A Few Nature Shots

[swambach]

First post here!

I've had my XTi for about a year and am still learning as I go. Some of these pictures were taken with my 28-105 F3.5 and others were taken with my 70-200 F4L. I'm interested in any feedback folks have on them.

Thanks!
Scott

[sparker1]

1- Nice, but tighter cropping will improve it.
2- Not close enough, and a little dark. Not a keeper for me.
3- Fantastic, totally unique.
4- Pretty good.
5- Needs a little more DOF so the entire bloom is sharp.
6- I can't find the subject.
7- I like it a lot, but I would crop out the OOF bottom. Maybe bump contrast a bit.

[Mil]

The 3rd one is great. In aquarium I guess?

[jack lumber]

Welcome to the forum,, I like #1 the stem on the diagonal makes a strong statement.
#2 is too centered (rule of thirds)
#3 Is really good, I would however liked to have seen a little more space in front of the nose, as that is the direction of travel.
#4 nice image, watch to keep the horizon straight.
#5 I feel cheated, cos I dont see the whole flower.
#6 Too busy, there is nothing to catch the eye.
#7 Would have looked better if you had clipped those blades of grass off.
Keep at and keep shooting!!

[ICBuyer]

I love the #3.. was that in an aquarium? If so, how'd you get rid of the reflection? The aquarium that I frequent does not have such a clean glass.

[Momtothefurmonsters]

Welcome to POTN! I also love #3, very sharp. Keep posting.

[swambach]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Here's my comments:

1. Took this the other day in my back yard. I'll try a closer crop and see what I can get. As is, it's straight out of the camera
2. I kind of liked the different lines of the water and sand in this and the "tidal wave" looming over the bird, moreso than the bird itself.
3. This was taken in the aquarium on the Outer Banks in NC (I can't think of the name). It was in a large tank with a skylight near it, but in a darker corner of the room. The above lighting hit it just right so that it was illuminated but at an angle where there was no reflection. I have a few others from the same room that turned out pretty well too
4. Good comments on the skyline. I didn't think about keeping it straighter with respect to the top of picture
5. I agree with the DOF comment
6. There's no real center of focus in this picture. I just like it's abstractness of it, it reminds me of combing the beach for shells (again in the outer banks). There are a couple of others that I'll post that have more of a subject
7. I can agree with removing the grass now that I look at it again. It somewhat distracts from the red of the tomato

[swambach]

Here's a few more:

Another angle of the turtle. I didn't like his "pose" in this one quite as much


Here's the other beach shot (with a focal point):


Lighthouse:


And finally a dopy looking giraffe

[Keithaba]

I love both of the turtle shots. They are great!!!

The beach shells is my least favorite of the bunch. Remember when shooting that the meaning to you, is often not the meaning percieved by others.

I also really like the Giraffe shot, the blurred backround and the person on the railing does a lot for the frame. It looks like you didn't have much sun to work with though, would be nice to see sunlit illumination from one side. It would have also warmed up the colors a bit, but hey, sometimes you the sun simply doesn't cooperate!

[Avi]

I like #3 and #4...

Thanks for sharing..

Avi

[jack lumber]

Another great shot of the turtle!, again I would like to see more space in front of the nose. The beach shot just doesn't work for me, the lighthouse has a forced perspective, I'm left with some some uneasy questions, how tall is it ?what does the base look like? is it on land or at sea? Fill the frame, get closer, have something in the shot, a person, a boat, to give a clue to size. The giraffe is a great shot, I'm a big fan of diagonals.
Scott if you allow people to edit your images, you will see the before and after, I'm sure it would help to convey what folks are saying better.
Now we don't want to hijack your thread, but if you agree to posters adding images as examples, that also would help.

[sparker1]

The giraffe's pose is a classic. With a little PP, that would be a great image.

[jack lumber]

Originally Posted by sparker1

The giraffe's pose is a classic. With a little PP, that would be a great image.

And Stans the man to do just that

[Jim G]

I quite like the turtle one, the rest don't stand out so much to me.

[swambach]

I don't mind if folks edit the pics, is there anything that I need to do to allow that (other than give consent?)
^^*Edit* I found the option in the preferences. I've allowed editing of the pics

I also don't mind if other folks post pics as examples, I like other's perspectives and want to learn