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idesign245

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 25, 2007
460
1
Ontario, Canada
I'm a first year graphic design student, and this term we have a digital photography course which I'm really loving. We were using Rebel XTI's in class, and I decided to go and buy myself a Rebel XS with the kit lens. I've had the camera for a week now and I'm really loving it. I'd love to hear your feedback on some of my shots... none of these have any post processing.

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103734

Guest
Apr 10, 2007
723
0
I really like the 3rd one, overall they are pretty nice, some of the subjects are somewhat boring, they just seem a little dull, but really I think they are still some good pictures.
 

idesign245

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 25, 2007
460
1
Ontario, Canada
I really like the 3rd one, overall they are pretty nice, some of the subjects are somewhat boring, they just seem a little dull, but really I think they are still some good pictures.

Thanks for the critique, I appreciate it. I know some of the subjects are a little boring, but I'm just trying to learn the basics and figure out the camera first. I'm playing with depth of field right now because thats our next assignment in class.

The horse is mine, and she isn't going to be with us much longer, so that photo means a lot to me.
 

thomahawk

macrumors 6502a
Sep 3, 2008
663
0
Osaka, Japan
nice pictures!

you need to pick better subjects however. instead of a more country feel add some more other action and movement in your pictures.

since your doing graphic design. your going to need a lot of creative shots and things that people wouldnt normally see or notice in places or life.

overall nice pictures! and enjoy your life of photography
 

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,800
3,100
Shropshire, UK
For a beginner, I think you've done a pretty good job with decent photographs and you have controlled the Depth of Field pretty well.

However, I personally think the pictures seem a little "flat" and that's most likely down to lighting (for example, in the shot of the bridge, some sunlight breaking through the trees would have made the shot more dynamic).

On the individual pictures, I'd make the following comments (This is just personal preference though!)

First one - it's an interesting door, but I'd have cropped out most of it and focused more on the actual texture of the peeling paint with a close up

Second one - Nice control of Depth of Field, not so nice choice of flower: Much better to find one that isn't dying

Third One - this is my favourite but would have been even better with a bit of dew on the leaves (artificially sprayed on if necessary...) and possibly cropped tighter onto fewer leaves

Fourth one: As I said above, the lighting leaves this a little flat, but you've done well to get the whole bridge in focus. Nice control of Depth of Field

Fifth one: Personally, I'd crop it so the horse is the major element in the photo rather than the background. Also would probably have tried a shallower depth of field to blur out the slightly messy trees in the background

Sixth one: nice focus on the main subject, but horrible choice of brick wall background

Seventh one: Nice focus and decent lighting, but not the best choice of subject IMHO.

As I said at the start, they're impressive photos for a beginner and a bit more attention to detail will really let the photos shine.
Good luck, and enjoy your photography :)
 

cherry su

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2008
1,217
1
The autumn leaves looks the best; the busy background is blurred to focus on the 'main' leaves. (in other words, good depth of field)
 

idesign245

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 25, 2007
460
1
Ontario, Canada
Yeah unfortunately, its fall in southern Ontario, which means rain and cloudy skies... which makes for crappy lighting for photos :) As for the flower, they were all dying, like I said... it is fall.

What's with the beef against the bricks? The photo was taken at an old abandoned school house, so I thought the bricks were an interesting contrast against the flowers/grass.

But thank you for your opinions, I appreciate them. like I said before, I'm just trying to get the basics down and get the most out of my camera right now... more interesting shots will come with time and experience, I'm sure.
 

firstapple

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2007
997
50
I would agree with Phil on a lot of his critiques. A lot of your pictures could use cropping (So we know more of what the main subject is supposed to be), which was my first opinion when I quickly scrolled through the pictures.

#4 and #5 would be my favorites if I had to choose. #3 would be nice, but I would crop out a lot of it where there is just a bunch of white space.
 

Westside guy

macrumors 603
Oct 15, 2003
6,402
4,269
The soggy side of the Pacific NW
I like the wooden walkway photo quite a bit.

For the autumn leaves - while I like it, I'd prefer if it had a blurrier background, accomplished either by using a wider aperture or by moving closer to the leaves that are the focus of the image.

Please note that the following comment is based on my personal taste, and you (or others) may disagree with what I say.

Personally I think you're trying to adhere to the "rule of thirds" just a little too literally in several of these images. For one thing, when there's nothing else of interest in the photo, it can look forced when you put the entire subject off on the 1/3 line. For the Queen Anne's Lace (I think that's what the flower is), I'd have shot vertically with the stem in the center - you could still have the flower head at the 1/3 of the way down from the top if your teacher is a stickler for the rule of thirds. Additionally, when a whole bunch of photos all have subjects right on that 1/3 line, it can look as forced as having everything smack dab in the center. Experiment with some different crops of your images, and see if anything strikes your fancy.
 

idesign245

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 25, 2007
460
1
Ontario, Canada
For the leaves, I was shooting looking up into a tree... so how would I have made the background blurrier if I couldn't move any closer to them? Just by playing with the aperture?

I agree with you on the rule of thirds deal, I think its come out that way because I play with the focus points when I'm trying to use depth of field, so what I'm trying to focus on usually ends up in the spot that I've selected for it to focus on. (does that make sense?)
 

Westside guy

macrumors 603
Oct 15, 2003
6,402
4,269
The soggy side of the Pacific NW
For the leaves, I was shooting looking up into a tree... so how would I have made the background blurrier if I couldn't move any closer to them? Just by playing with the aperture?

Yes. I can't tell what aperture you used, but let's say it was f/4 - if the lens you used could go to f/2.8, the background would be blurrier if you'd used that aperture (assuming you'd shot from the same spot).

Of course, sometimes the lens you have just doesn't have as wide an aperture as you'd like. In that case, if you can't "zoom with your feet" you just have to make do.

I agree with you on the rule of thirds deal, I think its come out that way because I play with the focus points when I'm trying to use depth of field, so what I'm trying to focus on usually ends up in the spot that I've selected for it to focus on. (does that make sense?)

Yes, that makes sense.

Different people work different ways. Personally, I try to frame my shot in "my mind's eye", whenever possible, before I've raised my camera up to take the picture. That works much better for static subjects, though, and not so well for subjects such as horses. :D
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,832
2,034
Redondo Beach, California
I really like the 3rd one, overall they are pretty nice, some of the subjects are somewhat boring, they just seem a little dull, but really I think they are still some good pictures.

Don't worry that the subjects are not interesting. What better goal for a graphic artiest but to make the ordinary eye catching?

The subject is not what makes the Photo, As an art student you'd know in is color, line, balance, motion, ..., and so on. You seem to be well ahead of most beginners, likely because of your art background. I can see that you are applying several rules. My preference is where you still do that but not in such an obvious manner, but then I do like your approach, mostly clear and uncluttered.

That last one, of the grass is what I like to do. But it s REAL HARD to make these kinds of shots work. Only a few can pull it off. I don't claim to be one of them but still try. Look at Edward Weston and his sons. Some of their work looks like just random shots until you look longer. Not easy to do
 

Plymouthbreezer

macrumors 601
Feb 27, 2005
4,337
253
Massachusetts
Good for just starting out IMHO.

For door shots, I personally think they only work well if the are dead on (camera focal plane parallel to the door), or perfectly symmetrical when looking down or up at the subject: something in your shot looks off, I'm thinking barrel distortion.
 

Plymouthbreezer

macrumors 601
Feb 27, 2005
4,337
253
Massachusetts
The door isn't perfectly centered in the frame, if I cropped it to do you think it would work?
I guess I mean this (dug into my "door shots" for two examples):

Dead on:


Angle, yet symmetrical:


Use a flash.. You wont get dull pictures
This is somewhat misleading advice, as tons of circumstances hardly call for use of flash; in some, it would be downright detrimental to the photograph's visual qualities.
 

k.love

macrumors member
Sep 27, 2008
31
0
This is somewhat misleading advice, as tons of circumstances hardly call for use of flash; in some, it would be downright detrimental to the photograph's visual qualities.

How is it misleading? I use a flash for every shot I take. Unless of course i want more shadows in the dark areas.

But a flash will help with the colors... or just get a better lens
 

Plymouthbreezer

macrumors 601
Feb 27, 2005
4,337
253
Massachusetts
How is it misleading? I use a flash for every shot I take. Unless of course i want more shadows in the dark areas.

But a flash will help with the colors... or just get a better lens
I guess personal preference... Sure, using a fill flash will usually help, it's by no means some edict of photography that a flash is required for "good" images.
 

srf4real

macrumors 68040
Jul 25, 2006
3,001
26
paradise beach FL
I'd love to hear your feedback on some of my shots... none of these have any post processing.
You are off to a fine start. Don't be afraid to shoot in raw and sweeten up your own images... you mentioned 'no post processing', but either you did it, or you trusted your Rebel xs to do it and then compress them to jpegs. I like the results better when I develop the raw files myself. :)
 

FX120

macrumors 65816
May 18, 2007
1,173
235
This pic was taken around 1 and I used a flash...

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If you're planning on doing a lot of photography of brick walls or other subjects with strong lines, either get a lens that doesn't suffer from such terrible distortion, or at least try and correct it in photoshop.
 
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