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Swans
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Whilst not the case for every photo, in general photos should follow two basic rules regardless of the content or subject.
The first of them is exposure. Usually it’s undesirable to have large areas of pure black or pure white in the shot, because all detail is lost. It’s especially important to ensure that you expose your shots correctly so that the subject of your photo does not have any areas of lost detail. In the first shot, if you look at the swans, you’ll see that for the large part, they’re pure white. You can’t make out any feather detail, in fact in some parts it’s hard to make out which bits belong to which swan. The shot is overexposed. In the second shot, the exposure is MUCH better with only a very small area of over exposure.
The second general rule is to have things in focus, particularly once again the subject. All of the swans in the first shot seem a little soft. This could be a combination of factors… the first is just not focusing properly in the first place (which I think is the primary factor in the first shot). The next could be to do with the subject moving or camera shake.
Regardless of the subject or scenario, the first thing we need to make sure of when we take shots is that they’re exposed properly and in focus. After that it’s all about the artistic elemetnts – choice of aperture/shutter speed, perspective, focal length etc.
The first shot is let down from the point of view that it’s both over exposed and not in sharp focus.
The second is much better on both accounts, so well done there. Believe it or not, shooting a white swan on a sunny day (or even a cloudy day) is no easy task. The “problem” with the shot is that not a lot of thought went into the composition. It appears to be shot from eye level perspective, which seldom makes for good photographs. Try getting down lower, at least eye level with the swan or better still lie flat on your tummy. A good tip (which would obviously be hard to do with a swan in water) is that before you take a shot, half the distance between yourself and the subject before taking the shot.
cheers for the feedback. you’re right about the first shot. The problem was that it was a split second shot. I didnt have the luxury of time to choose a better angle. i agree about it being over exposed.
ichi wrote:
cheers for the feedback. you’re right about the first shot. The problem was that it was a split second shot. I didnt have the luxury of time to choose a better angle. i agree about it being over exposed.
I’ve been shooting since April 2004 (just over two years now) and it’s been a long slow learning curve. It still is! One of the things I’ve learned most about this year is identifying weaknesses in my own shots. I have a VERY low hit rate in terms of shots taken vs. shots I’d show the world. The fact that you can identify things like over exposure and soft focus means half that battle is already won (if not more). But I wonder why you’d display a shot if you already knew you had blown highlights in key subject areas?
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