Daughter & Deer

[kiley9806]

Heres a few more Id like to hear some comments on. The 1st is shot in the direct sunlight coming through a window. The second two are obviously of some deer I stumbled upon while on a drive along the river. They were actually extreamly far away in the feild (approx 100 meters?), and this was as zoomed in as my 12X sony could go... . hence the bluriness (no tripod, just my trucks open window ledge). but i was impressed with the kissing one - when it was not shrunk down to post, the mothers tounge is quite noticible.

[kiley9806]

heres a shot of the deer without any zoom, to get an idea of the distance. this was the 3rd deer, up ahead of the mother and baby.

[tegan]

I would strongly suggest that you research composition in photography. Take a serious look at the tips in www.photoinf.com and elsewhere.

Tegan

[kiley9806]

thanks. i think im done posting pictures up for critiquing for a while now though. its a little hard when only one person comments, and theres very little/no positive feedback. kinda hard to fuel that begginers passion. this is seeming to discourange me more than anything. im not sure how to remove my profile from the forum, so i'll let it stand dormant, and maybe when im much better i can come back to see what things are like. thanks for all the advice and tips - im sure they will help. take care.

[Marko]

Hi Kiley,

In the 1st set the strongest shot is shot 1 of your daughter. Her eye is nice and lit up and she looks wistful.

In general this lighting (direct sunlight) for most people is too harsh. If you have some sheer drapes, that will help diffuse the sunlight and make it MUCH softer. OR light on a cloudy day.
It this shot you'll also notice that the baby's left side is in deep shadow which works only as a dramatic portrait. To soften up that feel use any reflective surface to bounce the light back into the shadowed side of the face.

Shots 2 and 3 of the deer are blurry. They look cute and all but they are blurry. These shots would make excellent material for playing in photoshop but they can't stand on their own except for souveniers....because they are blurry.

Shot 3 is an okay shot but it's missing a focal point, the sky is washed out and again it's not that sharp.

Please remember that these are just our opinions but they are based on many years of shooting. Of course you are free to post these on other forums...but i suspect the critiques may be similar.

It's hard because people get excited about their photography and don't see the obvious improvements that people with more experience have and suggest. We all started from Zero but it seems like you have loads of passion for the craft and I wish you only good luck.

Please do post again. We are a small group, it's true but we always share the benefit of our experience honestly and freely.

Marko

[tegan]

I think that everyone wants to buy a camera and become a good photographer just by taking pictures. If it were that easy, there would be no need for pros. Unfortunately it doesn't happen that way. It takes a lot of time, effort, work, and study and even with all that, we don't always get it right. The reason we can point out the mistakes of others is because we have made the same mistakes ourselves...several times.

We have also seen a considerable range of photos from outstanding artistic works through to snapshots and have a good sense of where certain images fit in.

All experienced enthusiasts and pros have encountered a considerable amount of critical feedback in their hobby or career and most have learned not to take it personally. We are all still continuing to learn more as well.
I still read photo magazines and advanced books on digital photography, despite my experience as I am sure others do as well.

Enthusiasm is great but it takes time to recognize a potential photo in a scene and where to point the camera and how to compose the shot artistically as well as to make all the correct technical decisions for a super shot.

So keep at it, but be realistic in your expectations.

Tegan

[kiley9806]

thank you for the comments marko - i really have listened to everything you and tegan have told me, and dont take it personally at all, no hard feelings there. all pictures that i have posted here were taken by myself before i even read a word on photography basics, (i didnt even know what apature meant) but i'm working on it now!

i personally liked the shot of my daughter dramatic, with the heavy shadowing on the one side. it was actually accidental to tell the truth, i just liked how the sun was shining in one morning and plopped her down in it and started to click away. i did some reading on broad and short lighting techniques, and can really see the difference that can be made on round faces, ect. im thinking that investing in an external flash might be helpful in playing around and learning what works best.

the last shot in that posting, the one of the hillside, was not meant to be posted to be critiqued, rather just to show you the tiny deer in the bottom of the photo to let you see how far the deer were from me. that is why the close-ups of the 2 deer are blurry - no tripod, no telephoto lens. i guess i shouldve known better than to post plurry pics.

but regardless, i do appreciate the tips received from the both of you. im going to work on my craft and return with hopefully photos that will bring some praise from your very educated and keen eyes!