Hi Bobby,
Let me take a shot at helping you out. I'm only going to do the top photo though. First I would change the composition some. The fence in the foreground is distracting and it doesn't really lead the eye anywhere. IDK if there's a section of the fence that like leads to the house/barn kind of like a tunnel? If so that could be interesting.
The second thing that comes to mind is there isn't a lot of detail in the sky. I would use a graduated filter (either in camera or in lightroom) to bring down the exposure of the sky a bit and bring back some detail in the clouds. Another option I would try is a long exposure to get some streaks in the clouds. I think that would add some drama to the scene.
The main thing that sticks out to me though is the photo just seems a little flat. I think it could be more contrasty. Every thing just seems to be about the same shade except for the trees in the back ground. The cool thing with black and white is you can really experiment and try different things. I think just making the sky darker and then maybe bringing up the exposure on sections of the grass would make a big difference. Keep in mind when adjusting the exposure subtle changes go a long way. You don't have to make drastic changes to make a big difference.
I've included two of my photos as some examples of what I'm talking about. In the barn scene notice how dark I've made the sky to contrast with where the light is shining in the scene. Anyways, that's just a few thoughts I had. Happy shooting! Also feel free to critique my shots, they are not perfect by any means ;-P
Thank you Kyle so much! I know what you mean about flat thanks, sometimes it takes other people to point out things that are right in front of us....I enclosed another shot of the same barn before it fell from the wind!
The first one is fine but needs a dramatic sky. The second one is a picture of a parking lot. No matter how amazing the sky is, it's bound to be ugly. The third one you need to crop out the left side, it's unbalanced. If the subject is the tree, it needs to be emphasized. Don't try to put all the branches in the frame, for trees it's ok to focus on one area. For the last one, we need to see the dog's face, seeing the eyes is important if you're gonna focus on a face. Why bring out the flowers, they're not that interesting. Finding a nice clump of flowers that fill the bottom of the frame without cluttering it is actually one of the hardest things.
If you click on a photo in your profile there should be 3 dots in the top right corner. If you click the dots you can click "edit" and you can delete your photo in there.
A beautiful view almost never translates to an exciting picture, the reason being that you got 2 eyes and can see in 3 dimensions whereas you camera can't. The depth you perceive with your eyes is stripped from the image and the picture looks flat, literally.
You have to add that depth back into the picture to evoke the same feeling you had at the instance of taking the shot.
Think about drawing, or painting- how do you add the third dimension? You use converging lines, for example.
Our eyes (or the brain, really) look for clues in the image, a path to follow and they use visual clues to do that: Bright colors, size, detail, contrast etc., if there's detail everywhere there is no clear path and the image fails. It's literally like not seeing the woods for the trees.
Quick example: Why do shots of single objects against a blurred background work so well? - because the eyes catch on the detail of that object immediately. It's a mechanism we have developed a long time ago to spot danger, to filter out anything that is not important.
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Hi Bobby. I have a philosophy that any picture taken is better than one not taken. The vast majority of my pictures taken under that philosophy don't always score any points however the more we take the more we learn.The other guys here have given some good advice.I am particularly taken with the 3rd one of the tree. It looks very much like the box trees we have in Australia. See them in the background in my image here. Keep up the good work.
Hi Bobby,
Let me take a shot at helping you out. I'm only going to do the top photo though. First I would change the composition some. The fence in the foreground is distracting and it doesn't really lead the eye anywhere. IDK if there's a section of the fence that like leads to the house/barn kind of like a tunnel? If so that could be interesting.
The second thing that comes to mind is there isn't a lot of detail in the sky. I would use a graduated filter (either in camera or in lightroom) to bring down the exposure of the sky a bit and bring back some detail in the clouds. Another option I would try is a long exposure to get some streaks in the clouds. I think that would add some drama to the scene.
The main thing that sticks out to me though is the photo just seems a little flat. I think it could be more contrasty. Every thing just seems to be about the same shade except for the trees in the back ground. The cool thing with black and white is you can really experiment and try different things. I think just making the sky darker and then maybe bringing up the exposure on sections of the grass would make a big difference. Keep in mind when adjusting the exposure subtle changes go a long way. You don't have to make drastic changes to make a big difference.
I've included two of my photos as some examples of what I'm talking about. In the barn scene notice how dark I've made the sky to contrast with where the light is shining in the scene. Anyways, that's just a few thoughts I had. Happy shooting! Also feel free to critique my shots, they are not perfect by any means ;-P
Thank you Kyle so much! I know what you mean about flat thanks, sometimes it takes other people to point out things that are right in front of us....I enclosed another shot of the same barn before it fell from the wind!
This one looks much better!
The first one is fine but needs a dramatic sky. The second one is a picture of a parking lot. No matter how amazing the sky is, it's bound to be ugly. The third one you need to crop out the left side, it's unbalanced. If the subject is the tree, it needs to be emphasized. Don't try to put all the branches in the frame, for trees it's ok to focus on one area. For the last one, we need to see the dog's face, seeing the eyes is important if you're gonna focus on a face. Why bring out the flowers, they're not that interesting. Finding a nice clump of flowers that fill the bottom of the frame without cluttering it is actually one of the hardest things.
How do you delete a photo off of here, or can you?
If you click on a photo in your profile there should be 3 dots in the top right corner. If you click the dots you can click "edit" and you can delete your photo in there.
A beautiful view almost never translates to an exciting picture, the reason being that you got 2 eyes and can see in 3 dimensions whereas you camera can't. The depth you perceive with your eyes is stripped from the image and the picture looks flat, literally.
You have to add that depth back into the picture to evoke the same feeling you had at the instance of taking the shot.
Think about drawing, or painting- how do you add the third dimension? You use converging lines, for example.
Our eyes (or the brain, really) look for clues in the image, a path to follow and they use visual clues to do that: Bright colors, size, detail, contrast etc., if there's detail everywhere there is no clear path and the image fails. It's literally like not seeing the woods for the trees.
Quick example: Why do shots of single objects against a blurred background work so well? - because the eyes catch on the detail of that object immediately. It's a mechanism we have developed a long time ago to spot danger, to filter out anything that is not important.
Hi Bobby. I have a philosophy that any picture taken is better than one not taken. The vast majority of my pictures taken under that philosophy don't always score any points however the more we take the more we learn.The other guys here have given some good advice.I am particularly taken with the 3rd one of the tree. It looks very much like the box trees we have in Australia. See them in the background in my image here. Keep up the good work.