My photos: Crits welcome

[Ryuji]

Here are some my photos that I feel proud of, or like for various reasons. Many have been highly edited in Photoshop for interesting color effects, because that's the kind of imagery that appeals to me at the moment.

I'm very new to this, so any criticism, or helpful hints would be appreciated


1.

2.

3. (variant)

4.

5. I've heard varying opinions on the use of vignettes. Personally I like the effect it gives, but what's the general opinion around here?

6.

7.

8.

9.

 

[RokyRoc]

1. Very sharp lots of great contrast. Like it.

I like the 3 better than 2 because of the focus given to the seagull, and the b&w brings out that contrast between the chest and tail feathers.

7 is a bit too zoomed in. need to take a few steps back and get the whole flower. Not as crisp as the 1st one either.

 

[joecoulsonphotography]

I am a big fan of vignettes myself (you can tell by my website) I like the shots. I love to combine grain, sepia and vignettes for that turn of the century look.

 

[Johnboy2978]

Here's a quick critique. Posting fewer pics will garner more detailed critiques here.
1) the lighting makes it look a little flat to me.
2) I like the DoF here, but not so much the centered subject
3) Ditto to #2 but now it's overexposed.
4) Subject is about 1.5-2 stops underexposed.
5) I like the vignette b/c it adds some depth, still underexposed.
6) underexposed but looks interesting
7) nice, close and fairly well focused.
8) nice, still underexposed
9) meh, snapshot with a vignette added. more interesting composition though.

 

[manaheim]

8 is very cool but needs to be straightened.

I really dislike vignetting. I think it's distracting. Personal preference.

Most of your shots are significantly underexposed. Brighten those puppies up!

 

[Ryuji]

4) Subject is about 1.5-2 stops underexposed.

Thanks everyone for the crits. I'd like to single this out though, for a technical question... So assuming one hasn't developed a good enough eye to estimate exposure levels on their own, is there any sort of approximate value in a program (Adobe Camera RAW specifically) that I could set the exposure to, to get the proper level of exposure? Or should I just brighten it up a bit and estimate?

 

[joecoulsonphotography]

Calibrate the monitor first, then I would adjust it to what you think is good lighting. I would definitely take the CC from people on here, but also stick with "your" style (which may evolve over time).

 

[Ryuji]

Calibrate the monitor first, then I would adjust it to what you think is good lighting. I would definitely take the CC from people on here, but also stick with "your" style (which may evolve over time).

Ah, so now I see where these "too dark/underexposed" comments are coming from... I guess you all had your monitors set right. Mine was set to my Mac's default. Well you learn something new everyday. Guess I'll be re-editing all these :meh: