these were all taken with an olympus c3030 point and shoot and i'm a hack newbie but figured i'd throw up somee of the pictures i've taken to see what people here (who take incredible photo's) think. any input would be most appreciated.
A hack??? No way. My thoughts: #1: I like it. Maybe a tad bit of the smooth sand on the right could be cropped but nothing big. good contrast. #2: Could use a different viewpoint. The left and right wall take up much of the picture, and it's hard to tell that it's a laundromat (if that was indeed your subject) #3: Love it, if..... the girl is quite pretty and her expression and posture is great for the picture; I would do a heavy crop to a more vertical format, since the walls don't do a lot for me. But I definately like it....... http://www.geocities.com/insomniactkd/foto/couchpotato3a.html #4: Nice, don't know too much about architectural photography though #5: The child's expression is great. Once again I would recommend a tighter crop. She's way over on the left, and on top of that, she's facing left, off frame. #6: Once again good stuff anyways.....my 10 cents! don't take any of it too seriously. after all, what do I know?
"After all, what do I know?" is the question that I must ask myself every day, too, and still I dare say that you have the "right eye" for things. Your "point-and-shoot"-photography points at interesting angles and shoots interesting aspects of life, like the shoe prints (and one dog paw print?) in the sand. Try not to crop that dog paw print out. I'm not too keen on the cut-off person in black, though, or much rather: not on so much of her: her feet in the upper left corner would do enough for me. It's a laundromat? Oh! Well, only after I had Youngun's answer did I find out that he's probably right. You see the right lines and diagonals in architecture, and I'm a sucker for diagonal lines in photos, so I quite like the fourth one. You might have wanted to knock down that dividing wall to half of its size... maybe? Just for the photo???? Well, Youngun's already said the right things about the portrait of the little girl - she's looking out of the photo, not into it, and there's too much background. Crop all the left-hand part of it plus some of the top, so you'll cut out the table leg, and it'll be better. The last one is nice, good contrast, the only thing that distracts me is the person with the white trousers in the front. I'd probably crop it right underneath the car tyres... but then, again, "After all, what do I know?"
Now now... You may get a tummy ache by calling your self a hack. If someone else called you a hack, tell them to speak with me. Plus everyone knows "it's the photographer not the camera" (to an extent) I think the photos are really strong. Excellent use of the light in the laundromat shot. The frames of the ladies are tender. I could guess that you know them. I vote do not throw the photos out.
