First time photography - woods

[pasta11]

Hi everyone Im a young photographer and I just started learning the basics of photography and went out into the woods/forest near my house to give it a go. I wanted to know what I could improve on and if there's anything I've done well for a first try. Thanks in advance!


EXIF:

Camera Nikon E8800
Exposure 1/27
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 8.9 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off

[Hill Country Hack]

I like how you provided the exif, but where is the image?

[pasta11]

Sorry, im a bit new to this, my picture didn't attach the first time.

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by pasta11

Hi everyone Im a young photographer and I just started learning the basics of photography and went out into the woods/forest near my house to give it a go. I wanted to know what I could improve on and if there's anything I've done well for a first try. Thanks in advance!


EXIF:

Camera Nikon E8800
Exposure 1/27
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 8.9 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off

I took a look at your picture. Can you be more specific as to what you want input on? What were you trying to accomplish with this image? That will also give us a starting point.

If your intent was to highlight the marking on the tree in the foreground, for me it is too close. The other trees in the background is distracting to me.

If your intent was to show the entire stand of trees, then your depth of field is too narrow due to the large apeture setting.

Be a champ and go to the tutorial section of this site. There is a ton of instructions ranging from composition to exposure control to just about anything you want to learn about basic photography. If you want to do this well, you have to make the effort to learn the basics of the craft. I suggest starting with composition. Read the tutorial, go out and practice not worrying about other aspects. Progress to another topic and repeat.

Do not give up. It takes time and patience. I've only been shooting since Feb of this year and just went into full manual mode on my camera in the past 4 weeks. I practiced in apeture control, then shutter control before making the step to full manual. It was a great help.

[flytyer57]

The only thing in focus is the vandalized tree. If this is what you wanted to convey to the viewer, it should have been placed further back in the picture. If you wanted to take a picture of the whole forest instead of one tree, close down your aperture. The depth of field at f/2.8 is very shallow. Try upping to at least f/8 or higher.

You have a lot of blown out spaces here. Areas that are too bright. Closing down the aperture and keeping the same exposure could have helped here. I would also suggest the use of ND filters. They work magic on bright sunlit areas. See NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS

[Johninbigd]

Like the others have said, any critique depends on what you were trying to accomplish. And I'm a noob, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

1. If you wanted to blur the background out even more, step back and zoom in. A longer focal length will help.

2. If you want to highlight the marking on the tree, recompose the shot so that that's the only thing in it.

3. If you wanted to show everything else more clearly, tighten the aperture quite a bit.

The scene seems to be a little overexposed to me and could use a bit more contrast, but that's just my feeling for it. If you really wanted that aperture and focal length, I'd try a faster shutter speed.