# Good or bad photography?



## cordyandwoods123 (Nov 14, 2014)

I thought I'd put up a few of my better photos up on a post(not all horsey) and maybe add some as I go along. I would love your opinions as I only look to improve! Bear in mind though that all of these were taken with a motorola phone...not the best quality.



























































This last one was taken by my 8 year old sister 








Please criticise or comment, I'd love to know!


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

when you shoot animals, please look at the back ground, too. in some, a tree looks like it is sprouting out of the animal's head. look carefully to see how your subject lines up with things in the background, so that the horizon line isn't tangent to the top of the head, or other lines cutting in at uncomfortable angles. composition is number one. then comes lighting.

this photo has good composition and good lighting


----------



## cordyandwoods123 (Nov 14, 2014)

tinyliny said:


> when you shoot animals, please look at the back ground, too. in some, a tree looks like it is sprouting out of the animal's head. look carefully to see how your subject lines up with things in the background, so that the horizon line isn't tangent to the top of the head, or other lines cutting in at uncomfortable angles. composition is number one. then comes lighting.
> 
> this photo has good composition and good lighting


Thank you tinyliny! I will try to improve my composition and lighting although my phone only has so many settings...thanks!


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

treat yourself to a real camera. it will make a big difference. 

do you see what I meant by the "lines" of the background not sitting right with the subject? people shooting photos often forget to look past the subject.


----------



## cordyandwoods123 (Nov 14, 2014)

I understand what you are saying about the background, I never really thought about it before! I wish I could get a real camera but they are really expensive and I could never afford it. This is partly because my ponies have both recently got shoes, so my parents want me to get a summer job and help pay for that(I am only 15 an am in school so can't get a full time job). Chances of getting a camera are, at the moment, minute. I will hopefully be able to start saving up though by getting a job and using that money to pay for both the ponies and a new camera


----------



## Comfortably Numb (Jul 16, 2013)

There are quire a few cheap cameras that would be good to begin with.

This is, for me, best value in the dirt-cheap region:
Buy Nikon Coolpix S2900 20MP 5x Zoom Compact Digital Camera at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Compact digital cameras.
You will never worry about the cost of replacing batteries, can do videos and stills. It will be ok-ish (when properly set) in not perfect light, but will not provide great results when dark. You could do a series of shots and then delete the ones you do not like. For that price quite a few customisations possible (seen in the reference manual downloadable from the scroll-down picture menu to the left of the main article picture).
Fits in your pocket and you can even ride out with it.

Yet cheaper, but with AA-batteries, which is a real nuisance (one would need to go with rechargeable AA batteries):
Buy Nikon Coolpix L31 16MP 5xZoom Compact Digital Camera-Purple at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Compact digital cameras.


----------



## Overread (Mar 7, 2015)

Photo 1: Good shot all around, although a few things stand out:
a) The bottome of the photo could do with a little cropping, I'd cut some of the grass away just to remove it as its dead space at the present whilst the horse and background are on a fairly level plane and thus are the prime focus. 

b) It's either the camera or you've edited to brighten the horse up which has put a huge halow of white around the horses head. Did you use software to edit and if so what software did you use? 
If you're on budget GIMP is free legally and there are loads of guides out there so you can use fine brushes and zoom in to avoid getting that halo effect. 


2) Great shot and nothing wrong at all. Horse posing beautifully and you've composed it well with a good angle. I also like that you've avoided the all to common problem of getting too close and instead shot with some background to boarder the horses head. 
Some might consider the eye being a little too central and that a tiny bit more content on the left would have been nice to have the horse "looking into" that area (even if the eye is on you the angle of the face and the ears forward suggests attention focused on the left).
Yes I can see the tree sprouting from the horses head too; although honestly it doesn't bother me in this shot. If anything the tree shape is almost framing the horses upper head area - to my eye it fits and isn't as distracting; but the point made earlier about watching for trees/poles/beams still stands strong as a good general tip. 

3) Nice shot but nothing special. You might consider crouching a little to get the camera more at eye level with the horse as looking at or up to helps give a sense of size; whilst looking down at makes a horse appear smaller. A downward angle is also an angle we are more accustomed to seeing in reality so other angles can make a shot more interesting.
A tree can also be seen in this shot and, whilst I was accepting of the other tree, this one is appearing right out of your horses bum, which is not the best place for a tree. 

4) I see where you're going but no this shot doesn't work in my view. The sillouet is too busy and crowded to really be effective and too much of the sky and the light is blocked out to make it interesting. 
I can see some work with angles and shapes in the shot though so its not a total disaster; just its not working

5) Take the fence out and I think this should would work, in my view. The horse has a good pose and it works being very centrally composed; but the fence just slashes right through and breaks the feel of the shot in my view.

6) I feel your camera is letting you down with this shot as with the the depth of field being so great its hard to really pull that ear out as an isolated point of detail. With the camera you've got a more scenic environment would be one way to make this angle work. At present the background is your back yard so its not "interesting" to most viewers

7) Neat use of vignetting around the edges and the sky is really painting a nice series of colours against the tree. You've composed it well including the sylage bales in the foreground.

8) Wonky angle and whilst the horse is posing nice this shot isn't saying anything to me. It's a dreaded "snapshot" style. 

9) Look at the direction of the horses motion; its facing to the right and cantering/galloping/running in that direction. However its nose is almost right up to the right side of the shot. When we view a photo we instinctively look at directions of focus and motion; looking in the same direction as a person is looking or following the motion of a subject. Thus we expect to see a bit of frame "spare" to give space for the subject to look/move into. In this shot you're not giving us any and thus it feels wrong. A landscape orientation would also be helpful as the horse and landscape are going lengthways and portrait aspect is only giving us deadspace above and below.

10) Nice low angle; head of horse and rider well positioned and taken just as the back hooves come off the ground. A good solid jump shot! I would crop some off the bottom and might even adjust it so that the horse and rider are fully black against the bright background. 



A few further thoughts:
Zoom/distance. Whilst I know your camera is limited one thought for if it can/the future is perspective distortion. If you look at your 9th shot and compare the size of the horses rear to his/her head. Notice how tiny the head is compared to the rear; even the forelegs appear to be significantly smaller. This is perspective distortion. 

Its a result of the camera being too close to the subject and with a big subject like horses its why you often have to stand back and use the zoom instead of using a shorter focal length. With a phone camera the zoom might be more limited in capacity so it might be one of those things you have to partly deal with until such time as you can afford a better camera. As a rough guide 100mm in focal length or longer is what you want to use with a horse (although you can drop down to 70 or there abouts without too much trouble). Note that value is for a head/body shot - of course if you take a landscape photo where the horses are physically further off you can use a shorter focal length.

Remember its not exactly the focal length/zoom its the distance of you to the horse. 


A further thought is depth of field; your ear shot shows that your camera has a very big depth of field. This is normal for your type of camera and is a result of the tiny sensor in the phone that records the light reflected onto it by the lens. It's why trying to get blurry backgrounds is very hard on smaller cameras and thus even if you adjust the aperture (which changes the depth of field) you might not see a huge change. It's one of the boons of stepping up to a better camera that you get more depth of field control. 



Overall I'd say you're off to a good start. You've some strong shots here despite your limited gear; so keep at it and work on improving your skills.


----------



## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I agree that picture 3 was taken at a poor angle which makes the legs look short and stumpy.
Nice pictures tho'


----------



## cordyandwoods123 (Nov 14, 2014)

Overread said:


> Photo 1: Good shot all around, although a few things stand out:
> a) The bottome of the photo could do with a little cropping, I'd cut some of the grass away just to remove it as its dead space at the present whilst the horse and background are on a fairly level plane and thus are the prime focus.
> 
> b) It's either the camera or you've edited to brighten the horse up which has put a huge halow of white around the horses head. Did you use software to edit and if so what software did you use?
> ...


Wow, thank you for all the feedback, exactly what I wanted! Now for the responses to some of your questions:

1) The halo around the horse's head was due to my phone camera an for some reason at the moment, there have been several shots like that, which I will try to clear up.

2)Thanks for the tips. Honestly with that one, he just seemed to be in a good position and was posing so I just took the shot!

3)I see where you are coming from on all counts and I will try to improve on all those points.

4) Sadly this was the only photo I could get as I was in a hurry but I will try harder next time!

9) Really helpful feedback thanks. I hope to catch more action photos in the future so this really is useful 

10) I really cannot take credit for that shot, that was my 8 year old sister who took it. To be honest it is probably one of the best there...

Thank you so much for all the tips! I was wondering what you thought of this one? I'm guessing you are going to comment on the eye being central again? Also, the blurring is pretty bad, especially on the back legs...but apart from that?! Thank you for your help!


----------



## Hoofpic (Aug 23, 2015)

IFL. Will give feedback in the next couple days.


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

May I also comment?

this photo :










the eye being central does not bother me at all. however, the lack of contrast between the image and the background means that it will not be a good choice for black and white imagery.


----------



## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

With a phone? Wow, I would say nicely done!!!!


----------



## cordyandwoods123 (Nov 14, 2014)

Thank you remali! I have only just started to get used to my phone after having it for nearly 2 years...


----------

