pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

I am a relative newbie to the hobby purchasing my first DSLR about 2 1/2 months ago. I primarily do nature photography and frankly, I have been amazed at how many incredible shots I have managed to get and how much positive feedback I have received in this and other mediums. Now the two below shots are probably another story. I'm curious as to how someone totally detached from the subject, but appreciates the art responds (whether positively, negatively or zero response) to the two shots below.

As background, I was making a tuna sand in the kitchen when I happen to peer out into the backyard, and I had never noticed that there was a plant growing out of an oak tree. The sun was hitting just the plant and it seemed to be an interesting shot/composition capturing the difference in light on the tree versus the plant and the difference in color/texture of the two. In one there is another flower in the frame that is purple in color.

Bottom line: Is this shot worth a crap or was it a waste of a couple of minutes? If nothing else, I am constantly practicing to be prepared when I have the opportunity to make a great shot of something of universal image. Thanks for stopping by and I happily accept positive and negative comments and just big yawns! :)

mtclicker Loc: Montana

pedalmaster: pictures are never a waste of time, if we can learn from them.

pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

So true MT, I am constantly practicing in that when my camera arrived in June, I felt immediately overwhelmed by the endless things one can change on the camera. This particular thing is probably an "eye of the beholder" thing in that I was simply personally intrigued by the plant growing out of the oak tree and the way they appeared in juxtaposition.

DaDiCarr Loc: Margate, FL

Totally with mtclicker, Specially if the clarity, so well defined and brilliant colors. The plant itself reminds me of some plants that grow in the Caribbean, specially in Puerto Rico. I think is called an "Ibi" In some houses they will used it for the fences specially if is cement.

pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

I appreciate you stopping by!

cawoods

Hi, I know exactly what you were trying to capture as I have shots similar to yours.
Did you edit your shot?? It needs some boost in light and dark.And texture. Try it in B&W.
Below are some that almost worked for me.....you have the eye, practice,practice,practice.
I learned photography in the 70's so I am old school. I don't have Photoshop but I do use Picasa which is basic stuff.

pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

Thanks, I will look at that as a B&W, Interestingly, I also came from old school and left the hobby over 20 years ago. I shot exclusively in B&W - mostly Tri-X. Plus-X, etc., and did all my own processing.

The below types of photos are what I am into now and I have been very pleased with my results just over 2 months into it. The one that started this thread was just something that struck me that needed to be shot! :)

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I think you captured the light, thus the exposure very well!
If I had to pick one, I'd pick the second one due to the purple interest at the bottom and I don't think it detracts all from the main subject the green plant.
Pat
(Snap Shot Guy...)

Jerry Brown

Your title for the first part of your post was that you were curious to see what a real photographer would think of this. Well, take a look and then tell me what you think. You have long left being a newbie and are in the realm of a real photographer.

Congratulations!

pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

Thanks Jay, I tried different experiments with exposure prior to honing in on this one. I metered on different areas, etc. but this was my lighting choice.

Thanks Jerry, I always know when I have captured a winner, but this one was just a whim and something that looked interesting to me and I thought it would be interesting. Sometimes I get home from a shoot and I fall out of my chair with excitement when I see what I have captured. Probably a great example is the owl above. I could barely see the guy, and he was so dark in the view finder, I thought I would never get a good focus. Most shots failed and then suddenly, voila, this beauty appeared on my LCD screen! I was even more excited when I got home and realized that his eyes reflect me holding up the camera as I took his picture! The one with the squirrel was a situation where I was working in the back yard and I looked up to see this squirrel apparently fascinated with my activities, I was able to quickly grab my camera and get that cute shot!

DaDiCarr Loc: Margate, FL

I really like your fisrt black and white composition, very well done, I have to say it looks better than the original.

pedalmasher Loc: Seminole, FL

With no manipulation, I simply converted one of the pics to B&W to see what it would look like.

chodrak Loc: Connecticut

I like the photo with the flowers, especially if you crop it severely so the leaves become the top left corner of the resulting image. Then their shadow takes on a lot of character and you get a lot of tension in tonal values between plants, bark, and shadow. I would crop an example to show what I mean but I understand it is verboten to mess with another's photos even to make a point. But, nice stuff.

Malcolm B Loc: Leicester (UK)

Please define a REAL photographer. I have a camera and I am real, or at least I think I am, does that qualify?

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

Hello pedalmasher. This picture has a lot going for it and with just a small amount of work it could be improved considerably. you say that you only use Picasa? I'm not at all familiar with it so don't know what tools it has, but I think that you should dodge (lighten) all of the shadows cast by the leaves and the shadow top right on the trunk, just enough to bring up some detail in the bark. Use the clone or spot healing tool to remove the vertical line on the right. The only crop I would make would be a little at the bottom, just enough to remove the vertical logs/stones.

Graham