Student asking for critique

arterture · Jan 11, 2006

Im actually a fine arts major, and I had taken a photography class last semester. Here are a couple night shots that I had taken for a couple series that I had put together. I would like to know what everyone thinks and if i could get any advice, tips, or whatever.

This is a shot of the north Grand Island bridge here in Niagara Falls.

This is a shot of me and my girlfriend walking in Niagara Falls state park.

arterture · Jan 11, 2006

heh, just read the guidelines for this forum. Well, since im a beginner, I am still interested on what people think of the shots. I am asking for a critique, without any known problems with the images. Is that allowed?

craig · Jan 12, 2006

Excellent use specular highlights on both of these. I think the bridge shot is stronger. An original take on a familiar subject.

DramaDork626 · Jan 12, 2006

I think the first one could use a little more contrast.
The second one, the light is a little to bright, kinda distracting, and the people in the shot look like ghosts.
However. On the first one, I like love the composition. Nice work. Keep at it.

arterture · Jan 12, 2006

DramaDork626 said:
I think the first one could use a little more contrast.
The second one, the light is a little to bright, kinda distracting, and the people in the shot look like ghosts.
However. On the first one, I like love the composition. Nice work. Keep at it.

Well, the people (me and my girlfriend) look like ghosts because of the long exposure, which I knew was going to happen. I think using stop action on the people would have resulted in the loss of the ambience that I was shooting for.

chroix · Jan 18, 2006

i like the bridge pic. the other is not that interesting to me. maybe it would be better if the people were more prominent. too much empty night sky that isn't really framing much of anything.

MisledAmoeba · Jan 19, 2006

My boyfriend and I agree that we'd pay to have the bridge photo hanging in our home. Fantastic work.

PhotoGuy30523 · Jan 24, 2006

lol i think the second one look scary lol....just me

LaFoto · Jan 25, 2006

Since the first one looks like it was the symmetry of the two lanes you tried to capture, I think you should have made it totally symmetric, but if you look at the top corners, you see that it is not.

So if I were asked to be nitpicky, I would say that that irritates me.

In real life, though, I am far from being a nitpicky person, so I must say I really like that view, the fact that it is a nighttime photo, the use of lines and lights as dots and the motif as such!

MyCameraEye · Jan 25, 2006

Nice work! The grain of the b&w is just right. The ONLY thing I can suggest is on that first shot, crop just a hair so that the two tops corners of the birdge are identical on both sides but this is just post processing. The shots are great!

Scott