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Jason Shaffer

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Hello, i've just turned 18 and have had my eyes opened to the world of photography for the past year and a half and have fallen in love with it. I realize there are many wonderful experts on these forums and just wanted some thoughts and helpful critique of the following assortment of images:

An interesting angle of our County Courtouse



1/40 sec at f/9.0, ISO 100, 120mm

The Little Guy in a candid shot in the living room



1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 70mm, using a bounced Sony HVL-56 Flash

My youngest brother shot in wide angle to capture his "wacky" personality:



1/60 sec. at f/3.5, ISO 100, 18mm, using a Sony HVL-56 bounced up and off the left wall, with a flash comp. of +.7

The pug:



1/160 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 110mm, HVL-56 at 45 degree angle up

Another candid of a younger relative:



1/100 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 60mm

I really love the contrast between the "bureaucracy" of the downtown building and the color of the pottery:



1/10 sec at f/10, ISO 100, 28mm

So let me know what you think and where I can improve. I just want to keep learning. Let me know if you would like to see more. Thanks!

--
'Just take the picture already.'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonshaffer/
 
Nice shots! And good to see someone actually using the A100 (I presume you were, weren't you?) rather than just criticising it for once...

What lens were you using? I envy the sharpness of your pics.
 
All great shots, very nicely done. Especially the last one, it's shows you have a good eye and a creative brain behind it.
Russ
 
These fine images are a good advert for the qualities of the A100 in clear, sharp & unforced natural photos. The main comment that I would make is on pic 2 in which I think the white balance is slightly too yellow - there is no Exif info - was auto WB used or is the skin colour correct ?

Keith-C
 
You are doing very well with the flash! Good work!

--
Busch

Take the scenic route! Life is too short to do otherwise.

http://www.pbase.com/busch
 
I completely agree because in fact I did no PP on that particular photo, so thanks for the tip, that will be the first thing I do :)

Also, I do have a question: I just embedded these from my Filckr account, how do I attach EXIF info? Thanks.

Jason
KEITH-C said:
These fine images are a good advert for the qualities of the A100
in clear, sharp & unforced natural photos. The main comment that I
would make is on pic 2 in which I think the white balance is
slightly too yellow - there is no Exif info - was auto WB used or
is the skin colour correct ?

Keith-C
Click to expand...
--
'Just take the picture already.'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonshaffer/
 
Dude, those look nice. As another poster said, good eye and brain, and execution.

You asked for criticism and I am having a hard time giving you any. Maybe as you grow just try to develop your own style that will make your pictures unique and not common. You seem to have a handle on things so I am sure you are getting a feel for your style is/will be already. As time goes on I see no reason why you won't be great at this stuff as you look pretty darn good already from those shots you have posted.

Excellent post.

-MM
 
All very nice. Looks to me that you're off to a solid early start in this field. Good work!
 
I would say you are doing extremely well! A good variety of subjects and all nicely done.

Bravo!

--
Busch

Take the scenic route! Life is too short to do otherwise.

http://www.pbase.com/busch
 
I've never critiqued someone's work, so you're my first. Remember . . . . One's bad photo is someone elses art. But you're so young with enormous potential that I can't help but give my two cents.

There are three things I always felt make a good photo: composition, focus and background. All your shots have the first two. The background on your brothers distracted me a bit. Many times angling yourself or placing your subject elsewhere makes a huge difference. Your pet's photo is a perfect example.

Keep up the nice work and look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Equinoccio
 
I'd like to add to what Equinoccio commented on. Other important aspects are exposure and lighting. These are good to me in that sense. Nice, soft lighting with spot on exposure. Like Equinoccio said about your background choices - watch them if you can. Sometimes, especially with candids such as your youngest brother's pic - you have to capture their expression as they happen - no time for moving people around or finding pleasing backgrounds and try to recreate their facial expressions - it ain't the same. If you're shooting formal portraits, that's a different story. So in #2 and #5, maybe you could've found less distracting backgrounds.

All in all, good work - you have a lot of potential.
 
I'm no expert Jason. I've been taking photos the same length of time as you but the first thing I noticed was the good exposure and sharpness of your photos. What flash did you use?

I'm finding out that there are two sides of photography, taking them and processing them. I don't know how good your processing skills are but maybe you could blur the backgrounds on the candids in some way to make them less distracting either when taking them or processing them.

Keep on snapping.

George Evans
http://www.slender.smugmug.com
 
George Evans said:
I'm no expert Jason. I've been taking photos the same length of
time as you but the first thing I noticed was the good exposure and
sharpness of your photos. What flash did you use?

I'm finding out that there are two sides of photography, taking
them and processing them. I don't know how good your processing
skills are but maybe you could blur the backgrounds on the candids
in some way to make them less distracting either when taking them
or processing them.

Keep on snapping.

George Evans
http://www.slender.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
Actually I really didn't spend too much time processing these images. I really prefer to try and get the image I want at the optical level first, which I could have done, had I been using a different lens. Next time I'll use something with a wider aperature to blur the background more. I definitely agree that the background is somewhat distracting.

As for the flash, I used a Sony HVL-56. I really really love that flash. It is almost identical to a Minolta 5600, which can be had on Ebay for around $300 US or so. However the Sony flash was going for around $330 on Ebay, so I just went for it!

Thanks for the comments.

Jason

--
'Just take the picture already.'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonshaffer/
 
the first one is my fav i like the composition and sharpness

a bit in the sky would have been nice but its a good shot and a good angle nonetheless
 
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