Newbie photo

[mongmong]

Dear all senior photographer,
I am a newbie in digital photography so please pardon me for my mediocre skill. I shoot this when on my trip to the nostalgic changi village. Please comment frankly n kindly give me some pointers so i can learn from that. I am using a canon ixus v2. Thank you

 

[mongmong]

Sorry forgot to add in the link.here it is

http://www.pbase.com/image/25862072

 

[sebastiansong]

Hi MOng Mong

welcome to CS...
there is actually wrong with your photo except that it lacks a subject.

I see some people but there are too small to make an impact in your photo... the one interesting thing might be the bumboat 381... if the boat was moving you could wait for it to come closer and even wave to the uncle piloting the boat. Smile and gesture you would like to take a photo and if he smiles and waves back, you would automatically have a wonderful shot.

the sephia tone you tends to be overly orangy and yellowish... its your preference but I don think it gives any added "punch" to the photo.

keep shooting... its a long journey of self discovery... 8)

 

[mongmong]

Thank you very much for your comments n guidance sebastiansong,will bear that in mind next time. Here another photo i have taken using b/w (not yet process with photoshop). Please feel free to give any comments.

http://www.pbase.com/image/25866088&exif=N

 

[espn]

A quick question, what were you trying to capture?

From the file name I can see you're trying to capture the taxi stand, but did you realise the right side of the taxi stand signboard has already been framed outside?

For this shot, I think a sepia, or mixture of the taxi stand in colour and the tree/background in b/w would be slightly more outstanding

In short, keep shooting

 

[sebastiansong]

ok as a single shot it does do much but it could work as a leader for a photo essay, say, you are doing the story of a taxi driver then this could be the leading shot into the story. You have cut the English name short by eliminating the "ice" from service and preferred to keep the chinese name... I don noe why. Perhaps you didnt wan to crop out the tree... I don noe

one interesting thing I do note is that telephone number of the taxi service remains the old 7 digits without the prefix 6. That kinda betray the age of the place. I am not sure whether the establishment is still in service but if you are serious about shooting this... you could ask if the man in charge is around and whether he could pose in front of the stand for you, he doesnt need to smile for the photo to be interesting... then do the chap a favor and develop a print for him.

 

[mongmong]

Let me try to explain this, I am actually trying to capture the taxi stand,it''s one of the nostalgic feature in changi villange. I purposely leave out the right side of the signboard as to have some "background" to the pic. Here a question to ask all seniors here, what is more significant to capture feature/landmark of historical value? Should i use sephia or b/w to add some 'punch' to it? Please kindly enlighten , I was actually thinking of making a trip to pulau ubin to capture some kampongish features soon. I will keep shooting to improve.Thanks a lot for guidance.

 

[sebastiansong]

B&W and sephia does add a sense of timelessness to the picture but it doesnt work all the time. Just as color both saturated and desaturated could add different flavors to the same picture. For those who shoot in B&W they imagine the world to be in B&W before taking the photo. They don take color and convert the results.

At this point in time, I would suggest concentrating on basic composition. Learn to frame the picture before moving on to color choice. It would be easier to manage one set of options rather than having to juggle with color as well.

 

[mongmong]

Thanks sebastiansong, I will keep trying. Anyway would like to say that I really like the merlion shots in your gallery.Good stuff. Hopefully soon i will be able to capture as good as you.Thanks for guidance.

 

[igpenguin]

Just a thought that came up. You could visualise the composition as a painter would. How would a painter who wanted to retain the scene on paintings frame the scenes?

Another thing you could do is to try to get a few different compositions of the subjects. Don't just shoot and walk away.

 

[sebastiansong]

Just a thought that came up. You could visualise the composition as a painter would. How would a painter who wanted to retain the scene on paintings frame the scenes?

Another thing you could do is to try to get a few different compositions of the subjects. Don't just shoot and walk away.

great point igpenguin... a lot of photographer studied art to learn composition and especially the posing of models for portraiture. The Greek statues are some of the best reference for psoing. Nice of you to briing this point up.

Mongmong, my gut feel is that one must continue to revisit the same subject. There is always another (and better) way to shoot the same subject no matter how many times it has been attempted before. Often we discount the common things we see in life as nothing special. It is easy to do so. It will be more difficult to turn the mundane into the awe inspiring.

Swing by SEED to meet up with others and you could gain new friends to explore this passion of yours. Thank you for your compliments... Cheers.

 

[NorthernLights]

Hi

One thing I learnt is to try to find a main subject matter..something colourful, or shape interesting in relation to the surrounding (eye level, looking upwards, downwards, sideways etc) and then move around the subject (if it's laying there) and see how best you can make use of shapes by looking at various angles and shooting different frames of it.

I am using an A60 now....

 

[mongmong]

thanks for the valuable advices all seniors here had given me.I will bear that in mind. Really look forward to meet up n learn from you all in SEED. By the way,here is another set of photo i had taken in pulau ubin. Pleae give your most frank comments and advice. A bit embarrass to show you all (coz I still newbie no standard) so please pardon me for my amateur skill :embrass:

http://www.pbase.com/image/25937528
http://www.pbase.com/image/25937521
http://www.pbase.com/image/25937515
http://www.pbase.com/image/25937552

 

[mongmong]

By the way northerlights senior, I really enjoy your pic on your malacca trip (especially the sunset pic) and also the night scene landscape pic. What an eye opener!
Thanks for advice

 

[NorthernLights]

:devil:

By the way northerlights senior, I really enjoy your pic on your malacca trip (especially the sunset pic) and also the night scene landscape pic. What an eye opener!
Thanks for advice

Hi Mong Mong, we all learn.

But, those who are justified as seniors are others who have commented earlier but does not include me....I'm starting off...learn from Sebastian Song, Avatar....don't even quote me...i'm a nobody.

If you're into wildlife, learn from Avatar (his bread and butter), Chee Wai (Chairperson for Nature Photographic society, also won prices), and Chngpe (won many awards as well)..

Into models, can look for AJ23.. :devil: