Tell me about my photos

proZach

proZach

Active member
I picked up my first dslr a few months ago and have taken a few shots I liked. let me know what you guys think of them, what I can do better, and if ya like them at all haha. all were shot with a nikon d3000 with the kit lens
first attempts at some star trails in october
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I didn't know which one I liked more. your thoughts?
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^ about 5 5min exposures layered
below are some random shots, the urban ones are from hartford, ct. the redwoods are from the muir woods in cali.
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and lastly my old ass dog. one of the first shots I took with the camera. I thought it looked pretty good haha.

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I'm really just looking for some feedback. I know there's a shitload of pictures at once, but anything would be appreciated. thanks guys. hope you enjoy haha

 
do you have a remote? some of the star trails seemed pretty blurry like you touched the camera during the exposure. i don't know much about star trails because i've never tried one but the last one looked pretty successful and the others were a bit over-exposed. depending on what you want the shot to look like and how long your exposure is make sure you mess around with the iso a bit. in my opinion star trails are the best with a low iso so you can tell it's night a like a tree, or something in the fore-ground that wont over expose the shot. but nice work meng.

and as for your other shots i reallyyy like the first one. the reflection is sweet and i think you got it at the perfect time of day. i like the 2nd one too but like most of the shots following it, it's over-exposed. either turn your iso down or increase the shutter speed. the sky is almost white in some of your shots and i think you'll find you get a lot more contrast and better colors when you don't over-expose shots.

are you shooting in auto? like any new DSLR user you'll find that auto is the easiest to use but mess around with the settings and take LOTS of pictures because that's how you will become a better photographer. if you haven't already mess around with the aperture and shutter priority modes and fully manual if you're up for it. just keep practicing and try and take at least a couple shots every day. i didn't know anything about DSLR's when i bought my first one but i took a lot of pictures, and read a lot online and now i'm a much better photographer than i was a couple years ago. just keep taking lots of shots and messing around with the settings and you'll start to figure out how to make a shot look how you want it to, and be visually pleasing. good luck man!
 
the star trails were all done with a remote, but yea they were the first time I've tried them. for most of my pictures in general, I try to take 3-5 shots on all different settings in manual, just to see what each click of the wheel/iso would do (everything is in manual mode). thanks for the response! I'm definitely trying to shoot as much as I can, so I guess I'll just keep on keepin on haha
 
I was recently reading a book, called The digital Photography book, written by scott kelby. Its a pretty useful book, especially for some just starting out. I have been shooting photography for a long time, and just switched to digital so i picked it up, and i learned stuff from it that i didnt know, and things that my manual didnt tell me.

A few of the shots look over exposed. I cant remember what camera you are using, but When reviewing a shot on your LCD screen there is a setting to turn on what Scott calls the Blinkies. It Is a highlighting to that shows you the parts of the photo that are over exposed and have no detail in them anymore.

On nikon, i think its a setting called highlight. When reviewing a photo. On Canon it when reviewing just change the display and the over exposed area on both will flash.
 
since you since you were using a remote(and tripod?), looks like your focus is "centerweighted" to me...might cause the blur..cause be multiple things(wind..i dont know).

Post processing will be your best friend. Adobe Lightroom is a great start.....The Gimp is free(you get what you pay for, but its still a good open source program) and is sorta like Photoshop.

 
I think the top photo's focus problem lies in a low F stop (smaller number). Looks like a shallow depth of feild where it would have benefited from a higher F stop( Bigger number) and a deep depth of feild.

Doing good work, look at other peoples photos to see what you can do to your own, and get some post production software (buy it or torrents) It helps alot to "develop" your pictures. When you work with film, you get to work in the dark room to get your pictures just how you want them, and post production software is the equivalent. I personally use Lightroom 2. Would like to get cs4-5 in addition to that.
 
I do have some version of photoshop, but I really haven't started to toss my photos in it, as I'm not sure what I should even start with haha.
from what I've gathered, I should concentrate on shooting multiple images on different settings, trying to bring out different aspects of each picture. thanks guys for all the tips
 
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