How can I improve? Critique please..

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iDenTiTy

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Hi guys,

My new cam is awesome.

So I decided to take my first outdoor closeup. Found a nice subject, and - voila!

So I have taken a pic, thinking it's very nice.
But could someone give me a critique?

Seriously, is this an example of underexposure, poor focusing etc?
Is there some way I can improve my skill? How?

Link to my first outdoor shot
 
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Hi iDenTiTy, I'm no photographer but here are a few comments from an uneducated amateur's perspective: First of all the photo looks beautiful. The only critique I can really give is that the unfocused petal seems to be dominating the image, perhaps if you took the photo from a different angle so that the unfocused part of the flower is behind the focused part it would improve the overall composition. Maybe about 45 degrees to the left? That would you would also see into the flower more, while still having the side-one, focused and unfocused look you seem to be going for. Other than that great shot and keep snapping!
 
My crit (its only opinion so don't take it too seriously) -

The colours and exposture is good. Composition however, is lacking. There isn't a definitive point of interest in the image. You could have focused on the iris of the flower, or the water drop on the petals, or even the whole flower as a subject. Also the biggest petal is the big blurred one in the foreground which is a bit off putting.

PS: My first DSLR images were far worse ;) - but we learn and grow
 
When I look at the photo I'm not really sure what it is you're trying to show me.
 
How to improve yourself?

1. Eat all your vegetables
2. If you are a smoker, give up smoking
3. Listen to your elders
4. Don't kick puppies

That's probably enough to start with.
 
Congrats on the new camera. The D3000, right ? I also have one.

I found the framing grid quite useful for helping me apply the rule-of-thirds and for making sure the horizon is actually straight etc.

I also think the D3000 is more responsive when shooting in RAW, especially with Active D-light enabled the camera slows down a little. (I have a two-year old, so waiting few seconds between shots can be a little frustrating sometimes)

Although expensive, personally I found Adobe Lightroom very useful. It's great for reframing, adjusting exposure etc. without actually editing the original photos. I don't want to change/edit the photo, that's what Photoshop is for, but I want to get the best out of my pictures, so for me Lightroom is perfect.

EDIT: ^^^ inserted a few missing words :o
 
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Thanks guys.
So going forward, I should concentrate more on a single point.
So, in my pic, there was no clear 'subject'. After a few guides, perhaps even a story was lacking?

Your comments are very welcome. Thanks.
:)
 
Lol.

My dog is a very unfortunate member of the family.
Flashes going off all around her. Shame poor thing hardly slept. Haha.

Must admit. She's very easy to photograph. She sleeps so much, it's like photographing a statue. Awesome.

As for the Adobe Lightroom etc. I'm lucky I worked for an Adobe Gold Partner - got the Entire Creative Suite CS4 Master Collection for free. Woot!!
 
Lightroom 3 should be released soon, there's already a beta trial available. So if you are considering buying LR, I suggest you wait a little bit.
Nevertheless, download the trial first, IIRC it gives you 30 days to try.
 
iDenTiTy said:
Thanks guys.
So going forward, I should concentrate more on a single point.
So, in my pic, there was no clear 'subject'. After a few guides, perhaps even a story was lacking?
:)
Click to expand...

Yep

As for lightroom -- You don't need to go out and get a package now. With Canon you get DPP and with Nikon don't u get Capture NX or something like that? The shipped software with your camera has enough controls and adjustments to tweak your photo. However, concentrate on getting your shot 90% there without having to resort to post processing. Once you really need to work on 200+ photos after a shoot then you can consider upgrading to lightroom. Just my 2c.
 
iDenTiTy said:
Hi guys,

My new cam is awesome.

So I decided to take my first outdoor closeup. Found a nice subject, and - voila!

So I have taken a pic, thinking it's very nice.
But could someone give me a critique?

Seriously, is this an example of underexposure, poor focusing etc?
Is there some way I can improve my skill? How?
Click to expand...

Congrats on the new cam!

PostmanPot said:
They are not hard subjects to learn. But it all goes towards Nikon's way of having menus (and specifically the help button) on their entry-level bodies that help newbies learn photography/take better pics.
Click to expand...

Press the help button! :D

Seriously though, step #1: don't strip the EXIF from your pics - it's virtually impossible to comment without knowing what the shot parameters were. I would suggest the f-stop was far too low.

#2: make sure you have a point of interest:


 
iDenTiTy said:
Seriously, is this an example of underexposure, poor focusing etc?
Is there some way I can improve my skill? How?
Click to expand...
Exposure is fine. Your biggest sin is not to consider your aperture and with it depth of field. A few stops down would make the whole image sharper. The focus is too far towards the back, remember that image sharpness from the focal plane decreases much more rapidly towards the front than towards the back.
 
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Focus, harsh light, composition (maybe move around the flower to the left, so the center of it is not obscured by the distracting out of focus petal) and, as said before, get rid of the time stamp now.
 
I would agree with Quantum Theory on this one....

I would have tried to get more "head on" with the flower, it would probably have brought more of the flower into focus as well..
 
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