Shots from this weekend with D50 + 55-200mm VR. CC would be great!

[cutsman]

Here are some shots I took this past weekend at Black Creek Pioneer Village here in Toronto. These were all taken with my D50 and 55-200 VR. Please be as critical as possible...afterall, how else am I supposed to learn and improve? Any tips or areas of improvement would be much appreciated. THANKS!

 

[66217]

I think the best ones are photos #2 and #6.

My only recommendation would be making photo #4 (the one of the poker cards) black & white. It would look much better.

 

[Lovesong]

You wouldn't happen to have EXIF data on these would you? I'm primarily interested to see what aperture values you were using, and maybe get the thought process.

The reason why I'm asking is that you seem to play around with it quite a bit, and that changes the appearances of your images. For example- picture 2 could have one of 2 things improved (but but not both). A slightly more open (smaller number) aperture would get rid of some of those spots in the background, and give you a better bokeh. On the other hand, a smaller aperture would allow for the handle of the saw to be more in focus, and give you a more complete image. The same could be said about Picture 4, as the domino is out of focus. In this case you're trying to show the curtain shapes in the background, so I'd probably clone out the domino.Picture 3 is spot on. You probably used something sharp like f/8 or f/11, which is what you should be doing for a similar "flat image." This doesn't work quite as well for the mill, however, as the tree on the left and the wall seem...well... flat.

Overall your composition is there, just need some practice with some of the technical crap. Good job.

 

[cutsman]

Thanks for the feedback. The EXIF data for these shots can be found on my zenfolio site (link in my sig). I think most of these shots were shot at the max aperture value. The shot of the mill was shot at 1/30sec f22 as I wanted to capture the motion of the wheel... it didn't really work out since i guess the wheel was moving too slowly.

I agree that I need to work more on the more technical stuff. I think I need to get more into the mindset of evaluating how i exactly want the DOF in my shots. I find a lot of the time, I crank aperture up and just start shooting away since I like shallow DOF. But for shots like the 1st and 3rd ones, I guess i probably should have shot at F8 or so since I'm not isolating any subjects and my shot probably would've been a tad sharper.

You wouldn't happen to have EXIF data on these would you? I'm primarily interested to see what aperture values you were using, and maybe get the thought process.

The reason why I'm asking is that you seem to play around with it quite a bit, and that changes the appearances of your images. For example- picture 2 could have one of 2 things improved (but but not both). A slightly more open (smaller number) aperture would get rid of some of those spots in the background, and give you a better bokeh. On the other hand, a smaller aperture would allow for the handle of the saw to be more in focus, and give you a more complete image. The same could be said about Picture 4, as the domino is out of focus. In this case you're trying to show the curtain shapes in the background, so I'd probably clone out the domino.Picture 3 is spot on. You probably used something sharp like f/8 or f/11, which is what you should be doing for a similar "flat image." This doesn't work quite as well for the mill, however, as the tree on the left and the wall seem...well... flat.

Overall your composition is there, just need some practice with some of the technical crap. Good job.

 

[baby duck monge]

Thanks for the feedback. The EXIF data for these shots can be found on my zenfolio site (link in my sig). I think most of these shots were shot at the max aperture value. The shot of the mill was shot at 1/30sec f22 as I wanted to capture the motion of the wheel... it didn't really work out since i guess the wheel was moving too slowly.

I agree that I need to work more on the more technical stuff. I think I need to get more into the mindset of evaluating how i exactly want the DOF in my shots. I find a lot of the time, I crank aperture up and just start shooting away since I like shallow DOF. But for shots like the 1st and 3rd ones, I guess i probably should have shot at F8 or so since I'm not isolating any subjects and my shot probably would've been a tad sharper.

Just so we're clear, when you say "crank aperture up" do you mean you make the number bigger or smaller? Because smaller numbers mean wider open and a shallower depth of field. Just making sure we're all on the same page here.

 

[cutsman]

Just so we're clear, when you say "crank aperture up" do you mean you make the number bigger or smaller? Because smaller numbers mean wider open and a shallower depth of field. Just making sure we're all on the same page here.

i meant increasing the aperture... ie. smaller f-number.

 

[law guy]

I enjoyed your photograph of the wood bucket / basket in this set. What drew me to it were the colors (that reddish background with the light wood and gray painted floors is beautiful) and the way the light flows across the scene. It's a great still life shot. I might have moved the chair out of it - but if that violates what you were after, just shooting what was there, I understand.