Resurrectionby
melissiaComment by lfordhere: Melissa, I saw your posting in the forum and thought I would check out some of your images. I wanted to make a comment that would hopefully help you out a bit.
The photographs that I have seen seem to be very low in resoultion. When you are shooting these photographs for a competition, it is best to shoot at the highest resolution that the camera can afford; this will ensure that the most information is available to compose the proper exposure. Also, check to make sure that you are not using "Digital zoom", if your camera has such a function... Digital zoom is different from Optical zoom in that it uses software to bring the subject closer as opposed to optics that physically change the distance of the lens elements to produce a clear image close to the subject.
On to aperature and shutter... I don't know what the shutter speed was that you used for this particular picture, but your aperature is high, probably all the way up in number, which means less light enters through the lens, which also means the shutter must compensate to produce a decent picture. When shooting landscapes, we often want the smallest aperature possible, biggest F number, but in the case of this photo, too much of the background is in focus... If the aperature were smaller, this background might be more out of focus which would then allow more attention on the subject you are photographing.
If I were to take this shot, I think I would probably set my camera to Shutter priority, or TV, and then put the setting at something like 1/20 of a second. 1/20 is a decent "action" speed that will allow a certain amount of motion into the picture and can also have the subject of that motion be in focus at a single moment. Furthermore, using a flash, perhaps on the second curtain sync, would create a clear image of the subject when it has risen with a trail of "motion", for lack of a better word, behind the subject. Also, I think if you moved closer to the subject, and used less zoom, if you used any at all, you will be able to excersise the lowest possible aperature that your lens will allow.
Well, these are the major things that could be done to correct this issue. There are other things, but don't worry about those until you have a chance to capture the image properly. I sincerely hopes this helps you, and I encourage you to try this same shot over and over again until you get the result that can put the subject in focus and create that motion effect, with a clear subject at some point in the picture.
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