Lesson 3 – Wyckoff

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  • #18337
    Kirk
    Participant

    Ok here are my Lesson 3 shots! I still need to do assignment 2 but I was out shooting this weekend so I thought I would jump ahead on this assignment.

    #20192
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Hey Kirk!

    Before we get into this can you tell me what kind of camera you are using and whether or not you have manual control over the device.

    Thanks!

    #20193
    Kirk
    Participant

    I have a Canon Rebel Xs. My lens is the standard, crappy 70-300 zoom that does not have any image stabilization. The first flower shot was done with aperature priority and the bottom was shutter priority. I have another shot that I did all manual that got some decent “blurred” backgrounds if you would like to see that one as well. I run each of my shots with a very light “unsharp mask” to grab some detail. Did I do something wrong? Until I get better, I use manual focus and a priority mode. The only time I use all manual is when I have a tripod and I can control all the elements of the picture. I still have plenty to learn :-).

    Kirk

    #20194
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    You certainly have not done anything wrong. I don’t want you to feel like you can even ever do anything wrong in photography. Everything is a learning process and every image you take is a learning experience.

    For this assignment I was hoping you could create more of a sense of motion.

    Your image of the bird, while nice and sharp, is like a bird frozen in time. It doesn’t really feel er, um, ‘motiony’ for lack of a better word. 😉

    Take a look at the assignment again details again. Note the distinction between those that have manual control of their camera

    If you want me to critique these that’s great! If not feel free to submit another motion image.

    Let me know what you would like.

    I want this to be fun for you so let me know.

    Thanks!

    #20195
    Kirk
    Participant

    I see what you mean. I was hoping the water in the background would show the motion. I have other shots for you that should fit the bill. I will post another one. Thanks!

    #20196
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Great just post the new shot(s) here!

    Thanks

    #20197
    Kirk
    Participant

    How about something more like this… I tried to capture a fountain and blur it so that it looked more like an actual solid object.

    #20198
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Yes this is what I mean!!!

    I will post a review here later this evening.

    #20199
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Hi Kyrk,

    Thanks for sending this in.

    Your have achieved all of the goals of this assignment.

    You have shown that you can photograph something with a slow shutter speed to highlight motion. Also you’ve shown that you can shoot an image with shallow depth of field.

    These are quite important as you move forward with your photography. You will become increasingly aware of how to manipulate these two techniques to get the look you want. Eventually you will the look you want in your mind and be able to apply the right technique to achieve that look. In other words, you see the photo you want to create and everything else comes naturally.

    In terms of these photos specifically lets get into this a little.

    Your image of the cluster of flowers is nice. What’s particularly nice in this image is that there is a very nice subtle use of a soft background that actually focuses the eye on the main element.

    There is literally a cross hair in the bkg that is centered on the flowers. Whether you did this consciously or not is irrelevant. Just take note. I think it works!

    Next time I would cut off the other cluster of flowers though and just focus on the one.

    The next image, the fountain is nice.

    It always amazes me what water actually looks like when you can slow down time. By the way. How incredible that we can do this with photography.

    You’ve done a very nice job with this photo.

    Most of the time when people send in stuff like this all the leaves are blurred due to wind.

    Maybe this was indoor but either way the whole thing is razor sharp so you’ve done well.

    In the future you may want to use a neutral density filter for this type of image.

    Overall I think you’ve done great work here.

    Do you have any questions about this assignment specifically?

    Lemme know.

    Great to be working with you Kyrk!

    On another note, I have posted some new galleries on my portfolio site if you want to take a look:

    http://photo.duncan.co/

    Cheers.

    #20200
    Kirk
    Participant

    Thanks for the comments! No the crosshairs were not intentional. I did consider my background and how it would compliment the flowers (if you notice the green blur with the pink flowers). I just have to keep practicing. I want to get “control” of the camera more. That flower shot was outside actually. The fountain was an indoor shot at my company’s lobby. Thanks for the link to your work! AWESOME stuff!

    #20201
    Duncan Rawlinson
    Keymaster

    Thanks Kyrk!

    Can’t wait to see what you shoot next.

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