Critique my photos....

[peckerhead 0]

Ok, so I have been doing video for almost 5 years but I just started doing stills recently. (about six months)

I am not a photographer, just a skydiver trying to take pictures.

I am using a digital canon 300D with the stock lens.

Any tips?

[namgrunt 0]

PM sent

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[bigway 4]

A lot of respect for peckerhead in this thread, putting his photos out for people to praise or pull them to pieces in the interest of learning.....

Could i just ask if people could critique them in the open forum instead fo the PM's as i think there will be alot of who could learn from this as I too am just strapping up with stills and have the same quality photos as pecerhead here does as i am sure many others do..

Thanks.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[StefB 0]

Center the jumpers in the picture frame and avoid to cut their body parts.

In video the viewer tends to tolerate off-center images and partly hidden parts more than on still pictures.

You can adjust the newton sight, you can use a wider angle lens (and crop the picture laster), you can fly more precise, you can hide the cropped and of-center pictures and show the real gems only....

The colors are nice!

Stefan

[freefallcrab 0]

The really great thing about digital is that you can take a LOT of pictures and critique them yourself on the spot. If your neck will take it you can strap the stills camera on every jump and take as many images as the memory card will hold, look at them later and decide what looks good and what doesnt. You can experiment with all the settings and see what works in various light conditions, backgrounds etc. There is loads of stuff on here on settings for the 300D and similar cameras.

I found that I quickly get bored with RW shots. You finally get a shot of a 4 way in a nice shape, with all the grips taken, and look at it and think 'yep, just another photo of a 4-way'. I wish I could be more creative but I think it is hard to take a pic of a formation that makes you say Wow! I need to practise more!

Use your wings Johnny....

[iamsam 0]

Quote

I am not a photographer, just a skydiver trying to take pictures.

At less than 50 jumps, I'm still more a photographer trying to skydive.
I've also 5 years as a picture editor, so here be a few thoughts concentrating on composition, which is key..

What stefB said:avoid to cut ther body parts.

A big no no I'd agree. An ankle or arm cropped out doesn't sit nicely on the eye in a still image. It's good to give your subject room to breathe and you can always crop in afterwards if you want to go tighter. Your camera gives you enough resolution to tolerate this and still get a nice big print.

What stefB said:centre the jumpers in the frame

Not necessarily. A commonly used rule of composition suggests you draw two imaginary lines, dividing into 3 equal parts, vertically& horizontally across the frame, so 9 squares. Anywhere the lines cross is a good place to frame your subject. It can make for more interesting pictures, and you see it in art as well, but of course it's only a guide. Whatever works, works. Good visual is visceral.

If I was shooting small-way RW (patience grasshopper, patience..) I definitely consider backing off to give a lot more background, and think about framing them using the rule above. I'd also consider how you frame them against the background. Could you spot it /fly it so that the group are framed against the water? A nice clean background is good, and then you can use the coastline as an element of the composition.

Here's another 'rule' of composition(again, made to be broken) the rule of thirds, which suggests that if you were photographing a landscape / skyscape you place the horizon line at either one third or two thirds up/down the frame. It applys to everything, and on the vertical as well as horizontal.

Your pics look sharp which is good. And they all feel like a nice angle, maybe IMG_5278 when shooting that close maybe a little lower see more of the faces?

Try for your best pictures early morning and golden hour before sunset, when natural light is at its most beautiful.

Depending how else you use your camera, this might also help -
the high apertures I guess you'd be using mean it's important to keep your sensor clean, ideally by never taking the lens off.. but if you do, don't do it while the camera is on, as the charge in the sensor will attract the dust and crap. If you ever keep it with a dustcap on the body, stick some double sided stickytape on the inside to trap what you dont want on your sensor.

Have fun

Hope that helps

but what do I know

[PhreeZone 20]

My quick piece of advice is to fly steeper on the formation, you should not be able to see the sides of the jumpers bodies but should instead be seeing more of their rigs. If you are looking for that angle of almost flat on them then you need to fly closer to fill more of the picture. Centering also helps compose the picture a lot also.

I pulled up two quick pics of my team this year to show more what I'm talking about. They were taken on a 10D with a Sigma 18-55 lens.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Laszloimage 0]

...Then are these two shots aren't so good becouse the angle is kind of flat and a knee is missing too?
There's no such a rule what angle is the best. The best angle is always whatever makes the photo look the best.
Otherwise very nice flying in that steep angle which is more required by 4-way teams for the video debrief. But photos are different...
I have to agree with "iamsam"
In additon I recommend the use of flash (if possible) and RAW files.
Blue Skies!
-Laszlo-

[PhreeZone 20]

Opps, I've been focusing more on the judgeable 4 way video thing then anything else lately and steep is whats needed for it. All angles for flying can be used to create their own artistic emotion. I love back flying under formations and getting the stills of their chests since its a view not typically seen.

A flash is something I have been missing for all year and after looking at the pictures of jumpers with it, I really want one now again.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Icon134 0]

oh and eric there's nothing overtly wrong with the angle on the formation in your second formation (although I would have split the differernce between the two instead of getting the crotch shot. )

Here are a couple of shots of the same 6 way. One of them is taken at a higher angle like you are describing and I took the other at a much steeper angle because I thought it might have a neat effect at the steeper angle.

Although I must admit that I was a bit early on the dogbone shot (as Cliff hasn't quite taken his grip yet.)

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[peckerhead 0]

Thanks for the replies and PM's. I guess I am more interested in camera settings. I mostly do Tandems and this was only my second attempt at RW.

Specifically would a faster shutter speed get rid of the motion blur? I shot these on TV mode (shutter priority) with a 350 speed.

[Icon134 0]

Quote

Specifically would a faster shutter speed get rid of the motion blur? I shot these on TV mode (shutter priority) with a 350 speed.

350 is acutally pretty fast...

I've been shooting in Tv Mode with a shutter speed of 1/400 and try to shoot for an apeture of f/8-f/12 on a sunny day (giving me a decent depth of field)

I usually set the focus at about 5-6ft (which with f/11 gives me a focal range from 2 to infinity)

I also shoot at an ISO of 200... in RAW format.

Of course I'm no expert and fortunately for me I can practice and learn without wasting any film...

oh, btw: there had been a lot of discussion on this sort of thing in the past...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...