72_Chev_Truck said:
let me know what I need to work on, thanks
#1 Nice dog. You can do a lot better. For an active dog like this try a "panning" shot. Try different shutter speeds set at 1/60 second or slower, and while dog is running, move the camera with the dog. You have to get a little lucky here, but a good picture will have elements of the dog in focus (like the eyes) while the background shows motion blur. Combine this with rear synch flash, and you can get a sharply focused dog with blur lines behind him or her. This kind of stuff requires a lot of shots, but you can get real unusual pictures.
#2 Good product shot of the truck. I like the subject placement, the background, and the tension created by the wheels at full turn. One problem. Camera meters almost always assume that the area within your frame is 18% grey. Normally this works just fine. However, when you take a picture of something that is white or black, the camera meter will tend to expose it toward grey. That is why this picture is a bit underexposed. To get proper exposure you must manually "overexpose" the picture a stop or two. Most cameras have an exposure compensation system that lets you adjust plus or minus. For a black truck, you do just the opposite; intentionally underexpose the picture a stop or two depending on how much "space" the black object takes in the picture.
#3 A bit less underexposed since the white truck takes less space. Pretty background--except for that stupid red sign taking the viewers eye away from the subject. Move the truck, move the sign, or change your angle of view. You can also improve this picture by following the "rule of thirds." The strongest placement of a subject is not in the center. For a shot that includes more background like this, put the truck in the upper, lower, left of right third. Where the thirds intersect is the strongest placement of a subject. I would suggest placing the truck where the front points to the larger area of the picture. This creates a sense of direction, travel, and movement.
#4 I do so like well done pictures taken toward a strong light. However, they require a lot of care and thought. Because of the backlight, the truck is more underexposed than ever. If you tried to expose for the truck, the background would get too light. What this shot really needs is a huge white wall just out of the picture reflecting fill light toward the truck. I have seen photo shoots where you would not believe the size of the reflecting walls constructed for just this purpose. You could also try a bit of fill flash for the same effect, but it is harder to make it look natural. Sometimes, if you look around, you can find a house, barn, or shed that can do the same thing. Even two friends holding up a large white sheet can make a big difference in a photo like this.
This shot also suffers from the same red sign growing out of the truck's bed. A picture is not three dimensional. You always have to be careful about backgrounds. Otherwise you can have trees or flowers growing out of people's heads. In this case, the sign is growing out of the truck, and it looks like the cab has a green head of hair.
#5
Better exposure since the backlight is more to the right this time. Truck is still underexposed, and fill would help a lot. Also move the truck back a foot or two, and you lose the distracting bench in front of the bumper, and the distracting bit of tree in the upper left. (Sometimes you can use foreground tree elements to "frame" a picture--this shot does not accomplish that since the tree is just big enough to distract, but not enough to frame, and there is no corresponding tree element to the right)
Speaking of foreground, I think you could make more use of the interesting road surface that appears in a number of the photographs. After all, that is what the truck is for. For example, placing the truck in photo #3 in the upper right third, lets you include more of the road. Change the perspective so the road "flows" through the picture naturally leading the viewer's eye right to the truck. With any luck the red sign goes away.
I use a SLR camera...and I use black and white film.
