How do I stop taking snaps and start taking photos? C&C please

oeb

Hey guys. So I am finally getting the hang of apatures, white balance, shutter speeds and all that. But I am still not happy with my shots. When I see some of your photos here I just think that it's something I would like to hang on my wall, but any time I take photos I just find that the few I do like (For example today, out of about 700 shots, I like maybe 10), they are still 'Just Snaps'.

Here are three I took today, please rip them apart and tell me what I can do to improve.

1


2


3

sineadw

Well there'll be no ripping apart from me - they're a hell of a lot better than mine were when I was first getting to grips with things.

First one I'd crop tighter - its a teensy bit too busy to my eye. Is it a subject you can retake? Maybe try different angles? The light on the wall is lovely. If you could accentuate that a bit more maybe by taking some of the other more distracting elements out.

Other than that I'd say the main thing is probably post processing? How are you with photoshop? A few adjustments to make them jump out a bit more and you'd be flying

oeb

sineadw wrote: »

Well there'll be no ripping apart from me - they're a hell of a lot better than mine were when I was first getting to grips with things.

First one I'd crop tighter - its a teensy bit too busy to my eye. Is it a subject you can retake? Maybe try different angles? The light on the wall is lovely. If you could accentuate that a bit more maybe by taking some of the other more distracting elements out.

Other than that I'd say the main thing is probably post processing? How are you with photoshop? A few adjustments to make them jump out a bit more and you'd be flying

While I have been using photoshop for years, but unfortunately only for cropping and saving for web

I am still trying to get to grips with it. Do you know of any good online resources for photoshop for photographers?

As sheesh can tell you, the old oven is in a abandoned ranger station or something half way up the gap of dunloe. I have about 8 shots of it from different angles and zoom, but that is the only one that stood out to me.

mehfesto2

Yup Im in agreement with Sinead. Nothing seriously wrong with these shots bar a good post-processing. What camera are you using, bout of interest?

Maybe you could revisit #1 and take it off-centre, however. Look up the "rule of thirds" in google. (I'm terrible at explaining concepts!). But you have a great eye for compisition if you use the other two for examples. And maybe on a sunny day you could return to the sites of #2/#3 and try it in a different lighting. You'd be amazed at the difference the weather can make to a landscape.

You can download loads of free ones like paint.net or just use picnik.com. They're quite handy to get to grips with at first. And wont lighten your wallet like photoshop will!

What I'd want to do with #2 is get that brown colour out of the water. Might be hard with the tools I've names, but worth a look. Would really benefi the picture.
#3 needs to be more punchier in my opinion. Boost the contrast up a little, darken the shadows and warm the temperature up a tad too (personal opinion, by the way).

smelltheglove

+1 for the processing, not mad on the first one but only as it is not my taste! Where is the 3rd one? I have one very very similar!

I would say with a little tweaking of brightness and contrast maybe sharpening you could transform these into the shots you wanted to take!

ThOnda

They look good.
To make some improvement, studying work of other photographers, photography theory and technical side of photography.
Understanding Exposure is a good book to get some inspiration.

rahtkennades

I'd agree with the above. The composition on the two water shots is very good. They may be a little flat though, some PP will definitely help. Some more saturation on the second one to bring up the greens would be good, and maybe a bit of brightness?
For me the third one is a great shot. I love the way the eye is led through the picture. Again, with a little bit of post-processing it would definitely be a 'put up on the wall' shot.
Keep up the good work!

0utpost31

Also, National Geograpic is almost guaranteed to have stunning and well composed photos, you should check them out and try and learn from them.

#3 is my fave by the way. You could hang that on a wall and be proud!

oeb

Thanks for all your comments guys.

mehfesto2:
I have photoshop (I work from home sometimes, so work got me a copy for here), I just don't really know how to use it yet. I know about the rule of thirds, it was just a bit cramped where I took that photo Also, I find images very bare when I use it most of the time. #3 is the only one that has any PP done to it, but that was just me fiddling. I will have a go at your suggestions though.

I am using a Nikon D50. These shots were taken with the 18-55mm lens. The camera is belong to a mate of mine. I am planning on buying a camera soon, I was thinking of getting the D60 dual lens kit.

smelltheglove:
The third one is Torc Waterfall in Killarney. It was taken from the very far right of the viewing area. I was up there with sheesh today on our very poorly attended Killarney trip . #2 is taken there too, down a bit further, and #1 was up the Gap of Dunloe.

ThOnda:
Thank you. I will see if I can get my local bookshop to order in that book for me.

rahtkennades:
I find that when I try and bring up the brightness of shots like that that the water can look very 'Blown Out' I will take a stab at it though. (It was a very dark area under some trees)

0utpost31:
Thank you, I will have to start picking up some issues (Although I have a feeling that all I will get from it will be a desire to go to these fantastic places at the other side of the world and try and take nice photos)

CabanSail

We all take lots of shots & pick the best ones.

I think I have shot inside that same abandobed building up the Gap of Dunloe, recognised it before I read the post. I would agree with the slightly tighter crop unless you can get any intereting detail out from the shadows. Do you shoot RAW?

The treatment of the water is very good, just need something to make them special, but then so do we all. Remember that your own images always look worse to you than they do to others (well they do to me anyway) Only you know the full history of the image & the whole potential you had in your head. We just see the final product.

PM sent

oeb

Nope, I shoot in fine jpeg. I will switch to RAW eventually though


This is a closer shot of the oven.

sasar

I would say, understanding aperture, shutter speed etc. is not enough, you need to know what you want to capture and see the final image in your mind.

0utpost31

oeb wrote: »

0utpost31:
Thank you, I will have to start picking up some issues (Although I have a feeling that all I will get from it will be a desire to go to these fantastic places at the other side of the world and try and take nice photos)

And what's wrong with that?!!:)

mikeanywhere

One of the things I would suggest is to actually go to an art gallery/museum and look at the classics. They can serve as great inspiration

Good luck in an exciting time of your progression!!

Calina

No 3 is beautiful. I would up the saturation slightly for the greens if possible.

______________________

Photographs versus snapshots is a philosophy. You need to look within yourself for that to be honest. I am sorry I missed your Killarney trip; unfortunately my time is not my own lately.

Ultimately, you need to know what it is about your own photographs that is missing at this point in time. I am not too gone on Photo 1 which strikes me as photo for the sake of photo. Mostly I ask myself the following question: "Am I going to want to hang this on a wall if i have the wall space?" If the answer is no, then I know I'm missing something from the photograph.

I'm just a ickle bit tired today as I have had a full on week between work and photog stuff (but not actually taking photos tbh). If you like landscape photography, I'd have a look at some of the Irish postcards, particularly Peter Zoller and Liam Blake. I think Peter Zoller's are on Real Ireland, and I think - but could be wrong, that Liam Blake's cards were issued by John Hinde.

What I suspect you're missing is the eye to turn something out of the camera into something on your wall. It's easy to say that might be processing; processing is nothing without the eye to see into the future with it. I don't if the post processing challenge got under way but somewhere on Photography; I think it predates the digital darkroom, there is a thread I started which was effectively a digital processing challenge. I know City-Exile did something similar too - posted up a photograph of some scenic part of the country and see what other people did with it. I really have tobe somewhere else now so forgive me for not digging it out just yet.

I wish tomorrow was Sunday, not today.

ThOnda

As Sasar said, understanding of basic controls of the camera (and the whole process of capturing an image of reality) will give you knowledge base what you can do with your camera, it'll offer you to "previsualise" the picture when you just see something. The book Understanding exposure was, is and will be recommended by many people, because it gives exactly the very needed explanation what effect has Aperture, Exposure (time), contrast, colour balance, sensitivity of sensor and even composition.
There are many articles and tutorials on the Internet you could study for free. I think that FAQ sticky would give you enough resources to read and study.