first post...feedback please? B&W shots

[xxmegxx]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/CTAICVT391copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/aaaaaaaameg008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/aaaaaaaameg032.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/aaaaaaaameg003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/edd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/CTAICVT428.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Black%20and%20White/CTAICVT436copy2.jpg

any C&C would be awesome!

[AlexisG]

Welcome to the forum.
Shot #1 has a good expression ( she is so sad!). Might have pulled back a bit not to crop her head. Maybe some fill light so we could see those pretty eyes.

[Radtech1]

Quick impressions, as there are too many to give a full response to each.

1) Crying Great expression and great catch! Couldn't be better, even in the face of some technical issues (blown whites, skin merging with background, etc). I say who cares about the technical issues with an expression like this. Real winner!

2) River Conversely, this does nothing. Rotation is wonky, nothing interesting to look at, more blown whites. Dumpster - NOW!

3) Girders This I like, the top/bottom mirroring draws me in. Would have liked another shot with more emphasis on someone walking in. That gets lost in this shot. Excellent patterns. Good.

4) Church I want to really like this, but you needed to be pointing the camera straight, not looking up. At the same time, you need to open the zoom some to include the whole building including the cupola ( presenting the whole subject is a good thing in an architecture shot). Also, it would minimize the "tilting in" effect you get from aiming up. Then you would want to get rid of some of the moat, by cropping to the area of interest in post processing. This much moat adds noting to the shot. We just need to know it is there, not see all of it. On the plus side, I really like the lighting.

5) Flower Nice, but not my cup of tea. Good use of the frame, though.

6) Kayaking Whites are blown in the clouds (lack detail). Also, detail is completely lost in the blacks. This would have been a good blended shot (shoot at 2 different techniques, then take the best of each in Photoshop). As is, technical problems seriously outweigh minor aesthetic interest. Oh, crop off the top 15%.

7) Eating Almost as good as #1. You can expect comments regarding the "missed" focus. Don't know it is was on purpose, but it works for me.

Rad

[Meaty0]

You seem to like cutting the tops of things...heads, buildings, flowers. (Don't go near the garden with pruning shears!). Apart from the framing/cropping, I like your B&W conversion and the expression on the babies face in No.1 is classic...good catch there.

The "missed focus" in the last one that Rad mentioned, I like too, however, I don't like the grass being in focus as well. If you have Photoshop, try selecting just the grass and applying some gaussian blur to make it MORE OOF than the foreground to throw attention on the little girl's face. It might not work but it'd be worth a try.

Don't know why the flower is B&W...it might have looked better in colour...can we see the original?

You seem to have a pretty good eye for photography. EXIF tells me you're using a Kodak Easyshare camera. If you're really serious about your photography, you might want to save up for a camera that puts you in charge of the exposure.

[xxmegxx]

realllllly useful comments. thanks mucho! and more is always appreciated :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v675/nycmeg/photos/Flowers%20and%20Plants/DSCN3751copy.jpg
that's the origional flower one..color probably does look better, was just trying with the B&W
and yes, i'm working on getting the cannon Rebel actually, hopefully soon. most of these were taken this summer, and not while thinking about it, like the little girls ones were of my cousins and just doing it to have the pics and all.