what am i doing wrong?

[carbonXevo8]

ok so i posted these pix in another forum and they seemed to get lost so im trying here. Im fairly new at this and just started getting into the features of the camera. Can someone please help me out. I like the pix but im told the shadows and lighting is wrong and they are out of focus. thank you for helping c+c away

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...6/_MG_7538.jpg (http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/nemesys6/_MG_7538.jpg)

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...6/_MG_7511.jpg (http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/nemesys6/_MG_7511.jpg)

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...6/_MG_7496.jpg (http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/nemesys6/_MG_7496.jpg)

[form]

First one is blown out where the nearby lights have brightened the flag and other surroundings, while the lamps' stands are casting very distinct shadows - the resulting effect is very uneven lighting. I believe that consistency and softness are preferable.

Second one...some people will probably like it much better if you just turn the face so it's aimed left.

Third one seems to be too busy, and the subject should probably be closer to the edge of the frame, or else cropped more tightly and centered.


In all of them, there is a lot of extra, unnecessary surroundings which are distinguishable, and are neither sharp enough or soft enough to be as complementary as they could be.

Lastly, someone suggested to me a while ago that subjects/scenes should have some meaning or a story behind them. Do your images have that?

[ijohnson]

Photography is a subtractive art. It requires that you take away everything that don't like. That's why I am better at photography than at painting. I am much better at deciding on things that I don't like.

All of you pictures suffer from a lot of things that don't need to be in the picture. I can't be sure what those things are because you are the photographer.

Figure out what you are actually taking a picture of and decide what, in that picture, is necessary to keep. If you have to move around or zoom or actually move the objects to make sure that you are telling the right story then do it. Then adjust your aperture to include or exclude things.

[Hellashot]

Here's my take:

#1: the left half of the image adds nothing to the shot. Your shot should have been of the flag book ended by the 2 lights.

#2: isn't much to comment on. Nothing special, just a snapshot.

#3: nothing special again. Cards in the background and a lot of green. Flag takes up very little of the frame.

Keep shooting and looking at what others shoot on here.