mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

I am very new to photography. That being said i was trying to get good pictures of reflections I'm not thrilled with my results what could i have done differently? The pictures were taken with my Nikon D5100 55-200mm lens.

The third picture my only question is should I crop the one child out is he distracting to the picture?

The fourth and fifth pictures I thought looked cool but as always comments critique and criticism are welcome.

Iso 100 68mm f/6.3 1/160sec


ISO 100 55mm f/10 1/200sec


My boys

Bobgood1 Loc: Indianapolis, IN

If you want tree reflection off of water, the water must be clear of vegetation and not moving. I like the last pic best. Thanks.

mulldog Loc: LC, Rhode Island

The critique could go on forever about all the pics, but.....Definitely do not crop the boy out of pic 3. The silhouette picture is, in my opinion, the best capture you have here, and the pano (cropped) perspective enhances the image. It creates a sense of wonder as the child on the left is running out of the frame and the other following. It appears as if they are on a lake having a great time. By being a silhouette image, it is a capture everyone can relate to, as opposed to capturing the children in detail. The Dark foreground and dark background compliment the children's figures very well. This one is a keeper.

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

Thank you bob if i am understanding you correctly the problem with these pictures was location and circumstances. This parks water had to much stuff in it so bad location to try this and it was a little breezy causing the water to be moving making it bad circumstances to try this. Did I get it?

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

Thank you mulldog I appreciate your opinion I will keep picture as is. I know I'm no photographer i have only been learning about photography since the end of May so yes i have a LOT to learn. Please feel free to continue to critique the other pictures if you are so inclined I have thick skin and know I'm terrible so you won't hurt my feelings lol :)

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

I liked the tree rings shown in your picture of the stump.

NiagaraJim Loc: Niagara Falls, ON

I also like the tree rings, I shot a similar photo and it scored quite well at my clubs competition night. The judge created me for see the little things in life.
I might suggest looking for a local camera club, they usually are quite willing folks to help new comers improve their skills.
Keep posting and asking questions here also, the more info you can get the more you will improve.

Bobgood1 Loc: Indianapolis, IN

Yes, It was the setting, Not your shots.

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

Thank you Photophile and Niagrajim for looking. My kids actually pointed the stump out to me. So glad they know how to stop and smell the roses :)

farnsworth52 Loc: W. Pa.

Nice shots You might want to look up Dynamic Range and the problems it causes. There are several videos on you tube. The lake pics are due to this. Your camera can only decide what is exposed properly in a given range. The sky and the dark trees are to far apart to expose properly together. ND filters help sometimes or you can make several exposures and post process.Basically your eyes see this scene better than your camera is capable of reproducing. I hope this makes sense to you. Exposing for the sky makes the trees dark,exposing for the trees makes the sky blown out. I hope this helps.

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

as has been mentioned, in # 1, the breeze is causing ripples which destroy reflections. you want the water absolutely glass calm for good reflection shots. try just after dawn, or just before sunset... often the breezes die down a bit at those times. #2 has the calm water, but all the weeds in the lake ruin the reflection. look for a lake free of weeds for reflection shots like that. also, those first two are a bit underexposed. try that scene with about a stop more brightness to make the colors pop a bit more.an a neutral density (ND) filter won't help with this at all... ND filters reduce ALL the light proportionally, so the image would still look the same, it'd just slow down the shutter. there are ways in post-processing to fix this a bit, but since you're just learning the camera, it's probably premature to get into HDR or similar processing techniques. the easiest way to fix this shot would be to take this picture with the sun behind you, so the fronts of the trees are lit, rather than in shadow. that would help a LOT with the sky as well.

the shot of the boys works okay because it appears one is following the other toward something of interest out of the frame, but as a rule, it's a good idea when shooting moving subjects to give them room in the frame to "move into"... in other words, more empty space in front of the boys than behind.

the tree rings shot came out the best of the lot in terms of exposure, but could use a bit more contrast. it's a nice natural "texture" shot.

the last one of the robin is about a stop underexposed, and probably should be cropped a bit to emphasize that this is a picture OF the robin, not just a shot a tree where a robin happened to be perched.

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

It does make sense. Thank you I will look up those videos and watch them I don't know how to do HDR yet my husband is supposed to teach me sometime. But until then I will work on the 5 billion other things you have to learn to get nice pictures. :) Thank you for your help.

JoboX Loc: Liverpool UK

The sun's position is a major problem.... creating a dark subject(trees), if the sun had been behind you it would have exposed the front of the trees facing you resulting in less contrast... In this case graduated ND filters to the top of the tree line would have improved the contrast by allowing more exposure of the trees but a further upside down filter at the bottom covering the water would be required to avoid blowing out the water also.......

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my pictures and help me out. I will keep practicing reflections unfortunately with 3 kids under 6 it is hard for me to get to the park at dusk or dawn but i will try a different angle where the sun is behind me.
As for the kids shot they had been standing still almost side by side then as i snapped the picture they went to go follow their dad. grrr Oh well I can always try that again lol
How do you like the bird shot now?

mariposa84 Loc: Rochester NY

Thank you Jobo the next time I have the opportunity I will try to make sure the sun is behind me when attempting reflections again.