Critique me...

[RSK]

Used a Sony pocket camera. Took some random shots of my study area today. Here are two of them. What do you think?

[Mish]

They look very good for first attempts RSK.

I recommend to work a little bit more with focus and lighting.

[RSK]

thanks mish, i purposely focused only the 'G' in the top pic. But to be honest, I wanted to get the 'Control' button focused in the second, couldn't pull it off with the camera. Getting a DSLR soon, looking forward to it. As for lighting, is it too much or too little? Maybe too much in the first, and but too little in the second? Or too much in both? But thanks thought, I found a site, and I think I'll keep a collection of all my shots, including these too.

[1averagejoe]

For focusing...learn about the rule of thirds. The second one is framed nicely, the first one...not so much.

When it comes to lighting, the first picture is overexposed on the top and underexposed on the bottom. The second one isn't as bad but still is a bit unevenly exposed.

Lastly the colors. White balance needs to be fixed. The pictures have a redish tint because of the lighting conditions. I'm going to bet that it was taken indoors. A little photoshop could fix that in no time at all.

[RSK]

thanks! ya know, i couldn't see it before, but after that rundown, i see what you are saying. i don't have photoshop... yet... but will come back to edit these the way you said. thanks again mish and joe

[RSK]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/2677325776_b9a42d8764.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2677325222_847c168aac.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2676506675_f1e9119590.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2676505791_deec71b1f8.jpg?v=0[/url]

more stuff...hit me!

[DoesntMatter]

Do you have any pictures of naked women?

[Mish]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/2677325776_b9a42d8764.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2677325222_847c168aac.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2676506675_f1e9119590.jpg?v=0[/url]

[url]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2676505791_deec71b1f8.jpg?v=0[/url]

more stuff...hit me!

I like the 2nd and the 4th. The 1st and the 3rd I think can do with more lighting.

It's amazing what impact you can have with photos once you get the level of lighting / shadows / contrast right. Since most of your photos are taken from up close and pay attention to detail I would recommend for you to buy a special lamp which you can direct at your photo subjects and then experiment with lighting them up from different angles. You can get different coloured filters for your lamp to add to or take away from the colour of what you are taking a photo of.

[1averagejoe]

I agree with mish, if you're going to do any macro/closeup pictures you're going to need some outside lighting. Try messing around with a desk lamp, take multiple photos of the same thing but move the lighting around and see what you like.

To be honest, of all of those I like the 3rd one the best. Of all of them it's framed the best. The lighting, colors and contrast sucks. Colors and contrast have to do with your camera not being the best, and poor lighting doesn't help.

Ignoring the actual colors and lighting. I'll talk about how they were framed. The first one is boring, the flower in the middle of the frame is being focused on. Boring. Read the rule of thirds.

The second one is interesting. I think it would be a great shot if you didn't have the out of focus leaves on the bottom. They tend to draw your eye to the bottom of the photo. It's distracting.

The third one is my favorite, the placement is great. This is a perfect example of how the rule of thirds comes into play. Although the flower on the right in the background is a bit distracting.

The fourth one imho is the worst. You didn't even focus on the flower, you focused on the stem. And the angle you took it at is very odd.

You'll learn things with time. Just do a bit of reading and take lots of photos. You'll start to catch on with what's good and what's not so good.

[IndiReloaded]

#2 & #3.

Like 1aj, I thought the space in 2 was used better, but would like to have seen a slightly different angle of the flowers (less edge-on) & lighting/colour different.

3 was most interesting, but I found the blue on purple distracting somehow. Almost wanted to see the pic taken from the top down instead of up.

Nice, RK.

[RSK]

hey, thx mish, joe, and indy! the photos were all taken with a point and shoot... how much would a dslr improve color, focusing ability, and all that good stuff?

as far as lighting goes, i appreciate the input! i will open the curtains to let in some natural light too i guess, or only stick with a study lamp... i'll experiment! i read up on the rule of thirds, and i also agree... the first one is a quite boring! next time i shoot, i will try think of interestng ways to present my subject... thx again

[1averagejoe]

Any modern entry level DSLR will kick your current point and shoot camera's ass.

The DSLR opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Almost all DSLR's allow you to select certain focus points. Colors and contrast will be WAY better.

You'll also like the fact that, when you press the shutter, there is virtually no delay to the picture actually being taken. Unlike almost all point and shoots where when you take a picture it takes about 1/2 second for the picture to actually take.

Lenses also will be a determining factor for image quality. The kit lenses are usually great lenses to start off with and I don't recommend you throwing hundreds of dollars on a lens that you're not going to know how to use it's full potential. Same with a body, don't buy an expensive body just yet. Give it time to learn how it works and then upgrade when you feel the camera you have is limiting you some how.

[RSK]

Thanks again! yeah, i can't wait, it's the sony a350, i'm going to get a few books on photography, and one specially for the a350 to help guide me. man, i can't wait! hardest part for me, is lighting. I also can't wait to get things in focus, reduce noise, and actually head out doors, once all this studying is done!

i took pics out of pure boredom and edited another, i can't wait to see how the dslr would handle them! guess i should stick to basics first though. thanks again!

[1averagejoe]

I still say go canon or nikon. When it comes to DSLR's, those two brands take the cake.

[RSK]

hey there joe, so i spent a few hours at the store... and guess what, walked out with the nikon d40. i suits my needs as a beginner, absolutely love it. some shots i took just now...