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Thanks. I’ll try another shot if I get a clear morning, maybe move back 10 or 20 metres and go to 100 – 120mm focal length, maybe get the ship a little smaller relative to the Opera House, leave a bit more space between them.
Appreciate the feedback.
Assuming you’re about 15 metres from the action, at 260mm and f/8 you’ve got 1.5 metres of DoF. Drop to 5.6 and you only go down to 1.1 metres at that distance – so not much DoF loss for an extra stop, which should double your shutter speed if my math is correct. I think generally a metre of DoF will get the carrier and the tacklers in nice focus. ISO will depend on the light but if you can stay above 1/000s SS you’ll get sharper shots. Newer cameras will handle higher ISOs without much noise, so don’t be afraid to push it up. I’ve found in sports shots that the AI Servo (on Canon) is the better focus option. You can spot focus on the ball carrier and it will (generally) follow the focus pretty well. If the lens has IS even better. I agree with @Lburgess the player in action (usually the one with the ball) is the place to focus. Use the continuous shooting mode as things change very quickly. Definitely avoid the square crop.
Rugby is a great sport for photos – enjoy!
I like the composition and the orange/green is a nice contrast, although agree with Grizzly on the saturation.
Not sure where the focus is. I know it’s hard to focus on something through water like this, but it all seems a bit soft to me. I think the fish might be sharper with f/13 or 16 rather than 7.1. A mid range f stop with this composition, in my opinion, isn’t wide enough to isolate the subject, but not tight enough to give clarity through the composition.
Have you tried using a polarizing filter? Should be able to get rid of most of the glare with a circular polarizer and I think make it a more compelling shot. Now if you can just get these fish to pose for you again …
Cute kids, I’m sure you’ll treasure this one.
I’d try bringing up the shadows and dropping the highlights. The faces look a bit dark and the brightness in the background pull some attention away from the beautiful smiles.
Definitely like the last one best. Really brings out that lovely backlight.
One thing that kind of bothers me here. The path is leading my eye to the back right. The boy and his dog are leading my eye to the front left, to a place I can’t see but looks like thick forest with no trail.
Feels a bit like watching a movie and thinking “don’t go into that old house tonight!”, “don’t split up you fools!” and etc.
Apparently, I’m on the only one that finds that a bit jarring, though.
Agree it’s a bit soft. I also think the background is too dark – so much so that it kind of looks like the cat was inserted in post processing, and I can’t make out where the tire ends and the ground begins.
Thanks for the feedback. @tobiepsg I didn’t like the ones where I did some light painting, but didn’t try a non-white light. Will definitely give that a go
I like the light and colour on the table. Agree that the balls are too close to the edge, so all you see is their tops. OK if one or two is like that, but in my view it would be better to have some in full view in the light. I think the light on the right should be either more defined (sheer curtains with dim outside light?) or not there at all. The lights or reflection on the left are also distracting.
Oops. Canon 5d Mark III. Tokina 11-16 at 16mm. Settings: ISO 6400, f/4.0, 20 seconds.
Lots to work with here. Personally, I would have tried a vertical composition to get all of the lighthouse in the reflection. May have to move the camera forward or perhaps to the left, as it looks like you’ve cropped on the edge of the water. Nice dramatic sky, and the light structure is a good contrast to the dark clouds. Again, I think moving forward would have placed the structure completely (or almost) in front of the dark clouds which I think would help the contrast.
To me, it looks a bit purple. Maybe adjusting the tint slider. It bothers me that the roof blends into the far bank. I’d rather see it against the sky (shoot from lower angle) or against the water (from higher angle) to give a clear subject/background delineation. Nice reflection, and lovely soft light all around.
Thanks. You really clarified what it was that was bothering me about this shot, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Will keep trying.
Hmm, not sure I agree that photography is not art…
I think the shadow of the wire is neither here nor there – I think it needs to be either more prominent or not there. Work with the contrast and exposure sliders to find a combination that works better. Usually bumping contrast, shadows and blacks, and reducing highlights and whites will bring that out a bit. The opposite will reduce/remove the shadow. But experiment with what works in this one.
Hmm. Can’t seem to embed this without distortion. Just click for a hi res version with proper proportion.
I like the composition, and the clouds are interesting. But I think it’s just the wrong time of day for this shot. I’d suggest trying again in the blue hour. I think you’re facing roughly west here, so just after sunset there should be enough light to highlight clouds, maybe get some colour there. Also the bridges and buildings will be lit so that will bring them out more, and provide some reflection in the water – particularly if you’re at a multi second exposure on a tripod.
I think it’s a bit long on the bottom and the building and stuff on the right doesn’t add much. Maybe try bringing the right corner up a bit, or a 4×5 crop. I understand you want to keep the line coming from the bottom corner, but I think you get the same effect even if it’s not exactly in the corner.
For my 2c, either the man should be a bit sharper or the wall should be a bit softer – in other words having the near wall sharp and not the dude is more distracting.
But overall a very moody picture, very sad and alone.
Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the blue hour
As you say, the background is very cluttered. I would try a reflector to get some light to the dark side of her face.
Second shot is a huge improvement. Really brings out the texture on the table, and I noticed writing that was not really visible before. Very nice. Could probably bring the highlights down a bit more as the dominoes are still quite bright.
I agree with @karamen about a crop. You might try a portrait crop with the wire about 1/3 from the bottom and beak 1/3 from the top. Hard to see how sharp the focus is, but I’m assuming the eye is in focus. What were your settings? You might also try reducing the whites and blacks, which will reduce the brightness of the background a bit and bring out some of the colour.
