Photos Some shots

A bit of a mix.
1

2

3

4

5

6

7


C/C welcome.

 

#1 needs a larger DOF
#2 & #5 are ok in terms of DOF and other settings but honestly i don't see much of a challenge in taking a macro shot of a dead dragonfly
#3 imo the red color is too strong in that one, it's a bit irritating to my eyes, also i would re-compose or re-crop the image using the rule of thirds
#4 too soft, focus is in the wrong place, should be on the eyes and slightly larger DOF
#7 same thing, focus on the eyes next thing (looks like a center AF spot was used without recomposing, just a closeup P&S shot basically)

sorry if that sounded too harsh i was mostly referring to the techinal part of the images, other than that the shots don't do much to me

 

What lens/camera was used?

Some good attempts. In shot 1, the background detracts a little from your subject because of the colours. I might have added a vignette to it.

Shot 2 and 5; I would've taken the shot from the opposite end of the dragon fly, so you the focal point of the insect isn't its 'butt' but the 'eyes'.

shot 7; would have preffered the shot if the camera had focused on the eyes. crop is a little tight for my liking.



shot 3, yes it's fun to use this effect, but I find the shot itself a little bland and doesnt really say much.

Shot 4, cute dude. You might want to try taking this sort of shot from eye level rather than above. I find the some camera shake (very minor) combined with a mixture, although I can't quite put my finger on it, of either camera shake, the camera having focused on the left ear of the dog,rather than the eyes.

 

Hey oddball,

I was gonna try to go shot by shot but I'm noticing a consistent theme here. You need to watch your DoF. Yes, a blurred background is awesome and we all love subject isolation - but there's an art to it. It's about revealing what you want us to see. Your low aperture settings are not staying in tune with what I feel you're trying to show, which makes the pictures just feel messy more than anything.

When you line up an image (it works best to learn this on static objects), try thinking about the subject before anything else. First thought should be "What drew me to this?" That's your focus point. Then look at it mentally and say "What amount, in front and behind this point, is important?" Let that set your aperture.

After a while, this thought process becomes automatic and you can start incorporating shutter speed in. But for now, learn to love your Av (aperture priority) mode. Learn to sculpt what YOU want to communicate with that. You don't shoot a sunset at f/2.8 or a macro at f/16 (unless you're going for a very certain look). And most things in between (like portraits) fit somewhere in between.

What is probably a good idea is lots of practice on Av mode - find a landscape and learn what focusing different apertures and distances nets you. Do the same with a household object indoors (to learn portraiture techniques). It will teach you to visualize subjects with a certain DoF in mind, which over time your fingers will correlate to F-stops and distance.

One other thing - watch your lighting. Picture 2 is inappropriately lit. You're shooting the shadow side of the dragonfly, which is underexposed. So if you were to lighten the image, you'd overexpose the rest of it. this is where a fill flash becomes vital.

Hope this helps.

 

All the pictures very natural and superb.