caknutsen Loc: Seattle, WA

I find UHH to be very informative, and also very comical at the same time. There are tons of helpful tips, and numerous postings that just seem to slip off track and without a doubt make my day better, especially spelling debates.

Here is a few random photos, feel free to comment. The photo at the Mariners game still has me puzzled, cannot figure out how the ball ended up where it did.

Cheers

Ocean Shores WA


Rail Bridge Sultan WA


Not Sure How the Ball Ended up?

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Hi caknutsen
Welcome to the club. Don't despair if no one left any comments. It doesn't mean that no one had not looked. You can actually see the number of people that have looked at your post and left messages. Go to 'My Topics' at the top of the page and look for the post.
You may be new here but it doesn't look like you are new to photography.
If you are into photoediting, I can suggest a few pointers to make the images even better.
The first shot is a great photo, lovely colours and composition. I would clone out that coloured flare on the beach and maybe even the flare(or puff of cloud) above the sun. This is because way too much attention is drawn to the sun and not enough on the 2 persons and the beach. They are all part of the picture and you want the viewer to look around the image without being stuck in one spot or be taken out of the image for that matter(not in this case, but something to keep in mind). With that in mind, I would crop the right side by about 1/6th and the bottom a bit to make the image more oblong again. This would bring the figures more to the intersections of the thirds and a more pleasing image overall.
The second image is great too. But you need to lighten the dark underside of the bridge to bring back some details and darken the rest of the image. Explore your photoeditor and learn all the different ways to make those changes. Some are easier than others or more appropriate for one type of image than another. In photoshop, I use ‘levels’ and the brightness and contrast sliders to achieve that. Occasionally, I may use the highlight/shadow feature.
The third image is another great action shot and you have zoomed in to the right spot. In the heat of the moment, you wouldn’t have time to check on the composition and you have chopped the foot of the referee(?) off. If this is an edited image, re-crop it to show all of the foot. I would generally shoot not so zoomed in and then crop the image in a photoeditor. More work perhaps, but really not in my case as I always have to edit my images anyway, so cropping is part of it.
It is amazing where the ball flies to. When I used to live in the UK, where soccer is king, there was a weekly ‘spot the ball’ competition run by a newspaper. You get a photo of a soccer match with the ball erased out and punters have to put an X where the ball is. Not many times have the competition been won.
Anyway, welcome again and keep shooting and posting.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Nice shots and you got some spot-on comments from Chinaman. Welcome to the group (disfunctional family). We'll be looking for some more nice shots from you

ace-mt Loc: Montana

Hi Caknutson, Welcome to the hog. You'll like it here, there are some very helpful people here. you've already met a couple of them.

ftpecktim Loc: MONTANA

#3, wild bounce on a bunt ball?

caknutsen Loc: Seattle, WA

Chinaman, thanks for the critique. I absolutely agree with you on all your points. To be honest with you I need to got back through these photos and see if they were as shot but cropped, or if I did any photoshop at all to them. #1 is my screen background and the flare has been annoying me looking at it now I know why,

Photo #2 was probably within the 1st 100 photos I shot with a DSLR, and it was jpeg. Good thing I live 20 minutes from that bridge, and fish that river during this time of year. I will head that way this week and shoot it in RAW. After all 90% of the year it's overcast here.

#3 I am busted, without looking I bet I did crop out his foot. But how did the ball get there? I am not sure if I put the foot back in if that would solve the mystery. Point well taken.

Thanks for your comments.

caknutsen Loc: Seattle, WA

Horseart and Ace-mt, thanks for the welcome. I have been watching and reading for the past couple months and finally decided it was time to join in. The folks here are awesome as well as humorous at times, not to mention great critiques or is it critics? I guess it depends on how one wants to read those two words. Even if dysfunctional is a part of it, which means I should blend right in.

Thanks again for the welcome

caknutsen Loc: Seattle, WA

Ftpecktim

I have no clue what it was, but you may be right. Time to go back and check the frames before this shot.