Two more

Her are two more photos, the first had me tearing my hair out does it get harder or do you set your sights too high, after seeing the quality on here.


[IMG]http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/montyaus/birds/shell4007.jpg[/IMG]

This was shot two week ago the local Power-station


[IMG]http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/montyaus/birds/macro055.jpg[/IMG]

hope you will like and welcome C&C thank you.

Montyaus I'm Dutch and straight with my critiques so take them more lightly then I write them

With the first photo, I think you're on the good way into making it into something beautiful.
The depth of field looks like it's too narrow to make the stamen look sharp or it can be total lack of sharpness, I can't clearly see what's going on in your photo. What f-number did you used?
Also make sure the whole flower is in the frame, it doesn't look proper to my eyes to cut a centimetre off from the top petal and remove the little spots/dots in the background next time.

The second shot is hard to judge for me because I don't do landscapes, i'm sure someone can give you advice.

at Stefan

Anvh you can be honest,I will not be offended by anybody, or what is written,all I require is help from people like your self,as for cutting the flower at the top I did not notice it untill it was posted.I like using the largest app that I can, probablly used 35mm f2 at f2,I start at f2 and go to f11,I have lost my notes on that series of photos.

I do not have a program at the moment to alter the photos,Photoshop which I have been playing with has expired,my priority is buying gear,have purchased a tripod today,remote come next week by way of Ebay.

thank you for that.

f/2 is a bit to narrow for these kind of close up photos, you should start from f/5.6 to f/8 and work from there till you get it right. You will get a feel for it so just keep on shooting

Didn't you get a program with your camera?
It's based on silkypix and most probably there is a tool to remove spots or else there are many free programs that can do that.
... so I got a blackout I can't think of any at the moment

Ah yeah.
Try rawtherapee, Gimp & Picasa and there are more out there.

...which are free.



Sadly, you cannot entirely get away without some PP even if it is just a little sharpening. Digital images are naturally a little soft and either you get the camera to do it "in body" so to speak, or for more control DIY.

K.

Oh yes, and the second image. With landscapes are you are at the mercy of the weather. If the light is flat and boring you are better off finding something else to do. Ansell Adams used to take his photos first thing and last thing, and then during the middle of the day would put his feet up and read a book. The problem with your second image is that the light is flat, and it is a little hazy.

HTH. K.

Sper colour and nice plain background in the first one. Hibiscus screams "abroad" to me (although a few varieties can grow at these temperate latitudes. Stamens are, in my opinion, the one thing you need to get sharp!

I'm sorry to say the second one is best described as a record shot, rather than a photograph. Kris has already comment on the light. there's also a plain sky (although I shouldn't mind that over here!) but there's little thought gone into composition. Next time think about framing with a natural element; lead-in lines to take the eye through the picture; strong forground interest; rule of thirds with something important at an intersection point and a subject.


Kris mentions Ansell Adams. You would do well to study the way he put a photograph together or even look at some of the landscape photographs on this site.

Keep trying, keep posting and you WILL improve. After all, look where you live: I have to take most of my pictures in a bog while it's raining and a farmer is slagging me off for plotting to steal his caravans! (Don't ask, just don't ask: I have a difficult morning, but ultimately not unproductive...I think.)

Best wishes,

Andrew

P.S. Just arrived is my son who has, he never tires of telling me, a grade A at A level in photography He says I've been way too harsh and the photograph is different and interesting! So there you have it!

Sounds like an interesting story there Andrew...

Well, our town is adjacent to the M5 and the gateway to the southwest, most motorists just blast through to the end of the motorway near Exeter and points west (which suits me fine!). This makes the uneconomic (boggy because below sea-level) farms ideal for caravan storage, expensive in old dutch barns, still expensive buffered up in the fields.

I went for a walk this morning down a country lane, poking the Pentax here and there, as you do, when I came across this amazing old farm where the farmer has just given up, although he may let out the summer grazing.

The buildings were falling down and the walls in a state...the sort of thing which regular views of these pages will know I love. But then this enraged farmer appears (no twelve bore tucked under his arm, I'm glad to say) convinced I was casing the joint, photographically, in preparation for some kind of nocturnal mobile-home blag.

He took some convincing that I was just a harmless convalescent lunatic who liked old and ruined things (he, of course, could see nothing lovely in the decrepitude). He took the car's number, which I didn't mind, and even pointed out the watery footpath across his land and rhynes to the River Yeo, so all ended amicably, sort of.

And I got some pictures...of which more in a couple of night's time.

Best wishes,

Andrew

Andrew
I may have got somthing right in the photo it was taken late afternoon merit as a photo ,or snap,is interesting when I looked at the power station I thought it would make a good shot, it probably will I just need to see it from a different perspective,maybe at night when it has lights, different direction or when the sun is setting behind,need to be carefull it is on an island,I can swim but need to keep my camera dry

Anvh I tried fstops in that range but it didnt help, would increasing the light source be the way to go,my "K" lenses do not like the flash from the camera.

ps, bwichmar the next generation is the smartest no further comment.

PSS Andrew that never came out right it is meant to mean dont disagre with the youth.