DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Could I have you opinions please?
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 13 of 13, (reverse)
AuthorThread
 03/06/2005 10:39:38 PM · #1
So today I got to use my friend Steve's EOS D60. I took pictures of the church service. Well the thing is I am not to sure about the pictures I took. Could I have you honest opinions please? If they are no good, could you tell me ways to improve for next time?

Here are a few of my best ones









03/06/2005 11:45:00 PM · #2
Looks like they could use a bit of sharpening and contrast. They look a little flat. I like them though. Great candid shots.

What are you using them for?
 03/06/2005 11:46:41 PM · #3
Originally posted by Sonifo:
Looks like they could use a bit of sharpening and contrast. They look a little flat. I like them though. Great candid shots.

What are you using them for?


I am using them for our church's website.

Message edited by author 2005-03-06 23:47:22.
 03/06/2005 11:47:08 PM · #4
Bethany, your subjects are good. The main bit of advice I would offer is to watch your backgrounds. See if you can place your subject on a less disruptive background so that the viewer can concentrate more on your main subject and less on the "unintended features".

For example, in the first shot, the guy that is studying is interesting (though I would have preferred seeing his eyes). But the main thing that distracts my attention are the colored coats behind his head. Luckily you used a shallow depth of field and that helped... but perhaps not as much as if you had gone around to the other side and shot from a different angle.

Similarly, the blue thing (whatever it is) off to the left of the girl in the second picture distracts from concentrating on her.

The door frame and the person in the background of the 3rd picture are a little distracting. Fun hairdo on the kid though. The girl is cute too, but I think you missed the focus on her. Perhaps your shallow DOF was just a bit too shallow because the kid looks okay.

And on the last one I think you missed the focus there. It's possible that your subject was too close. There is a limit to how close you can be for certain lenses to focus.

Anyway, I hope these tips are helpful. Keep shooting... the more the better!
 03/06/2005 11:50:27 PM · #5
Originally posted by dwterry:
Bethany, your subjects are good. The main bit of advice I would offer is to watch your backgrounds. See if you can place your subject on a less disruptive background so that the viewer can concentrate more on your main subject and less on the "unintended features".

For example, in the first shot, the guy that is studying is interesting (though I would have preferred seeing his eyes). But the main thing that distracts my attention are the colored coats behind his head. Luckily you used a shallow depth of field and that helped... but perhaps not as much as if you had gone around to the other side and shot from a different angle.

Similarly, the blue thing (whatever it is) off to the left of the girl in the second picture distracts from concentrating on her.

The door frame and the person in the background of the 3rd picture are a little distracting. Fun hairdo on the kid though. The girl is cute too, but I think you missed the focus on her. Perhaps your shallow DOF was just a bit too shallow because the kid looks okay.

And on the last one I think you missed the focus there. It's possible that your subject was too close. There is a limit to how close you can be for certain lenses to focus.

Anyway, I hope these tips are helpful. Keep shooting... the more the better!


Oh thanks sooo much, those are extremely helpful!
 03/06/2005 11:55:18 PM · #6
One more tip, play around with a photo editor. :-)

I bet you could either crop or photoshop away much of the distracting elements. As Sonifo suggested, a bit of sharpening and contrast would help tremendously.
 03/07/2005 12:23:26 AM · #7
Here's an example of a very quick edit...



I first cloned out the blue in the background, but then decided to crop it as well. I darkened the background a bit. Lightened the girl a bit. Then sharpened her.

It's not perfect by any means, but it only took maybe a minute or two and most of that was time I wasted with the clone tool when I should have just cropped the picture.
 03/07/2005 03:17:28 AM · #8
Originally posted by dwterry:
Here's an example of a very quick edit...



I first cloned out the blue in the background, but then decided to crop it as well. I darkened the background a bit. Lightened the girl a bit. Then sharpened her.

It's not perfect by any means, but it only took maybe a minute or two and most of that was time I wasted with the clone tool when I should have just cropped the picture.


Way over sharpened.
 03/07/2005 04:23:58 AM · #9
]


Message edited by author 2005-03-07 04:33:54.
 03/07/2005 01:52:04 PM · #10
Originally posted by princessbeth:
Originally posted by Sonifo:
Looks like they could use a bit of sharpening and contrast. They look a little flat. I like them though. Great candid shots.

What are you using them for?


I am using them for our church's website.


I am sure they will enjoy these pictures. Don't over sharpen them..just a little bit of contrast and sharpening would clean these up. I wouldn't worry about the background because they aren't portraits you plan to hang on your wall.
 03/07/2005 01:55:50 PM · #11
if im browsing a church website i'd like to see people that are happy with smiles on their faces. Not stressed out by reading the bible.. if ya get my point...
03/07/2005 07:01:59 PM · #12
Originally posted by nsbca7:
Way over sharpened.


I agree. It was a quick effort, afterall.

I think the amount of sharpening that I applied would have worked a lot better on a full resolution picture instead of the small one she posted. I really wasn't paying that close of attention at the time.

Anyway, as I stated first: it's a quick edit. And as I ended: It's not perfect.

It was only meant to be a quick showing to give an "idea" of what can be done with minimal effort.
03/07/2005 07:32:35 PM · #13
In reading up on Ansel Adams, I saw this quote attributed to him...

"the negative is the score and the print is the performance" (loosely translated from my aging memory, from a web site I can't remember either! lol )

Anyway, I think DW did a good job showing that. I was depressed beyond description when I first saw the images on DPC, ok, I still am a little. But realizing the photo is only the beginning has helped a lot.

I've asked several ribbon winners to show me the original, they have been kind enough to share. I realize that there is magic in Photoshop beyond what I realized (this after designing in it for 16 years).

So thanks for the demo DW, once Bethany tweaks these just a little, and learns how to make her photos "perform", she should be awesome by the time she's as old as WE are! ;-)
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 04/19/2024 01:46:53 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/19/2024 01:46:53 PM EDT.