Beginner Photo's!

lifegamer

A selection of some of my first photographs using my new Canon 40d

I'm using the kit lens (18-55) until I asses my needs and wants and budget! lol

Feel free to leave your feedback and/or suggestions! Remember i'm a first timer!

Cheers

LG

smelltheglove

I get what you are aiming for in the second picture but I think you need to go much closer. Your colours are nice and bright. Are you using the auto setting?

I'm not feeling anything from the others but bearing in mind you just have the camera you probably need to play around and get your inspiration. Maybe decide tomorrow you want to get a good shot of the cat and go for that rather than just snapping anything. The fact that you have gotten in there aiming for macro style with the first and your angle even on the second shows there is a lot of potential.

Keep snapping away and uploading, you will find c&c will help you realise what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

AnCatDubh

#1 is the best of the bunch for me. ok, some may suggest crop more and shift the subject (flower) off center, but i love the contrast that you've captured. high contrasts captured well generally will work.

as a general comment - have a think about the composition before you shoot. much of photography is about learning to see (ok - there's much more to it too :: To learn to see you need to visualise the end result - what you want to have in the final capture and then apply your technical skills to achieve that result. When you are visualising something that you don't have the technical skills to create then you are in learning mode.

Google the 'rule of thirds' - learn all about it, use it, and then learn about how and when to break it.

Think about what is pleasing to look at - not always aesthetically pleasing but its a good place to start.

Then think about light - where its coming from, what works for you (target audience) and learn how to control it. Shift your vantage point to achieve some of the above. Improvise with flash if needed but learn how to use flash correctly - used incorrectly it can be harsh and destroy what otherwise would be a good shot.

I do like #1 though What sets it apart from the others is some of what i've mentioned above. Hope this helps.

daycent

I like 1 and 2 but you might want to recrop them so the subject isn't in the centre.

3 is good but could be great if the cat was facing more towards the camera.

4 isn't really a picture of anything and doesn't do anything for me.

5 is a nice flower/plant but the lighting is too harsh IMO.

Just my opinion, I'm a beginner too though:p
Keep at it and enjoy your new toy::)

kjt

lifegamer wrote: »

Feel free to leave your feedback and/or suggestions! Remember i'm a first timer!

The first three are nice. I like what you were going for in the first shot, the colours are nice imo, a little dark but it works with the middle flower. I feel the shine on the ivy takes away from the shot and the middle flower doesn't look very focused. You will hear a fair bit in photography that you shouldn't put the subject directly in the middle of a shot, but rules are made to be broken. Sure just look at one of Sinead photos. It's great!



The second shot has lovely clean colours in it but I'd tend to agree with Rachels point above.

Again the third shot has good colours in it and is very sharp. I'm guessing the cat was playing/scared/unsure of the slipper? It's not fully portrayed in the shot and I'm not sure I like looking at cats asses...

The final two shots do nothing for me, not much subject and contrast.

Hope that helps

rahtkennades

Hi lifegamer, good start, fair play.

A few points on each photo from my pov:

1. Subject is too central, with a lot of blank space and a bit of distracting fuss around the edges. I know it's difficult given that you're just using the kit lens, but if possible, I'd recommend getting in closer to make the flower larger in the frame. Alt is to crop. Maybe crop the photo to give a contrast between the flower and the dark background might be interesting?

2. Again, subject is central and too far back so that it's lost in the fuss around the photo. If you could change your point of view to display the flower in more detail against a background that was either more plain (perhaps the blue of sky or the green of tree), it would pull the flower more into the picture. Also, you should look at the aperture that you're using for photos like this. If you're looking to isolate the flower in the shot, using a wide aperture (eg 3.5 on the kit lens) will make the background blurry and the foreground sharp. You've done this in the first image as you can see, and it's helped a lot.

3. I think I can see the setup with this. I assume the cat became interested in the slippers? I don't know if it tried to paw them, but that might have helped with the action in this shot.
In terms of the framing, there's a lot of blank space to the left, it means the action of the shot is kind of lost. Re-framing (or cropping) the shot as a portrait to eliminate the grass area might help to give more focus to the play between cat and slipper.

4. Sorry, but there's not a lot to hold interest in this shot. It's very busy, but it's not really a picture of anything.

5. Definitely the pick of the bunch for me. I love the muted colours of the flower against the wall.
The only suggestions I'd give is to change your position to remove the corner of the wall, as the change in tones in the background are a bit distracting. You can see the way the line comes up through the top of the flower, that distracts from the flower itself, and leads the eye away from it.

A good start though. Keep 'em coming for sure!

lifegamer

smelltheglove wrote: »

I get what you are aiming for in the second picture but I think you need to go much closer. Your colours are nice and bright. Are you using the auto setting?

Thansk for all your honest feedback! It's muchly appreciated! Yup I am using the auto setting to get used to the camera. I should probably try not using those functions for the most part!

smelltheglove

I'm not long into it myself and as advice I'll say start with the sutter speed first, you probably know the ethics anyway, slower shutter more light faster shutter less light. Once you get that then move onto aperature and then mix knowledge of both in manual.

You've got the idea and the equipment know all you need is practice.

kgiller

Theres nothing i can add that hasnt already been said there. I recommend that you play around with the camera as much as possible and read as much as possible about taking pictures.

These will get you started
Link 1 - this is a brilliant tutorial for beginners
Link 2 - this is more complicated, but good once you know the basics

Also go read "understanding exposure" by bryan peterson.

Good luck

0utpost31

Bearing in mind I'm a bit of a newbie myself...


#1: My ultimate golden rule of flower photography is when taking pics of a flower, try to choose one with some colour, not just plain white. The more colourful the flower the better.

#2: Nice colours, red green and blue are striking. But as others have said, the flower is in too central a position. If you place the subject off centre, 9 times out of ten it will feel better. This would be my fave out of the bunch.

#3: This is a picture of a cats ass, I don't get it. I love cats, and I love cat pictures, but this picture has a cats bum bang in the centre and its the first thing I look at. It sounds sick I know but that's what happens. A view from the side would work better I think.

#4: Not much going on here, just a really messy bush.

#5: Looks like you used a flash for this photo and it's after sucking the life out of the flower. I like the look of the texture though.