First time dslr user, first time Post Processing. C/C please, Thanks :)

Hi,
I have eight images that I picked out from hundreds I took, and I Post processed them in Lightroom.

I tried to play differently with each one as much as possible.
Some have old film look, some high contrast, etc.
Thanks for your time.

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Hey thanks for sharing,

There are so many different things going on.. ill just give a little cc,

first one seems a bit out of focus,

second one is fun

third is close, something isnt making it pop though, maybe lose the people.. the light ray in the tank is a nice capture.

3 4 5 and 6, the color manipulation isnt improving things for me, maybe overdone in some...

last one has nice composition and is my fave of the set.

keep shooting!

Out of all of them, 3 was my favourite. It seems to be the most artistically composed... I could imagine this being an album cover or turned into a painting. How does it look rotated slightly so that the floor looks level?

Second photo is interesting - I'd crop the black border away and have a square photograph.

I like the composition in the fifth photo but I don't like the post processing... the colours don't do anything for me, it looks like an alien planet. Also I would crop the photo so that the bridge is in the exact centre of the frame, and check that it is exactly level and not sloping.

Photo 1 is exposed well, considering the time of day you were shooting, but looks a little snapshotty.

td67mustang wrote in post #12537857
Hey thanks for sharing,

There are so many different things going on.. ill just give a little cc,

first one seems a bit out of focus,

second one is fun

third is close, something isnt making it pop though, maybe lose the people.. the light ray in the tank is a nice capture.

3 4 5 and 6, the color manipulation isnt improving things for me, maybe overdone in some...

last one has nice composition and is my fave of the set.

keep shooting!

thanks for the crit. i do agree things got overdone. I was having a lot of fun with lightroom. i have to control myself. haha.

JoYork wrote in post #12538737
Out of all of them, 3 was my favourite. It seems to be the most artistically composed... I could imagine this being an album cover or turned into a painting. How does it look rotated slightly so that the floor looks level?

Second photo is interesting - I'd crop the black border away and have a square photograph.

I like the composition in the fifth photo but I don't like the post processing... the colours don't do anything for me, it looks like an alien planet. Also I would crop the photo so that the bridge is in the exact centre of the frame, and check that it is exactly level and not sloping.

Photo 1 is exposed well, considering the time of day you were shooting, but looks a little snapshotty.

if you say 3, do you mean the one with mother and child at the aquarium? the floor is leveled using the tool in lightroom. i guess i didn't do it correctly. thanks for pointing out.

and yes! i totally did not think about cropping photos to help composition. thanks.

#1 your DOF is to shallow - the birds seem to be in focus but if you look closer the grass in the for ground is not - as well as the trees behind. #7 maybe over exposed by as many as 2 or 3 stops which is the culprit for the lack of detail and the washed out look of the leaves. Good composition in all with the most interesting perspective being the hanger with the planes in B&W.

Thanx for sharing:

Brady

Freezframe wrote in post #12539365
#1 your DOF is to shallow - the birds seem to be in focus but if you look closer the grass in the for ground is not - as well as the trees behind. #7 maybe over exposed by as many as 2 or 3 stops which is the culprit for the lack of detail and the washed out look of the leaves. Good composition in all with the most interesting perspective being the hanger with the planes in B&W.

Thanx for sharing:

Brady

Thanks for a good crit. Noted.

The shot with the aquarium is the most "interesting" and "different"; in the second aquarium shot, you have a seam in the glass coming out of the adult's head. However, instead of burying yourself with a multitude of post processing techniques and remedies, you should focus more on composition and exposure. An image that's been properly composed and exposed should require very little with regard to post processing. If you're having to perform a lot of post work to correct deficiencies, there's something wrong with the process. I understand that you're a beginner, so getting a handle on composition and exposure would serve you better at this stage. Good luck with your shooting.

The photograph of the circular viewing area with the shark inside is the most intriguing in my opinion. if resized to a much smaller dimension (keeping the canvas the same size) and filling the rest with black it would make a very creative, stylish photo.

bombshell wrote in post #12559981
The photograph of the circular viewing area with the shark inside is the most intriguing in my opinion. if resized to a much smaller dimension (keeping the canvas the same size) and filling the rest with black it would make a very creative, stylish photo.

Good idea,
I will try that.

My favourites by far are the aquarium shots, followed by the hangar shot. Some CC:

#1: You said you blurred the trees a little. In fact, that part of the picture struck me as very odd when I first looked at it. The problem with blurring during PP is that it's very hard to add more blur to objects that are farther away from the camera. I'd refrain from adding additional blur unless in certain circumstances.

#2: As others have said, this might be a seldom opportunity where a square crop would work well.

#3: Rotate slightly. The crack in the window is a little strange, but only because it goes through the woman. I'm not sure, but perhaps the following would have worked better: have the crack in the middle of the picture; position the people at about 1/3 from the right border; have them look at the aquarium; make them silhouettes, instead of trying to recover detail from them; and finally, crop away most or all of the dark border at the bottom of the image. I think this one has great potential! I would have liked to get a shot like this.

#4: Nice, but the blown-out sky makes it look like a snapshot. It's pretty hard to get that right, I'm just in the process of learning that myself...

#5: Vintage look doesn't do anything for me. But that's just my taste.

#6: I rather like this one. For me, the interesting thing is the architecture of the bridge. One slight enhancement for me would be to try and make the border of the bridge's ground parallel to the lower border of the image.

#7: Doesn't do anything for me. Plus, I'm not one for the fairytale look.

#8: I think it's well done exposure-wise. I can't say much about the composition. I do like it, but I don't feel knowledgeable enough to give comments on how to improve it.

All in all, well done!

The idea I had for you of resizing it smaller on a large blank canvas, I decided to give a go and I'll show you something I came up with that makes for a very interesting idea. If you can take photos through a spherical area in different settings, why not recreate the solar system with your images? Small example I did here.

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argyle wrote in post #12541527
The shot with the aquarium is the most "interesting" and "different"; in the second aquarium shot, you have a seam in the glass coming out of the adult's head. However, instead of burying yourself with a multitude of post processing techniques and remedies, you should focus more on composition and exposure. An image that's been properly composed and exposed should require very little with regard to post processing. If you're having to perform a lot of post work to correct deficiencies, there's something wrong with the process. I understand that you're a beginner, so getting a handle on composition and exposure would serve you better at this stage. Good luck with your shooting.

Agree with everything said here

CaptainNuss wrote in post #12562317
My favourites by far are the aquarium shots, followed by the hangar shot. Some CC:

#1: You said you blurred the trees a little. In fact, that part of the picture struck me as very odd when I first looked at it. The problem with blurring during PP is that it's very hard to add more blur to objects that are farther away from the camera. I'd refrain from adding additional blur unless in certain circumstances.

#2: As others have said, this might be a seldom opportunity where a square crop would work well.

#3: Rotate slightly. The crack in the window is a little strange, but only because it goes through the woman. I'm not sure, but perhaps the following would have worked better: have the crack in the middle of the picture; position the people at about 1/3 from the right border; have them look at the aquarium; make them silhouettes, instead of trying to recover detail from them; and finally, crop away most or all of the dark border at the bottom of the image. I think this one has great potential! I would have liked to get a shot like this.

#4: Nice, but the blown-out sky makes it look like a snapshot. It's pretty hard to get that right, I'm just in the process of learning that myself...

#5: Vintage look doesn't do anything for me. But that's just my taste.

#6: I rather like this one. For me, the interesting thing is the architecture of the bridge. One slight enhancement for me would be to try and make the border of the bridge's ground parallel to the lower border of the image.

#7: Doesn't do anything for me. Plus, I'm not one for the fairytale look.

#8: I think it's well done exposure-wise. I can't say much about the composition. I do like it, but I don't feel knowledgeable enough to give comments on how to improve it.

All in all, well done!

Thanks for the thorough CC! Very helpful.

bombshell wrote in post #12563721
The idea I had for you of resizing it smaller on a large blank canvas, I decided to give a go and I'll show you something I came up with that makes for a very interesting idea. If you can take photos through a spherical area in different settings, why not recreate the solar system with your images? Small example I did here.

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Another great idea added to my try-out list. Thanks!