My 4H Pictures

triggerfinger92 · November 14, 2008

I am 15 and this year I entered some of my pictures in the local 4H fair. Here are a couple pictures I took of a little girl from our church.

1.

2.

See the rest of my pictures at http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=111324

triggerfinger92 · November 14, 2008

I would appreciate your Comments!

bendruckerphoto · November 14, 2008

They're OK. There's really not very much interest to them. The light is very flat and the composition is somewhat boring. It's a good start though. Keep trying.

crockett · November 14, 2008

Nice images, everything is looking good and moving forward.

The images you linked to are good to some real fantastic shots!

Just some thoughts.

1. When photographing a protrait of a model who is looking out of the frame consider leaving some space on the side of the frame that they are looking to. You have done that here but I think the image could use a touch more space. Things to consider. Shoot this image on your belly, in landscape mode with the model in the left one third.

2. Good image. All the points are hit here, exposure, focus, controlling DOF, etc. What about trying a portrait crop?

Linked Images:

1. Very nice. Did you consider letting the foreground go lighter so isn't so black. If that was not possible because the foreground was unattractive, etc. then what about cropping off more of the black on the bottom?

3. Very nice! Just some thoughts. I would like to see an option with more depth of field. What about framing the photo so the pencils almost entirely fill the frame yet still maintaining that nice angle you have. This would eliminate a lot of that white space which seems to grab my eye a bit.

4. Excellent. The horizon cuts the image nearly in half. Try placing the horizon on a top or bottom third. I see some faint spotting this isn't working for me. If you have software to clean that up, trying cloning that out so the BG is 100% flat black.

5. My favorite! Unfortunately now you have to explain how you did it, including details like flash, lens, etc.

My overall advice....at the age of 15 your shots are extremely good. No worries, shoot more.

du8die · November 14, 2008

baseballboy828 wrote:

They're OK. There's really not very much interest to them. The light is very flat and the composition is somewhat boring. It's a good start though. Keep trying.

Which is it? Are they OK, Boring, Good? You've said all three.

As for my comments...

1. Crockett nailed this one. When you're shooting toddlers or babies, get down on their level. Lay down on the ground (seriously). I think that would help your shot tremendously.

2. Very good. I think you could pan slightly more to the left (putting the subject a little closer to the right side of the frame).

Thanks for posting. Keep shooting. Lots.

triggerfinger92 · November 14, 2008

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your advice.

As for how I did the water drop picture...
First, the picture is of water drops on a piece of glass. The glass was prepared with rain-x as to make the water ball up. I placed colored pencils under the glass(about 6in to a foot I think) on top of a black clothe. I placed my camera on a tripod and pointed it straight down at the glass. Using a shutter release I snapped the picture. This image was taken using natural lighting. It was taken down next to our glass door. I used the canon 20D with a 50mm 1.4 lens

I have been messing around with photoshop... What do you think?

1.

2.

roentarre · November 15, 2008

She is really cute. You have done well!

crockett · November 15, 2008

#1 Pushed too hard in my opinion, bring your overall opacity down some.

#2 It works well!

Plug-in or techniques used?

leaforte · November 15, 2008

I am impressed. Keep doing what you are doing.

bendruckerphoto · November 15, 2008

du8die wrote:

Which is it? Are they OK, Boring, Good? You've said all three.

I'd say they're OK. There are parts of them that are good (the smooth background), but there are parts of its that more resemble a snapshot.

triggerfinger92 · November 15, 2008

I redid #1... What do you think?

1.

caughtnaction · November 15, 2008

Re:15 year old's shot's
Are you kidding, this kid has talent, did you see his other shots! KS

baseballboy828 wrote:

They're OK. There's really not very much interest to them. The light is very flat and the composition is somewhat boring. It's a good start though. Keep trying.

crockett · November 16, 2008

I like the second version of #1 much more!

Aha! I also just caught that you changed the crop on #2 in your second version to create more dead space to the right of the child, giving her just tad more area to look to. I think it improved it a bit, don't you?

How are you processing these?

Blaker · November 16, 2008

triggerfinger92 wrote:

I am 15 and this year I entered some of my pictures in the local 4H fair. Here are a couple pictures I took of a little girl from our church.

See the rest of my pictures at http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=111324

I enjoyed looking at all of your photos.
I think your portraits of the little girl are wonderful- you got right in there and captured some really sweet expressions, and you did a great job keeping her sharp while effectively blurring the background.
Your other shots are really good, too!
So, did you win anything in the 4H competition?
How long have you been photographing?
You've got a great eye and good technique- just keep on shooting and learning and you will go far!

ivar · November 18, 2008

Very nice

I like the original (the ones in the first post) the best. I'm just not a big fan of the soft/blurry approach

On one I might have tried a lower angle, although you have to make sure you keep the nice background