Random Photos from Today

[ssick92]

Hey everyone,

I was bored today so I went to the local state park and took some random photos.

I still am learning how to use my first DSLR (I've only have it for 4 days) so I know they are far from perfect, but I thought I would share.

These were all taken with the standard 18-55mm kit lens with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Some photos used a 20mm extension tube. Please give constructive criticism and advice.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-olNbiH00nZY/UHYII-N8DkI/AAAAAAAAAcg/T117D_j9RBM/s1255/Cottontails.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mW6sQD1XuLU/UHYIJmFKgbI/AAAAAAAAAco/V1ap5qMt1k8/s1255/Spikeball.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zVU4audR40w/UHYILm2LTkI/AAAAAAAAAdA/2Nx9cfKbvac/s1255/Pink+Flower.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eK48ciVMLpk/UHYINBTbWZI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/hyaCqxE33Z4/s1543/Oceanview+3.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ATm8oVC_xQ8/UHYINro-PlI/AAAAAAAAAdY/3RTANLvzYHU/s1255/Pebble+Beach.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ise6WFwzBtA/UHYIOuk_A0I/AAAAAAAAAdk/5ZTdxHxupeQ/s1255/Pebble+Fade.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xUkqWh0c6ls/UHYIPBDD-WI/AAAAAAAAAdo/Jw4HDQ3521o/s1542/Oceanview+4.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-A-6uyySCET0/UHYIPbcywII/AAAAAAAAAdw/i9cX3Dm6k3E/s1193/Wet+Rock+Pong.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TInzM4xyDXw/UHYIP8rSrEI/AAAAAAAAAd4/1YGMvimu0bQ/s1543/Oceanview+5.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PWO_yj5C54U/UHYIQpSHEKI/AAAAAAAAAeA/3i0Hbvk2OjU/s1255/Persol.jpg

[SushiGirl]

Very nice! You have an excellent eye for a shot.

[BrianN]

Is it Huntington Beach? Those are very nice shots.

[ssick92]

Is it Huntington Beach? Those are very nice shots.

Thanks! It's San Luis Obispo actually. I go to Cal Poly

[IslandCrow]

Some pretty good photos. Looks like you're well on your way. Since you asked, here are a few tips to hopefully make them a little better.

1. Not bad, but nothing about this really stands out to me. Try to find a view that you wouldn't see just walking by. For flowers, it's often times getting down low. I can see you're looking for patterns in your composition, though, and that can often work towards making a powerful image.

2. The composition looks pretty good. I may have actually gotten down a little lower so you're looking up slightly. The harsh lighting also kind of kills you when there's this much white in the scene. I'm guessing most, if not all of these were shot in the middle of the day.

3. Again, I like the overall composition. The leaf sticking out in front of the flower is a little distracting, though. You may want to find a slightly different angle or simply move that element out of the way. Lastly, it looks like you blew out your red channel on the flower. I'm not on a calibrated monitor, so I could be wrong, but you have to be careful if you have a really bright color in your scene. You sometimes have to underexpose the overall image slightly so you don't lose any information in that color channel. I usually have my display set up so I can see both the tone histogram and the color channel histogram.

4. Nice scene. I like where you placed the jetty in the bottom of the frame. The biggest thing that's killing you here is the harsh lighting. It's nearly impossible to take a really good seascape picture outside the golden hours (+/- 30 mins. from sunrise/sunset). During a storm or under moonlight are the two exceptions I can think of, but in strong sunlight, even with a lot of editing in post, you usually end up with something that looks pretty washed out.

5-6. Good eye for patterns in nature. I definitely prefer the second angle you used for the rocks. It's the view that people don't normally see, and therefore much more interesting. Just be careful of what's in your picture. It looks like there's a piece of garbage in the bottom center of your frame. It's one thing if you're trying to illustrate a polluted beach, but with just one slightly out of focus piece of whatever that is, it just looks out of place.

7. Nice use of the rule of thirds, but again the harsh lighting is keeping this from being a really good shot. You sometimes have to work with what you've got, but if it's a nearby location, I'd definitely go back in the early morning or evening. Be sure to bring a tripod and play around with different shutter speeds.

8. I really like the composition. It could use a little post processing work to boost the contrast a little and add some more definition, but I really like this detail shot. I think you've captured the essence of the beach in a tiny pool of water.

9. Don't forget your foreground and midground. This shot is really just background and not that interesting. Your first shot is a good example of what I mean. You have the jetty in your foreground, sort of introducing your eyes to the scene. Then, you have the waves acting as leading lines into the factory and that big chunk of rock which serves as your mid-ground. Finally, you have the mountains as your background. This is the sort of thing you want to look for in your landscape shots.

10. Not a bad detail shot. It really doesn't speak to me personally, but perhaps that's just because I see this shot done a lot, and I don't feel like the sunglasses add anything to the scene and vice-versa. Otherwise, though, I think all the right elements are there. I like the contrast of the light rocks on the bottom to darker rocks and water towards the top. I probably would have included either more or less of the lens. Probably a bit more to pull in the reflection of the rocks off the lens. When you have such a small percentage of something showing, it can often look like it's just a mistake.


Hopefully that wasn't too much. And overall, good photos. It looks like you have a good understanding of composition, which I think is one of the harder things for most people to really grasp (myself included).

[ssick92]

Wow, thank you for taking the time to critique each photo. That is really what I needed, specifics.

I'll take all of that into consideration in the future to help make the photos that much cleaner and nicer. Today is raining a ton so I doubt I'll risk the camera in the rain but maybe if it stops I'll find a sweet rainbow picture :)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[ssick92]

Just thought I would throw a couple more randoms up:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ziwBn8GMCww/UH4HEUDILsI/AAAAAAAAAfs/cJ8Wwnaw0sk/s1255/Fishing+Reel.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kwVoP5rr49E/UH4HGSJXjEI/AAAAAAAAAgE/iZC6Gv2lRWg/s1050/Berries.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GvtWAZbYwTE/UH4HHUcR2XI/AAAAAAAAAgU/A2ErWF5Vkfc/s1542/Sunset.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2qAsvx_u3UQ/UH4HIH6_29I/AAAAAAAAAgc/EK8nMiVFPLM/s1255/Rose.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LsWHhPaxBC8/UH4HIho_8mI/AAAAAAAAAgk/OIiFYBbCayQ/s1255/Pumpkin.jpg

[shawncooper78]

Nice start buddy, of course a period of 4days is nothing. However you are learning well as there is an appreciable difference between the first set of photos and the one which you posted later.

[ssick92]

Here are just a couple random bugs we recently found in our house.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-GT36hc-5gig/UKfwuqSDm3I/AAAAAAAAAqw/yY12T0_Ol3U/s872/Black+Widow.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BH9zYFv21PQ/UKfxTN5VkTI/AAAAAAAAAq4/Z-hHBQBAlsw/s837/PotatoBug2.jpg