Criticism most needed !

[Moneer]

I took some photos at a local festival yesterday with a Nikon D90 and a Samyang 85mm f1.4 manual lens . It was my first time to try this combination (and this manual lens) and it couldn't be harder ! . I cropped the photos and tried to edit some of them (especially the semi-monochromatic) as I usually shoot in the streets and I prefer first hand shots without much editing ; but with most of the photos were either out of focus or wrongly focused I had no escape . I think some of them were overdone and others were total editing failure . I would very much love to know your opinions .

((1))

((2))

((3))

((4))

((5))

((6))

 

[Moneer]

((7))

((8))

((9))

((10))

((11))

((12))

 

[gramps]

They look very over-exposed

You can upload your photos to the Galleries on this site or you can link to them on flickr and the like.

 

[Moneer]

((13))

((14))

((15))

((16))

((17))

((18))

 

[Moneer]

They look very over-exposed

You can upload your photos to the Galleries on this site or you can link to them on flickr and the like.

Thanks for the compliment ... Would you please over-expose the other capturing and editing pitfalls and help a budding photographer ?

I will try the gallery , i hope I will be able to upload them in larger size .

 

[Little John]

What I think he is saying is there is nothing there the images are just showing as unavailable we can't see anything. even trying to go to the image address won't display.

 

[Moneer]

What I think he is saying is there is nothing there the images are just showing as unavailable we can't see anything. even trying to go to the image address won't display.

Thanks John
I linked them to the gallery , I hope I succeeded this time

 

[gramps]

As you say many are out of focus and that is a shame - I like #9 and #10 but there are simply too many to comment on - as a guide, don't post more than 6 pictures in a thread and number them (#1, #2, #3 etc) to encourage members to comment.

 

[Tokkelossi]

Thanks for the compliment ... Would you please over-expose the other capturing and editing pitfalls and help a budding photographer ?

I will try the gallery , i hope I will be able to upload them in larger size .

This is what happens when you shoot in daylight in a white tent. its just one big softbox with light coming from all over the place.

It calls for scrapping the light meter and looking at what your taking. It may seem an odd thing to do but fill in flash will help sharpen some of these shots up.

You also need to start using manual everything and practice focus skills plus holding a camera steady below 1/60th.

This is hard photography to do at the best of times. Take your time, breath slow. Wait for the shot to come to you. Read people and try to predict their next move.

I have said in the past, its more like a sniper. Relax, be still and squeeze the shutter and dont take your finger off until the second click of the shutter.

A fast lens also helps and nothing above 200 iso or the grain starts.

 

[Moneer]

As you say many are out of focus and that is a shame - I like #9 and #10 but there are simply too many to comment on - as a guide, don't post more than 6 pictures in a thread and number them (#1, #2, #3 etc) to encourage members to comment.

Thanks for the tip gramps . I numbered them
The reason I posted many photos is that there might be a pattern of error(s) that I keep making in all of them while I am not aware of .
I kept the lens wide open at f1.4 , however , the tight place makes the point of focus very narrow as you might have noticed in number 3 and 8 . Other times the focus point fell just next to desired place ( like behind the man in #16) .
any tips for editing ? specially B&W ?

 

[coldpenguin]

I like 3 and 4. 2 might have been all right if the microphone hadn't been there, but as it is, no.

As others have said, too many photos in the thread. But to me, the rest all missed the focus (unless you have blurred them for some reason?). I know it is difficult at 1.4, but I don't think I would have put them up.

 

[Moneer]

This is what happens when you shoot in daylight in a white tent. its just one big softbox with light coming from all over the place.

It calls for scrapping the light meter and looking at what your taking. It may seem an odd thing to do but fill in flash will help sharpen some of these shots up.

You also need to start using manual everything and practice focus skills plus holding a camera steady below 1/60th.

This is hard photography to do at the best of times. Take your time, breath slow. Wait for the shot to come to you. Read people and try to predict their next move.

I have said in the past, its more like a sniper. Relax, be still and squeeze the shutter and dont take your finger off until the second click of the shutter.

A fast lens also helps and nothing above 200 iso or the grain starts.

Many thanks for your advice Tom
It is a shame I didn't think of using the fill in flash (I have a phobia for using the flash outdoors ) , I will surely do that next time .On the other hand , other photos (#7 , 8 ,9 ) were inside a tent where there was almost no light at all and I thought I could rescue that through editing .
The ISO was 200 most of the time but I usually use custom white balance . were there any pictures that I should've changed these settings for ?

 

[Moneer]

I like 3 and 4. 2 might have been all right if the microphone hadn't been there, but as it is, no.

As others have said, too many photos in the thread. But to me, the rest all missed the focus (unless you have blurred them for some reason?). I know it is difficult at 1.4, but I don't think I would have put them up.

Yes I hate that microphone . I thought the blur is also partly due to the processing :shrug: . here is #2 before I mess it up :
http://i52.tinypic.com/28k7kwo.jpg
Thanks Coldpenguin

 

[Tokkelossi]

This lens has a trait of going soft when wide open at 1.4. Its at it best at f4.

What were your shutter speeds at iso200?

This seems to be the old problem of no one thing. Its a bit of the lens, a bit of iso, a bit shutter speed and a bit of you

None by themselves will trash the shot but together its bad news.

The things you can fix are your technique, maybe fill flash and iso 100.

Dont rush, take your time and wait for the shot. Learn to hand hold down to a 60 or 30th.

Practice, shoot shoot shoot, then it will come. Mistakes are lessons if you can fix them.

 

[Moneer]

This lens has a trait of going soft when wide open at 1.4. Its at it best at f4.

What were your shutter speeds at iso200?

This seems to be the old problem of no one thing. Its a bit of the lens, a bit of iso, a bit shutter speed and a bit of you

None by themselves will trash the shot but together its bad news.

The things you can fix are your technique, maybe fill flash and iso 100.

Dont rush, take your time and wait for the shot. Learn to hand hold down to a 60 or 30th.

Practice, shoot shoot shoot, then it will come. Mistakes are lessons if you can fix them.

for the Picture in the link I posted to Coldpenguin , the shutter speed was 800 , but for #8 for instance it was 80th and #13 was 400 (all at f1.4) . As you said , I am now convinced that there is no escape from the fill flash because sometimes I was standing out of the tent in the light while it was completely dark inside which made depending on the aperture alone quite tricky .

 

[Taz1986]

looking good at least you can make up your mind on what to photograph lol

 

[Jamtea]

Just because it goes to f/1.4, doesn't mean use it at that all the time! I often use an old Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm and the DOF is paper thin. I end up using it between 5.6 and 8 most of the time just so I know I will get a decent focus.

I don't know what others think to the bokeh on this particular lens, but it does seem a bit on the funky side. I honestly think that using it at f/4 and above should be your MO unless the light calls for it.

I think your composition is quite good though, and I would have loved to see (18) with a touch more DOF. Just enough to get the girl in the back and the sax player up front in focus and leave the trees in the back with a nice bit of blur.