Help me begin!!!!

[wryabin]

Hi guys. This is my first picture to start up with photography and some basic stuffs in photoshop as well. if you'd point out what i can do to take better pics the next time i go out, it would be really great . Thanking you in advance.

[mwanafunzi]

There are a couple of things that stand out. I will only a few:
1. the postprocessing that you did has created halos on the bridge, bird and buildings to the right of the image. That is very distracting.
2. the bridge is slightly out of focus.
3. the boat on the bottom right is a bit of a distraction.

What considerations did you make when taking the shot? Did you:
1. try and follow the rule of thirds?
2. think about what the best time is to take the shot?
3. try and use leading lines; to guide you through the image?
...so on and so forth.

If you did make any considerations, then let us know what they were?

Also, what were the settings on your camera?

Finally, have a look at the critique rules.

[wryabin]

Thanx for your valuable time and suggestion.

Well i tried to cqpture theboat along with the bridge and the bird was just an accident which i did not intend to capture. The original pic was really dull and dark because of the antiligiht situation . And when i was using adjustments in photoshop , i tried shadows and highlights though idont know wat i did. It made the image look better than the original in my view.
I have a complete image of the boat and the bridge too which was my main objective of taking this photo but the bird made me feel sth good abt this pic. Just a novice's feeling.

Sorry about not mentioning the settings because i deleted the image from my camera and i do not know another way of viewing it.
But i was using canon eos 450d with 18-55mm is kit lens . Was doin it uunder programmed auto with iso 100.

[mwanafunzi]

In flickr above the pick you are viewing is an actions button. Under that you can view EXIF info. You should also be able to get that info using photoshop.

Post-processing: Generally, for natural looking photos, over processing is not a good thing. unfortunately that halos/glow are a sign of over processing.

composition: if one of the things you wanted to show was the boat, then the pic with full view is probably better. If the boat is not the subject, for example, in this photo, then the boat is a distraction, especially because of the way it has been cut out of the pic

[wryabin]

Thanx alot. Next time m not gonna process my pic unless i know wat m doing.hehehe
And one more favour please. Do u think this pic is over processed as well? N is it againstthe rules to post more than one pic here. I think it is over processed. But its so good to see bright colors . I dun know why my pictures are so dull that i wanna make em look colorful. And do u think the shadows are the distractiins. Cuz my idea of this pic was to include the bunch of trees with the sea in background and blue sky.








Camera Canon EOS 450D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias +1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[mwanafunzi]

I think that the water is over saturated. Other than that the colors seem fine.

One other thing that is slightly distracting is that the pic is out of focus.

for a better on critique on post processing you might want to post future questions in the post processing critique section.

Happy snapping. and keep on practicing your post processing techniques.

[IABoomer]

The second looks a little oversaturated and there's some oddness where the leaves meet the sky. Another thing you might want to consider is your framing. The horizon is tilted which I don't imagine was intentional. If you wanted to focus on the tree with the water and the sky, you might want to crop out some of the grass up front.

[wryabin]

it was like my second shot stepping into photography. i hope in other days i will improve as i keep clickin my camera. heheh thanx for your suggestion. cheers