Some Shots from Toronto

I was in Toronto for 3 days for business and lugged the 60D along. I am still practicing but I definitely see now that people/animals make subject 10x more interesting. Criticism welcome.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/784276​3778/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/784276​4692/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/784276​6378/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/782851​4960/

#1: I like the lighting on the chains, but I think there is just too much dark space. The ground also takes up over 1/3 of the image which is not very attractive to my eyes.

#2: I like the sky, the duck is also nice but harsh shadows. I would crop some of the foreground & try to recover some of the shadows on the duck. This should be an easy fix w/ LR 4.1

#3: Nice, but you cut off the boat.

#4: Looks like your focus is on the far left part of the chain. Again, too much ground and I think you missed the focus. Also, is underexposed.

Hope that helps.

#3 is cool. It tells a story, but as JJD said too bad you cut that little bit off the stern

1 - not sure what to see here.. a skyline or reflection off the water would have made it more interesting
2 - great shot! I see you have the rule of thirds going with the duck as well as the wood
3 - again, great shot. Apart from the cropping, the line where the lake and the trees meet is not parallel to the edge of the picture
4 - nothing interesting here to see; maybe a crop of the couple with the fence would make it more presentable?

Thank you for the help guys. Definitely all great points. My biggest problem right now is rushing. I haven't gotten comfortable being in public shooting so I try to snap a picture quick and move on so people don't think I am a creep. As I overcome this, I hope to pay more attention to my composition. For example the guy on the boat was watching me so I was like "I bet he thinks I am a creep" so I got that shot and moved on without realizing I cut the boat off.

Sandytrouble - i actually did do a second shot that was much close but there is another guy in the shot and I didn't have my computer with photoshop to clone him out. I sitll have not been able to edit it (brighten it) Here it is:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/784719​6706/

agree with what has been said about the boat photo, it had great potential, just learn not to "zoom" in so tightly on your subject, leave yourself some room for cropping. And yes, the water line is not horizontal, it drops toward the left side, can be fixed in LR easily.
Some of your shots show too much foreground or background. You should really study the "rule of thirds".
You are not a "creep" just b/c you have a camera with you (you are in a forum of thousands who do the same). Just think of yourself as a tourist that nobody knows and act like one You will find some people in your shots will love to see your work. If anybody asks you what you are doing just tell them you are a "freelance photographer", that always works lol

Overall thoughts are be careful with your WB while shooting at night. Not too keen on the super yellow tungsten light.

#1 is nice for its eeriness.
#2 has a very neat perspective. Brings you down to the ducks level
#3 Would have liked to have the whole boat in the scene rather than chop a small bit off of the stern.
#4 Eh. Not bad, hate the white balancing though. Tungesten lights(IMO) are uglllyyyy. I do happen to love this crop though, I like the leading lines to that couple.

CSMFoto wrote in post #14900656
Overall thoughts are be careful with your WB while shooting at night. Not too keen on the super yellow tungsten light.

#1 is nice for its eeriness.
#2 has a very neat perspective. Brings you down to the ducks level
#3 Would have liked to have the whole boat in the scene rather than chop a small bit off of the stern.
#4 Eh. Not bad, hate the white balancing though. Tungesten lights(IMO) are uglllyyyy. I do happen to love this crop though, I like the leading lines to that couple.

Thanks for the input. as far as #4 goes, I loved the way both the chain and the 2 lights lead me in. As you said, and hopefully as I take more time to shoot and get over mental thought of being a creep in the night, I will be able to take 15 versions of this picture with different focuses/adjustments/wh​itebalance etc.

#3 - the horizon is not level!

fotoray wrote in post #14902270
#3 - the horizon is not level!

I agree yet I would crop it in such a way that there is no horizon and your focus is the boat and this man. Right?