Critiquing my own photos

deepfriedl

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While all rather different, I think these are the best shots I took in the month of May. I'm trying to get a little better each month and, despite a brief dropoff while learning some new technical skills, I think I have. If I were going to critique these, I would say:

#1. More of the setting would have been good. Admittedly, I was playing around at an urban duck pond, so I was trying to keep most of the background out of the shot. The water is a little nuclear, but the sun was really lighting up the algae in the pond at this angle. I was most concerned with showing the colors in the wood duck.

2. I really like this one. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I don't have anything I'd rather have done with it.

3. Maybe slightly lower ISO on this one (or really the whole series this came from).

4. I really wish I could have stopped the bird a little more at the top. I didn't set out to shoot at high shutter speed and just rolled with it when the gulls started flying, but I think this shot would have been so much better if that bird were clearer. On the other hand, there is a big empty section in the middle, so maybe the shot doesn't work as well, after all.
 
#1. More of the setting would have been good. Admittedly, I was playing around at an urban duck pond, so I was trying to keep most of the background out of the shot. The water is a little nuclear, but the sun was really lighting up the algae in the pond at this angle. I was most concerned with showing the colors in the wood duck.

2. I really like this one. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I don't have anything I'd rather have done with it.

3. Maybe slightly lower ISO on this one (or really the whole series this came from).

4. I really wish I could have stopped the bird a little more at the top. I didn't set out to shoot at high shutter speed and just rolled with it when the gulls started flying, but I think this shot would have been so much better if that bird were clearer. On the other hand, there is a big empty section in the middle, so maybe the shot doesn't work as well, after all.

Ok, you obviously don't understand the artists vision...

Rotfl...

Seriously though, it's always good to critique your own work and ask yourself, what can I do next time to make this better.
 
Agree, it's always good to critique your own work.

Here are some thoughts:

1. I like the duck. It could be a little sharper, and there is some CA going on. Otherwise, cool duck!
2. Cool looking, but it's not terribly interesting.
3. The focus appears to be on the grass? Maybe retake with the focus on the barn or on the stars.
4. I like it, but the bird is a little too close to the corner. I'd either remove it, manipulate the photo even more and move the bird right and down a bit more, or crop the photo into more of a panoramic (and thus crop the bird out).
 
1. I like the duck. It could be a little sharper, and there is some CA going on. Otherwise, cool duck!
I had to look up CA. I wonder if it was because I'm using a 40-year-old budget lens in that one. I really like that lens for some reason, but I wouldn't doubt that it might be an issue.
 
I have it on my kit lenses, as well. You'll notice it near high contrast areas, such as the white portion of the beak with the green water. Or any of the white reflections on the green water.

Not sure if you're using Lightroom, but that software can remove it pretty easily. :)
 

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