Reply To: Request for honest feedback

[cameraclicker]

Ian, I have no idea how this:

https://www.eyeem.com/p/72461043

got 7 hearts!  With any luck, this is a link to lots of spider photos:

https://500px.com/search?q=spider&submit=Submit+Query&type=photos

How do you think yours compare?

Your rock:

https://www.eyeem.com/p/72421130

is out of focus!  Once again, 7 hearts!  For a photo where nothing is sharp!  By the way, that photo has motion blur.  You moved the camera while the shutter was open.

Your latest post (I think),

https://www.eyeem.com/p/73537056

is an interesting abstract still life.  It got 18 hearts, which suggests your social networking skills are better than your photography.  But, if you are just starting, keep exploring and studying.  You will improve.

Your selfie,

https://www.eyeem.com/p/73177936

is focused on the plant behind you, and the plant is acting as a halo!  There doesn’t seem to be any EXIF data associated with your photos.  If you are using a camera (as opposed to a phone), put it on a tripod, or on a shelf and use a remote shutter release or the self timer.  Prop a broom on a chair to provide a focus target, then turn off autofocus once focus is achieved.  Before the shutter releases, remove the broom and replace it with your face.  When photographing living things, most of the time you want the eyes or at least the nearest eye to be in focus.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes you may have someone hold their drink at arms length toward you, and you focus on the drink and blur their face for effect, but for a portrait, the eyes should be sharp even if nothing else is.

The definition of a faux here is someone who is charging for portraits/weddings/events but is clueless about creating reasonably good photos.  You are not a faux.  You are a beginner who is working on a lot of nature shots.

Pay attention to light.  Direction, brightness, softness, colour, shadow.  You are writing with light, use it to your advantage.

Pay attention to focus and to keeping the camera still.

Look at paintings and photographs to see what others have done.  Use the things you like, discard the rest.

Keep practicing.  Remove the photos you think are substandard.  Put up photos you are proud of.  Keep everything on your own machine so you can go back and see how far you have come and can re-edit some that are still worthy but were messed up by poor post processing.

And of course, have fun.