Photo Feedback

[PhotoDonkey]

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[tirediron]

First thing I would have doone differently is post them in the 'General' gallery, which is the place for critique, but that aside, your pictures are very good. The 'zoom' effect doesn't do much for me, but that's a personal thing.

You've got good lighting and exposure, your sky isn't washed out (although a polarizing filter would have really made it pop I suspect) and you've followed the rules for composition (Rule of thirds, lead to the subject).

If I were shooting number two, I might be tempted to try a composition with somewhat less foreground; perhaps get down lower and aim up. I understand why you situated yourself where you did though.

Perhaps clone out the little imperfections in the sidewalk foreground?

Hope this helps,
~John

[Ptyler22]

I am a begginer too, so this isn't from a photographic point of view, just my opinion, but I like the pictures, but the first one, you zoomed too much and made it too blurry, but the second looks very nicely angled

[PhotoDonkey]

Yeah, On the first one I'm not totally pleased with the effect, but it was the best of the ones I did. I'm still trying to master that effect.

When I was cropping the second one, I wanted to crop out up to the bit of sidewalk before the island of grass, which would have left more headroom, but my wife suggested leaving more of the sidewalk, so I followed her suggestion.

I think I'm going to re-work the cropping and try cloning out the imperfections in the sidewalk as was suggested.

I actually was using my polarizer on this one. Maybe it didn't work because the sun was behind me? I think I read that they work best at 90 degrees to the sun. Or maybe I need a better polarizer.

Thanks for the feedback.

[PhotoDonkey]

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[tirediron]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhotoDonkey

<snipped>

I actually was using my polarizer on this one. Maybe it didn't work because the sun was behind me? I think I read that they work best at 90 degrees to the sun. Or maybe I need a better polarizer.

Spot on. Ideally you want to have the sun low in the sky, and at 90 degrees to the axis of your lens. In the case of this statue, it might be worth going back at a different time(s) of day and trying the same capture with the polarizing filter, just to see what the results are.

[PhotoDonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by tirediron

Spot on. Ideally you want to have the sun low in the sky, and at 90 degrees to the axis of your lens. In the case of this statue, it might be worth going back at a different time(s) of day and trying the same capture with the polarizing filter, just to see what the results are.

Agreed. I prefer to shoot closer to sunset, which might make for a bluer sky. This was shot late afternoon (about 4 hours before sunset), and I'm not sure the location of the sun would help the polarizer... but I'll probably give it a shot. Might be fun to shoot closer to sunrise too.

[jg123]

The second one is amazing...it looks like the statue is floating.

[visualpoetry]

Great photos. Although, it would have been nice to have the face of the statue in #1 in focus and the rest blurred out. Nice work!

..what a cool statue!

[PhotoDonkey]

Yeah, I'm still trying to master that effect. I'll eventually go back and try it again.

[bahandi]

i have read that the zoom affect is created by zooming out, not in

[oursfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by jg123

The second one is amazing...it looks like the statue is floating.

I was thinking the same thing. Plus, I just noticed after really analyzing the photo that all the trees in the background seem to be blowing in the wind the same direction of the statue.

I think the first one was a good attempt and could work once you master the effect, but as it is now, I am not feeling it. That is just personal opinion though. I would like to see the same shot once you get the technique down though. I bet it would be pretty nice.

[SBlanca]

liking the second one (after cropping even more)

[PhotoDonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by bahandi

i have read that the zoom affect is created by zooming out, not in

Noted. Thanks for the tip.

[manaheim]

Interesting trick on the zoom... that idea hadn't occurred to me.

[Alfred D.]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhotoDonkey

This was intentionally blurred by zooming in while the shutter was open.

It's matter of taste, but I would have preferred some static focus on the statue in this one. You could perhaps effect that by exposing a little longer when fully zoomed in (no movement during last part of exposure).

[bahandi]

Quote: Originally Posted by bahandi

i have read that the zoom affect is created by zooming out, not in

did more 'research', i was wrong.. the zoom effect is created with lots of practice... lol.

[Alfred D.]

This seems one of those occassions where ND filters are very welcome to considerably slow down the shutter speed enough, a second or so, to do the zooming in.
Did you use ND filters, PD?
And how did you handle – well, avoid rather – camera shake?

[PhotoDonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Alfred D.

This seems one of those occassions where ND filters are very welcome to considerably slow down the shutter speed enough, a second or so, to do the zooming in.
Did you use ND filters, PD?
And how did you handle – well, avoid rather – camera shake?

I was using a Circular Polarizer. I'm planning on getting an ND Filter soon.

As for camera shake, I took about 4 or 5 shots of this before I got one that this one and just did my best to only turn the zoom ring and not move the camera. I'm thinking a tripod might help this effect.

Quote: Originally Posted by manaheim

Interesting trick on the zoom... that idea hadn't occurred to me.

I think I first saw it in Understanding Exposure and have always wanted to try it, but shooting film I was a little apprehensive. Shooting digital allowed me to approach it with the following attitude: "If it sucks, I'll just try again and delete the ones that suck later."