Newbie to photography

[Dynamic]

Some pics might be ok, but others prolly suck .... flowers, overdone .... oh well, i have alot more pics than this but lets see what is said first, borrowed my sister's olympus c765zoom for the pictures, while she used her 35mm rebel, which she still prefers. i think i have around 75 more pics or something .. too lazy to shrink right now.

My Pics

[Varmit]

You seem to have a creative eye.....with that said.. your flower (and many other) pictures would do much better with less harsh sunlight. Flower photos are best taken on days with diffused sunlight..cloudy, etc.. Or take them within the hour after sunrise/before sunset when the light is lower on the horizon and more golden & diffused. I only take mid-day photos when I have to.

Otherwise like I said..you seem to have a creative eye and you should continue to work at it.

[{OF}Malicious Assault]

Some nice stuff there, I like the Swing picture.

[Soul]

Some good stuff in there, I like the B&W's

[Hakko]

I'll give ya a run down on each pic. I hope you are looking for more than just (nice pic bad pic)

First. I agree with Varmit. The sunlight on some of your macro flower shots is a bit too intense.

Stoned Angel -- While i like your idea of using black and white for this, I think I would have prefered to see more face and less of a looking down upon it angle. Because of time of day and the angels head pointing downward, I would think early morning just as the sun is rising would have been best. Perhaps turning the angel a bit to it's right and sqauting in front of it would do the trick. Black and white pictures are great at showing textures and shadows can increased the intensity of it. Try it out and see what you think.

Flower9 - your depth of field is great and the blurred background is really good for this shot. Your focus on the flowers and even stem is better than a lot of my own pictures. Very good overall

Bird House -- I like angles. I can't explain it. I find this interesting as most birdhouses are attached to a post or tree. Here we have it against the ladder with some vine work. I even see it seems to be inhabited. If the roof is green and brick red, I think it would make a nice color picture too. Have you tried taking a picture of it from the same spot but sitting on the ground. The view might be interesting from there. Try that from the other side too.

Flower8 - Too much sunlight on this one it would seem, but the depth of field and focus are really good. I have reviewed the Olympus and I wonder what ISO setting you were using for these macro shots. for the flower shots, an iso rating of 64 would have been ideal I think. Here's an idea, (these shots look handheld), put it on a tripod, set the iso to 64 or 100, get it all focused and what not and use the timer of 10 seconds to get these macro shots. Also use Varmits suggestion of early morning, late afternoon, or diffused sunlight (cloudy)

Flower7 -- The angle of sunlight has produced some interesting shadows. Again, great focus! I wish my macro shots of flowers turned out this good.

Wood - I'm not sure here. Can you tell me what your intent was? The blurred twigs in the front are a bit distracting to me.

Sparky2 -- I think it's neat how the intensity changes midway. I feel your speed and apearture was appropriate for this.

Flower6 --good lighting, good focus and depth of field.

Flower5 -- the focus seems a bit ut in the middle. could be my eyes. I dunno. everything else is very good. (BTW, what kid of flowers are these? I don't recognize any of them except maybe the first one (flower9)

Sparky -- good color balance, I don't care much for the glare from the middle, but that's me. What shutter speed did you use?

Stoned Bunny -- LOL. It looks stoned to me! The photo taken from above is probably very appropriate for this as it is looking up also. This could have been done in black and white also. My only gripe is that it look slike it has one eye only.

Swingset -- I really like this. Here is what I see when I look at it. The angled shot makes it look like it was perhaps swaying gently in the wind. The rope at the farther end looks a bit out of focus, making me perceive that the other end is father away, also notice that the side of the board closest to us looks wider than the other end like it is stretching off in the distance. I like the shadow. The whole set feels peaceful. I want to come over and just sit in it and do nothing. Well done! Is this what you wanted me to feel?

Garden B&W -- Very interesting. I see you where focusing on the vertical stakes and how they all titled just a bit to give themselves there own identity. The trunk of the tree is completely black. If you had a darkroom and this was on film, you could probably fix that.. Do you have a color shot of this? Was your focus on the stakes and how they angled slightly or have i missed the point?

Stone1 -- Feels peaceful. I think that taking this photo in the shade was a good idea. Too get more of it in without having to zoom out, you could have put the camera lower to the ground and you could have gotten the wings in the shot completely.

Grampa&Julia -- Good shot, but I think it would have been better if you bended your knees a bit and titled the camera up to compensate so that your shot was more from the side and not from above. It would show more of your grandfathers face and not his head. Knowing how babies can be unpredictable at times, this may have not been possible. It's a good family shot, worthy of your familys photo albums, yet i detect a slight blurring of your grandfathers arm. Just noticed it.

Flower4 -- Good focus and depth of field

Empty Chairs -- did you intentionally crop the sides of the chairs? What i like best about this picture is the broad range of grays.

Leaves2 -- I think this made for a good macro shot, but the focus isn't as good as many of your others have been. I think you got just a bit too close to the leaf.

Hat1 - I like the subject matter. Try taking this pic from the same angle at different times of the day and see what you get. You may like one better than the other.

Leaves1 -- This may surprise you. Take this in black and white. As color I find it uninteresting, in black and white, more of the textures of the leaves will stand out most likely. Also the leaf in the front top right is distracting as it is blurred.

Flower3 -- A little of the side/back lighting makes this interesting. Focus is good as always. Is that sky i see in top left corner? If so, I think that would have made a better background.

Trees1 -- What where you trying to capture here? The green makes me feel relaxed, but that's about it.

Flower2 - I like the lighting on this one. The petals closest to you is a bit blurred, but i think it is ok here.

Flower1 -- Good photo all around, but the lighting is too bright for me.

Since you state you are a newbie, May I offer some books to read. John Hedgecoe "the new manual of photography" and

An Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography (Book One). I found the latter at the library.


Don't take my critique harshly. It is based entirely on my opinions and I am rather new to this myself. There is not strict way on how things must be done. It is an art form and one must either create his/her own style or modify or adapt(or copy) styles of others. people don't see picutes all the same way and others critque may yield different opinions. Best of luck.

[Dynamic]

I Did have this shot as well



but I understand allot of what you are saying, like i said, i borrowed my sister's digi camera on the 4Th of July, and started snapping pics around my grandparents house, didn't have much control over the lighting. But i can see allot of the pics, would be better with better lighting.[/img]

[Hakko]

hey. I like that one even better. Great angle and really good expression on grandfathers face. You can tell how good he feels holding the baby. thank you for sharing.

[Capt. Insane]

Originally Posted by Varmit

You seem to have a creative eye.....with that said.. your flower (and many other) pictures would do much better with less harsh sunlight. Flower photos are best taken on days with diffused sunlight..cloudy, etc.. Or take them within the hour after sunrise/before sunset when the light is lower on the horizon and more golden & diffused. I only take mid-day photos when I have to.

Otherwise like I said..you seem to have a creative eye and you should continue to work at it.

ive taken some really good flower pix with harsh sunlight. ive been trying to photograph mostly in the afternoon, mainly around 3-4, but the last time i was out was 5-6 with really bright sun and my flower pix were really good