Urgent Help Needed

[nickt]

They look very good. You asked for comments, so I'll give a few.
First shot. I think the bench should be a little sharper, looks like focus is on the tree.
2nd shot, I like, but my ocd wants the bench level so I would have moved a bit to make the bench level and windows. I like the low angle.
3rd. Flower on lower left is more in focus than the center flowers. I think because depth of field is shallow and you probably focused on the green petals that are set back in the center. higher aperture or focus and recompose.
4th. edge of pipe is sharper, I'd rather see the dead leaves more sharp. Same advice with higher aperture or focus recompose.
last one. really good, but I would probably straighten tree, but I think its actually growing at that angle, so I guess it should stay as is.

Are you using single point focus?

edit. I just took another look, I think the leave in the pipe is in focus. Maybe a little more exposure so leaves show better.

 

[Lawrence]

They look very good. You asked for comments, so I'll give a few.
First shot. I think the bench should be a little sharper, looks like focus is on the tree.
2nd shot, I like, but my ocd wants the bench level so I would have moved a bit to make the bench level and windows. I like the low angle.
3rd. Flower on lower left is more in focus than the center flowers. I think because depth of field is shallow and you probably focused on the green petals that are set back in the center. higher aperture or focus and recompose.
4th. edge of pipe is sharper, I'd rather see the dead leaves more sharp. Same advice with higher aperture or focus recompose.
last one. really good, but I would probably straighten tree, but I think its actually growing at that angle, so I guess it should stay as is.

Are you using single point focus?

edit. I just took another look, I think the leave in the pipe is in focus. Maybe a little more exposure so leaves show better.

Nick I am well pleased with those comments. Much higher praise than I expected.
Yes 1st pic focus was on tree -intentional but will go back and repeat to see difference
2nd shot - Gotcha and good point. I wasn't focusing on level at all! Dumb but I was really just clicking.
3rd was in macro and I thought I had focused on petal
4th was a silly photo and the dead leaf was supposed to be the star of the show.

I put a few more up which I think you missed.

Thanks once again - most appreciated.

​Lawrence

 

[nickt]

2nd batch. I don't like the angle. Flowers, nice and sharp. Trailer, not bad, but I think I want to see the whole roof. Last one, i'm not sure what the subject is. I don't like the trees. Not exposed well, but if you wanted silhouettes, they are not dark enough.

 

[Lawrence]

Great feedback. I never gave the roof a thought. Note to self on that one.
Like you the last one baffles me.

 

[nickt]

Nick I am well pleased with those comments. Much higher praise than I expected.
Yes 1st pic focus was on tree -intentional but will go back and repeat to see difference
2nd shot - Gotcha and good point. I wasn't focusing on level at all! Dumb but I was really just clicking.
3rd was in macro and I thought I had focused on petal
4th was a silly photo and the dead leaf was supposed to be the star of the show.

I put a few more up which I think you missed.

Thanks once again - most appreciated.

​Lawrence

I'm working on taking better pictures myself. I understand the technical aspects, but I have trouble seeing a good artistic shot. Looking over your shots helps me too.

 

[Lawrence]

A few more (if I may indulge seen as Nick was kind to me).

 

[nickt]

#1 nice, #2 is a little dark, but a nice scene, #3 is not so exciting, maybe zoom closer to have the tree fill most of the frame, #4 is nice, but I'd probably pump up the flowers a bit in post, make the color pop a bit. I like the bench.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

It definitely appears the original problem with focus has been solved. Your shots are looking very well done. Some shots could use a little tweaking but that's an entirely different issue.

As for improving your shots from an *artistic* standpoint I can only suggest you start brushing up on composition. Google it. There's a lot to learn and the best way I've found is to simply put some serious effort into implementing the concepts one or two at a time. Study one concept, go out and force yourself to shoot it. I also *strongly* suggest you use a normal, prime lens. The 35mm and 50mm being the best for this in my opinion. That, or use some duct tape to "lock down" a zoom lens at one of those focal lengths. Using a prime lens forces you to MOVE, as in, with your FEET, and this is critically important when learning composition in my experience.

Learning composition takes practice and it takes time, but probably not as much of either as you might think before you start getting better shots; and you'll know it when you do. Good composition speaks for itself and it speaks loudly. Starting to feel like I have a grip on getting good composition has been, and continues to be, the single most satisfying experience I've had with photography.

.....

 

[Lawrence]

Thanks Horoscope Fish.

Do I understand correctly that you are saying I should leave my lens on either 35 mm or 50 mm and compose my picture accordingly by moving as opposed to framing through zooming in and out?
Very interesting. I look forward to trying it out.

And thanks for the kind words.

 

[Marcel]

Thanks Horoscope Fish.

Do I understand correctly that you are saying I should leave my lens on either 35 mm or 50 mm and compose my picture accordingly by moving as opposed to framing through zooming in and out?
Very interesting. I look forward to trying it out.

And thanks for the kind words.

​You don't have to do this, but, it could help you out deciding on which one would work better for your taste.

 

[Lawrence]

​You don't have to do this, but, it could help you out deciding on which one would work better for your taste.

Now I am confused. Horoscope Fish said to do this to improve composition and now it seems that this exercise serves and entirely different purpose. ???

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

The exercise is just to help you determine which one of the lenses you originally asked about will work better for the type of shooting you want to do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Lawrence]

The exercise is just to help you determine which one of the lenses you originally asked about will work better for the type of shooting you want to do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

My original post was about which camera to buy (the D3200 or the D5100) and made no mention of any lens. i did see a post somewhere where someone was asking whether to buy the 35 mm or 50 mm with f2.8 and I recall a similar answer to what HF said above about locking it in on each setting for a week to see which suits a particular style. I found that very interesting and will give it a try before venturing into another shop with credit card in hand. I am pretty sure I will buy a lens at some point in the future.

But his suggestion above is to use this technique for composition. I find that just as interesting as he says it will get me to move my feet. I'll certainly give it a try.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

But his suggestion above is to use this technique for composition. I find that just as interesting as he says it will get me to move my feet. I'll certainly give it a try.

The point of the exercise is that zoom lenses tend to make us lazy photographers. Zoom lenses change perspective, but they do not change composition. To do that, to change the composition within the frame, one must MOVE. Physically. When you move around your subject, your composition within the frame will change.

This may seem like it's stating the obvious but take note of how other photographers, typically, do not move (or move very, very very little) when they have a zoom lens; they tend to stand in one spot and zoom in and out. And yes, I know I'm generalizing. Still, there's a great deal of truth in what I'm saying.

In short, I am suggesting you move your body, both vertically and horizontally, around your subject without zooming because this will change the composition; and you can't shoot a good composition if you don't see it to begin with.

......

 

[Lawrence]

I went out this afternoon and snapped a whole lot of stuff on 35mm in manual. Some terrible some bad some better that I thought. Its a learning curve.
​

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

My original post was about which camera to buy (the D3200 or the D5100) and made no mention of any lens. i did see a post somewhere where someone was asking whether to buy the 35 mm or 50 mm with f2.8 and I recall a similar answer to what HF said above about locking it in on each setting for a week to see which suits a particular style. I found that very interesting and will give it a try before venturing into another shop with credit card in hand. I am pretty sure I will buy a lens at some point in the future.

But his suggestion above is to use this technique for composition. I find that just as interesting as he says it will get me to move my feet. I'll certainly give it a try.

I read so many posts every day that I sometimes get confused. That and I am very old.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I went out this afternoon and snapped a whole lot of stuff on 35mm in manual. Some terrible some bad some better that I thought. Its a learning curve.​

That's how I do it. I take a couple concepts, go out, focus on those concepts and shoot a lot. I look at what shots worked and what shots didn't and I ask myself why. Then I frequently s--t can the whole lot because they're just practice shots and what I'm really doing is training my brain. Then I go back out the next day and do the same thing. After a while things starts to click but I still get a whole lot more mediocre shots than I do Real Keepers, but photography itself is one long, continuous, learning curve.