Amateur Photographer

[Q.K.]

Hey guys, I'm just starting to get into photography, using a not-so-great camera and hoping to upgrade soon enough. In the mean time, here's some of my favourite pictures. It would be great to get some comments and criticism from you guys, thanks.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/2963/pillsburyev9.jpg
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1383/decayev3.jpg
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/1996/liftam9.jpg
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/592/puddlefm5.jpg

More pictures, some better than others, over at my flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10255775@N05/

[Demonic Rabbit]

Some nice photos here. I see you've taken the time to find some nice subjects. One thing to keep in mind is to take a few seconds to take in what you're taking a picture of, and how you can arrange that in the frame to have a more pleasing composition. One thing that your pictures are missing is a main point of interest, a place in the picture that the eye is immediately drawn to. Without this anyone looking at the picture finds themselves a little 'lost' and is unsure where to look.

For instance, in the first picture the natural point of interest is obviously the 'A' and to a lesser extent the 'Pillsbury' sign. However, immediately below this is the signpost that leads the viewers eye out of the frame and away from the point of interest.

In the third picture, the boat and the building, in particular the lift sign, both lie upon 'Power Points' in the frame and so fight for the main focus of the viewer, preventing either one of them from holding much attention.

The fourth picture is good but it has plenty of background and middleground detail, but could do with some foreground interest just to give it a little more balance and punch.

I'm sorry if i'm being a little critical of these but you look like you have a really good eye for photographic subject material. When you find something just take a minute to look for a good focal point. One way of doing this is to imagine the frame divided by two equally spaced horizontal lines and 2 equally spaced vertical lines. Wherever these lines intersect are natural focal points, or what I referred to before as 'Power Points'. Anything placed upon these Power Points is more likely to draw the attention of the viewer. Try placing the natural focus of the picture upon one of these power points and then planning your composition around that.

Again, apologies if this comes off as overly critical, I don't mean to be. I'm just trying to offer some advice. You have some good stuff here and i'd love to see more of it :)

[Q.K.]

Hey, thanks for the crits. I see what you mean about not really having a main point of interest. I'm just getting into this so I still have a lot to learn about composition, but I see what you mean.

I'll probably be taking some more pics later today, so I'll update when I get back.

[Q.K.]

Sorry to sort of bump this/double post, but I have a few more photos I took tonight, playing around with light.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2360/nighthg4.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/254/streetsxu1.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5639/lightsbg3.jpg

I should have been using a tripod, I know :P That's why there's some blurring going on. Next time though I'll do it somewhere with more traffic flow and I'll be sure to bring a tripod :P There's also a weird purple form of lens glare on that picture of the sky. T__T

[purplerose]

The last one is a really nice abstract. I highly agree with Demonic. Keep shooting! :)

[Q.K.]

Ok, been taking some more pictures, here are a few I took today.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8531/fishoz7.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3896/grapesgp9.jpg

There are more over at my flickr account, I just can't use the html links on this forum that they want you to use (it's a TOS thing).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10255775@N05/