How can I improve? (Pictures inside)

IMG_8161 - The aperture scale can be confusing for beginners. As a low f/ value (f/3.5) means a large lens opening (not small), and a small Depth Of Field. This shot looks like it was around f/3.5, f/22 would have extended the DOF.

IMG_8261 - Composition wise I feel that the framing is slightly too tight. A little wider shot would have given the subject more room to breathe. But the bigger problem is the lighting, looks like it was a terrible day for scenic photography. When I see lighting that dull I just leave my camera back home. However, I live in a desert climate, freaky sunshine most of the time. Your climate may not give you the luxury of that choice.

If there is a systematic issue with this collection, it is dull lighting. Trying to get good shots in spite of dull light is a challenge for the most experienced photographer.

Kelly

KCook said:

IMG_8161 - The aperture scale can be confusing for beginners. As a low f/ value (f/3.5) means a large lens opening (not small), and a small Depth Of Field. This shot looks like it was around f/3.5, f/22 would have extended the DOF.

IMG_8261 - Composition wise I feel that the framing is slightly too tight. A little wider shot would have given the subject more room to breathe. But the bigger problem is the lighting, looks like it was a terrible day for scenic photography. When I see lighting that dull I just leave my camera back home. However, I live in a desert climate, freaky sunshine most of the time. Your climate may not give you the luxury of that choice.

If there is a systematic issue with this collection, it is dull lighting. Trying to get good shots in spite of dull light is a challenge for the most experienced photographer.

Kelly

Click to expand...

If I remember correctly I shot the flower picture at around... f/6. I still get confused by the whole difference between the large/wide Depth of Field if I'm being honest but I understand the basic of it (I think?) and was going for a blurry background but an in focus flower shot. How do I accomplish that?

I actually am currently living in Germany so from the way I've seen the weather, the days have been pretty spectacular. It was actually all sunny when I went out but as the day progressed the weather got worse. The shot I took was going for a bit of the dramatic rainy day look but I agree, there are better days where better shots can be found... So it does come across a little dull. Hmpf. Another thing to learn: When are the right moments to take shots and when are shots just wasted.

Okay... So dull lighting is my problem. Is there anything else maybe? Like angles, not properly placed photographs? Because I feel that a bit. I feel like something is just not coming across well in my pictures. But thank you for the tips!

f/6 is a mid-range aperture. Not wide open, not closed down. So - to get the entire flower in focus you would need to shut down to f/11 or so. Of course that small of an opening also dimishes the background blur. The way then to get the background blur back is to increase the distance between the flower and the background. Which you may not be able to do (both flower and background being fixed on terra firma. So, when you already know in advance that you want a blurred background, the trick then is to search around for the location and angle that result in the greatest background distance. Links that try to discuss this -

Seeing in Depth of Field: A Simple Understanding of Aperture

Sharp Subject, Blurry Background

How Do I Make My Backgrounds Blurry?

As for working with natural light, here is another of my posts with links for that topic -

How to master natural light

Composition is the most expansive topic in photography. Should not be distilled down to a mechanical exercise in geometry. Find somebody else's album that covers a subject you like (your town?). Pick out the shots you like best. Try to break down what factors make those shots different from the others. This all can take quite a while, don't get discouraged.

Kelly

ElizabethM said:

If I remember correctly I shot the flower picture at around... f/6. I still get confused by the whole difference between the large/wide

Click to expand...

Look upon apertures as fractions, 1/2 is bigger than 1/4; 1/4 is bigger than 1/5.6; 1/11 is bigger than 1/16 and so on.

I like 8236, a black hairy sun floating over a red landscape

Keep up the good work.

regards

Mike

KCook said:

f/6 is a mid-range aperture. Not wide open, not closed down. So - to get the entire flower in focus you would need to shut down to f/11 or so. Of course that small of an opening also dimishes the background blur. The way then to get the background blur back is to increase the distance between the flower and the background. Which you may not be able to do (both flower and background being fixed on terra firma. So, when you already know in advance that you want a blurred background, the trick then is to search around for the location and angle that result in the greatest background distance. Links that try to discuss this -

Seeing in Depth of Field: A Simple Understanding of Aperture

Sharp Subject, Blurry Background

How Do I Make My Backgrounds Blurry?

As for working with natural light, here is another of my posts with links for that topic -

How to master natural light

Composition is the most expansive topic in photography. Should not be distilled down to a mechanical exercise in geometry. Find somebody else's album that covers a subject you like (your town?). Pick out the shots you like best. Try to break down what factors make those shots different from the others. This all can take quite a while, don't get discouraged.

Kelly

Click to expand...

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for all your tips, tricks and links. The articles on Depth of Field (especially the first one) was so helpful I now think I understand the overall concept of it. Especially with the comparison to our very own human eyes. A tip on one of those articles suggested to learn more about aperture by shooting with the AP mode, just so I can get a grasp of the setting without having to think of the rest. I'll do that during the next not-so-cold day!

As for natural light, well... I definitely see it's a trick to master but again, your advise is very helpful and always appreciated. Thank you a million times thank you!

Mike Hyndman said:

Mike Hyndman said:

If I remember correctly I shot the flower picture at around... f/6. I still get confused by the whole difference between the large/wide

Click to expand...

Look upon apertures as fractions, 1/2 is bigger than 1/4; 1/4 is bigger than 1/5.6; 1/11 is bigger than 1/16 and so on.

I like 8236, a black hairy sun floating over a red landscape

Keep up the good work.

regards

Mike

Click to expand...

"A black hair sun floating over a red landscape" - That actually took me a while to figure out until I went to the picture itself. Needless to say I had a good laugh. Amazing description Mike, truly and also thank you very much. That was one of my favourites I got that day. Something that didn't turn out THAT horrible. *hides*

Will try using the fraction tip from now on! Math was never my strong point but hey, simple math can sometimes be mastered if we just put our minds to it right?

I always find it hard to critique a set of images at once. I will say that for shots of buildings, you want to eliminate anything on the edges of the frame that distract the viewer. I see a lot of vegetation on the edges of your shots. Sometimes, there is no good angle unless you can hover in mid-air or something. Shooting in the middle of the day has the harshest light. A polarizer can help with that. For landscapes, the golden hours are generally preferred because of the soft, indirect light.

For shots of flowers, you don't want a distracting foreground or background, so a larger aperture is often used to blur the foreground/background. A fast lens helps.

I like Galen Rowell's composition tips:

"Composition is one of the few acts of picture taking that has completely defied automation, and it always will. Even though the rules of composition are taught in photography and art classes, there are no absolutes. Composition results from a long series of choices and compromises. Once I have chosen a subject, where do I place it in the scene? Do I shoot from eye-level, above or below? How do I deal with translating three-dimensional elements into two? Do I frame the image horizontally or vertically? Will my subject look best in dark, moody surroundings with poor shadow detail or should I expose to open up the shadows and risk losing the mood? Where do I place the brightest or lightest colors? Do I frame in a foreground or shoot my subject mainly in one plane? In my opinion composition boils down to nothing more than pleasing the eye. A good intuitive sense goes a lot farther than a headfull of rules."

"Another general rule of composition that I follow faithfully is to include nothing at the edges of my images that will interrupt my viewer's eye, unless I want such an element there to lead the eye toward a subject (as with a strong diagonal or S-curve). When the main events are in the interior of a photo, the viewer's eye should be able to run around the periphery without finding anything distracting. Continuous tones without bright highlights or unobtrusive patterns make ideal borders."

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/greg79
"You can't be young forever, but you can always be immature" - Larry Andersen

Krusty79 said:

I always find it hard to critique a set of images at once. I will say that for shots of buildings, you want to eliminate anything on the edges of the frame that distract the viewer. I see a lot of vegetation on the edges of your shots. Sometimes, there is no good angle unless you can hover in mid-air or something. Shooting in the middle of the day has the harshest light. A polarizer can help with that. For landscapes, the golden hours are generally preferred because of the soft, indirect light.

For shots of flowers, you don't want a distracting foreground or background, so a larger aperture is often used to blur the foreground/background. A fast lens helps.

I like Galen Rowell's composition tips:

"Composition is one of the few acts of picture taking that has completely defied automation, and it always will. Even though the rules of composition are taught in photography and art classes, there are no absolutes. Composition results from a long series of choices and compromises. Once I have chosen a subject, where do I place it in the scene? Do I shoot from eye-level, above or below? How do I deal with translating three-dimensional elements into two? Do I frame the image horizontally or vertically? Will my subject look best in dark, moody surroundings with poor shadow detail or should I expose to open up the shadows and risk losing the mood? Where do I place the brightest or lightest colors? Do I frame in a foreground or shoot my subject mainly in one plane? In my opinion composition boils down to nothing more than pleasing the eye. A good intuitive sense goes a lot farther than a headfull of rules."

"Another general rule of composition that I follow faithfully is to include nothing at the edges of my images that will interrupt my viewer's eye, unless I want such an element there to lead the eye toward a subject (as with a strong diagonal or S-curve). When the main events are in the interior of a photo, the viewer's eye should be able to run around the periphery without finding anything distracting. Continuous tones without bright highlights or unobtrusive patterns make ideal borders."

Click to expand...

Hello Krusty79,
Thanks for the tips! Despite finding it hard to critique a set of images, whatever you said I'm grateful for as it helps me improve. YES, I can never seem to get a good angle without a bunch of vegetation or power poles in my way. Sometimes I feel like I waste my shots on meaningless images. I get that some buildings look nice with a little bit of vegetation but not the way mine turns out. Hmpf.

Fast lens, got it. I read through a couple articles and finally understand a bit about the whole background to subject distancing that creates a good image. I'll try it out and maybe post an update to this post!

I love that composition tips. That's fantastic. I'll try to put it to use, especially the part of finding my subject and making sure nothing else distracts it. Correct me if I'm wrong but maybe instead of wanting 10 different elements in one shot, I try to go for simplicity?

not trying to take this conversation sideways but I saw OP mention using F/14 F/18.

I have a point and shoot (sony RX100) and never really paid much attention to the high end of the aperture range as the "cool feature" was being able to use a low aperture to blur the background...but the max aperture on my camera is apparently 4.9 (1.8-4.9 is the range listed) and in thinking of upgrading to an RX100 III or IV, they have an sperture range of only F1.8-F2.8

( http://www.dpreview.com/products/co...ucts=sony_dscrx100m3&products=sony_dscrx100m4 )

On an aperture scale that goes up to 14/18 (or beyond) even 4.9 seems kinda low...what does this say about the capabilities of my camera?

This seems like a technical limitation I never noticed or realized...

Erm, "1.8-4.9 is the range" speaks just to the wide open aperture for the two ends of the zoom range. Wide open for the wideangle end is f/1.8, zoom to the maximum telephoto and the widest the aperture will open is f/4.9. From either f/1.8 or f/4.9 you should be able to use the aperture control (use Aperture Priority or Manual Mode) to set a smaller aperture, be that f/14 or whatever.

Kelly

ElizabethM said:

Krusty79 said:

I always find it hard to critique a set of images at once. I will say that for shots of buildings, you want to eliminate anything on the edges of the frame that distract the viewer. I see a lot of vegetation on the edges of your shots. Sometimes, there is no good angle unless you can hover in mid-air or something. Shooting in the middle of the day has the harshest light. A polarizer can help with that. For landscapes, the golden hours are generally preferred because of the soft, indirect light.

For shots of flowers, you don't want a distracting foreground or background, so a larger aperture is often used to blur the foreground/background. A fast lens helps.

I like Galen Rowell's composition tips:

"Composition is one of the few acts of picture taking that has completely defied automation, and it always will. Even though the rules of composition are taught in photography and art classes, there are no absolutes. Composition results from a long series of choices and compromises. Once I have chosen a subject, where do I place it in the scene? Do I shoot from eye-level, above or below? How do I deal with translating three-dimensional elements into two? Do I frame the image horizontally or vertically? Will my subject look best in dark, moody surroundings with poor shadow detail or should I expose to open up the shadows and risk losing the mood? Where do I place the brightest or lightest colors? Do I frame in a foreground or shoot my subject mainly in one plane? In my opinion composition boils down to nothing more than pleasing the eye. A good intuitive sense goes a lot farther than a headfull of rules."

"Another general rule of composition that I follow faithfully is to include nothing at the edges of my images that will interrupt my viewer's eye, unless I want such an element there to lead the eye toward a subject (as with a strong diagonal or S-curve). When the main events are in the interior of a photo, the viewer's eye should be able to run around the periphery without finding anything distracting. Continuous tones without bright highlights or unobtrusive patterns make ideal borders."

Click to expand...

Hello Krusty79,
Thanks for the tips! Despite finding it hard to critique a set of images, whatever you said I'm grateful for as it helps me improve. YES, I can never seem to get a good angle without a bunch of vegetation or power poles in my way. Sometimes I feel like I waste my shots on meaningless images. I get that some buildings look nice with a little bit of vegetation but not the way mine turns out. Hmpf.
Fast lens, got it. I read through a couple articles and finally understand a bit about the whole background to subject distancing that creates a good image. I'll try it out and maybe post an update to this post!
I love that composition tips. That's fantastic. I'll try to put it to use, especially the part of finding my subject and making sure nothing else distracts it. Correct me if I'm wrong but maybe instead of wanting 10 different elements in one shot, I try to go for simplicity?

Click to expand...

There have been many times I have been hoping for some good light around sunset, but it never materializes and I end up taking a few token shots or none at all. When shooting landscapes, you can only work with the given light and unfortunately, we cannot rearrange a scene to fit our vision. Sometimes, the best angles to shoot a subject are not accessible.

Unfortunately, fast lenses usually mean a higher price tag!

Yes, a busy image is usually confusing to the viewer, as there may not be a clear subject or story. The viewer should not have to ask what the subject is and there is normally a path in the image where you want to guide the viewer's attention. That is where foreground interest and leading lines can help a lot. They also give the image depth.

It's good to learn guidelines like the rule of thirds when you are starting out practicing your compositions, but as Galen Rowell also said, you will never produce your best work if you are bound by rules. You will get a feel for when the rules can be broken.

Krusty79 said:

There have been many times I have been hoping for some good light around sunset, but it never materializes and I end up taking a few token shots or none at all. When shooting landscapes, you can only work with the given light and unfortunately, we cannot rearrange a scene to fit our vision. Sometimes, the best angles to shoot a subject are not accessible.

Unfortunately, fast lenses usually mean a higher price tag!

Yes, a busy image is usually confusing to the viewer, as there may not be a clear subject or story. The viewer should not have to ask what the subject is and there is normally a path in the image where you want to guide the viewer's attention. That is where foreground interest and leading lines can help a lot. They also give the image depth.

It's good to learn guidelines like the rule of thirds when you are starting out practicing your compositions, but as Galen Rowell also said, you will never produce your best work if you are bound by rules. You will get a feel for when the rules can be broken.

Click to expand...

When shooting nature, landscape and elements: You can't control them so you have to learn how to work with them. Is that correct?

Oooh, higher price tag. Yeah upgrading my camera isn't top priority right now. I simply would just like to appreciate and work with what I have.

I've always tried to get those leading lines photograph down, but I have yet to accomplish one I'm satisfied with. I love those type of images though. I do understand the rule of thirds, but I get what you're saying. Don't lock myself to following just rules and not trusting my gut on when an image just feels right.

I tried again taking a few pictures:

I feel like they came out better this time. A few things can be adjusted later on like certain dark areas or how some are a bit slanted (the church is on a hill), but I like it. What do you think?

Most of the shots in that last collection still have dull lighting. Due to back lighting. Where shots are of the shadow side of a building, with a bright sky behind. Sometimes back lighting can be used to advantage, but beginners should keep life simple and avoid back lighting. Either move around to a side of the building that is in sunlight, or shoot the original side of the building at a different time of day. When it is in the sun.

Kelly

You did much better eliminating the distractions. Unfortunately, shooting on bright, sunny days creates harsh overhead light and shadows. If you must shoot in the day, a polarizer can help reduce glare. Most accomplished landscape photographers take the majority of their shots in the golden hours when the light is softer and indirect. However, that often means you'll be using a tripod, since there is less light and you will probably shooting at a small aperture to get good DOF.

ElizabethM said:

I went on a little photo adventure yesterday to take pictures of surrounding things. The idea was mostly to put into focus what I learned recently about adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and exposures to gain images that look good enough IN camera rather than only getting a satisfied result AFTER I put it through a profound editing process.

Alas if I'm absolutely honest I'm not happy with most of the pictures I shot. In fact I'm even a little embarrass to show them here but for the sake of learning I hope you all can look past it's overly looks and give me some advice on how to improve? PLEASE! :'D

I shot with the setting between an aperture of f/14-f/18, a shutter speed ranging from 1/60 to about 1/100 depending on the sun and the ISO at 100 or 125. I took these pictures at about noon, so the sun wasn't that great especially since a thunder storm was brewing.

Here's what I would love to improve in (among many things):

How to angle my photos properly
- Because as you probably noticed a few of my images have those random little unwanted edges popping up even or some aren't even as straight as I thought it was when shooting

How to be able to understand enough about all the settings so that I can actually take an image I'm satisfied with without having to pre-plan how I'm going to edit and make this all better

Click to expand...

Please dont take it wrong. Its experience. An even after that you will have to do some pre-planning. Amazing photographs don't happen by chance its painstaking.

One way to get experience is to see pictures on sites like 500px, pick a few and then try to duplicate them.

ElizabethM said:

How to find the focal point of my image while following the rules of third
- Because half of my images looks like I'm just shooting for the sake of shooting and the other after seems like you can't even find what I intended to take

Click to expand...

ElizabethM said:

Some images that I in particular have a comment about:
IMG_8161 - How come my focus is still so blur even though I made everything else higher after putting my aperture lower?

IMG_8165 - IMG_8172 - IMG_8219 - Probably the only pictures I really like

IMG_8261 - Somehow I like what I managed to get from this picture in terms of the contrast, but I feel like something is still missing.

P/S: Please ignore the dust spots. Still finding a way to get the side of my camera clean. FOR SHAME. *hides away from all you pro photographers probably glaring at me* God, can this post get anymore embarrassing???? :-(

I'm a 21 year old trying to learn the ways of photography as a side hobby after years of neglecting my camera and going with the whole "point and shoot" idea of things. That's the truth. Can I redeem myself? Haha

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jjvpobs2h5vcnmr/AABSGwUBavr_cLjC745B-Ex2a?dl=0

Click to expand...

Photos come out well in dramatic light. You have some good photos and some are okay. Light is important. Someone told me that when there is a storm in Yellowstone, all the tourist get out and all the photographers rush in.

Dont worry about angles. You can crop in post or adjust in post.

Dont worry about dust spots.

What you need to worry is how can I get a great light. Try shooting at sunset or sunrise or after rain.

When shooting flowers use apertures like 1.4 not 14 or 16. Isolate one flower and the rest can act as a nice background

You do have good angles in some photos and in some its it just like a snapshot.

Some have clouds and some dont. Dont take pics where there are not clouds

All in all the pics were taken at a wrong time. So work on identifying light.

I've taken a very fast look. Your middlng approach to f stops and shutter speed should change. For the closer parts as detail pf a window it would be well to stop down and use a tripod if necessary or whatever low shutter ypu can hand hold tp get maximum detail.

For a change try the wider pics of larger filed of view near or wide open lens -use depth of field preview setting of camera if there is one- and a very fast shutter.

These may show hat you are trying to.

Tremint said:

Please dont take it wrong. Its experience. An even after that you will have to do some pre-planning. Amazing photographs don't happen by chance its painstaking.

One way to get experience is to see pictures on sites like 500px, pick a few and then try to duplicate them.

Photos come out well in dramatic light. You have some good photos and some are okay. Light is important. Someone told me that when there is a storm in Yellowstone, all the tourist get out and all the photographers rush in.

Dont worry about angles. You can crop in post or adjust in post.

Dont worry about dust spots.

What you need to worry is how can I get a great light. Try shooting at sunset or sunrise or after rain.

When shooting flowers use apertures like 1.4 not 14 or 16. Isolate one flower and the rest can act as a nice background

You do have good angles in some photos and in some its it just like a snapshot.

Some have clouds and some dont. Dont take pics where there are not clouds

All in all the pics were taken at a wrong time. So work on identifying light.

Click to expand...

Wow, thank you Tremint. That's actually some pretty handy advice. I can see how experience plays a big part in photography as does pre-planning. As of right now a lot of my shots come as snapshot photographs because I simply see something, think it looks nice and take it. Hence why I have yet to even shoot in RAW mode majority of the time. I do like the idea of looking through 500px and seeing what I could duplicate. I've realised that learning a bit more about photography has given me a better understanding of Photoshop and designing (which is something I'm hoping to have a career in).

Taking in what everybody has said I see the one important thing I must really learn is how to work with light. To avoid the back lighting like my previous pictures and dull lighting as well. Sunset, sunrise and after rain. Sounds like amazing times to take pictures. May I ask though why during that storm in Yellowstone the photographers rushed in? Wouldn't that be the type of dramatic build up that makes a great picture?

I appreciate the help everybody is giving me, I'm truly grateful for all your advice and will work on identifying light more. And I promise to stop taking pictures at harsh hours.

The reason why everyone gets out it means everyone is getting out of the storm. All photographers rushing in means that the storm will create an amazing environment for the photographers.

Also just noticed that back lighting is good. Its not to be avoided. You need to learn how to use it to your advantage. A lot of professionals use it during studio work. Or portrait photographers use it outside. It acts has a nice rim light. You certainly will have to fill(light) in the unexposed subject you have.

ElizabethM said:

I went on a little photo adventure yesterday to take pictures of surrounding things. The idea was mostly to put into focus what I learned recently about adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and exposures to gain images that look good enough IN camera rather than only getting a satisfied result AFTER I put it through a profound editing process.

Click to expand...

Dear Elisabeth,

nice to hear that you are getting into the great hobby of photography. I started with photography at about the age of 14 and a couple of friends did photography, too. I studied biology and a lot of the students had cameras and were using them frequently. Now, if I see young people most of them are not interesting in photography. They have their smartphones (which can be great tools also for photography) but they don't do the step into photography as a hobby.

What I like about photography is that it helps you to see the world that surrounds you more consciously and that you get eyes for beautiy - often where no ones else sees it.

But now to your photography - your next steps towards a great photographer:

When I did first steps in photography it was analog photography. I used slides and when I pressed the release button all I could do about the photo was done - and I received the result - the feedback if I was successful - after a few days when the potman brought the letter with the slides from the lab.

Today things are different an you have a lot of options to change the look of your photos - either in the camera or in post-processing. You can change the settings of the computer within your camera that generates the JPG files - and you have much more options to improve things afterwards. Thus a first step could be to have a look at your camera and what settings you can make. I have Pentax cameras and they give me a lot of options: I can select colour profiles, grades of sharpness and contrast, options to avoid highlight clipping or that help me to get shaddows a little bit lighted up. The first years of digital photography I tried to improve these settings - but now I became a RAW shooter - I am no longer interested in JPG files that are processed by the camera anymore as a good photo needs the settings right to the point - and no camera will do that. I use the DxO software which I like very much - but I saw that the freeware RawTherapee improved a lot during the last years and became a nice tool.

If you are doing postprocessing you can not just improve the quality of the colours or to some extend also sharpness - you can also crop the photo, adjust the horizon and bring the things you are just learning about (rule of thirds etc.), bring symmetries to the point, remove not wanted elements by cropping, adjust contrast or even generate pseudo HDR photos that get a better distribution of brightness over your photo - to brigthen up shaddows or dark parts and make bright parts (e.g. a pale sky) darker and more intensiv.

It's on you to go into extreme settings - there is no rule that a photo always have to reflect the reality - you can use your digital photos as templates for digital art and impressive views on the world.

ElizabethM said:

Alas if I'm absolutely honest I'm not happy with most of the pictures I shot. In fact I'm even a little embarrass to show them here but for the sake of learning I hope you all can look past it's overly looks and give me some advice on how to improve? PLEASE! :'D

I shot with the setting between an aperture of f/14-f/18, a shutter speed ranging from 1/60 to about 1/100 depending on the sun and the ISO at 100 or 125. I took these pictures at about noon, so the sun wasn't that great especially since a thunder storm was brewing.

Click to expand...

A look at the clock at the church tower revealed a problem of your photos: you were out at the wrong time! Around noon the light is worst of day. It's much better to start early in the morning or late in the evening - best times are the golden hour before sunset or after sunrise or the blue hour before sunrise or after sunset.

Regarding the aperture I only close as far ys you did when I need a deep deepness of field. If you close aperture you have parts near by and far away within the DOF - the zone of sharpness - but the sharpness is overall reduced by an effect called diffraction. For an APS-C camera with 16 MP the effect fo diffraction is lowest arounf f=8.0. But as a photographer I would try to make the decision for the aperture on the needs of the object - and often it is better to decide for one object to let it be sharp - and have everything else not sharp - so open the aperture as much as possible! If you focus on a main object things become more clear and less confusing.

ElizabethM said:

Here's what I would love to improve in (among many things):

How to angle my photos properly
- Because as you probably noticed a few of my images have those random little unwanted edges popping up even or some aren't even as straight as I thought it was when shooting

How to be able to understand enough about all the settings so that I can actually take an image I'm satisfied with without having to pre-plan how I'm going to edit and make this all better.

How to find the focal point of my image while following the rules of third

Click to expand...

I noticed that you were trying to respect hte rule of thirds in a couple of photos. What is possible depends on your camera - you could either change the focus point to your object if your camera offers the selection of multiple focus point - or you take the central point - make a measurement at your object, keep the releas button half pressed to stroe the settings - and select the crop for your photo and take it after the proportions and borders are like you want them.

ElizabethM said:

- Because half of my images looks like I'm just shooting for the sake of shooting and the other after seems like you can't even find what I intended to take

Some images that I in particular have a comment about:
IMG_8161 - How come my focus is still so blur even though I made everything else higher after putting my aperture lower?

Click to expand...

What aperture did you use - to me it look like a big aperture (low number - f=2.8 or so) - or your camera did not offer a focus so close to the lens - there a limits for macro photos depending on the lens. Looking at the photo: why not portrait format - turn the camera by 90° and you get your object better covered and have not a big extend of a space without information or beauty.

ElizabethM said:

IMG_8165 - IMG_8172 - IMG_8219 - Probably the only pictures I really like

Click to expand...

A look at 8169 - do you see the face within the front of the house with its own symmetry? crop the photo and let the symmetry make the phot an eye-catcher. Rule: find the symmetry and bring it straight in your photo! (same for 8178)

8172: It is a good idea to give the photo more deepness by having things in the front - but the fence does not work good and the flowers are to far away - I would try to cover the flowers better. Rule: get as close as possible to your object! It should fill your photo or be at least the biggest part within it.

Rule: a look through not sharp structures in the front give the photo more of deepness - you tried it in 8193 - but here the structure in the front covers part of the object. A step to the right may have solved the problem.

8219 is nice - but I would crop it - to much background - try to find a crop with a few sharp flowers in the front - maybe you will even be able to respect the rule of thirds.

same for 8222

8230 is nice - in postprocessing you may could improve it (intensity of colours ...)

8236 is very nice - but if posssible it youd have been better to take the crop a little bit more to the right - the number would be a nice eqe catcher according the golden ratio (rule of thirds) - it would give the photo a better harmony.

8238 is nice - but why did you cut the flowers a the bottom? A liitle bit more down with the camera would have been better. I like to take the angle always a little wider than necessary for the intniton of my photo - by this way I have some space for corrections by cropping.

To avoid this need I should use a tripod. Many people say that their photography improved a lot after they started to use a tripod - as they were forced to make conscious decisions about the content and the relation of it in the photo - it was a step from point-and shoot towards photography. I use a tripod not very often - but many photos I do in a way like using a tripod - changing positon, looking through the viewfinder very closely - and press the releas button after I am 100 % satisfied.

8251 is nice - why not making th sky dramatic by post-prcessing?

8261 is a nice view on the church tower - it would be possible to get rid of the wires in postprocessing. I would do it in this photo - I like wires only if the beginning or at least a structure where they are fixed is visible in the photo - otherwise they disturb.

ElizabethM said:

IMG_8261 - Somehow I like what I managed to get from this picture in terms of the contrast, but I feel like something is still missing.

P/S: Please ignore the dust spots. Still finding a way to get the side of my camera clean. FOR SHAME. *hides away from all you pro photographers probably glaring at me* God, can this post get anymore embarrassing???? :-(

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No shame - people woh think that they know anything and have no need to learn anymore are nearly dead - there is always room for improvement - not just for young people.

More experinced photographers can give you ideas and rules how to improve - but maybe even more important is your own experience -and looking at good photos (and asking yourself, why this photo is a good one). On dpreview you will find a lot of very good photos. I have Bing installed to give me the desktop photo on my computer - I am often surprised about the phtotgrapic ideas I find there - a good source to improve your skills in seeing - and getting inspiration for your own photography.

Best regards

Holger

ElizabethM said:

I'm a 21 year old trying to learn the ways of photography as a side hobby after years of neglecting my camera and going with the whole "point and shoot" idea of things. That's the truth. Can I redeem myself? Haha

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jjvpobs2h5vcnmr/AABSGwUBavr_cLjC745B-Ex2a?dl=0

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