Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: MilesRoldan on May 24, 2010, 05:09:55 pm

Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: MilesRoldan on May 24, 2010, 05:09:55 pm
Hello! I have been photographing for only a little more than a year now, and I only have one camera (Canon Rebel Xs).  I like nature photography a lot, but living in the city, that isn't always possible.  Also, I am always fascinated by clouds, so there will probably be a lot of pictures with clouds featured in some way...

In any case, here are some of my pics from over the past couple of months.  I thought I would ask for some opinions on stuff that I have been doing first, before I post some new pictures.  What do you think?  If you want, please choose one picture on which to comment.
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: feppe on May 24, 2010, 05:16:34 pm
Quote from: MilesRoldan
Hello! I have been photographing for only a little more than a year now, and I only have one camera (Canon Rebel Xs).  I like nature photography a lot, but living in the city, that isn't always possible.  Also, I am always fascinated by clouds, so there will probably be a lot of pictures with clouds featured in some way...

In any case, here are some of my pics from over the past couple of months.  I thought I would ask for some opinions on stuff that I have been doing first, before I post some new pictures.  What do you think?  If you want, please choose one picture on which to comment.

Welcome!

You have "only" one camera? You only need one to take photos  What I'm saying is don't let the gear keep you from taking (more) good photos.

That second picture of the statue is nothing short of amazing, one of the best ones I've seen here in a while! The weather looks brutal, and the tilt fits perfectly to highlight the off-kilter almost-horror-movie atmosphere. I'm not sure if the crop is the best one, though - I would have cropped some of the dead space on the right.
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: wolfnowl on May 24, 2010, 07:18:09 pm
Hi There, and welcome to the list!  If you haven't already, you may want to read these threads:

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=43480 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43480)
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=43554 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43554)

Mike.
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: Ken Bennett on May 25, 2010, 08:32:34 am
Welcome. Your work shows that you have a good eye for light and detail.

I agree that the statue in snow photo is extraordinary.
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: Ed Blagden on May 25, 2010, 09:17:36 am
Hi Miles, and welcome.

Kudos for the shot of the statue in the snow... very good.  I also like the one of the footprints in the snow - a nice interplay of light, shade and colour there.  Nothing very special about the shot at first sight, but it is visually pleasing and conveys an atmosphere very well.

Not sure what the two close ups of the moss / rocks are about.  Using shallow DOF is great for isolating a particular point of interest, but I can't make out a subject in either of these photos.

One technical point about posting here.  It is best to size your images to around 800x1200 pixels; this is big enough to make impact but small enough to be viewed on a standard monitor without the viewer's computer having to down-res the image, which always makes it look blurry.  If you set jpeg quality to about 80% the result should be a bandwidth-friendly +/-400KB file, which looks the way you intended.

Have fun, and don't take any criticism you get here too personally.  Some of the harshest criticism you will get here is also the most useful.

Ed
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: RSL on May 25, 2010, 12:11:22 pm
Welcome Miles. The first two shots are very good work -- especially the snowy statue.

Harri's right: Whatever you do don't get into the equipment rut. One camera is fine. The important thing is to make pictures, not to own camera gear -- though you'd never learn that by reading fora like Nikonians or Leica User's Forum. On the other hand, don't pay attention to the croppers. In the case of the snowy statue the statue is flying to the right and it needs space to fly. Cropping on the right would crowd the composition.

Great advice from Ed. Some of our posters post pictures that are way too large and take way too long to load. Of course it's easy to overcome that problem simply by not looking at those pictures.

Keep shooting. You're doing fine work.
Title: Hello! I'm new here...
Post by: MilesRoldan on May 25, 2010, 04:50:06 pm
Thank you all for your welcoming comments!

And thanks for the note on posting appropriately sized images. I will definitely keep that in mind.  As an aside, when I said that I only have one camera, I only meant that I hear about a lot of people with more than one, which I agree isn't what photography is about (owning more things).

Anyway, I am glad you liked some of my pictures, and thanks again for taking the time to check them out and commenting on them.