Critique me please (if you have time) :) Round 1

[eastsidemallard74]

Awesome 1-10, great pictures, but I concur about the Yote......Bang Bang>>>>>

[Bluemoon]

Very nice pictures indeed.  I would have left out the picture of the jeep going through the river though, where it is a nice picture.  The rest of your shots show a very tranquil and serene outdoors.  The jeep just kind of ruins that for me.
It shows someone doing what not should be done, the type of person we don't want to be around when we are out and about enjoying the outdoors..just my  because you asked.. 

[Smokepole]

What lens are you using for these? 

[blacktailcody]

Just the kit lenses. An 18-55 and a 55-250. I am trying to earn enough for a little better glass. My camera is a Canon 70D.

[huntnphool]

I do! are my pictures to warm/cold?

 Image #1 for example, snow should be white, not have a red or blue tint to it. In this case it was too warm. Here I did a quick adjustment you can compare

[grundy53]

tagging

[Netminder01]

tag!

Great feedback Bean!

[fishnfur]

Cody,  You got the idea.  It is better to make the proper adjustment with the camera prior to taking the shot than manipulating a bad photo after the fact.  I like your adjustments on the boat pic.

Not to disagree with huntinfool, but snow often looks blue and purple in the shadows.  I like his re-work because of the bold darks and lights, but that is rarely how it works in nature.  We know in our mind that it is white and so when we draw/paint or process photos, our minds think it should be white.  Take a closer look at photos of snow in shadows, it is never white everywhere, only in the highlights of the bright sun.  Looking with your eyes instead of your brain, evaluating color intensity and hue is a hard thing to learn.  A great photographer is not made in a day.  Perhaps a college level class might be useful?

[timberghost72]

You have a good eye for composition which is something that usually can't be fixed in post processing (unless you're into "photoshopping"). Great photos.

Another thing you could try in addition to shooting in RAW to get the snow shot is to meter your camera to the sky 90* from the sun and then recompose and take the photo. I've had some success doing that but not always. You may have to play around with exposure a little with that technique but there is not too much dark forground so it shouldn't be to bad. But as Huntnphool stated, white balance is critical.

[Bean Counter]

  but snow often looks blue and purple in the shadows.  I like his re-work because of the bold darks and lights, but that is rarely how it works in nature

If you're looking at snow through cheap binoculars then yes snow often looks purple. Lateral color fringing ("chromatic aberration") is often purple In cheap glass, be it a camera lens or binoculars. 

My $300 canon 85mm f/1.8 exhibits a lot of purple fringing when shot wide open, and it usually disappears by f/2.5-2.8. It can also be corrected well in Lightroom 

[Jarhead Chase]

I do! are my pictures to warm/cold?

 Image #1 for example, snow should be white, not have a red or blue tint to it. In this case it was too warm. Here I did a quick adjustment you can compare

Darkening the rocks really makes this photo pop. In my opinion, if you wanted to try and clean up (I'm no photographer, so please forgive the laymen terminology) the foreground a little bit this would go from being a really good photo to an outstanding photo. By clean up I mean that it looks a little blurry and monochromatic. If you were to play with the color to give the trees greater individual contrast it would add more depth to the picture and would probably give better scale to the actual size of the mountain. 

[blacktailcody]

Yeah, I probably should take some class. I will see what I can find on YouTube for now. Thank you guys so much for all of your comments. I really really appreciate it. I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

In that mountain picture I was trying to go for more of a vsco film type look. I guess it's just personal preferance in that case.

[Bean Counter]

I reworked the boat. Any better?

Yep it looks better. If you want to email me the RAW file with permission to repost it I can show you how I would have done it, fwiw. Next time that shot presents itself take the extra 30 seconds to slap on your polarizer, please.

[blacktailcody]

Okay! I will send it to you when I get home. Thank you!
Yes sir!

[blacktailcody]

How can I email you?