Photos from a starter

[xkops]

Hi, i recently purchased a canon g5. It is my first not point and shoot camera. So on my vacation i read a guide by national geographic on photography, and tried to practice a bit, and get the handle on exposure, focus etc.
These four pics were the best (i think) of my taken photos...

Any comments will be usefull. Is there any future???

http://www.qv-web.com/photos/IMG_0466.jpg

http://www.qv-web.com/photos/IMG_0458.jpg

http://www.qv-web.com/photos/IMG_0482.jpg

http://www.qv-web.com/photos/IMG_0423.jpg

[Oysterhead00]

#1 Interesting idea, but I personally don't care for the picture much. The super bright area in the background is very distracting. The DOF is great though.

#2 Great picture, I love the DOF in this and think the leaves provide a nice frame for the bell.

#3 Great picture, too bad the flowers weren't still alive, that would have added a lot.

#4 My favorite of the bunch, I would try rotating it to get the umbrella stand and horizon as straight as possible.

[Leighow]

I think that they are all great as starters.
It takes time to improve your images as there are so many things to think about. Here are a few ideas re this set.

#1: EXPOSURE
Here YOU MUST try to use the HISTOGRAM or BRACKET shots to end up with one that does not wash out the sun at the end of this tunnel. The right exposure for the sun will be wrong for the ring. But you can work with that. The idea is great and the comp would have worked well. EVen so, try to addd even more interest, perhaps a brightly colored pedestrian within the tunnel would a stronger subject. Hard to do ? You bet -- but that is life + most of the time I do not do any better myself (if as well) !

#2: COMPOSITION
I like the comp here. Again there is too much light for the camerao you might try to shoot earlier in the morning, or with a more clouded sky -- just to try to reduce the range of light; otherwise the Bells wil get lost. The bush was in your way -- BUT -- you had to find a pourch or a ladder to get over this obstacle. The leaves confuse the image, plus you probably have a bit too much content here: the eye goes to the whites -- so some of the "seconday/peripheral whites have to be eliminated. The right side wall dominates. If the camera can't frame it out , I recommend cropping. ON close, a beautiful idea, but limited in a sense. Still it is a good e-keepsake of a vacation.

http://members.rogers.com/hleigh/BELL.jpg

#3: Depth of Field
No real problem here. But it is a bit annoying to have the ocean so blurry and so distant. With flowers I think that it works OK in gardens, but my mind seems to want to look at the white waves, etc,. So you just have to know more about your camera and its DOF whenever you take a shot like this. Also, here you might have taken a few shots, some at say f8 and ISO 100 (if necessary) just to check whether more DOF altered the visual impact.

#4: Old Classics
Everyone loves a sunset. The waves are even better in this image. But the partial umbrella detracts from the shot. It seems to me that one has to be careful about splitting key foreground elements like this. Of course, the umbrella is not so strong a subject on its own. . Something additional else would have been even better. But finding it in 15 minutes can be a challenge !

On close. Very nicely done. Get some books Check out the web. Have fun.