Kids Water Fountain - C&C Please

Shot these today at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Be interested to get some feedback on the composition, exposure, cropping, etc. All shots were much larger. Thanks so much for your input.

1.

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They are all great!!! Thanks for sharing them....

How fun for them! You captured them wonderfully.

I like no 4 & 5. They depict a story about the kids interacting with the water flow. They have a good sense of colour and separation of the subject from the surrounding.

No 2 looks to be somewhat OOF. The child doesn't jump out of the page, but seems to get lost into the water around.

You might also think of bumping up your exposure a bit more, to me they look a bit dark.

Matt.

The high shutter speed freezing the action works very well. However, the focus seems slightly off on a couple, I assume at the expense of a wider aperture.

I like the 3rd one best. The others seems bit snapshot-like IMO.

No EXIF. What shutter time were you using? I feel like you could've frozen the action even more.

mjmackinnon wrote in post #10138631
No 2 looks to be somewhat OOF. The child doesn't jump out of the page, but seems to get lost into the water around.

Yes I noticed this as well on #2. Not sure what happened there. I'm still trying to figure out if I should use AIFocus or AIServer on some of these shots. Actually still learning what exactly the difference is.

corkneyfonz wrote in post #10138804
However, the focus seems slightly off on a couple, I assume at the expense of a wider aperture.

#1 and #3 were shot at f5.6 so yes... wide open. The others at f7.1. I'm still getting used to my bio-focal contact lenses which I just started wearing this week. At least that's my story for now.

GorgeShooter wrote in post #10138921
I like the 3rd one best. The others seems bit snapshot-like IMO.

The 3rd is my favorite as well. After looking again, I think you're right. The rest are too "snap-shot like". I shot about 200 frames that day and deleted most of them. These were the keepers.

BTW... Kent, Flo, Matt, Fonz and Gregg, I took a peek at all of your photo pages and all I can say is WOW. I've got a long way to go. Some of the photos you folks have out there are amazing. Thanks for the inspiration.

PhotoCupcake wrote in post #10138955
No EXIF. What shutter time were you using? I feel like you could've frozen the action even more.

Yes. I'm not sure why my EXIF isn't coming up. I noticed that too and I'm stumped. I download these things right from my Camera into Lightroom, do some PP, and then use LR to upload them to Flickr. Is there some special I need to do to get the EXIF to come up.

#1 - 1/640
#2 - 1/250 (which explains the soft focus. Probably more camera shake)
#3 - 1/640
#4 - 1/250
#5 - 1/320

I actually was trying for a little bit of blur on the water. Didn't want it to look too freeze-frame. But perhaps higher shutter would have worked out better.

Thanks for looking.

I say you did a great job of not blowing the water and the whites out..not an easy task on a sunny day.
Try the ISO at 400.thats what I always use , and I have yet to use a tripod:o

Seems you already got some great advice, I agree.

#3 and #5 are the strongest!

The exposure is terrific and they look like great fun!

Flo wrote in post #10139150
I say you did a great job of not blowing the water and the whites out..not an easy task on a sunny day.
Try the ISO at 400.thats what I always use , and I have yet to use a tripod:o

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that. I've been using 100 almost exclusively because I've read on here that it gives the best quality photo. And I didn't want to go posting something full of noise and grain.

So I've been nervous to change it except for when I'm indoors but you'll notice that I haven't posted any shots here other than outside shots. I'm not sure at what point (ISO speed) you start to lose quality.

I guess I'd better start experimenting.

I do remember when I used to buy film, I'd always opt for the 400.

Thanks for the input.

Unless I am in a really dark room, I try to keep my ISO under 200. Even with the new 5DII, I prefer a low ISO.

Yep, I am mostly outside.so 400 works the best for me anyways.And being that I don;t use anything but my hands for stability, it helps for any shake.