A Little Portfolio

amolitor · Jan 13, 2014

Amusing myself the last couple of days. C&C welcome, of course. Thanks in advance, and thanks to everyone who's commented on my pictures in the past!

timor · Jan 13, 2014

It looks good. #2 my favored.
Additional plus for having good kitchen knives !

mmaria · Jan 13, 2014

In a strange way I like them.

I like the pears the most. I think they're great, they have a dimension and really stand out. If there was something wrong there, I don't want to know.

Everything else I'm analyzing, that's was my first reaction looking on them. I immediately notice the light in all of these. I have numerous questions for you but I'm kind of afraid that you wont answer.

What were you thinking when you were arranging all these? and were you thinking about the light? It seems to me that you did...

amolitor · Jan 13, 2014

I was not thinking much about the light, in fact. I have a couple of locations where I know the light, and I know that it is good.

I was mostly thinking about arrangements. These are mostly very very classical compositions, or to be exact, my lame attempts at very very classical compositions.

The pears is, to me, a standout as well. I like them all to a degree, but I just about collapsed with excitement when the pears started to come together in the editor.

The knife is really my wife's, but since we're married, I get to use it too

Thank you, timor and mmaria!

Desi · Jan 14, 2014

I find these very pleasing.

Not quite sure why.

Must be something about the "very very classical" compositions.

Wish I understood it. Me like pretty pictures.

amolitor · Jan 14, 2014

Perhaps worth noting, these were all shot with my Moto X phone, with the default Motorola camera app, and edited with the default Gallery editor in about 5 minutes each.

There are obvious technical issues, but for this portfolio I am embracing a bit of the Lomography ethos, and just rolling with a little bit of blown highlights and a little bit of oddly painterly artifacting!

Rick58 · Jan 14, 2014

Like everyone, the pears really stand out. My least favorite would have to be the knife and onions due to the lighting. I think there's definite promise there, but to me the lighting just seems really flat.

runnah · Jan 14, 2014

I like the cheese and the pears. Both remind me of charcoal drawings.

timor · Jan 14, 2014

amolitor said:
There are obvious technical issues, but for this portfolio I am embracing a bit of the Lomography ethos, and just rolling with a little bit of blown highlights and a little bit of oddly painterly artifacting!

Noting lomographic about this pictures. At least for me. For me Lomography is about an accident, even minimum of control, and here is a lot of it, makes it normal photography. You can shoot it with Holga, but if you control the amount of light to fit the exposure Holga has built in, is not Lomography anymore. :lol:

vintagesnaps · Jan 14, 2014

They didn't strike me either as Lomo style, that effect is more similar to what you could get using a basic midcentury vest pocket or any camera with about two settings... (close, far away; open, not so much...). The standout is the one of the pears which has a luminous effect to it, and nice balance of dark and light and texture with the black background and textured wood grain foreground against the white bowl and texture of the pears.

lambertpix · Jan 14, 2014

I could pass on #1, but I like 2-4. #5 is ok, #6 lost me with elements cut off on the sides, and #7 is ok again. I could see some of these working together in a collection, though I think I'd cull out a couple. In fact, going back and looking at these again, #1 and #6 are oddballs in terms of POV. Skip those, and I like the rest as a set, I think.

jenko · Jan 15, 2014

The pears are the standout.

I look at a series sort of like a music album: there's a #1 hit (pears), then there are a few minor hits, and the pieces which are not hits, but support the overall theme.

The coffee is a minor hit. That would be my second favorite. The circles and two black points offset by the shimmer of the circular spoon. #2 would also be a minor hit. The objects are less visually familiar, and therefore, more interesting. The weakest images to me are the ones that are most predictable. I expect to see an egg beater with an egg and a bowl, for example. However, they still support this idea of food, domesticity, comfort, and stability.

Aakajx · Jan 15, 2014

I love the pears.. Honestly I've looked back at it 5-6 times. Like runnah said they do remind me of the charcoal drawings 2.

xj0hnx · Jan 16, 2014

#3 is staring at me ...and it's freaking me out.

xj0hnx · Jan 16, 2014

lambertpix said:
I could pass on #1, but I like 2-4. #5 is ok, #6 lost me with elements cut off on the sides, and #7 is ok again. I could see some of these working together in a collection, though I think I'd cull out a couple. In fact, going back and looking at these again, #1 and #6 are oddballs in terms of POV. Skip those, and I like the rest as a set, I think.

I think #1 would be good if they got rid of the window sill and blew out the background a little. Maybe either a little more specular, or some light diffuse lighting on the front side.