Virgin SLR purchaser seeks advice :- Cars, Bulls, People, Boats

[~~ Cal ~~]

Some testing with the SLR - car pics are poor but the others are okay (?)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2264/2187897212_2bd390f32b_b.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2386/2187116835_689c2b9e7e_b.jpg
And a few other RANDOM images :-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2187950724_bf4913f1b6_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2162/2187929132_fe82c85d91_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2331/2187145311_c35e267111_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2187941702_bb941ea7dc_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2200/2164290240_4b5b180c10_b.jpg



Right I'm off for a cold one :-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2159335515_bcc1e5f73d.jpg

Any thoughts, opinions, dogs abuse welcome

Cal

[snowangel]

I like the one of the bird the best but I would have cropped in on it more.

In the first one my eye is wandering, I don't know if I should look at the car, the rocks, the water etc.
The second one there is too much going on. You want to look at the borders of your pic to make sure there is nothing in there you don't want. Remember anything you have in your pic you put it there intentionally. My eye wanders to the pick up truck and the house.
The boat is cool. I would crop right in on the boat and leave the rest out. Again the other objects are distracting me.
The rowers is a pretty pic. Again there is a lot going on in the pic

[~~ Cal ~~]

Many thanks indeed - I greatly apprecaite your notes

[Binning]

#5 would have been an incredible shot if you had superhuman speed and could set the focus point on the bird with the same composition.

[Canon30Dguy]

#4 is absolutely awesome! I love it.

BUT... please simulate an ND filter on the photo. Photoshop... add a black->transparent gradient map and set blend mode to overlay/softlight/color. I think that would make it go from great to STELLAR.

[bill boehme]

You're on the right track as far as "seeing" the shot. The magic comes in photoshop (used to be in the dark room). Even Ansel Adams spent hours manipulating his negatives in the dark room to make them come out to be the great pictures he displayed.
Love your boat pict. Hope you don't mind me fooling around with it a little.

I would have only tweaked the boat and left everything else alone. The edit has obscured the details in the image too much.

I like the bird picture with the light reflection on the water. The only problem is that the focus point is well beyond the bird.

[shack]

I would have only tweaked the boat and left everything else alone. The edit has obscured the details in the image too much.

I agree. The details of the building are an interesting part of the shot.

I also like the current composition of #1. The car is not necessarily the focal point, but an element in the overall picture.

[JDM555]

Hey, Nice Pictures. If the bird picture was crisp, that would of been an amazing shot with the reflection on the water. Just keep trying, it isn't easy for us beginners. Also I like your WRX, I have an 05 WRX :D.

[~~ Cal ~~]

Thanks very much folks - I am loving this little e-community !!!!!!

[Robert_Lay]

Some testing with the SLR - car pics are poor but the others are okay (?)

...
Any thoughts, opinions, dogs abuse welcome

Cal

If I understand your request, since you used the word "testing", I assume you are looking for a critique of the technical aspects of the images (correct exposure, sharpness, color purity, etc.), rather than the more subjective or artistic issues, such as composition, interest, etc.

If that's the case, you should think about providing your audience something in which to get one's teeth into - something like a full detail, 100% crop from the original. That would provide your critics with the same level of detail as you are seeing on your system instead of the dreck that results from downsampling and JPEG compression and a resolution less than a 1 MP camera.

You have to realize that when you have only an 8" x 12" print of one of these shots printed, it will be of much, much higher quality than that which we can see on our screens. So, if you want to know if they're good enough to have printed at 16" x 24", how will you find out?

**************100% Crop**************
See my tutorial on making Full Detail 100% Crop, somewhere in the following thread:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34606&page=2

Courtesy of Bobster:

A more controlled way of posting a 100% crop -

Select the marquee tool - then in the options palette select Style->Fixed Size - key in 200 px X 200 px.

Click with the marquee tool anywhere in your image, and drag this around the screen as with a normal marquee.

Use Image -> Crop to complete the process.