Hello everyone. I have enjoyed reading, and mostly looking at everyone's posts for a couple months now. So I figured it was about time I get in on the action and post something. I am only 23 years old and have been photographing seriously for about a year and a half now. I expect and WANT criticism. I have tough skin and will never learn anything from family and friends that praise everything I do. I want to learn. Here is one of my most recent images from just after Christmas in De Witt, Ar.
I messed around with flickr which was hosting this image and it is now gone. Oops you can find it here.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewkennedy/3168026741/" title="De Witt Sunset by mattken85, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3168026741_8912b242a1_o.jpg" width="720" height="482" alt="De Witt Sunset" /></a>
Posted by Darren Huski on January 4, 2009 at 7:12 AM
Welcome to the NPN and the Central States group!
You can get good comments and learn a lot from the folks here. You can be inspired by the photography too. Another great thing about this group is you can learn about new locations in your area. So I think you made a good move getting involved.
I am glad you posted an image too. This will give you some comments from the "locals". You can also post it in one of the galleries and get more comments as they get better eye traffic there.
My thoughts are that this is a great scene and light you have here. And empty field or meadow is a great location in any season, but especially in winter for sunset images like this. You have the right time of day here and the clouds are perfect. The tree has great potential but what I think it needs is a better use of the tree. You cannot see the trunk at this angle and as such it blends in too much with the background trees. I wonder what it would look like if you were a bit closer and lower to the ground? Could that have allowed you to put the tree and trunk into the sky? If it would you would have a better composition. Then the background trees become more of a distant feature rather than blend into the trunk of this tree. That would give you a stronger composition and improve your image.
Does that make sense and help?
Keep working this location if you can as I think it has potential. Keep trying different things too. Wide views, telephoto views, closer, farther, etc. Just play and take many images.
One other suggestion for a new photographer is check into any camera or photography clubs in your area. That can be a good and cheap way to learn and have people to photograph with.
Posted by Daniel Loomis on January 4, 2009 at 9:36 AM
Welcome the forum. I look forward to seeing more of your photos in the future.
I really like the halo effect of clouds behind the silhouetted branches.
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on January 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Hello Matthew, welcome to CSNP! We're glad to have you aboard. After you've had a chance to get the feel of this place I'd encourage you to support NPN with your membership, it's the best money you'll spend to improve your photography. One thing that's nice to see, 23 years old ... REALLY? Man 23 seems like a century ago to me!
One thing that you can do that will really help people who comment on your images is to provide the camera setting technicals. Focal length, aperture & shutter speed, ISO and any other pertinent information about the capture and/or post processing techniques used. Now on to the image.
First off you have a wonderful background sky to support your main subject, the winter tree. The frame is well constructed with the tree being off center too. There is just enough light on the field to bring out shadow detail. If the main subject's trunk were a bit more visible this would be very nice indeed. For this image you may be able to go back and provide some localized contrast for the tree trunk in post processing.
Great to have you aboard! Make sure to post your contact information in the thread at the top and I'll get you included in our membership listing. Looking forward to seeing many more!
The trunk is something I would have liked to improve. There was a real thick dark layer of clouds in the background real low behind the background trees that kept the trunk looking pretty dark.
Posted by Tom Kennon on January 4, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Welcome aboard, Matthew, nice first post, I agree with Gale a bit of sharpening would improve a really nice image.
Posted by BLUFFSPRING on January 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Welcome to the group Matt. Nice post. I would agree that working the site to take out the trees in the background would have made this image stronger. Looks like there might be an opening in the background to the left of the tree that would have provided a more open and subject focused composition.
Posted by Aaron Szabo on January 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Welcome to the forum! Us young kids get the best of it because we can learn from these old pro's for years to come. I'm also semi-new to photography and especially nature- around 1yr doing photography and 6-7months CRAZY about nature photography at 24 years old. I'd probably crop the half trees on the left as good as possible and straighten the horizon (land). Great shot!
Posted by John Moore on January 4, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Hi Matthew. Welcome to CSNP. Nice first post. It really conveys that feeling of an Arkansas winter sunset, and that's a wonderful tree and sky. One suggestion I have of a purely technical nature is to show your images at the highest jpeg quality possible. Your image seems overly compressed, and the 84 KB file size seems to support this. I always save at the highest possible setting that yields a file size less than 200 KB (the limit imposed by NPN). If you use Photoshop I can tell you how I go about doing this.
I look forward to seeing more of your work!
Posted by Brad Mangas on January 4, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Hi Matthew and welcome. As has been mentioned this is really a great place to learn and grow. Just over a year now for myself being involved here and I can't imagine learning the things I have over the last year without being involved here. So have fun and don't hold back!
Your first post is nice. I like the silhouette look and the darkness of the tree is just fine with me. As far as a little critique from me, I agree with some slight sharpening of the image. I notice slight lens vignetting especially in the upper left corner (the darkening of that area). This is typical of shots with a wide lens, I see it often when I shoot with my 17-40. This can easily be taken care of in photoshop with just a slight adjustment. Other than that, I think it needs more color. Really make that blue sky and the glow at the horizon standout. Or, this could make a nice b&w as well.
Discussion
11 repliesI messed around with flickr which was hosting this image and it is now gone. Oops you can find it here.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3168026741_8912b242a1_o.jpg
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewkennedy/3168026741/" title="De Witt Sunset by mattken85, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3168026741_8912b242a1_o.jpg" width="720" height="482" alt="De Witt Sunset" /></a>
You can get good comments and learn a lot from the folks here. You can be inspired by the photography too. Another great thing about this group is you can learn about new locations in your area. So I think you made a good move getting involved.
I am glad you posted an image too. This will give you some comments from the "locals". You can also post it in one of the galleries and get more comments as they get better eye traffic there.
My thoughts are that this is a great scene and light you have here. And empty field or meadow is a great location in any season, but especially in winter for sunset images like this. You have the right time of day here and the clouds are perfect. The tree has great potential but what I think it needs is a better use of the tree. You cannot see the trunk at this angle and as such it blends in too much with the background trees. I wonder what it would look like if you were a bit closer and lower to the ground? Could that have allowed you to put the tree and trunk into the sky? If it would you would have a better composition. Then the background trees become more of a distant feature rather than blend into the trunk of this tree. That would give you a stronger composition and improve your image.
Does that make sense and help?
Keep working this location if you can as I think it has potential. Keep trying different things too. Wide views, telephoto views, closer, farther, etc. Just play and take many images.
One other suggestion for a new photographer is check into any camera or photography clubs in your area. That can be a good and cheap way to learn and have people to photograph with.
I really like the halo effect of clouds behind the silhouetted branches.
One thing that you can do that will really help people who comment on your images is to provide the camera setting technicals. Focal length, aperture & shutter speed, ISO and any other pertinent information about the capture and/or post processing techniques used. Now on to the image.
First off you have a wonderful background sky to support your main subject, the winter tree. The frame is well constructed with the tree being off center too. There is just enough light on the field to bring out shadow detail. If the main subject's trunk were a bit more visible this would be very nice indeed. For this image you may be able to go back and provide some localized contrast for the tree trunk in post processing.
Great to have you aboard! Make sure to post your contact information in the thread at the top and I'll get you included in our membership listing. Looking forward to seeing many more!
I look forward to seeing more of your work!
Your first post is nice. I like the silhouette look and the darkness of the tree is just fine with me. As far as a little critique from me, I agree with some slight sharpening of the image. I notice slight lens vignetting especially in the upper left corner (the darkening of that area). This is typical of shots with a wide lens, I see it often when I shoot with my 17-40. This can easily be taken care of in photoshop with just a slight adjustment. Other than that, I think it needs more color. Really make that blue sky and the glow at the horizon standout. Or, this could make a nice b&w as well.
Thanks for sharing Matthew, and again welcome!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3168026741_8912b242a1_o.jpg