my attempt at nature

[chrisu002]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3312/3345983683_a9a1fb887c_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3329/3345983699_ca462831e7_b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3345983701_2f40fe2973_b.jpg


this one isnt nature but

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3573/3345983709_c210626882_b.jpg

[Laffctx]

I like the shot of the squirrel a ton great catch.

[canonnoob]

nice shots overall.. The first shot is quite soft...

[Walczak Photo]

Well, the first shot is very soft. It almost looks as though your focus point was just in front of the feeder...but it could be camera shake/too slow a shutter speed as well. Also, I personally don't care for the composition here...I would have focused on just one of the birds with much tighter framing or a crop.

The shot of the squirrel is ok...great color, good and sharp but again the composition here leaves me rather flat. As always I'm not trying to be rude here at all, but you have a side shot of a squirrel eating something...so? There's just nothing really special about this "pose". Squirrels are such cute and entertaining little characters, but here it looks to me as though you just settled for the image that was sharp.

The third shot of the bird in the tree....--way-- too much space there and it isn't the greatest lighting either. Here I would have moved in or zoomed in -much- closer or simply cropped the image. As to the lighting, the bird's face is almost obscured in shadow. As with most people shots, if you can't see the critter's face and more specifically the eyes, the rest becomes irrelevant. Here I would have either used some fill flash to bring out the birds face or tried a different angle (or waited for the bird to move to a different angle...or just a different bird at a better angle).

The shot of the boats is also ok but again I think the composition could be much better. You've made good use of the rule of thirds for the horizon but your central subjects...the boats...are right in the lower middle of the shot. I think here I would have framed them more to the right side and maybe backed up a little to allow for a little more foreground or simply tried a different angle.

Except for the first image, you shots are sharp and the color looks great but they are all consistently lacking in composition. You seem to have the mechanics down well enough but the pictures themselves are...well...a bit boring. This is just my personal and always ever so humble opinion but to me if the shot isn't interesting to begin with, all the sharpness or color correction in the world really doesn't matter. I know there are people here who seem to think a "sharp" image is a "great" image but I'm not one of them. To me the composition is what makes or breaks an image...the rest is all just academic.

Again these are just my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such.

Jim