Please critique my photo

[manaheim]

You guys are kinda mean, but yeah....I always do touch ups on my negatives. Usually doing contrast and levels. Also, yeah....I had a photo that came out like that with that magenta color. I touched it up in photoshop and it came out great. I think making the sky an actual blue would make the picture pop more and look more natural.

I think we're all somewhat bobbing and weaving around this, but let's be honest...

OP posted a picture he took of a really badly abused polaroid of an honestly totally uninteresting subject.

Polaroids were wicked neat technology, and just having one around is cool, but they are not well known for their excellent imagery and scene reproduction.

Plus, honestly, it really looks like something torn out of a magazine... not even a polaroid. I've never seen a Polaroid that shape before.

All of this together makes it look like someone is pulling our legs, and it has certainly happened before.

To theta- if you're not pulling our legs, then certainly you need a bit of work on your shots, but that's fine. I'm assuming this is a shot you took a long time ago and you just posted it to get some feedback. Fine and dandy. Keep plugging away, but you'll definitely want to try to look for some more interesting subjects, and certainly want to pickup at LEAST a 35mm film camera, if not some kind of digital camera. Even a digital point and shoot will be leagues above the quality level of an old Polaroid.

I don't even think you can get film for polaroids anymore.

 

[zandman]

polaroids are the one that easily developed right?
wait, i mean after you take the pic the picture will come out under or at the side of the camera right?

 

[manaheim]

polaroids are the one that easily developed right?
wait, i mean after you take the pic the picture will come out under or at the side of the camera right?

They are photos with development chemicals built right into each picture. As they come out, the chemicals are oozed onto the picture itself and it develops right before your eyes.

 

[William Petruzzo]

To tell you the truth, I like this image exactly as it is. In fact, I think I'd prefer it to most of the polished work I see elsewhere.

I very much like this picture. Even if it wasn't intended to be that way. It's a beautiful accident.

 

[zandman]

They are photos with development chemicals built right into each picture. As they come out, the chemicals are oozed onto the picture itself and it develops right before your eyes.

yea, i remember my parents bought me one of that when i was like 7 and i was wasting the film and stuff, it's 2x1 i think, idk can't remember.
they're getting mad at me cuz i was taking nonsense pics,

 

[pez]

I have one of these classic SX-70 Polaroid cams. It was loads of fun back in the day.

 

[manaheim]

^^^ oh yeah, we had one that was kinda similar. They were wicked cool. Our had some noisy timer attached to a strap. You were supposed to wait until the timer was done to do something... take the cover off the developing film, I think? The technology must have changed because I recall in later years you didn't have that.

 

[theta]

I think we're all somewhat bobbing and weaving around this, but let's be honest...

OP posted a picture he took of a really badly abused polaroid of an honestly totally uninteresting subject.

All of this together makes it look like someone is pulling our legs, and it has certainly happened before.

To theta- if you're not pulling our legs, then certainly you need a bit of work on your shots, but that's fine. I'm assuming this is a shot you took a long time ago and you just posted it to get some feedback. Fine and dandy. Keep plugging away, but you'll definitely want to try to look for some more interesting subjects, and certainly want to pickup at LEAST a 35mm film camera, if not some kind of digital camera. Even a digital point and shoot will be leagues above the quality level of an old Polaroid.

Yeah, lets be honest. I assumed most people on this forum would be familiar with a polaroid photo and the retro/distressed look associated with them. I also assumed most people would have enough competitance to realize that if someone posted a polaroid photo on a online forum in 2008, that they obviously shoot with polaroids because they choose to. I like the retro look, the distress, and the "badly abused" quality.

No, they don't have ultra high fidelty and can't shoot 4k images. But who said I wanted to do that? Who says I wanted execellent scene reproduction? Yes, I have a DSLR for that if I want to shoot high quality stuff.

Plus, honestly, it really looks like something torn out of a magazine... not even a polaroid. I've never seen a Polaroid that shape before.

It's shot on 669 film. The polaroid shape you are thinking of is 600.


I'm really surprised at the comments from the people on here. I guess if it's not taken with a DSLR with impeccable image quality, it loses all credibility.

 

[manaheim]

Nice attitude.

Have you considered, perhaps, that you were by NO MEANS clear in your original post?

Have you considered, perhaps, that if you had come out and said "Hey, I take pictures with a Polaroid because I think it's a really cool thing to do, so I'm curious of what you think" that you might have gotten a MAJORLY different response?

People here take pictures using everything from $50,000 setups to a pinhole camera made out of a cardboard box and a piece of light-sensitive paper. With enough clarification on what folks are trying to do, I've seen cases where the guy with the pinhole camera got WAY more rave reviews than the dude with the $50K setup.

What you get out of this forum is what you put into it.

No one will judge you for using different kinds of equipment... in fact, a great many people will respect you and think it's cool... but people will judge you for the way you handle yourself amongst the group.

Now... would you like to start this process over and tell us a bit more about what you're up to... without the attitude?

 

[manaheim]

Or she just might be interrupting a miniature scaled movie???? duh manaheim!

Nice to see you back, toof.

 

[theta]

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought...nice attitude. Maybe you should have inquired about it instead of assuming that I'm clueless about the equipment I'm using, insulting me in the process.

 

[manaheim]

Yeah, that makes sense. It's my responsibility to drill you for information when you are asking for a critique. Thanks for clearing that up.

I think I was pretty clear throughout that I wasn't totally sure what you were doing, and making comments made upon assumptions. I also think I was pretty nice about it. You've clearly got a chip on your shoulder, so whatever...

I've officially exceeded how many posts I should have in a thread like this, so I'm done.

Hey, welcome to the forums! :thumbup: :hug::

 

[theta]

I think I'm gonna pass TPF-Noob! status by the time this 1 thread is over.

My point is this - You say you have posts on here showing photos that were taken with setups ranging from $50,000 to cardboard pinhole cams. Now, after seeing all those pics and having all that experience on the board, don't you think the person who posts a photo was aware of what equipment he was using? Especially when you see photos on the 2 ends of the extreme(super high quality and super lo-fi)?

 

[Resin42]

For god's sake can't you kids be left alone for a couple of days without all hell breaking loose.

To answer your question theta, many new photos get posted on here everyday and a some of them are pretty low quality. Most of these posts lead with a phrase like "I'm new to photography". If you don't explain you were going for a certain look or style then no one is going to assume that you were or that you know what you're doing. These days everyone with a camera phone reckons they're a photographer. My first impression when I looked at your shot was not good, perhaps if you'd explained a bit about your process and equipment I'd have looked on it more favourably. It's what we do here especially if we're trying something different, we share techniques and info. I'm genuinely interested in what you're doing and would like to see more.

Now everyone please, can't we all just get along? :greenpbl:

 

[theta]

It was just shot using a Polaroid EE100 Special, using color Polaroid 669 pack film. These are the rectangular shaped film with the white borders. The 600 series is the other kind with the large tab at the bottom. I plan on shooting a lot more this weekend, so if you want to see more, I can post them next week.