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still trying to nail a sharp one.

these taken with kit lens - and in harsh light.


comments and advice welcome

cheers

R2

Hi Great shots, the guy with the tats and sword is from Perth, or I have seen him lots of times in Murray St mall, he swallows a whole bunch of swords I recall.

Andrew

thanks andrew
He sure does swallow those swords - also try a sword alight perched on a rather unstable platform 20' up.
his performance was interrupted by a rather under the weather local - to his credit pirate pete handled it really well and placated him by handing over $20 for some refreshments!!
very entertaining show!

To be honest Rookie, this shots don't do much for me.
I find the crops / composition to feel awkward and I don't think they do the subjects justice. For instance the last one, his head his disembodied, as you've missed his shoulders. It distracts me from the rest of the shot.

thanks Craig - I appreciate the honest feedback.

At this stge of my photography I'm struggling to get consistency in any facet of good image taking (exposure, sharpness etc) but hey thats why we try new things.

When it comes to cropping I'm never too sure - rule of thirds doesnt always look right - portrait or landscape - limbs in or out?

do you have a set of 'golden rules' or a good simple reference that you would use for 1) taking and 2)displaying people pics such as these.

cheers

R2

Rookie, I'm consider myself new to photograph and I'm always learning but I will try to answer some of your questions.

I think the Golden Rule is, there are no rules, just guidelines yet they get called rules anyway.

For example the rule of thirds - while its commonly used, it doesn't mean all images have to abide by these "guide lines" breaking them when needed is a good idea otherwise it will hamper your creativity (some thing just look better in the middle, etc etc).

You've already got a good handle of another um, lets say guideline, which is experiement and try new things, sometimes they will work, something they don't, it all helps you grow as a photographer.

Exposures look decent in these shots and the D70 can handle most situations alright on Matrix Metering which lets you concentrate on composition a little more until you comfortable with both at once. (I'd suggest you could try a similar strategy as I did, and learn the different facets in steps, not try to fiddle with them all at once). For example, one outing concentrate on framing the shots, another concentrate on exposure, another maybe concentrate of getting sharp shots, or good use of DOF. The good news is the more you play around the more you pick up.

I feel like I'm rambling on a lot right now, so I might draw this post to a close and say that, you are definitely in one of the best, if not the best learning environments here on the forum. Many members are willing to offer their experience, opinions and expertise, or just answer simple and complex questions you may have, you just have to ask, and sometime be a little patience for the answers

thanks for the advice

....some times I just need to see it in black and white

I'd suggest you could try a similar strategy as I did, and learn the different facets in steps, not try to fiddle with them all at once).

cheers

the perennial 'fiddler'

R2

I hope it helps. Like I said, please keep asking questions, the wealth of information here is mountainous.

Taking photos of men in hats in the midday sun is always going to cause you some problems! I think the light let you down a little here.

Something to think about - The composition in these shots is not telling the whole story. They have interesting facets (confrontation in #1, action and fire in #2, and intrigue in #3) but they dont "grab" me.