critique please

[Apisto]

Hello all,

I'm rather new to these forums (have been trolling for a while). I like to take pictures of nature mostly, macro and landscapes. I haven't been at it for more than a year or so and I'm always looking for ideas to improve!

These are some photo's I'm going to be entering into a company photo contest and would like to get some comments on them. I believe these are the "top" ones from my stash and hopefully I can get comments on how improve both with lighting, composition, and digital darkroom processing.


1. Little Pink Flower (good attempt at macro?)

2. Mountain Men

3. Patomic Cabins

4. Recce and Patrick (my late dog, taken by my girlfriend)

5. Switzerland Backpacks

6. Switzerland Mountains

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Patrick

P.S. If you didn't notice I like Ansel Adams' style

 

[iflynething]

Is there a theme for the company photo contest?


1) Very nice. You were able to use the rule of thirds pretty well. I think there SHOULD be some more flower in it though. Probably not a possibility to do now though.

2) Alright show but that Tee Pee and the fellow right in front of it are really washed out. Lots of detail was lost in this shot. It's a wee bit underexposed.

3) Still underexposed. The cabins also have some kind of exposure issue. I think if the whole picture was more correctly exposed, they would look better. The side facing this way to the cabin on the far right looks completely black.

4) I wish this was a lot more closer because that tire wheel in the back is a little distracting. If the company employees are judging the photos, I would think they wouldn't see that. Then again, it's pretty out there anyways. I think if you could crop that tire out, you would have a better chance of winning with this photo. I would hold off on entering it otherwise.

5) Still underexposed. The snow looks a little grey (gray?). If you could brighten this up to make the snow more white like it should be and bring out more detail in the backpacks. I like that they are they. It helps anchor the picture but I can't tell they are backpacks. They're really dark.

6) I think this one is a favorite of mine. Still just a tad bit underexposed but I think that's what makes this picture work. Tweat it just a little bit and and brighten it.

~Michael~

 

[Apisto]

Thanks for your comments Michael. I'll have to work on keeping things towards the high end of the exposure. I still have the originals of all the pictures before I started messing around with them in paint.net so maybe I'll have a rematch and see if I can't keep the proper exposure.

also, there are three categories for the images. 1. people 2. places/travel 3. nature/landscape. You can have up to two photos for each category and the judges are the store manager and others. I don't expect the judging to be too harsh. I just wanted to get some experienced eyes on my photos to see how I'm doing, and this seemed like a proper time.

 

[chinadoll81]

I'm not advanced enough to critique all to much, but I like them all.

#1 could use more flower and less black
#4 the car in the background is distracting

 

[Apisto]

Thank you for your comments chinadoll. The flower one looks better in a different ratio, like 8x10 and not 4x6. We had to submit 4x6 photos for this contest. I would rather have it 8x10 and make it mostly flower.

The car in the background is distracting now that iflynething pointed it out! I didn't notice it that much before hand. Hopefully the 'judges' don't either.

 

[iflynething]

The car in the background is distracting now that iflynething pointed it out! I didn't notice it that much before hand. Hopefully the 'judges' don't either.

Like I said though, you never know how has had SOME photography experience so that dog and you shot is a little iffy. Try some different crops to at least have the bottom of the car. This way, it's just white up there and you can't tell what exactly it is. Convert to black and white for this picture after that crop and see what you think

~Michael~

 

[Jeff Shannon]

Scooter

send me an email at [email protected].

Thanx

Jeff

 

[TwoRails]

no photos here...

 

[dl4449]

No photos hear either

 

[LarryD]

It's a pretty old post and I don't think that the member has come back....

 

[dl4449]

Thanks Larry did not notice the date

 

[JerryPH]

Patrick, in the future, could you please use the right section to ask for CC, please? This section is:

"Beyond the Basics Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, and other techniques and controls!"

We have the beginners section that is specifically made for CC as well as the 8 photo gallery sections just for this.

Thanks!