Please critique my work.

[gravitywell]

Hello, this is officially my first post. I've lurked on this amazing site for a few weeks now, since I've picked up my 50D.

The link that I'm going to provide is to my blog of photos. After getting permission to spend a sizable amount of money on the 50D my wife explained that I had to use it every day for a year. So together we decided to share my growth on a blog so I could keep track, and share pics with our families.

I have no formal training, and have never post-processed anything in my life.

I'm very open to suggestions and criticism of all kinds, so please, be honest with what you see. I will warn you, as you'll quickly notice, many of them are snapshotty with little or no setup.

http://james365.blogspot.com

Feel free to link or edit anything that I've posted.

[seaside]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! You're off to a good start. I quickly reviewied some of your images. Some things to keep in mind - always watch the background when you shoot. It can be just as important as the subject you are shooting. On camera flash can be a bit tricky to use affectively. It can throw shadows on the background which can distract from the subject. A different angle or a greater distance between the subject and the background can help. Also try and use natural lighting w/o a flash (window light or outside) - one thing I like to do. You can also bounce the flash off the ceiling or wall to get more even, less harsh lighting.

Again, welcome aboard.............

[tonydee]

Some excellent points above. I'd also suggest experimenting with getting down a bit lower than your subject and shooting upwards towards them, especially for animals. A few of them are a bit yellow from the lighting - when you're ready to try postprocessing you'll be able to correct the colour balance easily enough. A few are out of focus (like IMG_0555) - not sure why without seeing EXIF data (i.e. shutter speed, aperture) - but in general: make sure you haven't accidentally left or bumped the focus mode switch into "manual", don't try to get too close to the subject (each lense has a minimum distance for focus), use a faster shutter if your subject or your camera might be moving/shaking (maybe through a higher ISO sensitivity, or a smaller aperture although that decreases the depth of field and can contribute to more of the picture being out of focus). Cheers, Tony

[Benji]

Don't simply slap the flash unit on the camera turn it on and start blazing away. A six year old can do that. Check out some internet sources for lighting ideas and experiment. Use side lighting, back lighting, fill flash etc.

benji

[gravitywell]

Thank you for the quick replies. I appreciate them all.

Some quick notes about my gear: Right now, its a stock 50D with the 28-135 lens that came with it. At this time, I have no external flash and I'm working towards a good tripod setup.

I've nosed around the photoshop forums for tips. My wife has a copy she uses for work that I have access to. Since I began I've been taking RAW and High Res JPG of each photo.

I've noticed that the stock flash can flood a lot of images, especially near a wall or in the hallway.

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome to POTN. I also have cats (five of them). How badly did you get scratched from dressing them up?

[Yeoer]

Good luck with the Challenge...

36 days in have you seen any improvement in your pictures so far?

Looking through some of your images its obvious you really need to get and external flash to soften the shadows, also a few look a little out of focus.

[Robbierob]

welcome to POTN...I love this place....
I also LOVE the 365 day challenge...what a great idea to chart improvement and it could become a great series.

I am in the process of buying the 50d also and I may steal your challenge for myself!!!

AGAIN WELCOME

[DrFil]

ok, you need to stop using the onboard flash. also, are you shooting manual? if not, you should be. i hope you know all the basics of all the settings on your camera (aperture, shutter speed, iso), and if not, look into learning how they affect the image. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=414088 is really really good for beginners. also, be more creative, go outside, try new angles. look at other people's work and try to recreate their best pictures. lastly, POST-PROCESS and shoot RAW (if you're not)! it'll make a huge difference in your pictures. if you don't have photoshop, use the adobe software for editing RAW files. if nothing else, you can adjust your white balance, exposure, contrast, and crop to make your pictures look more attractive. like for example, your cats picture, which has an interesting composition. needs some white balance shift and probably some other stuff:

http://filipbartnik.com/images/POTN/cats.jpg

also, your shutter speeds are frequently far too slow. which is why shooting indoors without flash is hard unless if you have a really wide aperture. if you consider putting any more money into this, try the canon EF 50 f/1.4 lens. you'll get amazing portraits out of that and it'll be your sharpest lens even if you choose to get any other zoom lenses. at under $300, it's a great bargain (and it's much better than the $80 50 f/1.8). and like other people said, an external flash so you can point it any way you want or bounce it off the ceiling or whatever. you can probably get the 430ex for less than $200. no need to live large with the 580ex just yet. but come on man, put some effort into your composition and technique. i read everyone's tutorials and everything for like a month before i bought my first SLR last June (40D). so the first time i took pictures, i even post-processed: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=503827 and i used the same lens as you!

anyway, best of luck!

edit: also, another thing, post up maybe one or two photos that you're especially proud of and ask for specific critique. you might get more helpful responses that way.

[griptape]

Yeah, any time you use on board flash, it makes any picture an instant snapshot that could have been taken with a point and shoot without being able to tell the difference. Either up the ISO and/or get a wider aperture lens (as suggested) or get an external flash and bounce.

[gravitywell]

Thank you again everyone for the replies.

I didn't get scratched at all dressing the cats up, just a few deadly stares and a few deep laughs at them.

I have access to a Quantaray flash from an older 35mm Rebel I can play with.

I have noticed some improvements as I'm getting more accustomed to the camera and its functions. Unfortunately, my outdoors time is limited because of a weird work schedule. But I'll progress forward.

[griptape]

Unfortunately, my outdoors time is limited because of a weird work schedule.

Yeah, lack of good light can really limit learning abilities. I'm stuck inside too. Not because of work, but because it's 7 degrees outside. But once you learn to shoot in good light, you can learn to create your own light indoors, and understand the properties of the light you're creating. The important thing is that you're moving forward and actually making your investment worthwhile. The camera only cost you a few dollars a day if you use it every day. That's how I think of mine to justify what I spend.