Watching...

[shavik]

Nikon D5100
F/5.6
Exposure: 1/2500 sec
ISO 400



I would be glad if you can comment on this picture. So that I can learn from my mistakes as a new comer.

[dubaiphil]

Hi shavik

I don't think you're making any mistakes, as you're trying to use depth of field creatively here. As a result your final image will be open to varying critique.

You're focusing on the 5th head along the line so my only issue, compositionally, is the very out of focus hand in the foreground. This competes with the in focus areas and distracts the viewer's eye. If possible, it may have been an idea to take a shot from where the hand in the foreground is, as the next two statues have hands in their laps. Then focusing on the 4th statue with hands held up would have been a good use of shallow depth of field to accentuate the difference in poses.

If I were being slightly picky, I would personally have raised my camera's viewpoint to get the heads in line as they disappear into the distance, rather than the nipples!!!!! Or at least made them slightly less noticeable.

However, not knowing the location, this may not have been possible.

My best suggestion with images like this is to shoot the subject as much as you can. Different focal lengths, depths of field, angles to make most of the light and see what you prefer best. Get down low, shoot from higher, try everything that's not approaching the subject from your usual eye level. The good thing about digital is then through your EXIF data you have a good reference on your choices of aperture and other settings, and you can store that in your own memory bank for next time.

[dubaiphil]

Oh, and technically:

ISO400 is very high quality on your D5100, but it's good to stick to base ISO where possible.

[shavik]

Thank you dubaiphil for your comments