Splash Man by Tonyd3

Very nice, I like the effect, well done

DaVeS

Bare tree by dunda66

Hi David,

Welcome to EPZ and especially to the Critique area. As you have seen by the two comments above, you will get some great advice here but if you do find it good advice, don't forget to nominate it as 'good critique' as I have done with them.

Just to elaborate a little more on Frank and Willies comments above in regards to sharpness, I don't see anything sharp in the entire image. Now this could be for a number of reasons but one thing to watch out for is the use of focussing modes and focus points. Now i'm not sure with Nikon cameras because they all seem to be different to me but you will get best results from a shot like this if you are in a non dynamic focussing mode such as AF-S. I believe the D40 has a new AF-A focus setting as well but I'm not sure how that works. What this means is that when you half press the shutter, it locks in the focus and it stays locked as long as you keep the shutter half pressed. However, if your camera is using multiple focus points you will find that it may focus on something closer than the tree and make the tree blurred which you obviously don't want. To avoid this and to take control of what is happening, I always use a single focus point (usually the centre one) to ensure that what I focus on is what I want sharp. Once you focus on the tree, as long as you half press the shutter, it won't matter where you point the camera, the tree will be sharp.

now if you are attempting to blur the background in your messing around with focus, this is controlled by the aperture of the lens with the focal length, distance to subject and distance from subject to background all playing their part in how this works. This is covered in depth of field and expalnations of this can be found all over the internet.

I hope this helps

DaVeS

North Beach Tenby by chrisheathcote

Hi Chris,

Great critique above from Willie and I second his comments about the image being small, try using the panoramic option next time you upload a shot like this.

I did a quick mod myself because on first look the image seems flat which is generally a lack of contrast and adjusting levels/curves normally sorts this out but I liked the darker sky and thought the image would look better with the buildings standing out more. Therefore, in my mod I have darkened off the sky using the graduated filter tool in Adobe Camera RAW, adjusted the levels but then masked out the sea and sky from the levels adjustement in Photoshop. I then dodged the buildings and sand, the island and headland followed by some slight colour adjustment and sharpening.

I hope this helps

DaVeS

Fir Trees by teabelly

Hi Teabelly,

First thing is that when grouping things in images, odd numbers work best so go with three or one and not two. This is because the human brain finds an odd number more asthetically pleasing than a even number.

With your image, I don't think the problem is with any one part of the shot, it is all of the elements that aren't right. The image appears hugely oversaturated and that blue sky definately doesn't help either. The lighting of the trees looks like weak on camera flash lighting which definately isn't helping although the eXif data says that the flash didn't fire so I have no idea what is going on there.

With shots like this you have to make them a bit different, this looks like you shot it as you were walking or driving by, try different angles, get higher or lower but don't take the shot from the first place you see. I have uploaded a mod where I cropped the image to just have one tree. I then dodged some of the branches and then reduced the blues and reds and increased the greens and yellows in the tree. Finally I sharpened.

I hope this helps

DaVeS

January by Ploughman

Hi Richard,

I think a 12 shot montage or the likes would be a very good idea although you would need to marke the tripod etc so you get the same shot everytime, you could then use Proshow Producer or the like to create a slideshow to some music with the twelve images.

For me though, I would have picked a better composition that this, yes you need to show a building in case it snows or something but I would find and old barn in afield or something and not those typical 50s houses you have on the left of the image. The field is good but what about some trees at the front as foreground interest or a fence or something? Also i would talk with the farmer and tell them what you intend because if he leaves that field dormant for a year you'll end up with a quite dull non changing field. I would think that you should have as many elements as possible in the image to show the changing conditions.

My suggestion would be to take more than twelve images though, why not take one per day for a year and then run through that in a quick slideshow?

Hope this helps

DaVeS

Flight by handlerstudio

It's a nice shot and a good capture, I would be almost tempted to crop off the other bird and desaturate the green tree a little. I'll havea go at a mod tomorrow and see if i can show you what I mean.

DaVeS

Time and Tide, Sandsend Dawn 2 by phil99

Phil,

I haven't read any of the other replies but I have a lot of experience with camera club judges and if the UK one's are anything like the Aussie judges, take no notice. most camera club judges are so full of technical bullshit they forget to look at the images artistic merit at all. Why on earth would you crop that image?

For e.g. at my local club someone had entered an image of a golfer on a green with all the trees behind them had been pruned right down to the trunk. Not a great image but the image was intended as a bit of fun. The image was titled 'No Birdies Here' and the judge completey missed it.

Look for yourself HERE

I rest my case, so keep going with the image and treat camera club judges with the contempt that they earn themselves.

DaVeS

Winter sat on the fence by Notters1

Hi Ryan,

This is a really well seen shot, the snow on the fence coupled with the shadows makes for a pleasant image. The only problem I have with it are the composition and the overall blue tint. With the composition I feel that there is just a bit too much sky and the shot could be cropped a little more panoramic. Secondly is the blue tint which although it has a feeling of the cold and a lot of people like this, it isn't really what you would have seen when you looked at this with your eyes.

I have uploaded a quick mod with a crop and the white balance adjusted to give you a comparison.

Hope it helps

DaVeS

Stormy Waters by AndrewCee

Andrew,

A quick question, did you have VR switched on or off with the camera presumably on a tripod? Sometimes VR or IS on Canon will give you blurred shots when used on a tripod, switch it off and use a remote shutter release or the self timer to reduce movement.

DaVeS

Watchful Dawn by iancrowson

Quote: but you could try and just lighten up the front woodwork on the lifeguard tower just a tad

I agree so I've uploaded a mod to show this

DaVeS

Rock Steady by Lulukirk

Hi Lulu,

just thought I'd have a go at quick mod myself, pretty much the same crop as Nick but i've adjusted the white balance and tweaked the colours a little. I also didn't crop out as many boats.

I know it isn't always possible and sometimes you have only a few seconds to grab a shot but try to take images like this in less harsh sunlight, you've got some harsh shadows going on in this shot. Also just be a bit mindful about where you place your foreground interest in your images, this one is too central.

Hope this helps

DaVeS

on cruise by k2

Hi Kypros,

A great attempt an ideallic holiday shot and although you have given the ship some space to sail into there are a couple of elements here working against your image. The first is the position of the cruise liner in your frame, it is too central vertically and the palm tree frong/branch thingy is probably not the best. Given that the ship isn't going to speedily leave the scene I think you could have probably either picked a better palm or moved back to include more of the tree and get some beach or other foreground interest into the shot to get the viewer to look up through the image and finish with the cruise ship. have a look at the image on this page HERE to get an idea of what I am getting at.

Hope this helps

DaVeS