New to the site and photography. Got into photography a little under a year ago, and am hooked! Would love any feedback you pros would like to give, thanks in advance! Was lucky enough to get some shots of skateboarding icon and legend Mike McGill and one of the many shots I have of our local(Colorado) womens BMX pro Mika Shaw
The Mika Shaw shot looks great! Good composition too.
The Mike McGill shot caught a very rad action pose but he doesn't stand out too much from the people directly behind him. There's not always much you can do about it unfortauntely and is something that can get in the way of action shots as you don't always know where the moment will occur. However that doesn't mean it can't be planned for (I talk like I'm an expert [I'm not] but it's only something I'm coming to realise over the past week). Read through this article - https://fstoppers.com/education/ultimate-guide-composition-part-two-beyo...
The section on "Figure/Ground" is what I'm referring to, seperate your subject from the background with colour or a less busy background.
Check Mike McGills gloved hand in the air and elbow pad and helmet, there just so happens to be people wearing black who line up with it all 3, ggrrr.
Sometimes you can get around this by going lower - his hand would appear higher so be against the mountains or sky and stand out - like you've done really well with the shot of Mika Shaw.
In your case, going higher would have gotten the concrete in the background, but that has the trade-off of getting to more regular eye-level and can look more boring. Always more to think about and consider.
Really hoping to see more of your work Jason!
Thanks Richard, I really appreciate the insight. Glad I happened upon the FS site, the critiquing and advice is really going to help me improve. Going to read the article you included now,
gr8 photos
when in skateparks try using a wider lense
also, imo, don't watermark
For the Mcgill shot, if you shot at a slower shutter and kind of panned with his movement, it would keep him in focus, but adding motion blur to the background, helping with the distraction of the people in the back. Keep it up!
Thanks for the input and suggestions. I was shooting in auto, Ive since ventured out to using Manual mode. Soooooo much to learn!