Let me jump right in..

[jassen]

I've never been one to walk into the pool so let me say hi to everyone. I got my first DSLR last week and I haven't been able to put it down. It's a Pentax K10D, I ordered it with a Tamron 28-80, Tamron 70-300 and a Pentax 50mm 1.4. I've only had the 28-80 for the past week and here is what I've come up with so far. The 50 and the 70-300 just came in today. Please critique and comment, I want to learn as much as I can.

Thank you.




fixed, one at a time

[ELAY]

Hey Jassen --

Welcome, and thanks for sharing those shots. You got great colours on all of them.

I am struggling to riff on your pool metaphor but not coming up with much. How about this: For the Critique forum, you will get better and more feedback if you walk into the pool. Four pictures in one thread is just too overwhelming to critique. How about editing this post to pick one you would like us to think about today, and giving us the others over the next couple of days?

EL

[ELAY]

Allright.

Like I said originally, the colours are terrific. The orange and green are gorgeous, and (most of -- see below) the green is just enough out of focus to give some interesting shapes in the background.

But you don't have nearly enough flower here. Even if you want the flower to occupy a small area in a large pool of green negative space, I think we need more of it (part is cut off at the top) and I would like to see it a little more centred (not all the way -- just a bit off the edge). Last, I don't think the stuff on the right is helping this photo. The blue, while interesting, sort of competes with the flower for interest, as do the dark branches on the far right. Those elements sort of take you out of the green sea behind the flower, and just look like out of focus garden stuff.

EL

[jassen]

Thank you, I will work on my composition. As I was shooting that day I noticed I was placing everything in the center so I tried going off center, a little too much with this photo. I also have to remember to check the entire photo, not just the subject. The blue in the picture is an easily moved bird feeder.

thanks again

[melanie2457]

The flower would be in a perfect spot if there was something else in the picture to focus on, otherwise it's a little too high and a little too left. I do love the colors and you hit the DOF perfectly on this.

[mdwsta4]

i also agree if the shot was composed differently it would have been much better. it also looks (at least on my monitor) that it's slightly underexposed.

[jassen]

I tried framing this shot a little better than the previous one.

Thanks again,

[jiminyClickit]

jassen, Welcome

Beautiful recovery! I've seen one other similar shot and, done well, they work, despite the guidelines suggesting they shouldn't. Your colors and placement here outshine other factors. Well done.