New to Photography - Opinions and Advice welcome

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to the whole photography scene.. I've had a Canon EOS Rebel XSi (450D) for approx 3 weeks now and I'm loving every minute of it and constantly looking for new inspiration and new ways to shoot. Also lookng to learn how to use the camera settings in the best way possible for different pictures.

So far I've taken nearly 2000 pictures and obviously got rid of a lot of them because they were all experiments. Please take a look at my flick page (see my signature) and let me know what you think of the pictures so far. Also any advice on how to make them better and what settings are best for which situation would also be great.

Feel free to add me as a contact on Flickr as well

Thanks in advance.

Felix

Hello Felix

Welcome to the forums.

Best way for this to work for you is to pick a photo you like and post it. Our attention spans are pretty short, so critiquing a portfolio isn't going to yield you much more than a "nice start" in most instances.

Nice start, btw.

Haha, Thank Mattograph... I see what you mean.. So here is 3 pics from my Flickr pages.. Let me know your thoughts

#1

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all three are technically sound picutres, but my personal opinion is that i would have liked the composition to show more of the lower half of the photos.

ie, the first photo would have been nice to see the light trails of the cars as they turn on to the road.

and the last photo feels as though you have chopped the building off , it would have been nice to see the bottom of the building

but minor points on some very nice shots

dynamitetony wrote in post #8977931
ie, the first photo would have been nice to see the light trails of the cars as they turn on to the road.

and the last photo feels as though you have chopped the building off , it would have been nice to see the bottom of the building

but minor points on some very nice shots

Unfortunately, I was hanging out of my works window on the 5th floor and only had my bag to balance my camera on at the time, so it was pretty hard.

And the church style building had a car park based at the bottom.. I've cropped the cars out of it, it would have been better without it though.. I see what you mean

I SAID PHOTO!!!! AS IN ONE!!!!

I am going to start with #2, since its totally different than the other 2. It's very nice. I am guessing the flame is photoshopped, as the fire is very symmetrical, but I might be wrong. Either way, a good effort for sure. I'd put it on my home page.

#1 and #3 -- These are interesting concepts, and they are well exposed. But the composition is in trouble. Anytime you take a picture of a man made object, you immediately must consider the lines. When our eyes see a building, or a picture of one, our brain automatically makes some assumptions about lines -- straight -- and sizes -- proportional. Unfortunately, the camera lens sucks, generally, at keeping lines as straight as we seem them in our mind. We also need the lines to resolve -- they need to go somewhere, and we have to understand where that somewhere is.

So, on the first one. Too much of the bottom of the scene is cropped out. The lines created by the street don't resolve themselves. as you hacked off half the street. Also, the building on the left is tilted way out of proportion. Get this in PS, and transform tool your way to straight, consistent lines.

#3 is similar-we need the bottom of the castle with a little foreground for reference. The castle itself need to be parallel to the horizon. If you opted to tilt the camera slightly for effect, you still need the turret and castle wall to form a 90 angle, more or less, or all our eye will see is the distortion.

Both, however, are extremely well exposed and toned. Shoot wider, give yourself some room to crop and transform, and you'll be writing photography books in no time.

Wow, after three weeks I was still trying to figure out how to turn my camera on

Like the flaming Skellington!

In no position to offer advice as you are way ahead of me heh

mattograph wrote in post #8977966
I SAID PHOTO!!!! AS IN ONE!!!!

I am going to start with #2, since its totally different than the other 2. It's very nice. I am guessing the flame is photoshopped, as the fire is very symmetrical, but I might be wrong. Either way, a good effort for sure. I'd put it on my home page.

#1 and #3 -- These are interesting concepts, and they are well exposed. But the composition is in trouble. Anytime you take a picture of a man made object, you immediately must consider the lines. When our eyes see a building, or a picture of one, our brain automatically makes some assumptions about lines -- straight -- and sizes -- proportional. Unfortunately, the camera lens sucks, generally, at keeping lines as straight as we seem them in our mind. We also need the lines to resolve -- they need to go somewhere, and we have to understand where that somewhere is.

So, on the first one. Too much of the bottom of the scene is cropped out. The lines created by the street don't resolve themselves. as you hacked off half the street. Also, the building on the left is tilted way out of proportion. Get this in PS, and transform tool your way to straight, consistent lines.

#3 is similar-we need the bottom of the castle with a little foreground for reference. The castle itself need to be parallel to the horizon. If you opted to tilt the camera slightly for effect, you still need the turret and castle wall to form a 90 angle, more or less, or all our eye will see is the distortion.

Both, however, are extremely well exposed and toned. Shoot wider, give yourself some room to crop and transform, and you'll be writing photography books in no time.

As above (i think you were writing as I replied) -- The 1st and 3rd picture are mentioned above.

The flames are actually real.. We made our pumpkins on the Friday, and then on Sunday we decided to torch them.. With some paper inside the pumpkin, lighter fluid and a bit of Turps the flames grew wild, even though it was a windy night.. I left a long shutter time on, I think it was approx 10-15 seconds and fed the flame while it was taking.. Giving this effect.. I was very pleased with them.

FelixDeSouze wrote in post #8978004
As above (i think you were writing as I replied) -- The 1st and 3rd picture are mentioned above.

The flames are actually real.. We made our pumpkins on the Friday, and then on Sunday we decided to torch them.. With some paper inside the pumpkin, lighter fluid and a bit of Turps the flames grew wild, even though it was a windy night.. I left a long shutter time on, I think it was approx 10-15 seconds and fed the flame while it was taking.. Giving this effect.. I was very pleased with them.

Well there you go! What a very cool effect!!!

mattograph wrote in post #8978018
Well there you go! What a very cool effect!!!

Thanks!!

I'm still trying to figure out all the technical jargon as well.. I say long exposure when it comes to leaving the lens open for 15 seconds, etc but I'm not sure if that is the right term as I know that there is also over exposure and under exposure which is used for things such as sunset pictures and HDR photo's.

Over exposed and underexposed are shots where too much or not enough light was used to capture the scene. (BTW read up about ETTR {expose to the right} this is when over exposure is good.)

Also have a look in the HDR section for lovely examples of how to use under and over exposure shots.

Long exposure is as you say when the shutter is open for a long time.

Have a look on my Flickr page (in sig) for the night galleries for examples of long exposure.

I like the pictures 2 is great, but 1 and 3 could do with some straightening, or possibly due to distance taken something like a Tilt and Shift lens.

LethalFrog wrote in post #8978067
I like the pictures 2 is great, but 1 and 3 could do with some straightening, or possibly due to distance taken something like a Tilt and Shift lens.

Thanks, will take a look.. I love night shots.. Been trying to get some good night shots with lights and reflections from water as I live opposite Liverpool I should be able to get some good ones but only having an 18-55mm lense, it is limiting me a little.

Yeah, the traffic one was only a few days after getting the camera so was an ameture attempt and the 3rd one was of Dublin Castle and there was nowhere else to stand.. I've tried straightening it a bit but it hasn't worked out as I would have liked. It will take some more practice with those type of shots

i would love a lot more fire on the background for Number 2. lol

cheungupdt wrote in post #8978104
i would love a lot more fire on the background for Number 2. lol

Well there is this one I have as well...

FelixDeSouze wrote in post #8978120
Well there is this one I have as well...

It was tricky to keep the flames going in the wind and the lighter fluid and turps ran out pretty quick... Oh and for H&S reasons, we did have a hose at hand, just incase lol

The picture is awesome! Thanks for sharing, If the picture doesn't have motion blur and the fire on the bottom is more evenly distributed, i would love this a lot more