Hello, can somone give some advice on a few images please

[The Littlest Hobo]

Hello guys,

I have posted before and got a nice welcome. I have recently had a bit of a traumatic time with a bad injury but am now getting some mobility back so have started to take some more pictures. Yesterday i went out for a walk with my wife and took a few pictures of my wife and daughter. Could anyone give some comments on them (Too basic etc). There are only 5 or 6 pictures in the link so dont be afraid of looking through hundreds of pictures :-)

Only reason i havent linked them properly is my work computer wont let me for some reason.

Thanks

http://andrewkinnersley.mediaobjects.../c1942252.html

[The Littlest Hobo]

Please

[ianpinion]

Hi Andrew,

I've had a look through them and I think the what you need to pay attention to most of all is improving the composition of your shots. Really study the scene your taking closely and look at what elements within it you need to include and what you can try and exclude.

Your shot of your little girl on her bike watching the swan take off on the lake would have looked ten times better had you not chopped her legs off. You could have also adjusted your position everso slightly so the swan was just off centre on the left and your daughter to the right of centre.

Your best shot is the one of your wife and daughter on the path, but again had you waited until they had taken a few more steps you could have used the overhanging tree on the right to help frame you shot better and shown a little bit more of where the path lead to, to help you tell the story better.

Your shot of the two posts sticking up out of the water in the lake would be improved if you'd got in a bit tighter on them and angled the shot so you didn't see the far bank. The light is also a bit flat and doesn't add anything to it either.

Don't be disheartened though, because we all have to start somewhere and the most important thing is to keep getting out there and taking more shots, but don't just shoot wildly. Think about each shot you take, survey the scene in front of you and try to find something pleasing. Remember to use your feet, crouch down, move left or right to find the best angle and be prepared to wait for the perfect opportunity to appear before you press the shutter.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Thanks for that Ian, exactly what i wanted.

TBH i have a reason for the lack of legs on that photo. I am in a pretty bad way with one of my legs atm and even though i tried at the time, i couldnt get bent down enough and in time to take the shot as you described. I understand what you are saying though and point taken. My daughter was also starting to shout that a swan was coming at her so she wasnt up for hanging around either :-)

I hadnt noticed the overhanging branch on the black & white shot so will check that out later.

No chance of getting anywhere nearer the posts other than zooming. I am unsteady on tarmac atm, on the banks of a tarn i am an accident waiting to happen. Again, i hadnt really considered the implications of what you are suggesting, so thanks.

[ianpinion]

Hi Andrew,

Well while you're unsteady on your pins perhaps you have to be even more selective about whether it's worth taking a shot, because if you don't feel you can get in position in time or into the best position to take the shot then ask yourself, is it worth taking it? It helps, if when you spot something you want to try and capture, that you previsualise it how you would want the finished image to look. Then look through the camera to see if you can capture it anywhere close to how you would like to. If you can't then don't take a shot, because you'll find that you'll have plenty of other opportunites present themselves to you and some of those you will be able to do. It's a simple case of weighing up whether you can manage to capture it and do it justice?

Anyway, keep trying and I hope you're leg soon starts to feel better.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Thanks again ian.

Thats one big lesson you are telling me there. Basically to step away from the scattergun approach to a more structured see the picture first then set up the camera etc.

I havent got much artistic interpretation so its difficult for me to picture anything. I thought i had done well to spot the reflections etc in them posts, even if the final result wasnt that good. The pictures of my wife and daughter walking were pretty much a, oh that looks nice, click! I didnt have time to say please wait whilst i see how this looks.

Thats why even when i had printed the picture i still didnt see your comment about 'framing' the picture by using the branches.

Will try harder.

[ianpinion]

Andrew, I first started taking photographs when I was eleven years old, had my first film SLR camera when I turned thirteen and used film SLRs right up until my early thirties. I'm now forty and been using a DSLR for the last three and a half years after rediscovering my love of photography using a succession of digital compacts over a period of nearly five years.

It takes time to develop your eye for a picture, but once you understand the rules of composition it does become a little easier. So have a read up on the Rule of Thirds, try to place your main subject off centre, look out for intersting diagonals that help lead your eye into the picture and look for things like overhanging trees to frame your shot. If you do that, you will start to see what a difference it makes in producing an image that is pleasing to the eye.

[The Littlest Hobo]

I have taken a few more pictures this week. Any comments appreciated

This one isnt the best quality but the timing is pretty good

Again pleased with the timing

Pleased with the action of this shopt but would have been happier if the ball had made it into the pic

An attempt at photographing a nice van

Not sure what to say

[Drew Smith]

Hi Andrew

Great to hear your interest in photography has been spaked.

What settings are you using for the footy shots? I'm sure you know that you'll need a high shutter speed for this kind of action (1/1000th +) and good light to afford this, which can sometimes mean the lens needs to be quite fast (large apeture like f2.8) and or high ISO (which can introduce 'Noise' -- that grainy look - if you go too high).

Whilst a player making contact with the ball is cool, you'll tend to find that shots of players in conflict (tackles etc) with other players AND the ball, make the most interesting shots.

Good stuff - keep posting, and enter the weekly COMP! You'll learn a lot and get your photos critiqued by at least two people every time.

[The Littlest Hobo]

Thanks Drew.

I have a whole host of 'tackling' pics. The didnt seem to catch the action as well as the header shots tbh. Will try next week to get some better shots.

With regards to shutter speed, i was using 1/500th. I thought that was fast tbh and i probably could have gone faster as its was quite a sunny day so no probs with light (I reduced the iso down to 100 as well). The lense is the canon 75-300mm kit lense which doesnt seem to be very well recived. Its autofocus isnt the fastest but i kinda like it atm. I tried with the 15-55mm kit lense but wasnt getting anywhere near the action so changed again.

Just realised i havent posted up my night time lights shot. I had a pretty cold time taking pictures over a motorway bridge the other night and was quite pleased with a shot. Will post it up.

Is it better to post up regular on another section or to keep this going asking for critique?