Dynax Digital Forums

The main reason that I bought my first SLR camera was for this holiday to Southeast Asia.  So I'm happy to be able to show some of my results.

All of these shots were taken handheld using AWB, AutoISO and Auto exposure compensation settings in jpg format.  Most of them were using Aperture priority mode.

I would love to hear comments, critiques and suggestions as to what things I've done well, what I haven't, and how my photos could be improved - either at the camera or in post production.

Gear - Sony A330 with 18-55mm and 55-200mm Sony kit lenses.

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#1. Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand
110mm  F/4.5  1/200sec  ISO-200



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#2. Village Girl 1, Mekong River, Laos
135mm  F/5.6  1/250sec  ISO-125



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#3. Village Girl 2, Mekong River, Laos
200mm  F/5.6  1/640sec  ISO-100



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#4. Mekong Sunset, Pak Beng,Laos
55mm  F/10  1/30sec  ISO-100



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#5. Village Festival, Luang Prabang, Laos
55mm  F/5.6  1/100sec  ISO-250



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Lovely Set

Thanks for the comments guys. 
No hints or tips?  I'm very new to this whole thing and would love to know where I can improve.

I've done no post processing apart from some slight crops - and not sure what I could/should do to improve the look of the images. (I have Elements

Cheers, John.

THANKS Clive... great feedback!!
See my questions comments below.  Appreciate your time.

#5 It is (can be) hard with people ... you never want to offend....but at a festival the participants expect to be photographed...would like to see a tighter shot on the young person. Good exposures.

Is this the sort of thing that can just be cropped? Or does it need to be done at the time of shooting.  I’m starting to get the feeling that maybe I should frame my photos LESS tightly, then crop afterwards.  A few times I’ve tried to get the perfect photo from the camera, only to realise afterwards that I’ve gone slightly too tight and cut off one little (but important) part of the shot.



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#4 The sunset shot is well composed and exposures good. No real suggestions.

Thanks.  I wasn’t actually sure about this one.  I thought maybe I needed to somehow bring the landscape out more (I feel I need to squint a bit when looking at this shot to be able to see the landscape as well as the sun).

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#3. I like this .. captured a pensive moment well. Would also like to see it up closer..that can be difficult .. and sometimes offensive to strangers. Visualize this a vertical and cropped tight. 

This is probably my favourite photo from the trip.  We were back on the boat by this point, so it was at full zoom.  Once again, maybe crop-able into the shot you’re talking about?



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#2 .... Nice light and exposure...I can't decide on the expression...

I think that was the “why won’t you buy my home-made bracelets, now I’ll be poor forever” expression.  Lovely people … but in this remote village they seemed a bit more solemn than in the towns.

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#1 ... great example of DOF....would like to have seen the front soldiers more in focus. Depending on lighting...you may need a tripod and select an aperture of (say) f8 or f11 to get more soldiers in focus. That would put your shutter down to 1/50 or 1/20 second to give the same exposure...a tripod would be a must then. Still .. nice composition and great light.

It was a bit difficult.  I took about 5-6 photos.  There were only 2 that weren’t full of tourists (the place was swarming with them).  This one and a tight crop on the first head.



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#10 .. Longneck...wow, was not aware this was still done. GREAT expression and lighting. Looks a wee bit soft. Well captured.
 

They’re actually Burmese people who now live in North Thailand.  There’s only one village of them.  They fled Burma a while back and have been living near Chiang Mai for about 20-odd years.

You’ll have to excuse my amateur-ness here, but what does “soft” mean.  I would guess a slight lack of focus, but not sure.  (will go and read up on it after posting this ).  This one was cropped down from a wider shot, so not sure if that could be part of the cause?  If not, what does cause it, and how can it be avoided next time?

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#9 .. this had the potential to be great....I still like it...you don't have control over this stuff..BUT if the Buddhist had been in sunlight with the doorway dark...he would have stood out well. As it is, his face is unlighted. Changing position might have help..but you grab pix when you can, eh?

This was a real lucky chance.  Once again, this whole temple was swarming with tourists.  We then found this little section off to one side that no-one else was in, and thought “cool, here’s a chance for a few ‘emptier’ photos”.  And then, as luck would have it, this monk just appeared in the doorway, stood there for a few seconds then made his way down the stairs.  Like you said, I didn’t have the chance to set up the shot, but I’m still happy I got a photo like this at all.






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#8 No comments. Nice record shot if a "statue." Late day light might make it more pleasing .... hard to say.

We got plenty of photos of carved faces, from a heap of different angles etc.  I thought this one was a bit different given that it was just a tight close-up direct-on view of the face.





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#7..most of the image seems soft....with that lens you could have opened the aperture to (say) f 8 or f11 and still have enough speed to hand hold.This would have increased the DOF and you could have most of the scene including foreground in focus. I like the symmetry here.

Sorry, once again I’ll have to plead ignorance on “soft”.
I was actually hand holding with the camera near the ground and the screen flipped out and pointing upwards (my first success with Live View – one of the major attractions that led me to buy the alpha over a Nikon/Canon).
At the time, I was trying to have the lotus out of focus with the memorial in focus.  But now seeing the result, you’re probably right that a bit more DOF might have been better.
Once again I didn’t have a lot of time to take it between groups of tourists walking up to the memorial, so this is the only empty shot I got from the low angle, but probably could have snuck another 1 or 2.



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#6 Nice reflection. Lacks overall interest for me...prefer #7 as a subject. This is exposed well.

I’m a little disappointed with the photos of this place (it was like the old King’s country retreat).  The whole place (apart from the obligatory throng of tourists) had a sense of calmness and serenity about it.  I really hoped I’d be able to transfer that into pictures, but it never quite worked.  Too sunny maybe?  I tend to think that the photos you see that give you that peaceful sense tend to not be in full sunlight.
That’s what I was going for here anyway.  I would love to be able to take a photo or 2 that give you that feeling, as they’re the ones I think can look really good on the wall of a study or bedroom.  I don’t know if there’s a particular technique that makes peaceful photos work best, or if I just need to pick my subjects better.

windsonian ... will try to give an opinion on a few of your queries.

Is this the sort of thing that can just be cropped? Or does it need to be done at the time of shooting.  I’m starting to get the feeling that maybe I should frame my photos LESS tightly, then crop afterwards.

Depends. generally the less you crop the better if making prints BUT you are also correct in trying to leave extra room for creative cropping. Many photo labs make standard sized prints and they are more blocky than the 3:2 ratio of most camera sensors. Therefore it is a good idea to leave some cropping allowance.

Regarding this picture


I prefer this. Bit there are no black and white answers and the crop depends on your purpose. If you want a portrait then this works. If you were looking for a shot of a young girl in her village, then perhaps the other works better. There are at least three aspects to every scene .. 1) up close 2) farther back showing some ambiance or 3) way back, showing the big picture. For stu dy in character, then close tends to work.

It was a bit difficult.  I took about 5-6 photos.  There were only 2 that weren’t full of tourists (the place was swarming with them).  This one and a tight crop on the first head.

Ho man, tourists are a pain .. ha ha .. even we WE are tourists. I hate 'em! People make photography very difficult for sure. You have to do what you can. Picking "best" times such as ealry in the day before the buses arrive can help.

You’ll have to excuse my amateur-ness here, but what does “soft” mean.  I would guess a slight lack of focus, but not sure.  (will go and read up on it after posting this ).  This one was cropped down from a wider shot, so not sure if that could be part of the cause?  If not, what does cause it, and how can it be avoided next time?

There should not be too much shake at 1/200 sec with the 135 mm lens yet it does seem not quite sharp enough. The fill flash and smaller aperture (selected in A mode) might have helped.

this monk just appeared in the doorway, stood there for a few seconds then made his way down the stairs.  Like you said, I didn’t have the chance to set up the shot, but I’m still happy I got a photo like this at all.

You just do what you can. If you felt comfortable you might have been able to set it up with him. But you have to be careful to not offend. I've put my camera way a few times when I wanted a picture SO badly. But you have to respect privacy. When I've motioned to someone for a picture I've been warned and  also had people be proud to be photographed. Err on the side of caution, but you can always ask. If you don't speak the language you smile and point at the person and point at your camera. They will let you know. 

We got plenty of photos of carved faces, from a heap of different angles etc.

Now I prefer the two images you posted this time. they give perspective to the carvings. These might be very cool in late day light -- unless tress or structure cause shading.

I was actually hand holding with the camera near the ground and the screen flipped out and pointing upwards RE memorial.

You were indeed creative in the shooting. I can see how it was arranged now. A smaller aperture would have helped and you had lots of shutter speed room to play with.

I’m a little disappointed with the photos of this place (it was like the old King’s country retreat). .... Too sunny maybe?

Hard to say, but perhaps the light later in the day would have helped. If you can actually get close a wide angle often helps with buildings.

Not to much help from me here. Just keep shooting. Mainly ... have fun! Keep it up.

Clive

O.K.... you asked for criticism ...

#1 love the limited depth of field but would crop out the little blue thingy on the bottom right hand side
#2 not bad- some would argue eye contact would be preferable- I don't thing this is necessarily true. I would probably crop ever so slightly on the right hand side- might make for a better composition. Only criticism here is that the focus point is on the shoulder of the girl and not her eyes which would really be preferable. I know this is difficult with candid shots and wide aperture.
#3 lovely- slightly too soft- and I would definitely crop this one on the left hand side so that she is not bang in the middle.
#4 lovely- perhaps slightly more contrast?
#5 great shot but here again I would crop it to portrait format just around the kids. All the stuff on the right hand side does not really contribute to the image, therefore you could loose it?
#6 wonderful reflection- perhaps a bit more contrast?
#7 the out of focus area in the foreground is slightly distracting. I would crop it out. In future either use hyperfocal distances with a chart (you can download them for free) or focus about a thrid into the picture and you should get front to baack sharpness with a higher f stop
#8 nice close up- nothing really to say.
#9 nice candid- slightly unsharp. I think the camera has focus on the wall to the left of the monk
#10 beautiful portrait- but again slightly too soft. I can't tell where the focus point is- I think it might be camera shake. Also loose the top right hand corner by cloning it out- there is a brown thingy that's distracting.

Hope this helps? I just saw that Clive went already through all your images- I hope I do not repeat everything as I have not read his comments and the others

Stef.