Perhaps it's because that's all they really know how to do WELL. Perhaps anything else makes them uncomfortable owing to their relative lack of experience . . .

Hello AGILMORE, yes, I have a sailboat -- that is a photo of it! That's me sailing it. It's also an O'Day; a 1973 Mariner 2+2 (essentially a Rhodes 19 hull with a raised cabin, a V-berth, and two so-called quarter-berths (as if you could sleep in a cigar tube!)

This photo was taken by fellow Mariner owner and sailing buddy Steve Hock, crewing on a third Mariner owner's boat. (I was single-handing mine.) Steve is a professional photographer. Now that I think about it, he's probably largely responsible for my recently kindled interest in photography.

We were on day two of a three-day trip from the Niantic River (Niantic, CT), circumnavigating Shelter Island, NY, checking out interesting places along the way. Here is Steve's photo of me, apparently sailing headless, with a couple of ridiculously expensive Shelter Island waterfront homes in the background.

Edit:
Oh, a Tartan! I was thinking you said ODay 272. Yours is decidedly a step up from the O'Day!

And I realize now I forgot the photo, but apparently I can't add it on an "edit".

Edit #2:
OK, I noticed the " Add New Attachnent" button!

O'Day Mariner hull #2714 -- photo by Steve Hock

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Thanks, JAY PAT! I agree with what you're saying pretty much completely.

The reason I chose this leaf is because at this angle most of the other leaves in the frame were reflecting the sunlight with a bright glare. I thought I could use that for its aesthetic effect, understanding that I'd be sacrificing some "simplicity" and introducing distraction.

I considered decreasing my depth of field even more, although I was already near the limit of what my kit lens can do. But I still wanted to leave a good sense of what the near background and foreground really are. Looking at it now, if I were to keep the same shot compositionally, I think I should have wanted to reduce my depth of field even more. I do like this shot and I think it's my best so far, but yeah, there is a lot of distraction.

I sincerely thank you for your comments. Happy shooting!
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Shoot lots of pictures? Yeah, I hear you all. I just wish I could! My problem is I think too much. Each shot I approach, I approach it as if I'm in an "Art Appreciation" class. For every image I actually capture, there are probably at least a dozen which in my mind I have already "deleted", without ever even exposing them to my camera's sensor. Probably would have served me (or at least my budget) well if I had taken up photography back in the days of film. But now, with digital exposures being essentially free, maybe not so much. I guess my approach could best be summed up by "pauca sed matura" ("few but ripe" ), to invoke Carl Friedrich Gauss, for all of you mathematic historians out there.

This shot was only "exposure number 21" on my camera's sensor. In my mind I was already several hundred in. I saw the other shots; I saw what I liked and didn' t like about them, and decided not to bother exposing most of them because they just didn't make the cut.

Thank you all for your kindness! This really is a warm, friendly, inviting group of people!

But please help me out here. I mentioned what I was trying to do, and the equipment I have for producing it. What I am really looking for is a rigorous critique. When it comes to art I know what I like, and I think my tastes run pretty close to what the majority of aesthetically-inclined people would like. But being extremely new to photography as a means of artistic expression, and never having studied photography at all until about a month ago, I kind of feel like I'm flying blind.

What suggestions does anyone have for what I might have done differently? And much more importantly, WHY? What is weak or strong about my composition, technical approach, and/or execution?

From the admittedly "scant body of work" I've produced so far (only one photo!) I'm probably asking too much, but where ought I invest my time and money (things to study either formally or informally, additional equipment to consider, etc.) To get the most benefit, either short- or long-term?

Thanks for your help, and thanks again for all of you who contribute to make this group/website such a great resource!

Hello everyone! I'm new here, having joined a few weeks ago, and I've been lurking here since. I've always been somewhat interested in photography, but never took the time to pursue it. All I have ever owned were cheap point-and-shoot cameras. I recently made up my mind that I would finally purchase a DSLR and learn how to use it well. I tried to learn as much as I could (on-line articles, YouTube "how-to" videos, etc.). That's how I found this very helpful website.

One week ago today I purchased (from Sam's Club) a Nikon D5300 with two kit lenses -- the DX VR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and the DX VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6. I have been systematically playing around trying different things according to what I've been reading/watching. Until today, most (but not all) what I've been doing has been more oriented to trying to produce a specific effect rather than trying to create an aesthetically pleasing image. So far I feel I have been successful in learning the basics, although until this morning I had not produced anything I felt was worthy of sharing.

I left home this morning with a free-time window of only about one hour but with a determination to find something visually compelling an capture it on film. Fortunately I saw an opportunity with the way the sunlight was playing on some autumn leaves. I found a brilliantly colored leaf backlit by the sun, with sunlight glaring off of other leaves a bit further away. I popped on my telephoto zoom lens, set the camera to aperture priority mode, and captured the following image. Here it is right from my camera (I don't have any post-processing software yet). I'm very satisfied with it, especially because it came out exactly as I had had envisioned it when I first saw the opportunity.

Just the same, I would really appreciate an honest no-holds-barred critique from you consummate veterans out there. Am I making any glaring newbie mistakes? How could this shot have been improved, or what might I have done better or differently? What, if anything, do you think I have done particularly well?

Sunlight playing off some autumn leaves

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