Photography Critique

Meggie moo moo · 10-08-2005, 12:38 AM

The first two are of my friend Larissa.

In English class, myself and one of my friends lined up all my pencils in the order of the visible spectrum. I played around with this photo and put some effects on it.

Gotta love the ornaments.

Grasshopper359 · 10-08-2005, 10:48 AM

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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

Grasshopper, the first one is pretty interesting. I like the color and the angle the houses make.

Quebec City is a beautiful place. I love it. The entire Old City is like that picture.

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The second one is, for one, really big for posting here. Personally, it just doesn't feel very interesting. It just looks like a random picture of a table setting. Maybe I'm missing something, but thats all it looks like to me. If the book played some role in the meaning, then maybe I'd be more forgiving, but I can't even read it.

I forgot how big the second was, and when I saw it actually embedded, I was too tired to go back and resize it. It was completely random, but I liked the reflection of the book in the glass. There was no real meaning to it. Just a typical French café.

**Gustin** · 10-08-2005, 11:09 AM

I'd like to see what you guys thought about some of mine.

I hated the way the original looked, so I bumped the contrast up a lot.

I'm considering maybe changing this one to sepia...

I'm still not sure if I'm happy with how this one turned out... I didn't focus correctly, but whatever.

That's all for now..

ApparentlyNothing · 10-08-2005, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grasshopper359

Quebec City is a beautiful place. I love it. The entire Old City is like that picture.

I forgot how big the second was, and when I saw it actually embedded, I was too tired to go back and resize it. It was completely random, but I liked the reflection of the book in the glass. There was no real meaning to it. Just a typical French café.

Mmm.... can't see the reflection very well. I think maybe if you were going for that "typical French cafe" vibe, if you set the angle of the shot more flat to the book so you got some of the rest of the actual cafe in there maybe? Maybe if we saw the people at the other table? Or maybe not. I don't know, I'm no expert. These are just ideas.

Elizabeth · 10-08-2005, 11:40 AM

Here are a few of mine. I have no clue what I'm going when I take pictures, but I'd really like some tips for improving.

*Edit: Ignore the graininess. Crappy scanner.

Grasshopper359 · 10-08-2005, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

Mmm.... can't see the reflection very well. I think maybe if you were going for that "typical French cafe" vibe, if you set the angle of the shot more flat to the book so you got some of the rest of the actual cafe in there maybe? Maybe if we saw the people at the other table? Or maybe not. I don't know, I'm no expert. These are just ideas.

I wasn't really going for anything, I just thought, "Hey. Why don't I take a picture of my table." But you did just give me an idea...More to come...

Liz: I really like the hat. But then, the colonial look is completely my kif. The waterfall is really nice too - except for the corner of somebody's head. But when you photograph in a setting that you didn't stage, it happens a lot.

ApparentlyNothing · 10-08-2005, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grasshopper359

I wasn't really going for anything, I just thought, "Hey. Why don't I take a picture of my table." But you did just give me an idea...More to come...

Yeah, I actually see it in my head a little better. If the glass were in focus and like another table in the background with a person or two sitting and a waitor serving them was blurred... that would look pretty cool I think. Just give the setting a little more context.

Grasshopper359 · 10-08-2005, 12:22 PM

In the mean time, here's one that I liked. From the South America Pavillion at the Toronto Zoo.

The butterflies did get blurred a bit, which I tried to fix in in a hurry in Photoshop, but overall, I like how it turned out.

Grasshopper359 · 10-08-2005, 12:50 PM

And one last one for today:

I was aiming to catch the typical European traffic circle, but then noticed afterwards how neat the three houses with colour looked surrounded by grey buildings.

Grasshopper359 · 10-08-2005, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing

Yeah, I actually see it in my head a little better. If the glass were in focus and like another table in the background with a person or two sitting and a waitor serving them was blurred... that would look pretty cool I think. Just give the setting a little more context.

Yeah, it doesn't really show anything, it's true. I'll actually take the time to set one up this evening, and see what I can do.

Cadence · 10-08-2005, 01:01 PM

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Originally Posted by Grasshopper359

In the mean time, here's one that I liked. From the South America Pavillion at the Toronto Zoo.

The butterflies did get blurred a bit, which I tried to fix in in a hurry in Photoshop, but overall, I like how it turned out.

This is a great shot except for the blur. And no amount of photoshop sharpening is going to fix that.

Cadence · 10-08-2005, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grasshopper359

I wasn't really going for anything, I just thought, "Hey. Why don't I take a picture of my table."

And this is precisely what photography shouldn't be. Anyone can just snap photos, but if you want to call your pictures photography then you need to put more thought into it.

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But you did just give me an idea...More to come...

That's more like it.

Cadence · 10-08-2005, 01:09 PM

[QUOTE=Elizabeth]

[QUOTE]

There really isn't any focal point here. No real subject for the eyes to rest on. You have the fence, but it's not clearly in focus. Perhaps if you'd gotten closer to the fence and filled the frame with a little more of it.

This is pretty cool. Too much dead space on the right hand side.

And the last one is lovely. Something to try with such scenes is a slow shutter speed. That way the water looks like a white curtain.

Cadence · 10-08-2005, 01:17 PM

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Originally Posted by Crstngtrplyr77

I'd like to see what you guys thought about some of mine.

Don't like the colors at all. Bad pose. No detail. I don't really know what or who I'm looking at. It's so unatural.

Sorry.

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I don't know if you used channel mixer to convert this, but if you did you used too much of the Red channel. Try lessening the Red and uping the Greens.

It just lacks much tone and contrast.

Her hair is in her eye - which is distracting. The car in the background is distracting.

The light is pretty decent though.

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I'm still not sure if I'm happy with how this one turned out... I didn't focus correctly, but whatever.

Yeah the focus would've helped.

A little tip: don't show these kinds of pictures.

Seriously - when it comes to taking photography seriously. You just don't show your mess up shots. You show the best of the best and you learn from what you know you did wrong or the things you didn't know you did wrong that others have pointed out to you.

Also....the composition of this photo is off. She's too far to the bottom of the frame. It would've looked better if you shot vertically and had the top of her head close to the top of the frame, while not touching it.

Cadence · 10-08-2005, 01:32 PM

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Originally Posted by Meggie moo moo

The first two are of my friend Larissa.

This is a good shot. I think you've got something here.

But there are a lot of things that could be better. One would be to have moved over a little so the leaves on the right aren't covering her at all. Also the blinds in the background take away from the natural, beautiful feel.

I don't really like the pose either. Something more elegant would've suited her better.

Your post production is always so saturated. This can be good sometimes, but not overall. The grass looks fake. Don't just saturate for the sake of saturating. Do it selectively and because it needs it.

I don't like feeling like I'm in Candy Land.

But it really is an image that has potential.

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Pretty cool - but this would've been better served in a different location. The fence and house in the background take away from the mood.

But good composition. Take notice of the S-curve shape in your subject. Note that that is a very good thing when it comes to posing people. It's generall pleasing on the eye to see that.

Again...watch the saturation.

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The effects are terrible in terms of photography. It makes it look like a painting. If you want a painting - go paint. If you want a photo go get some with your camera.

The paper (or whatever it is) in the background is waaaay disctracting and ugly. Throws off the harmony of the colors of the pencils.

Look for a better composition - perhaps something more close up and diagonal.

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Haha and here it's not saturated enough. That and the detail on the birds is gone. That would've been nice to see.

The composition is odd. It's not necessarily wrong...it's just odd. Doesn't really do much for me.

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I think you have a lot of creativity - it just needs to be shaped and harnessed.