RE: My First Attempt at 'Real' Photography

I would describe myself as a hobby photographer at best @mattclarke, and I would agree that macro and long-exposure are enjoyable to take.

My primary thoughts for you are on composition and focus. There is quite a lot of grass to look at, and while I feel I should be drawn towards the dead grass amongst the green, just because there is lots to look at, I'm having trouble finding a focal point focus on.

I'd normally try for a subject that I can have some depth between it and its background:

Or, with a contrast difference between subject and surroundings (not the best pick-up of the colour, but as example):

As for the focus, were you using a single focal point (such as a macro mode) and were you manually focussing on the particular point you were after? This is taken with a macro lense, but it shows how the focus can be used:

Though I'm sure @holoz0r has something more profound to say then these ramblings 😂 I'm not very fancy with my camera use, but I take plenty of photos that some come out good :)

Thanks for your feedback, @kiokizz - it's handy to get some ideas about better craft before I take it to the classroom.

I wasn't really worrying about focal point and composition when I took this one. I did try and frame it as nicely as possible, but I wasn't thinking about any compositional strategies when I took it. Mainly, I was seeing if I could get some depth of field using the f-stop and making sure that I was manipulating the exposure triangle well enough that the image would expose well.

I appreciate you including some of your images as well. I see what you're saying in regard to having more of a stand out subject in the image. It does help in determining where to look when viewing the photo.