando's trick, didn't really think about it like that. It worked! lol, 3 steps back. Still, bummer it isn't sharp.

[Sushigaijin]

Lol, I did Armando's trick, didn't really think about it like that. It worked! lol, 3 steps back. Still, bummer it isn't sharp.

That's the whole concept of sharpness wrapped up with a neat little bow.

I like the second shot. A different crop or aspect ratio might suit it better. Maybe a square crop with some of the right side removed.

[llewpics]

Ok, I will jump in, but let me try and give you some pointers how to perhaps work on the issues brought above (I am still learning all this stuff myself):

1. Sunset - try 2 exposures- one the sky and one for the land - but don't do an HDR - try blending the two exposures using layers - composite the well exposed sky and the well exposed land in one image.

2. Besides exposure (BTW - it's nice the water highlights are not blown out) - try to wait for the moment the branches in the front are not moving. Since this is a longer exposure, they have to be still - otherwise they become a little blurry.

3. Butterfly focus - not sure this is why in this case, but with your aperture wide open, make sure your ISO is very low so you can get high shutter speeds - I would say at least 1/500 - this will ensure there is no camera shake, and will eliminate this as a source of non-sharpness. This is especially the case if you are using a long zoom. Another idea is to minimize the number of focus points working for you on the cam - you can even use a single spot focus point - in this case, I think that may have worked well.

4. White balance - if you have not, try shooting in RAW - this was you can completely change white balance in post processing - this will make it possible to remove the green cast. If camera misses WB in JPG format, this becomes much more difficult

Have fun!

PS Forgot the HDR image (at least I think it's HDR) - try tone mapping so the clouds in the upper left are not completely black ...otherwise, nice work.

[Anbesol]

That's the whole concept of sharpness wrapped up with a neat little bow.

I like the second shot. A different crop or aspect ratio might suit it better. Maybe a square crop with some of the right side removed.

I'm used to adjusting the size of the image, I don't start thinking about viewing distance till larger than 8x10.

[photoexpressions]

I would like to delete these photos and post different ones but I can't. I have much better ones at least I think they are but maybe not. I so desire to get better. Does anyone know an affordable website for learning photography online! Thanks for all of you comments and the helpful tips that you are giving me.

[Anbesol]

Yeah, forums.photographyreview.com. It's even free! Stick around and keep posting, ask questions, read other questions and answers. understand the fundamentals of the three elements to metering, shutter speed, aperture diaphragm and light sensitivity. Check out wikipedias entry on f-stops, on exposure value, shutter speed and curtain, and white balance. Familiarize yourself with color temperature. Good shots are even better when controlled and not a happy random accident. Stop using automatic mode ASAP. Take a college class on it, the local community college here was only $300 per class per semester and they have a variety of different courses.

Learning on film might be a good idea as well.

[CLKunst]

Hi Photoexpresssions!

Welcome to critique! Pllease don't delete your photos from this link! Think of it like doing a math problem and showing your work. Just make a new post with a new picture and we'll go from there. Regardless of experience level we are all here to learn. These are excellent beginnings and you have an artistic eye, what you need is fine tuning which comes with pratice and experience. You've gotten some good advice here about your photos and working with your camera, so I'll give you some advice on how to drive the forum so you can get the most out of it.

1. It's best to show one or two pictures per thread, this keeps the conversation directed. Too many varied photos will have us going right for the one we view as better than the rest. No worries, you can make 4 or 5 threads a day just make sure you offer your input to others as well.

2. Definitely critique other work here. One of the best ways to improve in our own work is to be able to analyze what works and what doesn't work for others.

3. Don't get discouraged when something doesn't fly. It can be a real bubble burster when we show pics. that have had rave reviews from friends and family yet fall flat in critique. The whole point is getting an impartial perspective on your work just try not to take it personally.

4. Go back in time. Look up a few of the members critiqueing you and visit their member galleries. You can "go back in time" in their galleries and see how they've improved since joining. We all had to start somewere.

Best of luck and keep shooting! We'll be looking for more from you!