Beginner photos - any feedback is welcome :-)

Hi Dan. An interesting and varied set of images. Like both sunsets but prefer #2 for it's bright vibrant colour. Although Maldives is nicely taken and composed, it doesn't do anything for me. However, I would crop to remove the ventilation compressor and the buoy as both detract from the serenity of the scene. Minaret is perfect - great angle, and nicely exposed to show every detail in the structure and sky :clap:. Camels is a great silhouette with excellent composition and a vibrancy about it. Dune Bashing has a nice composition about it and one can sense the movement - would be great if movement could be portrayed with sand being caught thrown up by the wheels. Well done.
 
Carl Ayling said:
Hi Dan. An interesting and varied set of images. Like both sunsets but prefer #2 for it's bright vibrant colour. Although Maldives is nicely taken and composed, it doesn't do anything for me. However, I would crop to remove the ventilation compressor and the buoy as both detract from the serenity of the scene. Minaret is perfect - great angle, and nicely exposed to show every detail in the structure and sky :clap:. Camels is a great silhouette with excellent composition and a vibrancy about it. Dune Bashing has a nice composition about it and one can sense the movement - would be great if movement could be portrayed with sand being caught thrown up by the wheels. Well done.
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Thanks a ton Carl.

Have no idea what happened with the first sunset. Both were taken minutes apart but I guess focusing on the light source makes the rest of the image dark.

Have a few more shots of Maldives - will post those.

There's just a tiny bit of dust behind the vehicle in the foreground but not enough ofcourse.

Thanks again for the excellent feedback! very helpful!
 
I particularly like nos 3,4,&5 but agree with cropping out the buoy and aircon unit in no 2
 
this.is.anfield said:
Have no idea what happened with the first sunset. Both were taken minutes apart but I guess focusing on the light source makes the rest of the image dark.!
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Hi Dan. I think it's a metering issue - I would suspect that this resulted from "spot" metering two different parts of the sky ... one from a brighter part than the other, so producing two distinctly different lighting results. I do prefer "spot" metering in preference to say "centre weighted average" or "evaluative" but that then makes me dependent upon using exposure lock whereas with the others, you don't have that dependency. Cor! can you make some sense of any of that?
 
Carl Ayling said:
Hi Dan. I think it's a metering issue - I would suspect that this resulted from "spot" metering two different parts of the sky ... one from a brighter part than the other, so producing two distinctly different lighting results. I do prefer "spot" metering in preference to say "centre weighted average" or "evaluative" but that then makes me dependent upon using exposure lock whereas with the others, you don't have that dependency. Cor! can you make some sense of any of that?
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Lol that does sound far too technical for my untrained ears but i'll play around with the metering and checkout some tutorials to get to the bottom of this :) Is there a general rule about what generally are the best settings for taking sunset photos
 
Nice set, I think the camels would make good wall art if you cropped the top and bottom a bit to make more of a Panorama.
 
The camel shot is fantastic, well done! I'd perhaps suggest either trying a smaller aperture for the car shot to provide more DOF, or perhaps its your lens not being as sharp as preferable. Lovely though!
 
Love the camels! For me sunsets are usually just a backdrop to a subject and the first two don't have a subject.

Carl Ayling said:
Hi Dan. I think it's a metering issue - I would suspect that this resulted from "spot" metering two different parts of the sky ... one from a brighter part than the other, so producing two distinctly different lighting results. I do prefer "spot" metering in preference to say "centre weighted average" or "evaluative" but that then makes me dependent upon using exposure lock whereas with the others, you don't have that dependency. Cor! can you make some sense of any of that?
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fwiw when I'm not using a light meter I use spot metering in manual mode; it took a bit of practice but I now find it much quicker and more reliable then using a combination of exposure lock and exposure compensation.
 
juggler said:
fwiw when I'm not using a light meter I use spot metering in manual mode; it took a bit of practice but I now find it much quicker and more reliable then using a combination of exposure lock and exposure compensation.
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That's interesting Simon, didn't think you could meter in manual/ Must give that a try.
 
i am also just beginner, but for me some of them are really nice and i would love to have opportunity to take pics like you
 
All interesting images and I do like the mono minaret, however the camels one is really outstanding - well done.

By the way you have a couple of dust spots on your sensor - less than I currently have mind you and you've reminded me that cleaning time is overdue!
 
grove39 said:
Quick question. You say these are beginner photos but these were taken in 2012. I'm confused.
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Well I was given a D5200 on my birthday in early 2012 (can't believe i've had it that long!) but have only really tried to learn photography earlier this year through online tutorials. Up until a few months ago I had no idea what aperture meant or how/when to use the camera in Aperture or Shutter priority modes.

The camel photo is one of many that were taken from a moving car on programmed auto and I used to use the camera as more point and shoot back then - so can't really take credit for it.

So yeah I consider myself a beginner as I'm still pretty much learning the absolute basics.

The camera and desert safari / dune bashing shots are from may 2012, all the rest are earlier this year
 
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psybear said:
All interesting images and I do like the mono minaret, however the camels one is really outstanding - well done.

By the way you have a couple of dust spots on your sensor - less than I currently have mind you and you've reminded me that cleaning time is overdue!
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well spotted! its never been cleaned but i'll be doing that soon.
 
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