First Ever Photos, C&C ,Botanic Gardens

meanpeoplesuck

Hey, I just started photography in a media portfolio course this year, and these photos are the first ones I have ever taken other than normal pictures of friends/family etc at parties. I developed them in a dark room and were taken in the Botanic Gardens.

I couldn't seem to scan them very well but I think they came out alright.

1) Spikey Plant
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/meanpeoplesuck/SpikeyPlant.jpg

2) Reeds by Water
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/meanpeoplesuck/ReedsWater.jpg

3) Lilly Pads
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/meanpeoplesuck/LillyPads.jpg

4) Water and Leaves big contrast (don't really like this one myself)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/meanpeoplesuck/WaterLeavesContrast.jpg

5) FireWorks Plant (probablly my fav cause it looks like fireworks)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/meanpeoplesuck/FireWorkPlant.jpg

Comments and everything are welcome

kjt

Sorry to say I don't really like any. There doesn't seem
to be much contrast between the black & white thus
there's not a lot of detail in them...

meanpeoplesuck

kjt wrote:

Sorry to say I don't really like any. There doesn't seem
to be much contrast between the black & white thus
there's not a lot of detail in them...

Thanks for the honesty, what should I do differently? Like I said theyre my first images so I'm fairly clueless

helios

I'd say use some color!! The Botanic Gardens are full of all different kinds. I've been there myself and taken some of my best pics there using all the vivid colors. It's easy too, I did mine using a 4MP Sony camera... I can post some if you'd like to see...

meanpeoplesuck

helios wrote:

I'd say use some color!! The Botanic Gardens are full of all different kinds. I've been there myself and taken some of my best pics there using all the vivid colors. It's easy too, I did mine using a 4MP Sony camera... I can post some if you'd like to see...

ah yeah I would have but we're only allowed use black and white stuff for now so we can develop it in the darkroom, so we understand how it works or something...ask the teacher! hehe, id love to see some of your photos though

helios

meanpeoplesuck wrote:

ah yeah I would have but we're only allowed use black and white stuff for now so we can develop it in the darkroom, so we understand how it works or something...ask the teacher! hehe, id love to see some of your photos though

My Flickr

Fenster

Not great, not bad, colour would be wonderful. :]

Carrigart Exile

If all else fails mate take pictures of naked women, can't go wrong;)

elven

Wow, the thoughtful critique and useful comments just come flowing round here, don't they?

Since you're working in bw then I'm guessing what you're trying to concentrate more on is shapes/contrast/textures, and I think particularly in the last two you've started to get something like that. Strangely enough even though you say you don't like the second last one, it's my favourite - something about the light-dark with the reflection on the water of the sun and the tree, and the shape of the leaves on the surface does it for me.

You said for yourself that the last one is your favourite because it reminds you of fireworks - that's what you need to keep an eye out for, it's strong and pretty graphic so it works well as a contrasty image. What is it about the first two that attracted your attention? As is, they are slightly busy I'd say, with no focal point coming to my attention, and there's not a lot of contrast in there so they are a bit flat. If you can tell us what caught your eye when you took them then there might be something different to consider with focal length/framing/DoF or something - unfortunately since you're using film I can't suggest some post processing since I don't know how to do it in the darkroom...

Fajitas!

Try using some stonger red filters in the darkroom

I think the shots are grand and, great for your first ones, espec if you include developing and printing. I know you don't like it but Waterleavescontrast is great as an abstract image. Works quite well in that respect.

sineadw

Fajitas! wrote:

I know you don't like it but Waterleavescontrast is great as an abstract image. Works quite well in that respect.

As another complete beginner mind, I'd have to agree - it was my favourite. I also liked the last one - it seems vital to me, lots of inferred movement.

I'm working my way up to developing myself. Just curious - did you find the development as enjoyable as the exposure?

And why does that sound rude?

B0rG

elven
this is below any criticism. Few days ago some1 posted fashion shoot done with excellent technical level (few minor things) but otherwise very good - critique was good there. There was something to criticise.

Here I have trouble to understand what was photographed, what's the subject, what's the technique, why not color, why choose such dop. TBH I would expect something better from someone starting a course on digital portfolio...

MrVisitor

I'm a complete beginner myself, so I'd say I would do much worse at getting decent shots.

The last one is a good black and white image, because, as has already been said, it is high contrast and simple.

With black and white, you're really looking for very simple high contrast shapes.

Not sure why they took you to a botanical garden for a black and white shoot, would have been on a street, or in an urban setting.

Good job.

mikeanywhere

Good points by all but keep posting them up meanpeoplesuck as and when you get them.

One point tho - if you are doing a photography course, isnt your tutor supposed to be helping you with also (as in how to take/compose your shots etc)??

Zombrex

Constructive critisim (I hope ), here we go

1) Spikey Plant

The main problem with this photo is that it is confusing to the eye. The eye is naturally drawn to the high contrast detail in the background, the problem being that it is the background and is hard to see because of the foreground. The background also seems to be in slightly sharper focus, which again draws the eye to it.

When taking a shot like this you need to make sure the focus is completely on the foreground, which will make the background go out of focus and be less distracting on the eyes. Also because the background is bright and the interesting shapes and shadows in the foreground are dark it is hard to make them out, and is confusing the cameras metering sensor, so the contrast in the background looks fine, but the foreground looks hard to make out.


2) Reeds by Water

This is the type of effect you should have gone for in the top one, a dark out of focus background.

The only problem with this photo is that the camera is too far away from the reeds, and as such we can't make out much detail in them. Also the closer reeds on the left of the frame which are out of focus because they are so close to the camera are distracting. You have position the main reeds correctly, ie not dead centre, but it would be better if there was nothing in the left hand side of the frame.

3) Lilly Pads

Have you altered this with photoshop? I can't make out any detail in the shot and it looks like a negative?

4) Water and Leaves big contrast (don't really like this one myself)

Again I think the altering (if you did any) ads nothing to the picture and makes it hard to make out any detail.

Unless you are going for a specific effect you should always try and make your photos show as much details as possible on a subject. That means getting both focus correct (you want the picture to be as sharp as possible) and lighting correct (you don't want it to be too dark or too bright so you cannot make out any of the surface details)

5) FireWorks Plant (probablly my fav cause it looks like fireworks)

I like this one, but again no detail, everything is washed out and abstract looking.

Not bad for a first go, you certain seem to have an idea of what could make an interesting photo. Keep at it.

I just noticed that you hinted that you are doing a dark room course, which would explain all the post-processing. That is fine to learn how to do it, but you want to be careful not to run before you can walk. Don't let the post-processing distract you from learning normal photography.

Wez

Where abouts are you doing your course? I'm doing photography and I think some of the media students are starting photography recently..

I went to the botanic gardens with college around the start of the year, got a few nice shots, they're one or two on my flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistawes/show/ ).

They're not bad considering that main focus at the start of the course is to get everyone to be technically able to take photos and process them, then move onto styling and composition. They're processed well for a beginner, some people in my course are only getting to that stage now and that's after working hard on it since september..

I think you need to sort out the tones in some of them. Reeds by water for example is a bit midtone-ish. You need more whites and more blacks, not just shades of grey. This is down to the way you're printing them, but you'll soon get the hang of it and how to sort this out.

The composition of some of them, e.g. lilly pads or spikey plant, doesn't really work, because there's nothing that your eye falls on. Spikey plant is too confusing with all that going on in the background, a shorter depth of feild (use a wider apperture, say 2.8/5.6) to get what's going on behind it out of focus, so you don't really see it.

Something like the rule of thirds is good for guidance on where to position a focal point.

This is an example of the rule of thirds. Notice how the boat falls on the intersection of the lines.



You basically want to position things on these lines to make them look pretty. If it's a small object, place it on a junction, if it's a tree or something long put it along the lines like the next picture.



Or you can simply go for banging it in the middle.. Up to you, either can be nice, but right in the centre gets a bit boring.

If you need any advice/tips or have any questions you can send me a pmif ya want.