Critique My Recent Trip To The States

[RandomlySet]

We recently went on a trip to the states to celebrate my partner's 30th and also mine (although we was back in the UK before I turned 30 - so went to London). We spent 6 days in NYC, 10 days in Vegas and a couple of days in Arizona.

I didn't take a proper tripod - just a Gorilla Pod - which security inside ESB took off me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take as many good pictures as I had intended - most of them are simply "holiday snaps". These are the best I could manage.

So, I finally got around to editing some of the best ones I could find. I understand some aren't great - due to lack of stability and having to use high ISOs But any feedback regarding composition, cropping etc would be great.

Ground Zero

Taken from TOTR

Lower Manhattan as seen from the Staten Island ferry

Lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

The Grand Canyon

Random Arizona landscape

Freestone Park - Arizona

Canyon Lake - Arizona

 

[RandomlySet]

Finally, two more I was hoping would turn out better than they did. Thanks to the ESB security taking my Gorilla Pod, I had to have a high ISO as I had to hold the camera steady against the bars up there

Taken from the top of the ESB

Statue of Liberty (snapped from the Staten Island ferry)

 

[barratt1988]

hi mat. a lot of shots here but i'll try and run through them all.

1 - quite like the shot though I hate selective colour 99% of the time and the vignette is to much for me. cant help but wonder is the oof background was done in pp though?
2 - love the picture. I think you could get more out of the shot with pp. mainly increasing the details and the shot looks a little underexposed to me.
3 - like the shot, again a lil pp could really make this shot pop. difficult to see if this shot is level. the water line isn't but I think the buildings are.
4 - image again looks a little soft and lacking it the details. nice composition though. The is a little lens distortion though which needs sorting especially with this subject.
5 - I vignette had put me off straight away. the shy also doesn't look real? the canyon is unbelievable and is somewhere you need to visit to comprehend but the times you can visit doesn't give very flattering light.
6 7 and 8 - the shots don't do much for me really.
9 - id like to know the settings for this? the shot is noisy as you've stated. also cant help but think a crop would have made the shot less busy. I know this would have added to the issue with holding the camera still but unfortunately that's life sometimes.
10 - very much a snap shot but id have taken it also lol. I have always wondered what shed look like without the oxidisation of the copper.

hope that's not to harsh. please feel free to do as the link below states mat

 

[RandomlySet]

Thanks for the feedback, currently on mobile at the moment, when I'm back at the desk I'll reply more I depth.

Quick one though, the OOF background in number 1 is 100% actual photo. I'll post originals of these images too

 

[Stu Meech]

No 3 is the best, some lovely light on the skyline.

 

[RandomlySet]

I thought number 3 looked a bit too "washed out".

Nice to know what people like

 

[barratt1988]

I thought number 3 looked a bit too "washed out".

Nice to know what people like

A 'corrected' WB on shot 3 would make it better. I like the warm feel on shots but it makes the sky look off. Personally id isolate the shy and cool it down a little

 

[RandomlySet]

Sorry for the late reply.

1 - quite like the shot though I hate selective colour 99% of the time and the vignette is to much for me. cant help but wonder is the oof background was done in pp though?

Thank you. I was unsure of the B&W and keeping the flag coloured - in regards to vignette, it's the second time I have played around with using the affecting. Last time I was told I hadn't used enough

Here is the original picture

2 - love the picture. I think you could get more out of the shot with pp. mainly increasing the details and the shot looks a little underexposed to me.
3 - like the shot, again a lil pp could really make this shot pop. difficult to see if this shot is level. the water line isn't but I think the buildings are.
4 - image again looks a little soft and lacking it the details. nice composition though. The is a little lens distortion though which needs sorting especially with this subject.

Thank you, again, the images were touched up in PS. Instead of inserting all of the original images, I'll post a link at th ebottom to the album with the originals.

5 - I vignette had put me off straight away. the shy also doesn't look real? the canyon is unbelievable and is somewhere you need to visit to comprehend but the times you can visit doesn't give very flattering light.

Thought I did the best I could with the images I grabbed

9 - id like to know the settings for this? the shot is noisy as you've stated. also cant help but think a crop would have made the shot less busy. I know this would have added to the issue with holding the camera still but unfortunately that's life sometimes.

Here is the original

Settings are:
F-stop - f/4
Exposure - 1/6
ISO - 3200
Focal Length - 28mm



As promised, here's a link to all the originals
http://s125.photobucket.com/user/bigardmat/library/USA 2014?sort=3&page=1



I think I'll go back through them all (I took about 2,000 pics on the DSLR) and see if there are any others I can make use of.