Criticism and advice please? Help me learn.

session savage

Hi all,

Still getting used to this photography craic. Could you please look at these pics and explain all the places Im going wrong.
I look at these and they look as amateur as possible.
Some of the pictures you guys post here take my breath away. Mostly its the vivid colours you get . I know my composition is pretty dire and Im not too worried about that as Im just shooting these if its convenient while I try to learn how to capture colours more vividly. I dont want to be trekking up a mountain only to take washy pics.

Should I be using filters? if so can you recommend some so I can get better colours. Or is that something done in photoshop after?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

IMG_0775 by John Keane, on Flickr

IMG_0780 by John Keane, on Flickr

IMG_0782 by John Keane, on Flickr

Be brutal as ye like. Im looking to learn and Ive no ego about this.

Paulw

The problem with shooting snow is usually white balance. That is why it seems more dull and blue. Fixing the white balance may give you more colour in the first image.

Composition seems nice.

For me, the third image does nothing. But I like the first two.

magicbastarder

just to muddy the waters, it's the first and third ones which i like. the middle is just a bit 'meh'.

CabanSail

Have only been able to have a quick look on my phone.

I take it you are shooting in Jpeg and not doing any post production.

There is a lot to learn at this stage. Some just need some study and thought.
Do you understand the concepts of exposure?
Have you looked into the various things which can improve composition?
Do you see the image you are trying to capture in your mind before you press the shutter?

Most here will shoot their images in RAW and then put them through some sort of post production workflow.

Speaking personally my aim when shooting is to capture the data in order to make the photo I see in my mind. Often the image out of the camera looks terrible but if that is not the end product.

As for the pics above, from what I can see the top one is the best. Like the detail on the frosty grass and don't mond the warmer tones from the early (or late) sun. Shooting into the sun can be a problem but is ok here.
Second one is fairly well framed but lacks impact as it is quite flat.
Not really sure what the last one is about.

peckerhead

I think the last one is a good illustration of how what your eye sees, to the exclusion of much else — presumably the snow on the hills, here? — ends up being lost in the photographed image. If you were to crop the top third off that image (and lose a little at the sides) and apply a little post-processing (mostly just contrast and WB adjustments), I think you'd be quickly closer to what you perhaps imagined that shot would look like. Others have asked whether you're familiar with basic concepts of exposure, composition, etc., and I'd recommend a little bit of book learning too, if you want to get the most out of your camera. But walking around trying things out is far more important. And fun! Enjoy...

session savage

Thanks for the replies folks. I have a good few books on photography, I'll read up a bit more on white balance.
Peckerhead you made an interesting point. In the last photo I was trying to capture the vivid pattern across the landscape of the snow on the tree branches. It looked amazing but I couldn't capture it. The photos lost the contrast or something.
CabanSail, yeah I'm shooting jpeg and for now not doing any post production. I do see the image in my mind that I want to capture but I just can't.. Capture it. I guess composition is just a matter of practice ??

magicbastarder

i like the broodiness of the last one. if you boosted the foreground it'd remove any drama from it and it'd become flat.

Isambard

I'm a total beginner but were it mine, I'd be very pleased with the first photo. Depicts the sun reaching out right across the picture to melt the snow and the silhouetted trees and the crisp mountains to the right balance each other to my mind, i'm imagining it's dawn...could well be sundown I guess.

CelticRambler

Agree with peckerhead about the last one (and magicbastarder to a certain extent), in that I think that was probably a great broody landscape in real life, but you couldn't capture with the camera. Looking at the detail that's still visible in the sky, I think you'd have got much more "feel" to it if you'd used a (strong) graduated ND filter.