my professors on POTN

[drmac]

I have looked around at different colleges/universities in the area including community colleges.... Can't realy find a course that will tell you how to improve, what you could change, etc. I did find a camera club in the area and I will be joining that, but in the mean time I everyone to be my professors and help me out. I am comfortable with comments.... I just want to get better... Attached is the first image for your thoughts....

[crashthenet44]

Why in world is this so pixelated?

[S.Horton]

Why in world is this so pixelated?

It looks overcooked in post. My guess is too much saturation plus too much contrast plus some type of sharpening. BUT, that's a technical comment --

@OP -
The question is what did YOU want it to look like, and is this it? If not, how did you want it to look?

PS- Post an unmodified original, if you can.

[psychoace]

45kbs for a 1024x683 image is not going to yield good results. You should of easily noticed this when you compressed it. Try compressing the original to at least 200kbs an reupload

[drmac]

when I print the 1mb file it prints fine.... I guess becuase I had to resize and reduce the size of the image...

[24alpha]

when I print the 1mb file it prints fine.... I guess becuase I had to resize and reduce the size of the image...See the post above yours!

[drmac]

lets try this....

This is as close as I could get without going over the 150 maximum

[S.Horton]

Now that I read your original post, try this book:

The Photographer's Eye
by Michael Freedman

[GorgeShooter]

The pixelated BG is distracting

[drmac]

how do I fix that? In the original photo it is OK... when I resize it to meet the requirements of POTN, it becomes pixilated?

[dougj7]

I use Paint.Net to save my .jpg images. It seems to do a good job as far as compression goes. It has a live update of the file size as you choose your quality settings and also has an image preview so you can see if the results are acceptable. It's freeware too. It will be easier to comment on your photo if it doesn't have all of those .jpg artifacts. -Doug

http://www.getpaint.net/

[drmac]

Please let me know your thoughts on this picture... Color, focus, DOF, action, etc.

[S.Horton]

Sports: Shoot tight, crop tighter.

Controlling background distractions is a key.

Eyes/head in sharp is another key. (this one missed by a bit)

Here, you have a result with the kid camera-left looking like a torso is growing from the armpit plus houses.........

I like the image overall, but if this was one of mine I may have cropped just the two kids heads to show intensity....

Generally, to blur the background, f/4 is ok, f/2.8 much better.

(EDIT: I looked at the EXIF -- Although this is f/2.8, I'd suggest moving your ISO up to get 1/2000th or faster for soccer -- contrast ok, color ok)

[drmac]

1/2000 seemed pretty high... I will give it a try though.

I agree the houses are a distraction, but this is youth soccer and I could not control the house.... Maybe I should a different location where the parents are the background? Other suggestions?

[S.Horton]

...and get a monopod, if you can.

;}

[cb1]

Sports: Shoot tight, crop tighter.

Controlling background distractions is a key.

Eyes/head in sharp is another key. (this one missed by a bit)

Here, you have a result with the kid camera-left looking like a torso is growing from the armpit plus houses.........

I like the image overall, but if this was one of mine I may have cropped just the two kids heads to show intensity....

Generally, to blur the background, f/4 is ok, f/2.8 much better.

(EDIT: I looked at the EXIF -- Although this is f/2.8, I'd suggest moving your ISO up to get 1/2000th or faster for soccer -- contrast ok, color ok)


+1

They players faces are loosing some sharpness, but overall cool pic

[Mu Eugene]

how do I fix that? In the original photo it is OK... when I resize it to meet the requirements of POTN, it becomes pixilated?

Use a photo hosting service (flickr, photobucket, smugmug, etc.) to link the photos to this site. The last one is my favorite for photohosting, and photobucket I upload the photos to be linked to this site as well as other forums. That way, you are not subject to file size limitation restriction (only image size of 1024x1024 max). Don't ask me why I use separate services for - I just like it that way.

Read the first sticky thread on top of each photo sharing forum and it'll tell you all about photo posting information.

[drmac]

I do use a monopod...