Critique my Point & Shoot Photography

wolf2009

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2008
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So I have this Sony DSC-W120 point and shoot camera that i take pics with, in order to get better with basic photography before moving to DSLR. Let me know how i can improve on the pics below

All images are unedited, straight out of the camera

Click on the pics to get full image













Some additions from 2/16/10 after reading a little bit about rule of thirds







 
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BeauJangles

Lifer
Aug 26, 2001
13,941
1
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P+S cameras can be a little hard to work with, especially concerning exposure. All of your photos have exposure issues and most of them make at least one basic mistake of composition. Straighten the horizons, too.

#1 - The background itself is interesting, but you centered the subject of your image. If you're not familiar, read up on the rule of thirds -- basically never put your subject smack-dab in the middle of a picture. Your exposure on this picture is off too. Obviously that can't necessarily be helped because of your camera, but any interesting details on the leaf are washed out.

#2 - You have nothing that draws my eye into the picture. If your aim was to focus on the icicle, then this picture also has a centered subject. The wall creates a weird divider in your image and the background (snow) doesn't isolate your subject at all.

#3 - I like it. You could probably tweak the exposure a little bit and I would have used a smaller aperture to bring the house into focus as well. The puddle provides interesting foreground and you've nicely put the horizon towards the top of the frame.

#4 - I see what you were going for, but again this picture lacks a subject that draws my eye in. At first, all I see is an amorphous blue mass. It takes me a second to realize it's a car. The car divides your picture almost exactly in half, which is something you want to avoid. Take a look at stock car art, especially the more abstract stuff, to see how the photographers use a single element (grille piece, tail light) as the subject and build a photo around it.


#5 - This one is a fairly solid composition. You have the snow more the 2/3 the way up, creating a nice horizon, and you've got a pretty nice foreground. Unfortunately, your subject isn't terribly interesting and any interesting details are lost because of the exposure issues. You did place it in the center of the frame again (tempting, I know!), so next time, try to move it off to the side slightly. I really like the foreground in this shot and, with something else as the subject, this could be a really good photo.

Snow can be incredibly hard to shoot on / with because it reflects SO much light and I think your camera was having a tough time deciding what to do. In general, I'd recommend underexposing your pictures. Underexposure means that you can generally get the details back in post-processing, whereas over-exposure leaves you with blown-out highlights that cannot be recovered.

#6 - I like this image, though I think it lacks a clearly defined subject. Though there is the open space leading into the image, there is something that doesn't draw me in as much as it should. The shadows are very nice and you did a great job of including the sky, but not too much of it. The wavy line created by the trees is great too.


Keep at it man! Photography can be overwhelming at first, but just remember that everyone started somewhere and that the more pictures you take the better you will become.

IMO, go get yourself a cheaper SLR camera. Though the tools do not make the artist, an SLR will teach you much more than your P+S and it will let you control the exposure. I know you can get a D40 kit for the mid $400s right now, think about picking one up! I would also encourage you to join Fredmiranda or another photography forum. Every day they have people posting images for critiques, which is great for any photographer. You can look at the pictures and understand the compositional elements and you can also look at the comments and start to learn what does and doesn't work in the photo world.
 

996GT2

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2005
5,212
0
76
I think you should really work on practicing more with your P&S before shelling out the money for a DSLR. I can kinda see what you were going for in the above photos, but all the photos have compositional issues (centering, tilted horizon, etc) that detract from the purpose of the image.

Before you take a picture, sometimes it helps to think for a second about why that picture is worth taking. If you spend a second and consider the intent of a photo, it often leads you to think about the composition more and results in a stronger, more purposeful final result.

FYI, here's a gallery of photos mostly taken with a simple Panasonic P&S camera that lacks manual controls. You can do more than you think with your P&S and a little bit of post-processing on your computer.
http://sixseven.org/gallery/photography/

Keep at it and your photos will get better. Photography is all about practice.
 
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wolf2009

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2008
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76
Thank You guys, your comments are appreciated. no offense taken here, so feel free to comment even if its harsh. I'll take anything that will help me improve.
 

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
3
81
I believe that the W120 supports Exposure Compensation, probably in (P)rogram Mode. If so, you may want to adjust that to -1/3 or -2/3 in typical outdoors shooting, as the W120 - like most P&S digicams - tends to overexpose.

Get out of Auto Mode.

Take lots of pics. Delete almost all of them. Once you become accustomed to your camera, and you get over the thrill of routinely capturing well-focused, reasonably exposed photos, you will start to think more ambitiously and creatively.
 
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firewolfsm

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2005
1,848
29
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These are boring pictures, there's nothing especially creative or artistic about them. A child could have taken them.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
0
76
1) Rule of thirds. It may have been better to have the leaf the other way up, so you get a few more shadows and more interesting features show up. Also, is that your shadow covering the bottom half of the picture? Why couldn't you just move to the other side of the leaf?

2) There's way, way too much there. The only thing I can clearly make out at first glance is the brick wall. The icicle doesn't show up very well.

3) This seems to have been done quite well.

4) Maybe change the angle so that a bit more of the car is visible?

5) Is that a piece of ice? A leaf? Some peculiar, mutated stick insect? Whatever it is, maybe it could have been moved towards the camera a bit more so that we could see some more detail. And the background is just slightly too blurry for my liking.

6) It looks pretty, but what is the purpose of this picture? Also, it kind of makes me nauseous looking at it, you should really have your horizon horizontal.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,425
8,388
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the rails and the background drag the eye around all over the place. the eye doesn't really come to a rest when viewing those pictures. problem is you can't really control the background with a point & shoot (you can do so with an SLR and fast glass). the other thing going on, besides the lines leading away from the squirrel, is that the squirrel and the rails are about the same color (not really anything you can do about that, though). the combined effect is that the subject doesn't pop. it's just not a very picturesque location.
 

alfa147x

Lifer
Jul 14, 2005
30,061
103
106
I'm going to have to agree, work on framing
Sometime getting close up (crop) to your subject really is the best thing
I'm not sure but if you havnt check out http://digital-photography-school.com/ you should Great stuff

I think the best thing you can do for photography is to get out and shoot
But reading helps a lot! I'm not saying copy peoples idea, when you read tutorial or tips/tricks articles it stimulates your brain to think different at time which is a good thing. Just read trough articles even if they don't relate to you.
 

BeauJangles

Lifer
Aug 26, 2001
13,941
1
0
I'm going to agree with ElFenix here.

These newer photos definitely put the subject in the "right place," but you've got all sorts of issues with your framing. When you are shooting with slower lenses, you need to be extra conscientious about your background. The house behind the subject is distracting. If your camera could go more wide open, the depth-of-field would be far shallower, making the background a nice pleasant blur. As it is, it confuses the viewer.

The railing, though, is the biggest problem. First of all, the squirrel is too close in color to the railing. Second, the wooden contraption is distracting. It has lots of lines that don't lead the viewer anywhere and it has that unsightly vertical pole that divides your picture unnecessarily. Third, the railing itself creates an unnatural horizon that you've placed exactly in the middle of your photograph. Photos with horizons that divide your picture in half don't look good.

Please, get out and shoot more. Become aware of the limitations of your camera. Know that if you want to shoot a portrait, you need a decent background. Know that if you're shooting directly at snow, you may not get a great exposure. Yes, limitations suck, but they can be good learning tools to force you to think about composition, shot selection, etc.
 

angry hampster

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2007
4,237
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www.lexaphoto.com
Further, just because it has good composition doesn't make it interesting. IMO a squirrel sitting on a fencepost is pretty dang boring 99% of the time. You need to find interesting subjects. Go more than 50ft from your house.
 

BeauJangles

Lifer
Aug 26, 2001
13,941
1
0
Further, just because it has good composition doesn't make it interesting. IMO a squirrel sitting on a fencepost is pretty dang boring 99% of the time. You need to find interesting subjects. Go more than 50ft from your house.

+++

An excellent point.
 

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
3
81
I like skwirls.

Keep shooting 'em, and whatever else you can - it's the only way to know your camera.

But, as others have said, a little change of venue can't hurt.
 
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