A few of my favorites from a recent AZ trip

Family vacation time with a new addition to my camera bag (Tamron 24-70 f/2.8)! I still have a ton of shots to look at and edit from this trip... These are some of my early favorites:

1.

Shot two:
This shot seems to have a lot of things going on, but doesn't, in my view, do any of them well. If ever there were a shot that would benefit from multiple frames its this one.
As its stands it is actually pleasing in a way to look at; though I wish the plant in the middle did not stick it stalk up quite so high; it breaks the mood of the shot to have that stem spread up into the skyline. It makes it a point of focus whilst holding nothing of interest.

That said this could have been fantastic if you'd taken and blended multiple frames. One for the cars zooming past - one for the street light (that currently is horribly blowing out the ground under it); one for the sky overhead and the stars (I'm not expecting a huge starscape with all the light pollution below going on; but at least a few more than is currently shown to give the sky - which is very dominant - more focus other than blackness.

Shot 4: I can see why you'd like it; the details of these spines is great. But otherwise this kind of doesn't do anything as a shot. To my eye its really somewhat more of what many would call a "snapshot". It lacks an engaging subject (outside of ooh sharp); and it lacks and overall composition/design that would make it pleasing to view without a core focus on a subject.
Can't really put my finger on how to change it without really changing the whole of the shot around and trying something different.

Shot 5: Body and colours look wolfy; though that very pointed head makes me think coyote - but I'm not in the USA so I'm not as experienced at telling the two apart and know they can sometimes look a little similar (or at least I've heard of such).

I'd rather like to hear the story behind the shot; as it stands you've got the canind in a shady spot on an otherwise strongly lit day - giving you a fantastic exposure over the animal who is also giving you a great eye contact stare. Some might suggest cropping some off the right and losing the foreground tree/object (or at least most of it). Otherwise very nice shot.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to respond Overread.

re: 2 - Thanks for the feedback, any thing you can point me to regarding multiple blended frames and just astro/night sky stuff in general would be great. This was literally my 2nd time trying to shoot stars. My first try was pretty bad (too long of exposures (trails), noisy and out of focus, so I was pretty happy with this one

Here is one more night shot that I thought was "ok"... didn't get much better than these two.

I think your youngest son in the first photograph seems to fit the mood of this photograph. His yellow sunglasses and blue "binky" look pretty cool. Like his stance too. I like your ideas. Great family vacation pictures.

freestylee30 wrote in post #17448081
Here is one more night shot that I thought was "ok"... didn't get much better than these two.

I think the ghosted palm trees leaves take away from the image. If they were still, it may be a better shot.

Is this from the Hilton El Conquistador hotel?

truecolors wrote in post #17598799
I think your youngest son in the first photograph seems to fit the mood of this photograph. His yellow sunglasses and blue "binky" look pretty cool. Like his stance too. I like your ideas. Great family vacation pictures.

Thanks! It was a fun vacation - I need another one, right about now...

DGStinner wrote in post #17598948
I think the ghosted palm trees leaves take away from the image. If they were still, it may be a better shot.

Is this from the Hilton El Conquistador hotel?

Yeah I agree about the leaves, it was a little windy that evening and yes, this is the Hilton El Conquistador!

freestylee30 wrote in post #17598953
yes, this is the Hilton El Conquistador!

I thought so. I've stayed there numerous times, including back in the late 80's when it used to be the Sheraton El Conquistador.