Help/Opinions Please

[dreamless]

Hello, my name is Sean and I am new to dgrin, smugmug and photography in general. I started my new found love last year when I went to Yosemite National Park for the first time (been there a total of four times in the last year) and I wanted to preserve those memories. I started with a Sony point-and-shoot for the first trip, borrowed my brothers digital Rebel for the second and the third and fourth trips I took my newly purchased Canon 40D camera.

Last night I took some pictures of a storm that was rolling in the area and then joined smugmug (14 day free trial) and posted those pics. I have a personal gallery that I have spent a lot of time setting up (and hosting at home) but ultimately proved to be way too slow so I'm looking for a hosted environment and found smugmug.

One of the reasons I plan to move my gallery is in the hope that I can get critiques, opinions, thoughts from people (like you) that have been doing this for many years. Right now i only have the recent storm photos up but plan to move the other galleries I have to smugmug in the coming week.

Now for my request, if you have the time and willingnees to view my pics and let me know what you think I would greatly appreciate it. Obviously you can add comments to the gallery or just post back here. I'm hoping over time I can improve upon my techniques and enjoy photography even more. The pictures posted right now is my first attempt at taking pictures completely in manual mode and in an environment that lighting changes with a turn of the shoulder.

Again, any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.dreamlessphoto.com

Sean

[Richard]

Hi Sean, and welcome to Dgrin. :wave This is a great place for learning and advice. I would encourage you to post specific pics for comment on the various Shots forums, either pics you are particularly proud of, or ones that didn't quite work but you don't know why. You'll get better feedback that way. How To Post on Dgrin (http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1083138)

Cheers,

[dreamless]

Thanks for the info, I was hoping for a more grand scale but if single pics would get more of a response then I guess I'll go that route.

Either way, check out the gallery...if for no other reason than I have some nice pics of Yosemite (or will have soon).

[PhilCollum]

Hi Sean, and welcome to Dgrin too! I'll second Richard's comments, in that its a lot easier to comment on specific photographs you're proud of than that of an entire gallery.

But I can tell you that you've certainly captured some dramatic sky. Some of the clouds look a little washed-out and could probably use some more contrast. (Based on some of the EXIF data, I'm guessing you were using the camera in "auto" mode?) But you have the basic exposure about right. What the photos lack is a defined foreground, or a purposeful composition... something to give the photos something interesting to look at, other than simply "sky". (Just my humble opinion...)

So you've got the bug, and you've got the camera. Now start seeking out resources on some basic photographic concepts, like composition and form. There's a lot of great resources here on dgrin, including all the great people here. There's also a lot of great resources elsewhere on the web. You'll be doing great things in no time!

[PhilCollum]

PS, I :lust Yosemite, and look forward to seeing your posts!

[weronika]

Hello! Welcome to smugmug, and photography in general! :D

You definitely got some nice pictures there. Yosemite sure is nice to photograph...

Here are some of my thoughts:
1. A lot of the pictures look very washed-out - they could really use just some Levels adjustment in Photoshop (or brightness/contrast somewhere else). I think making the green trees and blue sky pop would go a long way.
2. You have a strong tendency to put the subject right in the middle of the photo - it actually looks much better a bit off to the side. Rule of Thirds - it's best to have the focal point of the picture on the intersection of lines dividing the photo in thirds, vertically and horizontally. Doesn't have to be exactly there, but off-center is usually nice.
3. You have a lot of similar pictures. I'd try to delete about half, or more in case of the clouds. The impact is much stronger with fewer images, IMO. But it does make sense that you'd want to leave more of them there for comments, and generally this is a personal choice.

I'm leaving a bunch of comments on your pictures.

P.S. Oops, I just realized I think you were asking for comments about the cloud pictures, and I was mostly commenting on the Yosemite ones. Well, since I wrote this already, I may as well post it even though it's not quite on topic, maybe you'll get something out of it. I don't have much to say on the storm photos - I have almost no experience with sky photography. Neat clouds though, and could use some more foreground interest and maybe a big more contrast/saturation pop.