Pictures of Mine

[Shant J.]

Here are some pictures of mine, all taken on a Nikon D3000. Please critique honestly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shantjaltorossian/

Also, be sure to comment on my Flickr page if you are a member!

 

[Watchman]

Good to see another gallery here! Your pictures show good quality, though they are very simple pictures, they seem to be good. 👍

 

[Apok]

Reactions:
1st: ....what?
2nd: awesome
3rd: meh

I really like the second one nice job.

 

[Shant J.]

Thanks for the comments. I just got my first SLR camera for Christmas and am learning as I go.

 

[Shant J.]

Some more pictures. Enjoy!

 

[Watchman]

Whow Very nice. 👍

 

[Shant J.]

Whow Very nice. 👍

Thanks!

 

[Syntax error]

Welcome to the photography section of GTP Shant J.

Please don't think me overly critical on any shots, I promise I'll only give constructive feedback. Sweet Chrissy present by the way 👍

I'll start with your first post.

The first shot lacks focus. I can see what you are trying to accomplish with the shot and it's whole east meets west thing, but there are too many objects for your eyes is drawn to. I think it would have worked better if you split your subjects up. Keep Buddha with the headphones (sweet ides by the way, I'd imagine he is listening to Prodigy ) as a separate shot to the philosophy book & incense thingys.

Shot 2 & 3 are partials of subjects. There is usually not much wrong with having a partial of a subject (I do it all the time) & I can see that you have been boning up on your 2/3 golden rule when it comes to composition (good stuff), however neither of these shots work for me. The building behind the tree is very distracting in the 2nd shot & in the 3rd shot, the building lacks any real point of interest. I can't make too many suggestions about shot 2 but for shot tree, I would recommend with trying to find a spot to shoot from that makes the building level with you or shoot a smaller detailed part or the entire building.


Now onto the next post. I like the ideas. The composition is good as well. These shots almost made it. But I have a handy hint for you. I love the use of fill flash, it can be very handy. What your camera is most likely doing (if the Nikons are anything like Canon) is that it will revert to a shutter speed of 1/200 if the flash is on. So what you end up with is some over exposed backgrounds. What you need to do is to reduce the aperture (or make the numbers higher) so that when you take a light reading of the background, it sits below the 1/200 shutter speed. Then when you take the shot of the subject (like the parking meter and the oversized decorations) the background isn't all blown out and white but properly exposed whilst still having the subject in the foreground "pop". Also be careful of the flash flare in objects, it's visible in both shots.

I hope some of that made sense to you. As I said, only trying to help with some constructive feedback. Keep shoot & keep on posting them up as ou have the right idea, just need to refine the execution a little.

 

[Shant J.]

Thanks for the honesty! I'm new at this and am trying out different things. I'm taking a class in photo in January, so that should help!

 

[Syntax error]

Thanks for the honesty! I'm new at this and am trying out different things. I'm taking a class in photo in January, so that should help!

Having a play with the settings and practicing a lot is the best way to do it. Honestly unless you are doing a uni degree in photography, you won't learn much from a course that you can't learn from a reading a few tutorials online.

That being said, some people learn better by being shown and others by reading. It really is up to personal preference. Either way, keep practicing and post the shots up here, I'll happily give any tips and advise.... if you want it that is. 👍

 

[PureAwesomeness]

Have to admit I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting to see photos of the Mine race circuit in Japan.

 

[homeforsummer]

Really nice photos 👍 The colour and clarity is excellent. You've made me want to trade my D40 for a D3000.

Syntax has already given a good critique and my thoughts echo his pretty much, though if I were to pick a favourite, it'd be the parking meter shot.

But yeah, nice shots, definitely a good start, and I'm really enjoying the colour and clarity in them.

 

[Shant J.]

Here's a new one:

 

[Shant J.]

 

[Boffin]

There's some nice stuff going on around here, but I have one suggestion. Loking at the east meets west, parking meter, the baubles and the VW, I see you are using the flash. While the flash helps you to get good sharp shots in darkish areas, the lighting isn't as good as if you ran a longer shutter speed withou the flash. If you turn the knob to a symbol with a electric bolt with a cross through it, it will adjust everything automatically to the settings, but without using a flash. Its hard to get used to, and you need a very steady grip (because the shutter is open longer, so theres more chance of you moving slightly, hence blurriness) but the pay off (when doen properly) is great lighting effects.

Of course if you want to take a snapshot of your family or something for the sake of documenting it, then use the flash because it will be a crisp shot, and you'd rather see evryone's face clearly and forget about composition etc, but if you are doing artistic shots, like the ones in this gallery, I'd say give it a wirl. 👍

And I like your fish .

 

[Shant J.]

And I like your fish .

Thanks! About the long shutter time, do I just need to turn flash off, or are there other steps?

 

[Boffin]

There should be a setting which automatically adjusts the apeture and shutter speed while turning it off. I have a Nikon D60, and you just twist the top knob untill you find the lightning bolt with a cross through it.

If you see here:

Its the symbol under the auto setting (the green symbol).

Sorry about the big pic, but its easier to see.

 

[Shant J.]

How about this?

 

[Syntax error]

The exposure settings have significantly improved in the last shot 👍 However your composition is pretty terrible. It's neither center or going by the thirds rule (not that a shot has to but in general it helps aesthetically if it follows either composition type). It would also probably benefit from a more level positioning when taking the photo. You can tell that you were shooting upwards, not that it's an issue, but yet again more a composition thang.

What exactly is it? My guess would be something to do with horse racing? Anyway, don't forget that if you shoot stuff like this, that incorporating a story into your shot can help. Check out F1GTR's gallery to see what I mean. He does mostly street photography but his shots all tell a story. It's pretty cool.

Anyway don't be disheartened, get out there and keep shooting, as I said previously, just trying to help and give advise.

 

[Shant J.]

What exactly is it? My guess would be something to do with horse racing? Anyway, don't forget that if you shoot stuff like this, that incorporating a story into your shot can help.

It's part of a parade float.

Oh, and how is the composition of this one? I tried to centralize it.