Lurking no longer

[4XTaco]

Hello, I have been lurking here for awhile and decided to formally introduce myself. I am from South Central PA and just recently switched to all Digital (but I am still holding on to my old reliable 35mm SLR).
My newest toy is a Nikon D70... my biggest reason for joining is constructive criticism- I can't seem to get any of my friends or coworkers to give me honest opinions and no one is knowledgable enough to help critique me on lighting and other things. I love to photograph architecture, nature and wildlife.
So I guess as an opener, I'll post some examples of recent pictures- these are all unedited jpg's from the camera, I am also saving these as RAW but I am still trying to learn better post processing techniques to improve my photos.

[Old Timer]

I think you have found the right place. The community here is very helpful and supportive. Your first post are a great way to get started. Viewfinder is more our chat and share room here on PR for critques you might want to cross post these one at a time to the cirtique forum. Nice to have you aboard and I hope you continue to share, it looks like you have a lot to contribute to the coummunity.

[Loupey]

We will always welcome "nature and wildlife" shooters in the Nature and Wildlife forum as well!

Welcome and thanks for sharing

[Photo-John]

Welcome! I like the first photo a lot. Looks like you've got a good eye for composition. You should post some stuff on the Photo Critique forum since that's where the serious feedback happens.

Have you used your 35mm camera since you got your D70? I'm curious. I kept my 35mm SLR when I bought my first digital SLR. But turns out I never used it again. After about a year it got given to my dad as a birthday present. I haven't missed it at all.

[Greg McCary]

Welcome, looks like you got the waterfall thing figured out already, good images...
Greg

[bluesguy]

For what it's worth, I am new to digital photography and just recently purchased a Canon
30d. I liked the red barn and the black open window(maybe because I love old barns in general) I would have rather seen the total yellow wheel, instead of your cropped version,
and would have liked the trees and water better without the boats in the right foreground.
Thats my .02 cents worth. As the saying goes, different strokes for different folks.

bluesguy

[another view]

Judging by your shots, you're off to a good start! Welcome to the forum. Be sure to check out the Photo Critique forum too. Friends and family never gave me anything helpful in the way of a critique - well except for the few that were very serious in arts and photography. You'll find a bunch of them here!

[readingr]

Hi welcome to the forum.

Interesting shots and as already state your on to a good start. Its always difficult to critique multiple photos but on my monitor you have good colour definition in all good composition in most.

The bottom / last with the boats the colour needs a little tweaking in post processing as it seems like a noon shot. I would have moved to keep more of the boats in the picture and loose the turnstile or whatever it is on the left or included more of whats on the left. I would have considered a landscape for this as well to see what they look like.

The waterfall - no critique I like it

The wheel - needs more sturation to pop the yellow even more

The fence - to me this is the weakest of the shots and does nothing for me. I think it would be better without the tree

The barn - no critique I like it

Roger

PS pop them over to the Critique forum one by one for a full workout.

[4XTaco]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I definitely will start putting material over in the critique section and thanks to everyone who already commented... you hit many of the gripes I had on my own pictures on the head LOL and it does help me out.
Since I've bought the D70 I haven't touched the film camera... I am starting to try to convince myself to sell it possibly or give it to a family member to get started with photography also. That camera was given to me when I was in High School and started my picture taking bug. Purchasing the D70 just renewed the bug, since there was no film processing costs anymore. :thumbsup:
Out of the ones I posted I have to completely agree my two weakest shots are the fence line... that tree is just annoying and the color I like just wasn't there. The lighting was off and the sky that day was just plain hazy... but I will have plenty of opportunity to retake pictures in that area since it on my way home from work.
The Lake reflection picture- that was one of several (I should post a couple others of the same place). I didn't notice the handrail on the left until after I got home and the color definitely would have been better if I went there 2 weeks earlier... I was dissappointed that the leaves were gone already but I still snapped some pictures- it wasn't a total loss since this is the same place I took the waterfall pictures. Oh and good call... that was taken around 1:00 PM or so after I had already hiked to get pictures of the waterfall and hiked back. This is definitely an area I will return to get more pictures of though.
Thank you everyone for the help!

[PhotoGirl]

wow, really nice shots, 4XTaco!
I really like the yellow wheel, waterfall and the pond/lake ones.

Welcome to the board.