Critique Please

[Big_B]

I took these a few weeks ago. They look quite edited on my screen but I think it's due to the resizing for the web. The only edititng is a tiny bit of sharpening.



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/DSC_1213.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/DSC_1210.JPG

Focal Length: 34mm
1/800 sec - F/6.3
Sensitivity: ISO 400


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Pictures/July/DSC_1207.jpg

Focal Length: 85mm
1/1250 sec - F/4.5
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Sensitivity: ISO 400

[blinking8s]

i like the 1st one a lot, the others i dont care for

[henkbos]

Don't like the first 2, mostly because of the tree.
Third one is the best, although it remains too dark. Some PS work is needed here.

[Rob Beltman]

Hi there Henk,

Your pictures are quite nice in that the subject is ineteresting. You could have improved the pictures greatly by adjusting the frame. The tree for instance could be a brilliant frame-closer. Especially underexposed, the silhouette of the tree would 'close' the picture on the right hand side. Unfortunately the picture 're-opens' now. If you crop so that the last empty part on the right doesn't show anymore, you already will see improvement.

Furthermore you tend to center the subjects. The lower part of the photo is dull, whereas the green treeline in the top is cut off. Folowing the rule of the thirds, you should have lowered your stance a bit and captured the main subject on the edge of the bottom 3rd and the middle.

Brightness is an issue too, but could be resolved easily in PS or Jasc PSP. Be sure to keep the tree as a silhouette though. Any structure there would distract attention from the main subject.

Here's a suggestion;
http://www.icsb.nl/backup/reframed.jpg

[ryuwulf]

I really like the last one. Looks like a "stock photo" .

They all seem a little underexposed?? It could just be my monitor.

cheers..

[Big_B]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Here's a repost of #1 and #3 with a few adjustments. What do you think?

Incidentally they were all a little under exposed because the water was very bright and I didn't want all the detail to be blown. Was that the correct tactic or is there a better way to do it?

Thanks,

Sam

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Public/DSC_1213b.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sam.blackie/Public/DSC_1208d.jpg

[JohnEBongo]

Let me see if I can get this right. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. If a scene is overly bright, the camera will want to bring it down to medium gray so it can come out underexposed. If you use exposure compensation of +1 or so and it will compensate and you should get a better exposure. Is this right?? I am a rookie trying to figure this all out.

[Rob Beltman]

Good adjustments. I like the pictures way better now. They 'read' a lot easier...
The second one is now really strong with the line of the water riples almost parellel to the diagonal of the picture. The geese swimming in a straight line along the other diagonal leading the eye into the center of the frame is strong too. The calm and quiet bottom right corner reinforces the dynamic of the geese in my opinion.

All that to say that I really like the pictures.

If the water is too bright and you worry about underexposure on your main subject, you could use spot metering on your subject. You could also correct the exposure by adding a stop.

Indeed this might seem strange JohnEBongo - but too bright a surrounding scene means you have to add one or more stops. This is because the bright areas are influencing your camera's exposure negatively - it will by default underexpose to correct the brightness of the scene.

So if you want detail in the non-bright section of your frame, overexpose by 1 or more stops.

If you're shooting digital, why not experiment a bit or even shoot at -1, 0 and +1 by using your camera's built-in feature. You can work miracles with these three images on your computer afterward.

[JohnEBongo]

Just to clarify, when you say overexpose by 1 or more stops, am I going + or - on the exposure compensation.

[Rob Beltman]

it's +.

A - correction gives you underexposure and a + overexposure. Since bright backgrounds tend to drive the camera to naturally underexpose, adding 1 or more stops (+) will compensate that and give you the right exposure on the main subject.

Spotmetering would do fine to, since it takes the light of a relative small section of the frame (often the subject, but could be a midtone section to if you don't want to burn the background entirely).

Greetz,

Rob

[Big_B]

Thanks rob. Will play with spot metering on mid-tones when I'm next out.

[jonnyhorizon]

good catch on the tree crop rob
it didn't atch my eye until you emntioned it all i know is i didn't like the tree but liked the goose formation
both corrected images seem spot on to me now...