Another Saturday in the Park

[GoneFission]

New member, just picked up a 300D the other day (after reading a TON of threads on this forum - good stuff!), and immediately started snapping photos. This is my first foray into "real" photography, i.e. beyond the usual family and vacation snapshots.

I took about 150 photos at a park across the street from my apartment, and frankly most of them were junk in my eyes. These are a couple of what I thought were the best. In additional to overall critique, I'm looking for some technical advice on what I could have done better; or, how you would have taken a similar shot. Additionally, I'm curious what post-processing would help these (all I've done is resize them).

Equipment:
Canon Digital Rebel (300D)
18-55mm kit lense

1.
http://www.gonefission.us/Uploads/POTN/bridge_small.JPG

Mode: A-DEP
Shutter: 1/499
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400
Focal length: 18mm

I thought this one turned out really well. The only thing I would improve on would be to wait for a nice sunny day with a blue sky.

2.
http://www.gonefission.us/Uploads/POTN/ducks_small.JPG

Mode: Av
Shutter: 1/30
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 400
Focal length: 55mm

Here I was messing around with tilting the camera. Ironically, the tilt bugs me the most, but it fills the frame better.

3.
http://www.gonefission.us/Uploads/POTN/sunset1_small.JPG

Mode: Av
Shutter: 1/1999
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 400
Focal length: 43mm

I wish I had taken this again but with a flash fill - not sure if it would have been better or worse, but at least I would have known. Honestly, I kind of like the contrast between the sky and everything else.

4.
http://www.gonefission.us/Uploads/POTN/sunset2_small.JPG

Mode: Av
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 400
Focal length: 18mm

As with #3, it would have been interesting to see this with a flash fill.

5.
http://www.gonefission.us/Uploads/POTN/sunset3_small.JPG

Mode: Av
Shutter: 1/159
Aperture: f/10.0
ISO: 400
Focal length: 55mm

No comment on this one - I just loved that lone goose standing there!


Thanks in advance!

[mrclark321]

Nice pics

Dan

[flapsmcgee]

Hi Gone
Nice pics......

The first one i would of shot in the potrait format.
Moved in closer and experimented with tilting the camera both higher and lower that horizontal if that makes sense

[rammy]

Good effort, well done. More what I would have done than what I think you should do as you are "starting out" and experience IMHO is the biggest factor in getting good shots.

Get a 2 and 3 stop ND Grad filter. Cokin ones are cheap and cheerful at around £11. Also get a circular polariser. I also suggest you practice composition FIRST, ignore technical until later.

1 - As flapsmcgee suggests, get down low because of the lines that that bridge can make when looked at it through a perspective view. Fill the frame and ignore the sky unless the sun is in view and you can get a flare or a peek of it through the top bars. If you have an ND filter then use that along with polariser.

2 - NEVER tilt water. My opinion, nuff said! It does have a kind of lead in line and focal point so well done on that.

3 & 5 - Rule of thirds and aggressive cropping. Too many distractions. You are taking a shot of the setting sun in the environment, no need to add artifacts around the edges of the frame, but it does work sometimes. Use an ND Grad on the sky or double expose, one for sky, one for ground and merge in PS.

4 - Is that a bridge or pagoda? When using something "natural" to frame a shot, fill the frame all the way to the edges and if you want some detail in the wood or whatever material it is, use a fill-in flash.

[GoneFission]

Thanks for the comments everyone!


1 - As flapsmcgee suggests, get down low because of the lines that that bridge can make when looked at it through a perspective view. Fill the frame and ignore the sky unless the sun is in view and you can get a flare or a peek of it through the top bars. If you have an ND filter then use that along with polariser.
I'll definitely try this one again - I didn't think about portrait! Other than that, it sounds like I was at least trying to do the right thing.


2 - NEVER tilt water. My opinion, nuff said! It does have a kind of lead in line and focal point so well done on that.
Yep, agreed, the tilted water is bothersome. Looking at it now, I'm not even sure why I included it - I guess something just struck me about it.


3 & 5 - Rule of thirds and aggressive cropping. Too many distractions. You are taking a shot of the setting sun in the environment, no need to add artifacts around the edges of the frame, but it does work sometimes. Use an ND Grad on the sky or double expose, one for sky, one for ground and merge in PS.
Perhaps something more like this?
Edit: see http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74584

Actually, I double (and triple, and quadruple, and...) exposed most of these, mainly so I could see what effect different setting had, but also I was hoping to be able to PS a better exposed foreground in. Unfortunately, since I don't have a tripod the photos were too far off. A graduated ND filter is on the list, though.


4 - Is that a bridge or pagoda? When using something "natural" to frame a shot, fill the frame all the way to the edges and if you want some detail in the wood or whatever material it is, use a fill-in flash.
That's a pagoda. I'm not sure what you mean by "fill the frame all the way..."; do you mean to compose it such that the uprights, in this case, are on the edges?
As with above, I took several shots here hoping to be able to combine them, but no joy. It wasn't until later that night, as I was reviewing the pictures on my computer, that I hit myself on the head and said "flash!"

Again, thanks for the great comments. I'm really starting to wish that I had gotten into photography years ago - it's like some kind of creative beast has been released in me!

[GoneFission]

Edit: see http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74584

[jab27]

Nice Pics