Feedback please.... anyone?

It has been a while since i picked up my camera, but thisweek, I was on vacation and decided to play again. I decided it was time to venture out of "p" mode and try manual for the first time. Here are some of the pictures I was able to capture Would love feedback

You should pick up your camera more often, as in daily. Wonderful shots.

There are a few things that could be improved, but these are already good just the way they are.

Things I would suggest:
- With birds in water (like the first and last images in this series) go a little bit wider instead of using a tight crop, so that you can see the entire reflection in the water. They're already two nice photos, but that would make them even stronger.
- Another thing I try to do with birds is leave space in front of them, so it looks like they have somewhere to go. That's especially important for me if they're in motion (swimming, walking, or flying).
- I think just a little bit of extra post-processing work could really enhance your shots. (I thought the same thing with your series in the Landscape section too - for example the clouds in your lighthouse shot.) You did a good job capturing these and exposing them properly, and I'd like to see them "pop" a little bit more to show off your good work.

Those are really cool i really love the first one!

Thank you for the feedback Rmeyer! In regards to the Lighthouse picture, would saturating the clouds make them pop more? Or adjusting the contrast?

I agree that some PP would be a good thing. What bothers me the most here is that all of the birds are right smack in the middle of the frame. Rule #1: don't do that. The comment about leaving space in front of the birds is a good one.

Also, in manual mode, some work is going to be required to sharpen, adjust contrast/exposure/brightness/etc. to really get everything into the image that you want. As they are, while good, they seem soft, which is due to a lack of processing. JPG images are processed by the camera; RAW images, it's up to you.

Thank you Gary for the input! I will definitely go back into lightroom and photoshop and work on these images some more. I appreciate everything that is being shared with me and will use it with current and future pictures. This is the only way I will grow!

The 3rd and last shots are my favorites! Great focus!

barbaraw wrote: Thank you for the feedback Rmeyer! In regards to the Lighthouse picture, would saturating the clouds make them pop more? Or adjusting the contrast?

First of all - just because I didn't say so before - the lighthouse shot that I had in mind was the wider one that showed some of the beach.

What I would do, especially if this was shot in RAW, is start by tweaking the individual color channels in LR. (This will have some effect on a JPG image, but there's a lot more you can do with RAW.) Play with both the saturation and luminance of the colors that surround the clouds - I'm thinking blue and aqua channels could both be saturated a little more, and maybe have their luminance reduced just a tad to make the color richer. For the sky below the clouds (near the horizon) it looks like you could get some results by adjusting both the magenta and orange sliders.

The orange slider will probably have an affect on various parts of your image, since this shot with the sun low adding a nice golden light to everything. So pay attention to the whole image as you move the sliders - otherwise you might get the sky looking great but mess up something else in the process. (If that's the case you may be able to use the adjustment brush to paint a different color temp to certain parts of the image, so you don't affect the entire image at once.)

Next thing I'd want to do, to really make the clouds pop, is local contrast adjustments. You can do this somewhat in LR with the clarity slider -- or using the adjustment brush again, to brush in your clarity adjustment only where you want it. But to me the best way to get local contrast adjustments that will make clouds pop is to use the Topaz Adjust plugin. If you don't have it, believe me it is worth every penny to buy!

All of this is in addition to the exposure and sharpness edits that Gary mentioned. Personally, I like to make sharpening the absolute last step in my editing process.

If you don't mind, I'd be happy to do a sample edit to show you what I'm talking about, and then tell you exactly what edits were involved. But I want to make sure you're OK with that before I mess with your photo!

rmeyer, I would love to see your sample edit!

Very nice photos.

However, I tend to agree with the others here regarding the placing of the subject within your composition. It would tell the viewers a better story if it weren't that tightly cropped.