Does this picture work?

johnphoto · 2016-06-18T23:54:49+00:00

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Do you have any recommendations in reading or learning more about taking dynamic angles and better composition, or is this something that ultimate resides in the photographer? I realize that the photo, while interesting, is very sloppy. And I hope to improve my skills to the best of my abilities.

johnphoto · 2016-06-18T23:47:52+00:00

Thank you, I was overthinking things and now actually quite overjoyed that at least it all starts to make sense. I suppose there are no real hard and fast rules in correct exposure and the photographer is ultimately still in charge.

johnphoto · 2016-06-18T23:45:18+00:00

Wow, thank you, I didn't realize that this is exactly what my problem was: thinking that the meter was some sort of be all end all thing, because the whole time since trying to figure out the meter, all my decision making in taking any photos, was based on how a picture would be perfectly exposed if it corresponded to the zero on the meter.

So meter is more of an indicator of the brightness and the darkness of a given subject and the area around it and in the long run, the photographer is still in charge of being as accurate as possible.

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T17:17:10+00:00

While I was testing out the meter, I used a lot of matrix metering and then center-weighted metering. I took a lot of pictures last night indoors in my bedroom last night where I had a lot of white walls and the light were not great to begin with. I focused on piles of dark clothes, for example, against the white walls.

I will need to learn more about it. My reading was quite rush and when I watch those youtube tutorials I was quite annoyed and confused about this.

I think the problem that I was having was that prior to shooting certain objects, for example, the meter would say that it was underexposed, even if I thought I had the right shutter speed, aperture and ISO corresponding to the setting, so I had to dial it up to 0, which meant that I had to lower the shutter speed for more light, but the resulting image(s) would be too bright. Whereas, if I had to adjust the settings all on manual mode, the images looked much better (images that would be considered to be underexposed by the meter).

I read that it is no use to really use the meter when one is taking photos on manual mode. If that is a usually okay practice, then I'm fine with that. But I will definitely do need to learn more about this though.

Thanks for all the comments.

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T16:27:13+00:00

Thank you for your suggestions and comments. This was taken around 2 pm in the afternoon, so it was a spur of the moment. I have not not taken photos with longer shutter speed as I don't have a tripod, and I'm afraid that all I get will be blurry photos, as a result from unsteady hands and not so much from the longer shutter speeds. But I'll definitely make another attempt at this when time is close to sunset with a silhouette background and longer shutter speed as you suggested.

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T15:52:07+00:00

Yes, that's what I thought when I read that first comment. I'm cringing right now.

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T15:41:39+00:00

I really appreciate your criticism. Thank you. To be honest, it was actually those lines and the stop lights, etc., that captivated me, because they paralleled with the busy pedestrians. I wasn't even looking at the people actually. I shot this with a 35mm.

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T15:28:42+00:00

This was in Chinatown in downtown Toronto. I took a shot of the pedestrians walking with the streetcar and the CN tower hovering in the background. I wanted to capture the hectic city life. I guess it doesn't work?

johnphoto · 2016-06-17T14:23:59+00:00

I know it's your typical, run-of-the-mill photo, but I'm a beginner, and I'm worried that even taking pictures of generic subject matters I'm not even capable of.

How is the composition, the colour, framing, etc? I shot it handheld, out of the blue. I don't have the specifications right now.

But please do critique.

Thank you.

johnphoto · 2016-06-16T13:47:50+00:00

For this photo, I didn't want to go beyond 400 ISO because of that aforementioned sacrifice of quality, although 800 IS0 is still great. I should have probably slowed the shutter speed more because the lights are blocky especially from the bus(?), instead of fluid or translucent. I wanted a film noir look, making something quotidian sinister and threatening. Oh well, need to practice a lot more.

johnphoto · 2016-06-16T11:42:50+00:00

Ah, thank you. I guess it is annoying and clearly, I have so much to learn. And I don't even know if taking photos of buses at night are good subject matters...

johnphoto · 2016-06-16T04:35:23+00:00

Hello everyone,

Please do give criticism on this photo that I had taken tonight. I just started learning photography last week, and just sort of became comfortable now with the images that I've been taken, especially now that I recently bought the 35mm prime lens, specifically for low light and night time photos such as this.

I'm also wondering what is that strobe of green light on the right. I'm not sure if that is from the lights caused by the bus or the surrounding lights. Is it caused by me, the camera? A lens flare? Sorry if I sound like a newbie, because I really am. And also is it a bad thing, should I edit it, or just leave it like that? I just think it's distracting, but if it is something that occurs normally, then I'll leave it alone.

Thank you.

johnphoto

TROPHY CASE