please critique beginner

lynnma

I was trying to "compose", get the "white balance" correct and show the light.

Any comments would be appreciated. I'm still working on which side the looky through part is and the clicky part is... (well, bit of an exageration) but very newbie.

DoctorIt

lynnma wrote:

I was trying to "compose", get the "white balance" correct and show the light.

Any comments would be appreciated. I'm still working on which side the looky through part is and the clicky part is... (well, bit of an exageration) but very newbie.

You might have answered this in another thread, so sorry if I missed it, but are you shooting RAW? if so, what software are you using?

But quickly, I think I was shooting in the same area the other day - well, not really, but anything west of the quabbin looks the same these days - and snow is always such a pain in the ass. If you've already set the WB using that snow, you can now see that the right middle part of your photo is pretty overexposed. I haven't had much luck with the eyedropper art of white balance, I just pick a color temp that I like then use all the other sliders. So, in other words, I'm awaiting the replies of the "more experienced" as well...

wxwax

Hey Lynn, keep on shooting, it's good for the eye. And watch lots and lots of TV and movies, check out websites with photos, see how they compose things. Lots of fun, if you ask me.

I'd only offer one piece of advice: in the shots you've posted so far, you often have both dark shadows and very bright light. It's very difficult for the camera to capture both at once. So you might try to avoid having those extreme contrasts in the shots.

Have fun!

knary

wxwax wrote:

Hey Lynn, keep on shooting, it's good for the eye. And watch lots and lots of TV and movies, check out websites with photos, see how they compose things. Lots of fun, if you ask me.

I'd only offer one piece of advice: in the shots you've posted so far, you often have both dark shadows and very bright light. It's very difficult for the camera to capture both at once. So you might try to avoid having those extreme contrasts in the shots.

Have fun!

What they both said.

You have asked your camera to do what is most difficult to do. Invariably, you risk losing detail in either the highlights or the shadows.

As for composition - nothing beats practice. I, for one, tend to dislike rules of composition. Some of the best pictures "break" the rules. Think about creating space, how your eye moves around the image, how shapes intersect the edges of the image and what the real subject is - light, an object, whatever. And take lots and lots of photos.

One of the best ways to study compositions is to wander over to the nearest library or museum. Dig through the japanese prints and works of artists such as Degas and Schiele. Amazing stuff.

-scott

p.s. I also find great pleasure in cropping photos to find the best composition. Often there's something there that I never intended.

This photo lacks most of what might make for a *great* photo - but I keep coming back to it as one of my favorites. The way that the pole anchors the dog and the thin shadows draw out and slice the picture...yummm...

wxwax

Yummm? You're not Korean, are you? :eek1

lynnma

Thanks everyone. Erik it's nice to know I'm not the only crazy idiot freezing to death in Quabbin. Where do you shoot? I took that shot going in at the Womens Federation gate in Petersham and then trudged an hour to the beaver dam.

I'm trying to shoot dificult shots in the snow to get a hang of the camera, as you can see it's not working. Hopefully in the Spring things will change? color? soft light? who knows... this is much harder than I thought... I have my white balance set on the camera and then I mess with it in the Canon File Viewer Utility and then I messwith it again in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop 6. Probably would have been better if I'd left it alone in the first place but if some is good.. more is better.

Thanks again for comments... it's like, I can see the faults but don't know it til someone else comments then it confirms my view so it's all very helpful. When I'm famous I'll give you all credit. Ha ha.
Lynn

DoctorIt

lynnma wrote:

Thanks everyone. Erik it's nice to know I'm not the only crazy idiot freezing to death in Quabbin. Where do you shoot? I took that shot going in at the Womens Federation gate in Petersham and then trudged an hour to the beaver dam.

I'm trying to shoot dificult shots in the snow to get a hang of the camera, as you can see it's not working. Hopefully in the Spring things will change? color? soft light? who knows... this is much harder than I thought... I have my white balance set on the camera and then I mess with it in the Canon File Viewer Utility and then I messwith it again in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop 6. Probably would have been better if I'd left it alone in the first place but if some is good.. more is better.

Thanks again for comments... it's like, I can see the faults but don't know it til someone else comments then it confirms my view so it's all very helpful. When I'm famous I'll give you all credit. Ha ha.
Lynn

Hi Lynn - I'm actually a little north of the reservoir, just across from Mt. Toby/Robert Frost trail/UMass conservation lands.

Waxy makes a very good point - your shot is way out of the range that a camera can capture. I'm sure you are familiar with stops at this point, so you need to remember that a camera can only handle a range of about 5 stops. Your eyes can obviously do one point. Good advice (although very tough with the 300D, I have one too) is to meter the lightest and darkest part of your scene to make sure they are within 5 stops. If you are interested in some reading pick up Nature Photography by John Shaw (http://tinyurl.com/2y44p) its full of amazing photos and its a very good read - based on film, but very applicable to the types of questions you are asking.

knary

wxwax wrote:

Yummm? You're not Korean, are you? :eek1

:lol

uh, no. I only like the photo.

lynnma

DoctorIt wrote:

Hi Lynn - I'm actually a little north of the reservoir, just across from Mt. Toby/Robert Frost trail/UMass conservation lands.

Waxy makes a very good point - your shot is way out of the range that a camera can capture. I'm sure you are familiar with stops at this point, so you need to remember that a camera can only handle a range of about 5 stops. Your eyes can obviously do one point. Good advice (although very tough with the 300D, I have one too) is to meter the lightest and darkest part of your scene to make sure they are within 5 stops. If you are interested in some reading pick up Nature Photography by John Shaw (http://tinyurl.com/2y44p) its full of amazing photos and its a very good read - based on film, but very applicable to the types of questions you are asking.

Hey Erik, thats great information.. I didn't know that would you believe? Makes perfect sense now. I'm trying to do the impossible. Funnily enough I just received two wonderful books by John Shaw in the mail (got em cheap from Amazon.com used) Nature Photograpy field guide, and Focus on Nature. Some wonderful information and pictures. Some great tips on light diffusion using cheese cloth and light enhancement using scrunched tin foil... I'm sure you guys know all these tricks but it's like pandora's box for me.
I'm not depressed any more... can't wait to shoot more rubbish...