Trying to expand an old interest

[Zephyr]

Hi Guys,

Lately an old interest in photography have taken to seriously grow and I'm trying to expand the hobby and hopefully develop as a hobby-photographer.

I've always enjoyed taking photos, but haven't really put any effort in really learning what I'm doing, but since I started doing SOTD shots a couple years back the interest has grown, and a couple weeks ago I upgraded to a DSLR and also got some lenses and other stuff.
I've also started to read some old photo books I had lying trying to learn more about photography, I've learned a lot already, but still have a long way to go

Here are a few I shot this weekend, I'm pretty happy with the results, but any feedback that can help me improve is welcome.

 

[djh]

Hey Rune- great to see you posting here! I really like No.1 and No.4 from your series. It appears as if you have a good feel for exposure, so the next thing to work on is composition.

I think that in No.2, the Depth-Of-Field is just a little too narrow and for that reason the picture of your daughter (?) is not too flattering.

No.3 and No.5 both appear to be a little static to me. The exposure is good and I like the colours, but the subjects are located too much in the centre of the frame. Perhaps in No.3, you could locate the point at which the chain enters the water in closer to the bottom right corner of the frame (remembering the Rule Of Thirds). For No.5, I would suggest cropping the image to remove most of the sky or if you have the chance to re-shoot it, then emphasising the water and reflections because they are much more attractive (to me, at least) than the grey sky.

I hope that this helps! Please don't hesitate to ask if I need to explain anything better.

 

[Lamb Root]

I like the pensiveness of your portraits. I think those are very nice. Use longer lenses for portraits of kids when/if you have the chance.

 

[Zephyr]

Hey Rune- great to see you posting here! I really like No.1 and No.4 from your series. It appears as if you have a good feel for exposure, so the next thing to work on is composition.

I think that in No.2, the Depth-Of-Field is just a little too narrow and for that reason the picture of your daughter (?) is not too flattering.

No.3 and No.5 both appear to be a little static to me. The exposure is good and I like the colours, but the subjects are located too much in the centre of the frame. Perhaps in No.3, you could locate the point at which the chain enters the water in closer to the bottom right corner of the frame (remembering the Rule Of Thirds). For No.5, I would suggest cropping the image to remove most of the sky or if you have the chance to re-shoot it, then emphasising the water and reflections because they are much more attractive (to me, at least) than the grey sky.

I hope that this helps! Please don't hesitate to ask if I need to explain anything better.

Thanks David, #1 & 4 are the ones I'm most happy with, and after reading up a bit on composition it makes sense.

I see what you mean with #2, I was palying around with a new lense and it is shot with an aperture of 1.8. Still trying to figure out the best aperture settings for different situations. I have always just used "P" mode before, but all these are shot in Manual mode, it really helped to understand the light meter

What you say about 3 & 4 also makes sense now, I first heard of the Rule Of Thirds yesterday, and have been reading a bit about it and composition in general today, I'm not quite sure I fully understand it yet, but with a bit more reading and trying it out will hopefully help.

I like the pensiveness of your portraits. I think those are very nice. Use longer lenses for portraits of kids when/if you have the chance.

Thanks, I usually would, but I got a new 35mm and had to play with it, funny thing is that even though I was all up in their faces they didn't take notice of me at all and just kept on what they were doing, guess they're used to dad doing all sorts of weird stuff