Critique, Tips and/or Strategies Needed

[LexSYS]

Greetings All, I'm a little nervous because I don't have any photography skills and only know what I've picked up from others sharing with me. I kind of shoot whatever looks good to me. Please tell me where I went wrong and what to improve and how to improve it. Appreciation!

[rtbaum]

Don't get nervous, we Usually don't bite. I'm pretty much a newbie myself. I actually kinda like this. Good points are good focus on an engaging subject, well exposed. Bad points are out of focus urn in foreground, and cluttered background are distractions. Keep shooting and remember to keep in mind to look around all edges, by changing position you could have made this a winner.

[ggt]

My only suggestion is to crop closer-- Keep the subject centered, a bit to the left maybe, and leave a bit of the front urn to show perspective, but not enough to make the fact that it is out of focus a distractions. I think the shadow on her right temple is a bit distracting, can you lighten it on photoshop? Other than that, I like the composition and I think the subject is in a nice positon.

there's my .02!

Have fun! I'm a newbie too and I certainly am!

[rpcrowe]

IMO, you have a very nice portrait of an attractive gal. However, there are some elements which distract from the subject. The OOF urn is the first distraction and I really don't think that the second urn really adds anything to her image. I don't like a lot of the background and also am not keen on her knee popping into the foreground.

Cropping tighter removed these distracting elements. I wasn't sure if I liked the crop of partial shoulder of if I wanted to include the whole shoulder. I decided on this crop because the position of the shoulder and upper arm was not as natural as I would have liked.

Remember that if you give an image to 10-different photographers, you will often get 10-different croppings. Beauty is in the eys of the beholder. However, this is the way I cropped...



I assume that you are inviting this type of critique. However, if you object to my crop, I will remove it...

[smcrews]

Hey there Alex,

I would have to agree with everyone else about re-cropping the shot. For this shot I would try a crop like this.

[LexSYS]

First I want to thank everyone for their honest critique/tips/strategies, I truly appreciate it. I feel that we grow when we can open ourselves to see the views of others and apply it to our own perspective. I also agree that beauty is in fact in the eye of the beholder (which is the beauty of all this.)

[rtbaum]

We all look forward to your next post

[LexSYS]

This was shot today with an 18-55 kit lens in manual mode ISO 200, AV 1/2500, F5 manual focus. Share your thoughts please?

[RLanna]

This was shot today with an 18-55 kit lens in manual mode ISO 200, AV 1/2500, F5 manual focus. Share your thoughts please?

I don't know if I'm suited for commenting on this one, but I'll give it a try.

I feel like its tail is a bit underexposed, probably because of the bright background, and it could benefit form some fill light on post processing. Also, have I shot this one, I would have tried to use a slower shutter speed in order to get some movement out of the helix and a more dramatic feel (but again, if it was a fast take off or landing motion, the subject would get blured...).