Hope you dont mind mate but

I took the liberty of creating an album cover example for you

[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/albumcover.jpg[/IMG]

Not technically a photo, but it is based on one.

What do you think?

Regards
PaulM

Thanks for you comments everyone.

1 & 3 sound like they work the best, No2 has too much boat and No4 is poorly composed.

Mannesty,
your right I didn't see it until I processed them.

Personally I liked number 1 the most and found number 3 to be a little too distracting (and in hindsight I maybe should have used a shallower DoF to blur the ocean slightly in it)

Now to put it all into practise

Thanks
PaulM

Thats an impressive shot for through glass, mine seem to have a softness to them when I have tried.

Luckily the Parakeets dont fly away when I open the door to shoot them.

Regards
PaulM

No.1 is just far to busy for me I just cant focus on the bubblegum machine withiout the reflextion disstracting me.

No.2 works for me with the cropped chair. I Like the detail in the green moss / algae and the patterns from the snails in it and the link of the greens through out it.

Well done.

Regards
PaulM

As pschlute and Karl have said great image, Good use of DoF. The only small negative comment I would make is the crop is cutting off the top of his LH eyebrow which I find makes it look a little strange, but that could just be a personal thing

Regards
PaulM

Knowing that composition is one of my biggest weaknesses, I tried going
bact to basics and composing with three simple elements along the rule of thirds.

All taken with the K200D and Tamron 70-300

Simple boat, sand and ocean
[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/boat2.jpg[/IMG]

Exactly yhe same but from a different angle giving more boat
[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/boat3.jpg[/IMG]

lightly higher view giving a more curved view of the ocean.
[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/boat1.jpg[/IMG]

and finally this was a close up of the boat, not really quite on the rule of thirds but the red colour stood out against the faded blue/green of the boat
[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/abstract.jpg[/IMG]

So which one of the first three works the best and does the fouth work for anyone? And of course any other C&Cs

Regards
PaulM

Congratulations Simon,

A deserving award

Regards
PaulM

Not sure if this is a tounge in cheek comment or not (theres no smilies to give it away) if it isn't I would have thought this would give the impression of being seedy ?.

Personally at the few events I have taken pictures of, I have introduced myself to as many team people as possible (players, coaches managers etc)as they will be the subjects, explained that I am shooting pics as practise for myself, and not for any commercial reason, given out my email address, and offered to show people my images afterwards. I also used to wear a Hi-Vis vest to be as obvious as possible (unless I was asked to remove it if it was causing a distraction).

I didn't have a problem (admittedly this was over 12 months ago when I was last in the uk), plus the more you attend the more accepted you will be once people have got to know you.

Just my 2 pence

Regards
PaulM

Just to prove the subjectiveness of photography i prefer the dark backgrounds because it really makes the opaque ones stand out !!

Number five for me Amin, great shot.

Regards
PaulM

I hope you dont mind but I tried it this way

[IMG]http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/pnjmcc/carousel1copy.jpg[/IMG]

I have cloned out the blue tags (like Aiki) cloned out the barrier and cropped a little tighter at the top as I found the top too busy and distracting and finally added some extra motion blur to the riders.

Is it any better?

Regards
PaulM