Rate My Latest Shots

Here they are:

Here are my ratings (out of 400) and humble opinions:
1. 387/400: Great shot! Looks unique.
2. 332/400: Interesting, but rather messy.
3. 319/400: The unfortunate eclipsing of the birds makes it look like the foreground bird has a second beak sticking out of its neck.
4. 363/400: Pretty good. However, the right eye is completely shadowed and the crop is a bit tight.
5. 337/400: For this shot, the DOF doesn't look quite right to me... I think that it would look better if either both ducks were in focus, or if the DOF was thin enough to isolate only one duck.

The portrait is the best of the lot and I wish his hat was a tad higher on his forehead for better light. For #1 think about balance. What is the most important element and how is it framed? Is there adequate support from the surrounding elements?

#1: The "main leaf" is too small in the surrounding area. A tighter crop might make it more interesting - even with only one leaf.

#2 The element you want us to focus on is obviously the grass with the dew drops in the center. Again... there is too much distraction and the "lines" in the image are not consistently leading to what you want us to see.

#3 The bird is nicely lit and focussed but it has its tail towards the viewer. The background is too distracting with the other OOF birds in the water.

#4 Is nice and closely cropped to draw attention to the face and the eyes. Always a problem with caps... you need either fill flash or a reflector to get some light under that visor. When I take close up shots of people with caps I sometimes turn the camera upside down so that the flash comes from "under" the camera to bring some light under the caps. But the easiest way is with the subject holding a reflector...

#5 Nice shot but the shallow DOF is not working here. That only works when there is some more separation between the front duck and the one further away. When so close together both should have been in focus.

In general. It strikes me that in all shots the centre point of attention is in the centre of the image. Try to apply the "rule of thirds" and see how that works out in your images. Keep shooting.

Thanks for all the comments guys, really going to help me get better

1) I like #1 the most and I think it would look better with a tighter crop around the leaves. Both #1 and #2 would look more interesting as a macro shot.

2) #2 would look better if you focused on the middle leaf with the droplets of water. It also suffers from having too busy of a background.

3) The subject in #3 bears a lot of significance being in the center of the photo. I would try to move the subject to the side of the picture. The bird itself is almost entirely in shadow which makes it look flatter than it really is.

4) Not a bad portrait and the details came out nicely. I think this is also an interesting crop.

5) Good subject capture, but I would crop out the top of the picture as you see a reflection of another duck. I also agree with the DoF comment on this picture.

The white balance on the other pictures are a bit off. #3 a bit warm, #4 a bit cool, and #5 a bit warm. Part of this is also the harsh light which creates a big contrast in light/shadows.

Overall I think they came out pretty good.

-wd

From now on Im going to start working on my composition alot more. Also, I don't crop photos, all these are straight from the camera

I like #1 a lot.

Tony_Stark wrote in post #11313864
Also, I don't crop photos, all these are straight from the camera

I think you may have been programmed by your instructor that every composition has to fit the frame or else. It's a lie. Cropping is a powerful tool and when you shoot primes a necessary tool at times when you can't get the exact composition to frame relationship.

The first is my favourite.

jetcode wrote in post #11317031
I think you may have been programmed by your instructor that every composition has to fit the frame or else. It's a lie. Cropping is a powerful tool and when you shoot primes a necessary tool at times when you can't get the exact composition to frame relationship.

Ive taught myself everything The reason why these shots are centred is because I use the middle focus point 99% of the time.