I'm new to photography, so would you like to give me advice?

Question

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork004.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork049.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork001.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork023.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork007.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork051.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/softballXXchick/TheresasArtwork032.jpg

These are some of my photographys, advice comments, and if you like them please tell! thanks =].

Answer 1

You may be "new" to photography but in my opinion you have a good "eye" for seeing photos.

As someone previously said, its a good idea to learn about composition - just don't think of them as "Rules". Think of them as Guidelines. Knowing them always helps so you'll know when to ignore them and compose your photo your way.

Learn your camera. Read and study your Owner's Manual.

Experiment with the controls and use manual control.

Remember that your camera is just a dumb box - you supply the brains and the vision.

Read books about photography and photographers.*

Here is how I viewed your examples:

#1 - Had you used -1 EV** the washed-out path would have been closer to correct exposure. You would lose detail in the shadows but that could enhance the path. You could probably darken the path in Photoshop.

#2 - Interesting composition. The only bothersome thing is the dark upper left corner. Clone that out in Photoshop and you have one to frame.

#3 - Is that the toe of your shoe at the bottom of the frame :)? You might consider cropping out the left side, especially the overexposed square. A smaller f-stop for more Depth of Field (DOF) would have helped. Of course, a larger f-stop for less DOF could be equally effective.

#4 - In this one -1/2 EV** might have lessened the slightly washed-out lighter areas. Crop out the dark mass on the right.

#5 - Again just a little over-exposed. -1/2 EV** might have helped.

#6 - I wish that overesposed bud at the lower right wasn't there. Other than that, this is one you could display. I like the blown-out background.

#7 - A smaller f-stop could have brought the foreground more in focus.

Please remember that my comments are based on how I saw your photos. 99 other people will see them 99 different ways.

Quite often we see something that interests us photographically and we compose, focus and shoot. Then we look at the results and are disappointed. This is where we need to slow down and look at a scene from different angles and points of view. Shoot the flowers from ground level looking up; shoot them backlit; shoot straight down at them. Most of all, don't be satisfied with the first point of view. Your photographs are an expression of how you see the world - and we all see it differently.

Next, we all have to remember is to examine the viewfinder before we press the shutter. Often we are so enthused about the subject that we don't see anything else in the frame. We don't see the piece of litter (IMO litterbugs should have to crawl on hands and knees and pick up litter with their teeth - and I'd make sure there were plenty of loaded diapers in their path) or the tree/pole/powerline "growing out of" or "running through" the person's head. In #2 had you seen the upper left corner and moved a little to the right or lowered the camera slightly you would have eliminated that dark area. The same applies to #6 - a slight change in position and the offending out of focus bud is gone.

Some things I pointed out to you can be corrected with one of the many editing programs. However, if you get it right in the camera then you can spend less time at the computer and more time creating photographs.***

* The number of books about photography is limitless. One I've found useful is "Object & Image: An Introduction To Photography, Third Edition" by George M. Craven. There may be a more current edition. The Third Edition was written when film was all there was. It is still worth reading chapters 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 19.

There may be a "How To" book written for your camera. Search on google for Magic Lantern and if they have a Guide for your camera, buy it. It compliments your Owner's Manual.

I also like to read about the early photographers. I have biographies of Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Steichen, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams. I just finished reading biographies of Dorothea Lange and Robert Capa and will probably buy them for my photography library.

If you haven't subscribed to a photography magazine or two you should at least consider doing so.

** Using "EV" is a learned thing. First, we need to remember that our camera's meter "sees" the world as 18% gray. It always sets the exposure to achieve that value. In most situations it produces a good exposure. Its only when faced with unusual lighting situations that it gets "fooled" and we end up with part of the scene overexposed (#1, 4 & 5). This is where we have to take control and use our knowledge. If our camera offers more than one metering pattern (center-weighted averaging is standard; some cameras offer spot metering as an alternative) we have to know when and under what circumstances to use it. If your camera has the spot metering option and you had used it in #1 to meter off the path the path would have been correctly exposed. If that isn't an option with your camera then you have to know how to fool the meter. The meter may have selected f5.6 @ 1/125 for #1. You as a photographer know that the path will be overexposed and give the scene 1 stop less exposure by setting the EV to -1. If you just change the f-stop manually the meter will adjust the shutter to give the same exposure. An example will help.

Suppose you're in Aperture Preferred Mode. You set an f-stop and let the camera select the shutter speed. Look at whay happens in this hypothetical example. We're using ISO 100 in bright daylight:

f2 @ 1/1000
f2.8 @ 1/500
f4 @ 1/250
f5.6 @ 1/125
f8 @ 1/60
f11 @ 1/30
f16 @ 1/15

All 7 of these exposure will be identical. As we change the f-stop the camera adjusts the shutter speed to compensate. We as photographers either have to go fully manual so that we can set the shutter speed at 1/125 and "open up" 1 stop to f4 - or we can use the EV setting and change it to -1 if that's what we think is needed. The meter still "thinks" it is computing exposure at f5.6 but we have assumed control and made the adjustment we know will give a better exposure.

If the scene was one with a person standing againstt a light background and we depended solely on the meter our photo would be unacceptable. Why? Because the meter calculated exposure for 18% gray. Our person would be a silhouette - probably not what we wanted. We have to know to add +1 to +2 EV.

*** The following is my opinion. It is not chisled in stone and should not, I hope, offend you or anyone reading it. Opinions are like noses - everybody has one.

My complaint against digital photography is that it encourages the "shotgun" approach. Take 400, 500 exposures and then spend hours winnowing them out in hopes of getting 40 or 50 worth keeping. I also believe that in many cases it discourages learning about photography. Its easy to let the camera "do it all" and never learn why one exposure is good and one isn't.

Obviously that doesn't apply to you. Keep doing what you're doing.

As an experiment, the next time you set out on a day of photography, pretend you only have 72 exposures. For even more of a challenge pretend its 36.

If you'd like to email me with questions please feel free to do so. I also have a list of items that I think every photographer should have in their camera bag.

"The only way to avoid mistakes is to gain experience. The only way to gain experience is to make mistakes."

"Automatic is fine 95% of the time. The other 5% are in magazines."

Answer 2

I just answered your other identical question and then saw this one. So I'll say a bit more. All the people who shoot weddings, from the hack with a new dSLR to Bambi Cantrell, Monte Zucker and Jeff Ascough had a first one. The ideal way to begin shooting weddings is to have a very good basic understanding of technique and the art of photography, whether that comes from formal education in the classroom, or the school of self-study and hard knocks. On top of that, assisting or interning with an established pro is an immense help. Then add in having the right tools to do the job and knowing how to use them. When all three parts of the wedding photography equation are there, the chance for success goes wayyy up. Take away a piece and the odds of great images fall quite a bit. How much the dip is depends on how much is missing. So, you are missing experience and equipment. Maybe skill, and knowledge too. None of us know how much you have learned in the few months you've been a hobbyist. You may be a great photographer, some people take to it quickly with an innate grasp of light and composition. Then it's a matter of learning how to translate their vision to film (or sensor). Others plod along at novice snapshot level for years, never understanding that a better camera will not make them a better photographer. I don't have a problem with the amateurs who come here asking how to better shoot their first wedding. Most of these first wedding photographers are pressed, cajoled, browbeaten or bushwacked into duty because they are either the family shutterbug, or they have a decent camera, perhaps the only dSLR among the circle of friends. Not every wedding has a budget of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and often the B&G would have nothing but disposacam snaps from table cameras if someone refused to do the photography as a favor. Although I am a firm believer in "It's the photographer, NOT the camera", the reality remains that unless he really screws up, he will get shots better than a bunch of kids with a disposables or Aunt Edna with her five year old Kodak Easyshare. Now, if he presented himself asking something like, "I am starting a wedding photography business next week, what camera and lens do I need and what should I name it?", then he deserves whatever raking he gets. But here, this is not the case. He is just a friend trying to help. Plenty of amateurs shoot weddings. Sometimes that ends in heartbreak for everyone, but sometimes it's all OK, even if not perfect. I hope this one will be OK! Good luck, and read those links I sent in the previous answer.

Answer 3

learn/study composition, fill the frame more, get closer, use different view points, learn flash and exposure.

use a tripod if/when you can

study and practice, some nice beginnings

a

Answer 4

The rule of thirds

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