Constructive Crit and advice wanted please

[Djw John]

Been playing with the camera a little bit more now but want to kill any bad habits before they get estabilshed and up my game quickly. I know none of these will ever set the world alight but am I doing anything obviously wrong or should I just carry on practising and refining?

All pics are taken with a Nikon D40 with a 18-70mm lens. The only editing at all is some have been cropped.

Thanks for any advice in advance

DSC_0666 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0665 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0638 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0612 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0607 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0529 by john.holligan, on Flickr

(Bloody fence!)

DSC_0526 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0516 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0489 by john.holligan, on Flickr

DSC_0431 by john.holligan, on Flickr

I think that'll do for now, obviously there's a few more on flickr but I dont want to link every single one!

Much appreciated,

John

 

[.Stevo.C.]

Disposables are way better.

 

[Djw John]

Disposables are way better.

​Sook it!

 

[Niall]

I’d get two things: Adobe Lightroom and a 50 F1.8

The reasons for these are that with some tweaking these images could be improved significantly, you can totally transform a shot in PP, it’s half of the whole image when done right. I recommend the 50 due to the quality of image it produces, it’d be good for car photos too.

But in general I’d just practise; read up on the guides, look on Flickr and suchlike for inspiration, then go out and have a play.

 

[stevie1]

Your camera is crap, clearly has missed the 4th wheel on my car

 

[Djw John]

Lol, you did that a few times mate but that was the highest!

Cool cheers Niall, I'll look into adobe. The 50 is something I've been considering but ill have to choose between that or a 70-300 which I can get just now. Being a Nikon I believe I should get a 35mm and that's the equivalent of a 50mm. The 70-300 would be very useful for Knockhill but the 35 great for static shots i guess so ill figure out what I do more of.

 

[Niall]

Yeah I've got both a 35 F1.8 and a Sigma 50 F1.4 and in all honesty I prefer the 50's focal length not to mention the awesome bokeh, but most people on here seem to reccomend the 35, which don't get me wrong is still a brilliant lens. If you did get a 59 though make sure it's the AF-S version, despite what some say manual focusing all the time can become a bit tedious.

 

[Djw John]

I'll get looking and deciding then. Cheers mate

 

[Niall]

​My best advice to you would be to get your kit lens, zoom it to 35mm and see what it’ll be like with the 35, then, take it to 50mm and see what it’ll be like with a 50 and decide which focal length suits you best

 

[welshname]

The ones of the waterfall look really nice. I think a slightly longer shutter speed and a little bit of PP and they'd be really smart.

 

[Djw John]

Cheers Rhys, do you mean 638 or 607? I've got longer exposures of both I think.

What PP would you suggest, I've been having a play around with it and so far only made it look worse!

 

[welshname]

I meant both but I prefer 607 out of the 2.

With regards to PP nothing too over the top. Some stuff can just look over processed. I tend to use PP to just fix the f**k ups I made on the camera.

Just play with the simple stuff. I'd love to help more but I'm still playing at being a tog myself.

 

[Habitual]

I'm going to be quick and dry with my views. I'm no pro but I'll go through my thought process as if they were mine:

In the first two I would try and give the car more room to breathe. The crop is unbalanced in number one and the car is not that well placed. The same in number two - it's cropped too tight. Remember the rule of thirds, that will help a lot with those two.

Additionally, they both lack warmth. I'd try and adjust the temp a little to give the forest a little more life/depth.

The animals behind the fence and the car on the truck are, frankly, just not good pictures. It sounds harsh but you have to be subjective. Would you like a picture like that? If you did, would you think it was worth bookmarking, 'liking', favouriting or commenting on? They're just dull, I'm afraid...

We've all taken pictures like that - hell, I still do!! (Too often too lol).

As for the track shots, I think they're the best. The only thing I'd say is to remember composition (#2 of the track shots) and use a lower shutter speed to capture the action/speed.

Hope this helps dude.