help me learn!

[captured]

hi friends,

i have recently got myself a Canon SX20 IS camera. i had used S3IS before to this and was really satisfied with the picture quality. i don't want to start the rant again on the picture quality of SX20 (enough of that in my intro thread :P). guess this 'll also help me in learning better photography.

none of these pictures are processed except for cropping and resizing. not because i don't want to but i don't know how/what to process. sometimes even if i try simple colour enhancements or brightness/contrast adjustments i end up feeling the original picture was better.

this one clicked while on a trek to Kodachadri.
image1:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/somspaple/CopyofMG_0206.jpg

sun set : Agara lake : Bangalore
image2:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/somspaple/CopyofIMG_1640.jpg

sun set reflection: Agara lake: Bangalore
image3:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/somspaple/CopyofIMG_1680.jpg

another pic of sun set : Agara lake : Bangalore
image4:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/somspaple/CopyofIMG_1690_1.jpg

reflection in water: Agara lake : Bangalore
image5:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/somspaple/CopyofIMG_1596_1_.jpg

waiting for the reviews/comments.

[KrishnenduKes]

Since this is into critique, here I go... The sun photographs are doing nothing to me, just a strong red background with a bright sun in the middle. The children photograph could have been better composed. There was potential there.

The last Agara lake photograph could have been cropped some from the top and some from the bottom to give it a panorama look.

Photo Critique Approved

[captured]

Since this is into critique, here I go... The sun photographs are doing nothing to me, just a strong red background with a bright sun in the middle. The children photograph could have been better composed. There was potential there.

The last Agara lake photograph could have been cropped some from the top and some from the bottom to give it a panorama look.

Photo Critique Approved

hi Krishnen, thanks for approving and the comments. and thats exactly what 'm looking for. how to compose better shots :-).

about the children photograph: can you please explain how it could have been composed better like any specific points to keep in mind before shooting.

thanks,
Som

[Aryan]

@captured: Like Ken da said, for me, the first photograph has very good potential but that bamboo in between the frame is extremely distracting to my eyes.

The second sunset photograph is good. I love the reflection on the water while the last shot is very bland. :(

I would say it is a nice try. Keep sharing your work with us. Those sunset photographs have lovely colors by the way. Me likes. :)

[Viny]

Sunset pics are Ok, if you shoot with selection of "Sunset" mode then all the sunset would look more or less same. For other two images you need to do some post processing to make it really outstanding. In the lake shot, you can add some contrast, some saturation and reduce some exposure, it would make it more appealing.

Gurus can give you much better inputs on same, i am a newbie :)

[Cyclops]

@Captured - The 1st pic could do great without the bamboo in the lower half. The sunset images are good, but needed more of landscape for an added effect. The last image is good, but pretty bland. So, if you cropped from tree top to the reflected tree top in the water, it would have been good & needs a bit of saturation of colors.

Just my 2 Cents.

[Viny]

Just to qive you a quick sense of what could have be better done with that image.
I did a 2 min shape up, its just an idea and not a workout.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9769/test2wx.jpg


http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/7773/tempx.jpg

[Cyclops]

My 2 Cents:

Now the first image looks better composed. Just up the sharpness a bit using Unsharp Mask (if using PS).
The second image, looks great. :) Thanks to addition of clouds & saturated colors (except the clouds aren't reflected in the water and the trees show through the addition of the clouds).
You yourself can now compare and check the change. Its good now.
Just work on composition, so that the final output doesn't need much post processing. ;)

[arijit]

to me the 2+ photographs are well framed...the basics are right.
the first photograph has some out of book framing but still holds on to the subject very well. A little PP here would do wonders. try its black and white high contrast version!
the bamboo 'distraction' can be better done with some good PP than simple cropping. cropped first image above is looking disastrous to me though the last one has come better!!!

[captured]

thanks for the feedback Aryan and sure would keep sharing pics and learning :) ,

thanks Cyclops and yes me too want to compose the shot so as to use the minimum post processing.

thanks Arijit. 'll try your suggestions.

Viny: thanks for the feedback and tweaks. pics look much better this way and i too tried with your suggestions and got much richer colours but i couldn't find a tool to reduce the exposure. cloud seeding :p is looking great though.

about the kids pic: i retained the bamboo frame as i thought they were looking good in the total set-up and also i was worried if i loose the moment hence hurriedly clicked couple of pics.

i would post few more pics little later: of the flowers that i had clicked along with the corrected pics as per your suggestions.

i do not use PS at present and make use of MS Picture Editor and Picasa desktop software for any 'post processing' .