[csmoore]

I've had my camera for two days now, first time shooting with any kind of dslr. Any tips/advice no matter how harsh appreciated! (I know the door is really crooked, sorry ocd sufferers :P)

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Last edited by csmoore; 11-20-2012 at 12:47 PM.

[pukea]

thats pretty nice

[musings]

Some interesting photos there - particularly the first few for my money.

You may want to introduce spaces between the photos when posting - it's easier on the eyes.

Some of the photos could be improved with a bit more contrast and sharpening as part of your post-processing, but they're good for starters (and better than mine from my first few days with my dslr). You can also correct perspective issues such as crooked doors

Regards, Gary

[Na Horuk]

Some nice photos, you seem to be on the right track. Now you just have to try and move away from conventions, while keeping the photos interesting. I see you are using a prime, this is a good idea
Photo by photo, my thoughts are:
1. Busy, but interesting. The odd colours and contrast, the foreground and background.. it kind of works, keeps the eye, even though there is no specific subject (the sun, the clouds, the branches, it all comes together, but no single thing takes the place as "subject"). Probably my favourite of the bunch
2. Good idea, I just wish more of the flower were in-focus
3. Interesting, but sort of has been done, and the lines aren't parallel
4. The portrait is okay, though it probably means more as a memory that was captured. Not sure if eyes are in focus, but those are difficult light conditions to take a crisp photo without tripod or flash
5, 7. The animal is nice, has an interesting expression, is focused, but the background is a little distracting
8. Would work, interesting wall and door, but lines are not parallel. I know that this is a little thing to nitpick about, but generally you will always want lines like that to line up (at least the horizontals). In an en face photo you will want the camera to be straight, no tilted. Thats the difference between a photo that is fine and a photo that is great.
You have the eye for general composition, but you need to work a little more on the details, like backgrounds. The K-r is a great camera for learning and using prime lenses will speed you up on your process.

[csmoore]

thanks for all the replies, i really appreciate it. My goal for today is to set out and use all your advice. Thanks a lot!

[Gregory_51]

Hello
One of the many nice things about digital cameras is that you get instant results and things can be corrected and altered in pp up to a point. It's also much easier to improve your skills and technique as you get to see things right after you shoot it. First off I'll recommend that you shot in RAW rather than jpeg. RAW has much more info and flexibility than a jpeg. You get all the data from the sensor rather than throwing most of it away. If you don't know how to process a RAW file yet don't worry it's really simple. The other option is to capture your shots in RAW+jpeg so that when you do get a shot you really like you have the best data to work with in the RAW file but have the jpeg to play with too. As for crooked doors and line it's not just OCD sufferers that it bothers. You yourself have already noticed it and commented on it. So it's a distraction that is detracting from the image. If an element or aspect of the photo isn't enhancing or contributing to the image it's detracting and reducing the impact of said photo. It can be pretty much anything, a crooked door, an out of focus subject, a distracting background, color casts, blown highlights, murky dark shadows, lack of a focal point, etc, etc, etc. Let's take the photo of your dog as an example. You see your dog. The dog is in focus and has an interesting expression. The lighting is coming in from the window and giving a side lighting to the subject. Now lets see it from the pov of someone who doesn't have an emotional attachment to the dog. The dog could be a little brighter and could use some sharpening. The dog is dead center which in most cases not all but most cases a no no. You will see this in many beginners photos. (Contrast this with the photo of the broken window where you have it placed off to the side, which is more dynamic and interesting than if it had been placed dead center.) The biggest letdown though is the background. This is a very common occurrence. We focus on what we are interested in (the dog in this case) and don't pay attention to what is behind, but the viewer of the photo does. So what is going on in the background. We can see we are in the living room. There is what could be called visual clutter. First the viewers eye will always be drawn to bright areas of the photo, this works for the dog but the bright color of the TV is competing for attention and a distraction. The crooked door in the back is noticeable and leaves the viewer to wonder why didn't they fix that? I've done a rough quick edit to show what I mean. I did a slight crop, straightened the door, cloned out the TV, cloned the drapes over the bright part of the window, blurred the background, brightened and sharpened the dog. Again, very rough but to show what I mean. Posted it here. 2012-11-19_092348 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Now there is more focus on the dog without the distraction, of the bright window, the TV and the crooked door. It's easy to get wrapped up when we take the photo and only later see what we didn't see when we took the photo. So, long story short (too late for that ) watch the background. There are tons of videos and tutorials out there on any aspect of photography you can name, basic to advanced. Hope that helps a bit.
Cheers
Greg

[timmijo]

Thanks for sharing your first photos. Sometimes a beginner (I know, b/c I am one) just wants to post in order to show what the camera can do at that point in time (while first getting used to the camera.) For first photos, I find them interesting and encouraging. I also noticed something with my K-r that I got in September: Once I reached a 2000 shutter count, the photos noticeably improved.

I would not be too harsh on the beginner regarding what "sells". Sometimes we are drawn to a photo that doesn't follow all the popular rules. And keep in mind resampling/resizing: Perhaps the beginner is not resizing to the forum's new specs, resulting in an automated resampling. Posted photos sometimes seem out of focus when they really are not (depending on the website).

[csmoore]

No problem, I really wanted to get some solid critiques, and honestly the encouragement and "nice photos" kind of made my day. I see that you're in the same boat as me just getting a used k-r! I got mine from keh instead of ebay though, came with a 1500 shutter count so I'm really happy about that. The past 3 days I've gone out every morning to the spots that I've had in mind for months. I'm shooting in RAW and I only have a 1gb sd card, but surprisingly I actually like it since it forces me to think more about the shot. Do you have flickr or a 500px account? I'd be really interested seeing some of your photos as well!

[timmijo]

Hey, Csmoore, thanks for chatting! I plan to upload some KR photos ASAP. I am a busy person, trying to hold down two part-time jobs, maintain a family/home and also teach myself DSLR with my new KR. Maybe I have one or two ready, let's see . . .

1) The stuffies on the chair were my "models" just before photographing my daughter and her boyfriend for homecoming;
2) The pink sedum flower was a test with the kit lens to see how close I could get to the bloom and still remain in focus;
3) The cat (backlit, unfortunately) was a test of my Sears MC auto 135mm prime lens on manual.

Still learning and experimenting

[timmijo]

Hey again, Csmoore. I did not realize that we were posting in a Critique forum 'til just now. You did originally ask for critique. My photos are not really for critique; I just posted them to connect with another KR fan.

Not that I mind critique, but when I am ready to post something for critique, I will do that in this forum.

Why not come on over to the KR forum or the Beginner forum or something like that? Less stress. Just an idea.

[csmoore]

Those are all great photos, it's really smart that you're testing out your camera lens capability first.

[smf]

Welcome to Pentaxforums, and congratulations on achieving so much in your early photos.
A few comments:
I'm quite fond of the third photo.
In the first photo, consider cloning out (or in some other way removing) the white circle to the cat's right if you plan to leave so much space to the cat's right. You might also try significantly darkening that photo's background — or perhaps severely cropping from the right, thereby removing distracting background.
Re the dog photo: Consider cropping from the top, left and right. thereby eliminating the window and the distracting items hanging on the wall.
I'd like the eighth photo even more if the image didn't lean to the right.
In the last image, that looks like interesting architectural detail at lower right.
Best wishes.

[Stevizzy]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I learned quite a bit from Gregory_51 seeing how to improve the shot of the dog. It's not about correcting afterwards although that's a nice thing with Digital I could never do with film, but "Thinking" beforehand about the background as well as the subject.

I didn't care for the first picture but I liked the other shots especially the fancy door, the rusty oil tank and Greg's fix of the dog. Great stuff and thanks for allowing me to learn from your pictures.