photos for review, please comment

[tchaap]

I need some help and hope you all can review these photos on my flickr account and tell me how to improve.

These photos were taken today on a golf course. It was sunny and pretty clear. I am just an amateur but would like to know how to improve these photos.

These were taken with a Nikon D70, Nikon ED 70-300 1:4-5.6D

I was told you can see the settings on Flickr which is good because I don't know what they were other than I had it on the Sports preset.

I hope the link works, I really look forward to your comments. Basically, I would like to know how to sharpen the photos. They look a bit grainy, maybe this is what some call noise?

Thanks,
TC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8522548@N03/

 

[Everythingisnt]

I'd say the best is the third one (DSC_6756) because it has the most stuff working for it: lighting, composition, colors.. on #1 the light is a bit too harsh and it wouldn't hurt to get closer. #2 is nice as well but the faces are underexposed because of the hats casting shadows on them. I would have used a flash in that circumstance.

Besides that I think they are nice photos. They could do with a bit more contrast IMHO because they looked a little flat...

 

[tchaap]

How do I add contrast?
TC

 

[Everythingisnt]

Well, if you're using iPhoto simply click on 'edit' once you've selected your photo and adjust the contrast slider (available under the 'adjustments' button)

 

[rogersmj]

Yeah I'd agree that 6756 is probably the best of the three, but the lighting isn't great. I like the subject's position and expression (the way he's examining his club), but his face and the club are all in shadow while the whole background is in sunlight. So playing a little with the contrast and levels might improve it a bit.

All three photos look a touch "cold". You might experiment with different saturation and vividness settings on your Nikon; in the meantime, you can tweak the color temperature slider in iPhoto.

 

[Pili]

Just a technical note, there's really no need to shoot at iso 1000 with that much light to work with. With cameras like the d70 and my d50, anytime you can shoot with a lower iso will help reduce the noise which you can see in the shadows of your photos. This is not nearly as big of an issue though with newer bodies like the d300 which handles noise much better.

 

[tchaap]

Thanks for the comments.

Pili, thanks for the ISO comment. I'll try that. The high ISO may be my noise problem.

TC