Constructive criticism pls

lullabye · May 2, 2006

Hi its my first post and my first time.. i just got interested in photography a few weeks ago and i would like to know what you think of the pictures i've taken.

Rob · May 2, 2006

Hello and welcome to the critique forum.

In crit, it's important to give as much information as possible to get a meaningful answer. Usually, it's best to only post one picture at a time with the settings used and the intended result.

The first picture you've posted is interesting - a scene of people fishing for some kind of shell fish I would guess? Water is tough as it reflects a lot of light and often throws off exposure. Here we can see that there are some issues with the shadow areas - the water is perfectly exposed, but the people have come out a little dark. The bisected boat is a little distracting - I think the picture would probably work well if you cropped it out completely?

#2 is a much more interesting picture. Presumably this chap is a street vendor selling the bird-kite things? It's a cleaner shot with the fence and the windows providing an interesting, but not too distracting background. It's a bit of a shame that the bird's wing is slightly cut off and that it's motion blurred, but with an action shot like this, it's always going to be tricky.

#3 I seem to recognise this from another post in the Wedding section? Cute little boy in his outfit! The involvement with the book is really good. Unfortunately, his front foot is slightly cut off. The shot would probably have worked a bit better with a wider aperture - a smaller f-number, which would have used depth of field to minimise the people in the background.

All in all, there's one big thing which I think you would benefit from addressing: getting the subject entirely captured in the frame. It's always a real shame when a great photo loses a tiny bit because something is awkwardly cut off the edge of the picture - we all do it from time to time!! It looks a bit like the first two have a slight blue cast to them and they're slightly soft? The third is much better for colour balance and sharpness - different camera/lens?

Hope this helps!

Rob

spike5003 · May 2, 2006

I agree with rob here in that, half of a photograph's sucess is based on composition. I would also like to see the colors a little more vibrant on the "bird kite thing," But It's definately a good start and I look forward to seeing more.

lullabye · May 3, 2006

Thanks for the tips.. next time i'll post my pics one by one.

I'll try cropping out the boat and maybe i can improve on my composition. i do have a prob with colors though. i cant seem to make it vibrant..

It looks a bit like the first two have a slight blue cast to them and they're slightly soft? The third is much better for colour balance and sharpness - different camera/lens?

i actually used only 1 camera and lens canon 350d with its 18-55 lens. i was thinking of buying a longer lens but dnt have the money for it yet.

2framesbelowzero · May 3, 2006

good composition. keep taking pictures, especially those up-close-and-personal... #2 is a little bit shaky but i like it the most.. you had the presence and the reflexes to go for the shot and that often yields the really special pictures.

Rob · May 3, 2006

lullabye said:
Thanks for the tips.. next time i'll post my pics one by one.

I'll try cropping out the boat and maybe i can improve on my composition. i do have a prob with colors though. i cant seem to make it vibrant..

i actually used only 1 camera and lens canon 350d with its 18-55 lens. i was thinking of buying a longer lens but dnt have the money for it yet.

The kit lens is a little desaturated in my opinion. I tend to need to do quite a bit of level adjustment and then boost the saturation, sometimes up to 30 notches to get it back to what I want. However, the kit lens is capable of sharp pictures - it's just worth bearing in mind that it isn't the fastest thing around.

Stick with the kit and get the composition under control. As has been mentioned, get in close and fill the frame. Try and get at least two sides of the frame involved with the composition, possibly even all four - there's nothing worse than a snapshot with a small centred subject.

The ubiquitous rule of thirds is worth adhering to, until you're experienced enough to enjoy breaking it.

Rob

Alpha · May 3, 2006

Rob said:
Usually, it's best to only post one picture at a time with the settings used and the intended result.

I beg to differ. A good percentage of the posts in the crit galery are from people who are essentially asking, "Am I taking good photos? If not, what can I do to make them better?" This isn't always so easy to identify when looking at a single print. It is helpful for me to say, "well, I think the photo would look better if you did this" or "I don't think it has enough of this," but that isn't really the answer that someone who is asking such a question is looking for. If you need someone to explain to you why a photo isn't that great, then obviously you aren't very good at figuring it out yourself (yet). Single post critiques become sort of fleeting glances at photos. Even the most in-depth analysis of a single photo won't be as good as a crit of several photos at once. Multi-photo crits are particularly valuable to beginners because they allow reviewers to isolate trends in technique, rather than simply point out areas for improvement in a photo that may not necessarily be representative of a person's work. In fact, I'd say that because we've made the crit section rules so specific, there are too many posts that just ask things like "should I up the contrast some or do you like it the way it is?" Fair enough, but that's hardly a critique. Furthermore, multi-photo critiques should be equally, if not more valuable to more experienced photographers, who often become comfortable with their technique even though there may still be room for improvement. For example, you might see someone on the board post a brilliant photo every once in a while. You'd think they were a brilliant photographer. But what if they only got one post-worthy shot out of every 500 photos? What if there was a mediocre photo posted, but it just happened to be one of very few mediocre photos shot by a particular person? In that case, a blanket comment like "you need to work on this" or "work on improving your composition" may not be very useful My point is this: A single photo can almost never be fully representative of the way in which a person shoots. Therefore, people looking to improve technique, rather than get advice about a single shot, should post multiple photos at once.

Arch · May 3, 2006

MaxBloom said:
I beg to differ. A good percentage of the posts in the crit galery are from people who are essentially asking, "Am I taking good photos? If not, what can I do to make them better?" This isn't always so easy to identify when looking at a single print. It is helpful for me to say, "well, I think the photo would look better if you did this" or "I don't think it has enough of this," but that isn't really the answer that someone who is asking such a question is looking for. If you need someone to explain to you why a photo isn't that great, then obviously you aren't very good at figuring it out yourself (yet). Single post critiques become sort of fleeting glances at photos. Even the most in-depth analysis of a single photo won't be as good as a crit of several photos at once. Multi-photo crits are particularly valuable to beginners because they allow reviewers to isolate trends in technique, rather than simply point out areas for improvement in a photo that may not necessarily be representative of a person's work. In fact, I'd say that because we've made the crit section rules so specific, there are too many posts that just ask things like "should I up the contrast some or do you like it the way it is?" Fair enough, but that's hardly a critique. Furthermore, multi-photo critiques should be equally, if not more valuable to more experienced photographers, who often become comfortable with their technique even though there may still be room for improvement. For example, you might see someone on the board post a brilliant photo every once in a while. You'd think they were a brilliant photographer. But what if they only got one post-worthy shot out of every 500 photos? What if there was a mediocre photo posted, but it just happened to be one of very few mediocre photos shot by a particular person? In that case, a blanket comment like "you need to work on this" or "work on improving your composition" may not be very useful My point is this: A single photo can almost never be fully representative of the way in which a person shoots. Therefore, people looking to improve technique, rather than get advice about a single shot, should post multiple photos at once.

Apart from not agreeing with most of your viewpoint...... really you should be trying to answer the posters question, rather than picking at someone elses point.

As for my viewpoint...... i like the composition of the first, although it could do with a levels/curves adjustment. The crop on the second is good, but again is a little flat....... i like the subject of the third, its a shame about loosing the foot, but i would crop out more of the busy background. Overall good effort for your first post :thumbup:

Rob · May 3, 2006

MaxBloom said:
I beg to differ. A good percentage of the posts in the crit galery are from people who are essentially asking, "Am I taking good photos? If not, what can I do to make them better?" This isn't always so easy to identify when looking at a single print. It is helpful for me to say, "well, I think the photo would look better if you did this" or "I don't think it has enough of this," but that isn't really the answer that someone who is asking such a question is looking for. If you need someone to explain to you why a photo isn't that great, then obviously you aren't very good at figuring it out yourself (yet). Single post critiques become sort of fleeting glances at photos. Even the most in-depth analysis of a single photo won't be as good as a crit of several photos at once. Multi-photo crits are particularly valuable to beginners because they allow reviewers to isolate trends in technique, rather than simply point out areas for improvement in a photo that may not necessarily be representative of a person's work. In fact, I'd say that because we've made the crit section rules so specific, there are too many posts that just ask things like "should I up the contrast some or do you like it the way it is?" Fair enough, but that's hardly a critique. Furthermore, multi-photo critiques should be equally, if not more valuable to more experienced photographers, who often become comfortable with their technique even though there may still be room for improvement. For example, you might see someone on the board post a brilliant photo every once in a while. You'd think they were a brilliant photographer. But what if they only got one post-worthy shot out of every 500 photos? What if there was a mediocre photo posted, but it just happened to be one of very few mediocre photos shot by a particular person? In that case, a blanket comment like "you need to work on this" or "work on improving your composition" may not be very useful My point is this: A single photo can almost never be fully representative of the way in which a person shoots. Therefore, people looking to improve technique, rather than get advice about a single shot, should post multiple photos at once.

Guidelines for posting images:

1. Only post images that you feel you need help with, and only post one at a time - unless you need to post several for comparative purposes (for example: colour, sepia and b&w).

That is guideline number one of the "rules" for posting in the critique forum. I mentioned it because I like to give a lot of detail if I can and commenting on several images is much more effort and I (probably others as well) am less likely to bother with multiple images.

Your point is quite valid - spotting a recurrent theme is only possible with a series of images, but the place for such a post would be General, not critique. The rules are quite strict for good reasons.

If you'd like to put your point to Hertz van Rental, I'm sure he'd consider it and give a reply.

Rob