Your photos 57

Your photos (57)

Take Better Photos

Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset

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with comments from Philip Grosset

A friend of mine, Donna Enticknap, and I have just spent a few months travelling Asia. Before I left ahead of her, we took a short trip to Jersey (English Channel) where I brought a camera. My intention was to buy an APS for size and convenience, but on inspection and with her advice, and SLR seemed to be a much better option. However, I had never really paid much attention to photography and was only really interested in a record of my trip. Holiday snaps, in short. When I received my first set of prints back in Bangkok I was surprised and pleased with the results from my Minolta 500si Dynax and started to take things a bit more seriously. So, from nearly six months of travel and around 700 shots, here are my favourite 4. Incidentally, you may remember Donna's from a while back when she sent you some candid B&W's.
Shot 1, VIETGIRL, was taken on lake Ton Le Sap in Cambodia amongst the boats and floating abodes of the Vietnamese Floating Village. It was a windy day on the lake and as we waited for our boat to be re-fuelled, Donna pointed out this beautiful girl standing in the breeze. I had my Sigma 300mm lens on and was able to get her at this focal length. Problem was, the boat was rocking so much that by the time the shutter closed she was out of the frame. Lucky she ended up dead centre.
Shot 2, SIEMREAP, was taken on the main 'highway' from north Cambodia to Thailand from the back of a pickup truck. You can see the pools of water lying in the craters left by landmines, reflecting a fabulous sunset.
Shot 3, MEKONG, is simply the sun on it's way to the horizon ofer the Mekong river in Laos. I was really just trying to get the reflection of the sun in the water. The colour of the sunwas a bonus.
Shot 4, WING, was taken from the window of an Airbus returning from Kathmandu to Bangkok. Odd that it should be one of my favourites when I was just trying to use a roll of film up. For me it has a kind of serenity that I was very pleasantly suprised with. Thanks in advance for your time, Regards, Eden.: (From: Eden Cory)

Your photo (on the left) had to be grabbed quickly, but it might look more pleasing if the girl was not absolutely dead centre, as shown on the right.

It's a pity we can't see the craters more clearly in youre picture above. On the right, I've tried coming in closer and lightening them a bit, but you still can't see very much.

It would have been better to have taken the photo when the sun was just a bit higher in the sky, and there was more light and color around. Compare this with the page of sunset photos, and you'll see what can be done.

Your picture (on the left) is quite arresting, although it is just a little marred by the white spots in the top left-hand corner of the sky. I've tried removing these and also some of the empty space at each side. This produces an even more striking picture. Of my two versions, I prefer the one on the extreme right, as, once again, it looks more interesting if the sun is not dead central. I've allowed more space on the left of the sun, rather than on the right, because that is the direction in which the reflection seems to be going.

This is one of those pictures that may mean more to the person who took it than to an outsider looking at it. To me, I'm afraid, it looks just a bit ordinary. It's not really quite dramatic enough to make all that much impression, although I agree it does express serenity.

"i have one question.could you tell me what's wrong with this picture?" (katy from slovenia, europe)

Her face is out of focus and her hand covers too much of it. I'm left wondering why you included what looks like her identity pass at the bottom. The coloring is quite attractive, although perhaps the background could have been just a bit paler.

This is a picture of my wife, taken while where on a hike in Austria. I'd like it because it shows the joy of the moment and it nicely reflect the surrounding in the sunglasses. It is taken with a Minolta Dynax 7000I (believe they called it Maxxum over there) from about 10 years old with a 28-70 zoom. Bye from a rainy Netherland." (Jan Willem)

Your photo (on the left) is fine, but try to leave space in front of where people are looking, as on the right. This also removes the blank area in the right of your photo. Also, a vertical format is often more pleasing than a square one for portraits. But you've caught a good expression. It was a good idea to include the reflections in the glasses - but might have been even better if we could have seen the reflections just a bit more clearly. But it's a very happy picture.

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