My Funny Picture

rate my photography please !?

http://s898.photobucket.com/albums/ac189/photography_luhve/photography%20modified/photography%20gold/?action=view&current=15705_1265124277401_1508591105_3055.jpg/ here's the deal : i'm 15. doing this for a year. i use the canonsx20is. i never took any classes but i inted to in the summer. QUESTIONS * do you happen to know of any good photography classes in nyc for teens? * do you suggest i upgrade my camera to the canon rebel ? * be costructive, but honest and most importatly helpfull please <3 *** i know i posted this before, but the pictures werent displaying properly . make shure you click the first picture to enlarge it and then view them from there.

Public Comments

1. You do have some good shots. The Depth of Field and Point of view is very unique. Good job on the framing. Yes, I would suggest getting a DSLR. Any brand would work. If you want to get critiques on your pictures, post them to Flickr.com (used to be Yahoo Pictures). This site is like Facebook for photographers. Post them, find groups to submit them to. Comment on other peoples pictures and you will do fine. The thing to remember is to keep shooting. You can only get better!
2. some of your pictures are quite good, but i see a pattern in many of them that i find quite annoying as well. that is, you seem to like to take close ups, cutting off portions of the subject you're taking. squirrels, statues, flowers, hydrants. over and over again you do the same thing and i'm not sure why. i suppose it is to show a different perspective, but unless there is a good reason for it (like showing contrast or isolating on some interesting detail) it's just a picture poorly framed. i think if you pull back and think about what you have in each frame your photos will be much better. as far as cameras go... a good photographer can take good pictures with any camera. a bad photographer will take bad pictures, no matter how good his/her camera is. the technical quality of pictures from an expensive camera may be better, but it's the photographer that really makes the difference. my best advice on that is use the best camera that you can afford and learn how to use it well.
3. You've got to take a different point of view. You can't do everything super close up or super tight. And be careful with the editing. When I was living in Levittown in Nassau County we had a place called "Memorial" where they had trade classes for welding and carpentry etc, but they also had community classes in summer. Such as quilting and photography. It's just a community education center. I am sure there are more than enough classes in Manhattan if you are willing to look.
4. Some are better than others. Most show you are a beginner. I liked the apple stem and the turned wood railing in B&W near the last page. Several are quite pleasant throughout. The others are a mixed bag. Too many random closeups with important parts missing from the image. Too much tilt and odd cropping. You have various and frequent exposure issues, and some are not in focus. Heavy post processing will not make mediocre snaps better. But mixed in amongst them are a few that show you are beginning to think about composition and what you want to show the viewer. Taking a class is a great step for you. As for upgrading your camera, I absolutely guarantee that you are not getting the maximum performance from the nice camera you already have. The Canon SX20IS has manual control and good image quality and is a fine camera for a beginner. Not trying to be overly harsh, but getting a "better" camera will not upgrade your photography content or quality until you spend some time learning some basics. Rather than spending useless money on a gear upgrade that you really are not ready for, take a different approach to improving your photos by improving your knowledge and skill. Here are a couple of good links for beginners: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=38/13915&pq-locale=en_US http://asp.photo.free.fr/Composition/photoProgramCompMainClass.shtml You have a nice start, so continue to learn and progress. The class will help you a lot, both for the learning basics of exposure and composition, but also to get real feedback and mentoring. Keep at it, and best wishes.