Bamburgh castle, England

[Laura-Anne]

Hi, i am new to the forum, i love photography and dream of pursuing a career in photography. Over the summer break i plan on spnding most of my time learning about photography. I have read that lighting, exposure and composition are the most important things to read up on? I also want to learn alot on photoshop.

I would very grateful for an criticisms on my pictures so i know where i stand at the moment. I took these using my nikon d40

Thanks :)

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/laura_825/DSC_0032.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/laura_825/DSC_0035.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/laura_825/DSC_0040.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/laura_825/DSC_0324.jpg

[guesswho]

hi laura welcome to this forum : )
nice try there
the fist one is good but maybe u could take a better angle to show more perspective view of the castle also i think it would be better if u took a bit more of the sky above and remove some of the green area down there

2-3 nothing interesting about them
the last one would have been better if u focused on showing these gulls and the blue sky behind them
would add more drama to the photo
its a nice try
keep shooting and good luck :)

[EvrEst]

Im going to have to disagree with 'guesswho'.

I think the first one is a great composition! the angle really presents the majesty of the castle and the grass on the cliff adds color and size to the image.

The second image is composed well but using a d40 has some drawbacks to quality of image. I would shoot the same thing, panoramic and using maybe six pictures that photoshop can put together for you. then the quality will be really good and you will fill more of the image with the castle and less on the sand.

The third is peaceful but i agree that there is no focal point. something needs to be on the beach.

I like the last one. Composition wise you have the horizon line directly in the middle of the image. this balances too much and does not give us a true foreground or background. I would crop a bit off the sky becuase the colors dont add to the image anyway. It is slightly over exposed so the gulls arent easy enough to see. I love the angle at which you shot though.

Great work and continue to read! Exposure first and then Composition. Photoshop last and only enough for color correction and retouching if you really want to be a photographer and not a digital imager. There are some cool tricks that you can learn too like the panoramic and HDr but they are only helpful while you are unable to purchase the proper equipment to do it on your own :)

Good luck!

[Roll on Moon]

Welcome to the forum :)

I agree with guesswho about the first shot but this is a nice picture though, that castle looks amazing!

The second one is a little bit overexposed but I know how it's difficult to take a shot against the light.

The third shot is great, love the way that each areas are well distinct. I think it would be better with more contrast ;)

The last one is also a little bit overexposed. You should check histogram (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/histograms.htm) which is far more reliable than the screen of your camera.

Things you must do to take good shots:
-use the manual settings of your camera,
-take your shots in raw,
-use the lowest ISO value.

I advise you to buy Lightroom 2! Photoshop is a touch-up software. Lightroom is a software which treats raw files.

Keep it up and don't forget that practice is often more rewarding than instructions ;)

[Laura-Anne]

Thank you all very much for your feedback. I'm going back here on Friday so will put the advice into practice :)