Recent photos at thoroughbred welfare charity open day.

[Energize]

I took these photos on a voluntary basis to help out the charity with their promotional activities.

Used a D7000 with Nikon's: 35mm f/1.8, 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 and 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6.

Although it may not be as visible on these downsized images my main issue on the day I think was using too narrow an aperture in an attempt to get critical sharpness and give me a lot of room for error with regard to focusing. Shutter speed seemed about right after taking it down a bit after my previous experience at similar events and feedback from users on here. If I had been paying proper attention to the ISO display I probably would have noticed the aperture was too small.

On that note is there a mode similar to aperture priority but where aperture size is increased if ISO goes over specified limits? I think that would help me too.

Found myself swapping lenses quite a bit unfortunately in the arena, partly due to where I was standing. Lessons I learned today are that the 35mm is not much good for that type of work due to lack of zoom and unsuitable focal length at that. I found that 70mm when using my superzoom lens was often too close while 105mm using my walkabout lens was often not close enough, without having 2 cameras though or maybe using the 70-300 on ff I haven't seen any options as far as decent lenses go. I don't want to use an 18-200mm for example when I'm gonna get terrible distortion.

Almost exclusively used the 35mm in the barn though because of the lighting and I wanted to take some portrait shots of the horses.

Comments/critique/blatant flaming welcomed.
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[Energize]

Is it too much to expect a single piece of critique, advice or comments in the OCUK photography forums?

 

[Genoma]

I think there is just too many to critique, hard to even give pointers when there are lots of them

The nicest one for me is the solo portrait of the horse, although I would add a little contrast, maybe some vignetting for effect and crop off the second green bar on the right which is distracting. I would also straighten it up.

The first one is also a fun picture, I would again crop it for maximum effect.

The rest pretty much just photos of people and horses. If you want critique I would say pick the ones that make you think they are special, I could see this published, on the wall or I just really like them, then only publish your best work.

I literally just spent about 2 minutes on both in Lightroom having a play with the 2 I liked - see what you think.

and

original:

post-processed a little:

 

[ElDude]

The trouble with posting so many photos is that it makes it difficult for people to critique a photo, especially when you don't number them.

The first one is funny It needs straightening a little bit though as do a few others. If you go through, some clearly are better than others so as there are so many it may be an idea to pick the clear favourites out and correct any issues like the horizontal level, or anything else you think that may need doing.

 

[Energize]

Thanks for the advice, I'll bump when I've made some changes to them , I'll also number them.

 

[D.P.]

Yeah, too many to critique really.

Exposures seem ok, in the small size the sharpness look good on most. My biggest issue is the compositions that are generally uninteresting, unbalanced or uncomfortable. Here are some comments.


#1 very funny shot but poor composition. Subject is dead center, worse still the horse is looking to the right of the frame. In generally you get a much more balanced photo of the subject is looking/heading/walking/moving/running/galloping into empty space of the photo, and if the subject is looking/heading out of the frame it is uncomfortable. A better framing with the head much further towards the top left and the horse looking to the right.

#2. You have clipped the bottom of the guys shoes, which is a shame because there is a lot of dead space at the top of the frame- would have been nicer to point downwards somewhat. Worse still there is some busyness to the left that doesn't really add to the photo, including the protruding limbs of a passerby. You need to view the edge of the frame and decide what you want in it and what to leave out.

 

[D.P.]

#3 same comment as #2

#4, the guys left arm is cutoff but there is a load if dead space on the left of frame.

#5, much more comfortable.see how much nicer it is when all subjects are complete.


Will try to comment more tomorrow but I hope you get the idea.

 

[Energize]

Thanks, DP, I'll adjust the cropping on some of the photos to improve their framing, to put more focus on the subject.

By the way the photo directory listing is viewable so you can view the other photos if you like.