Various Nature Shots

[Xia_Ke]

These are a few of the shots I liked while out hiking the past couple days. How'd I do?

[swmdrayfan]

Xia......love the shot of the 'shrooms. I don't know, but does the dragonfly seem a tad out of focus? Could be my eyes, though. The low level shot of the tree trunks is nicely concieved. I'll be trying that out myself!
John

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks John Yeah, the DOF on the draginfly wasn't quite deep enough and it fell just out of focus at the head. Combine that with this being hand held at about 15-20 feet with a 300mm and it wasn't quite the sharpest but, I liked the composition and is one of my better hand held shots to date so was a little proud that it came out that clear...LOL The trees one I like but, didn't quite convey that the trees were in a completely flooded area. May try rehooting from a higher angle somehow. When you get a chance to try it out, make sure to post your results, would love to see them

[Xia_Ke]

Here's a couple other dragonfly shots I liked. Again though, just off a tad on focus unfortunately

[photophorous]

Xia,

The mushroom shot is great and the tree trunks shot is very cool too. The one in between of the logs is also nice. It could be my monitor, but I think they could all benefit from a little contrast/levels boost. The dragonfly shots don't do much for me, although I'm not sure why. I'm no good at those kinds of shots, so I'm not sure what to tell you.

Paul

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks for the input Paul To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the dragonfly shots either looking at them again a day later. I think I was just so happy that I was able to get any shot to come out that clear (I know not that clear but, clearest I've been able to do so far handheld) with my 300mm handheld. These were shot on cloudy, damp days and decided to keep them a little darker to keep with the feel of the day. They have had A LOT of levels play already...LOL You think I should try and add a little more exposure to them?

[photophorous]

Thanks for the input Paul To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the dragonfly shots either looking at them again a day later. I think I was just so happy that I was able to get any shot to come out that clear (I know not that clear but, clearest I've been able to do so far handheld) with my 300mm handheld. These were shot on cloudy, damp days and decided to keep them a little darker to keep with the feel of the day. They have had A LOT of levels play already...LOL You think I should try and add a little more exposure to them?

Xia,

On second look, I like the composition of the bottom dragonfly shot from your second post. The only problem with that one is the lighting. You just can't see enough detail. It is pretty sharp for being handheld with a 300mm lens. I know you already know this, but you should use a tripod.

As far as the other shots are concerned, I think they need a little something...either exposure or contrast, or both. But, just a little. I hear what your saying about trying to keep the feel of the day. I've tried that before too, and there's nothing wrong with that. But from my experience with photos like these, people want it to pop. But that's just my observation. These are nice shots.

Paul

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks again Paul I played around a little bit more with the mushroom shot. How's this? A little better?

[afdlips]

I like the vibrancy in the edit, but i think you created a "hot spot" on the shroom. try some burning in that area perhaps.
nice series

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks afdlips Getting a little late now to be editing more...LOL I'll see what I can come up with over the next couple days and post my results ;)