Some short notes (gotta go to work). I liked the wind chimes best. The texture and perspective was of interest. The waterfall picture could benefit from some creative cropping, particularly on the right side. The candy wrapper photo has some tension in it, which is good. The others were not of particular interest. Strive for composition and originality. Develop your eye. Try to picture the subject as a black and white composition (B&W photography demands a critical eye for composition). Take a look at your photos in grayscale and see if they draw you in.
I think my camera is somewhere near the cheap end of the SLR cameras available (not the cheapest). It’s the cannon EOS 350D and cost me £579. You can get SLRs cheaper… around 400 quid (sorry I have no idea how UK prices translate worldwide or USA but the UK tends to be a lot more expensive than everywhere else)
And you can achieve good results with moderately priced digital non-SLR cameras. At least I think so.
Anyway… a few days ago I went out at night with the cam and a tripod. I am far from satisfied with what I was able to get but that was the first time. No harm in posting what I thought was interesting if nothing else. Some of them are cropped and or had their levels altered in photoshop…
Critique them if you like… but I already know they are basically snapshots and the best of a bad bunch.
My Nikon D70 uses what is basically a camcorder battery. I’ve left it on for months and still shot all day with it. Very efficient camera.
I agree that the rule of three isn’t etched in stone but I would have used it on the falls. To me, that is a scenery shot and needs a point of entry to create a sense of being there. I would have put the falls at the bottom third and tried to get more of the rocks above it as well as a horizon point.
I like the ladder for both color and composition as well as the flowers. Something else to play with is a reverse of the field depth for scenic shots. You can softly frame a scene in shrubbery or fence material.
One feature I like about my digital camera is that it records all of the parameters for each picture. When I get something I like I can right down settings on the back of the print for future reference. If I play with something like the white balance setting I want to know what works and what doesn’t. Oh, and the other thing I like is the ability to make panoramics or stereoviews quickly. Had lots of fun playing around with both.