Four Random for Composition C&C

[moze229]

I'd like some criticism on these. I've only been taking photos for a short time, and I've tried to improve my composition. Am I at least on the right track? Thanks for any comments!

#1

#2

#3

#4

Thanks again for any comments or suggestions.

Matt

 

[shortpballer]

Really like the first one. And not a fan of the middle ones. I think the selective coloring adds to the last one. Good job!

 

[EleanorW]

I agree with short on the first one - gorgeous photo (and dog). Hey Short - aren't you on vacation? You're on here a lot if you are

 

[fokker]

Lovin that first pic, its a great angle!

#2 is a great subject but possibly would have benefited from a closer perspective, too much green doesn't make it stand out.

 

[TriniPhototakeoutta]

Really liking #4. the selective coloring works for it. Like the expression of #1. Kinda like #2 but somethings up with the trees in the background, they look mushy. And it seems the foreground is more infocus than the subject imho.

 

[moze229]

Thanks for all of your opinions so far! I wanted to see what people thought about these because as I continue to learn, I'm also surprised to hear what people say. Often, the photos of mine that I find most acceptable are usually the ones that people have issues with. Likewise, the ones that I'm almost embarrassed to show, people like the most. Go figure

The first one is of my dog that passed away in April. I was able to get that shot about a year ago (I think) as I was looking up at her while I was laying on the floor. The light is coming from a window from above. The composition of the lighting was a complete accident. I had no idea what I was doing at the time but I'm glad that I was able to capture her this way. This is the picture we have of her displayed by her ashes.

The second photo (embarrassingly) for me was where I thought I knew what I wanted to do and I thought I did it. I was going for a "soft" look of the late afternoon sun and I actually shot that with a 50mm @1.8 to try and achieve that. The result gives the photo a slight out-of-focus look, but I thought it achieved what I was going for. The end result just wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

The last two were just a result of me trying to compose some sort of arrangement with game pieces. This idea came from some other shots I ran across some time ago. I have many more but these are the ones that I thought came out the best.

I'm going to keep working on it and hopefully I'll have some better stuff for everyone to see in the future. Thanks again!

Matt

 

[manaheim]

Well, speaking compositionally, I think the best is the third. Hands-down, IMO.

You have an angle which is off-kilter, which is interesting. The focus is very sharp on the knight, and the reflection of the knight is cool. The knight is also pretty close to one of the "rule of thirds" hot spots/lines of focus. The rest of the pieces are nicely out of focus. The background texture is pleasing to the eye, and also nicely out of focus. Good shot.

The dog one... it's ok... I think some of the technical issues of the shot are distracting me a bit. It's washed out and needs more contrast. The rays of sun on the dog are interesting, but I think the dog is too centered to bring real interest. It's REALLY hard to find a good crop on that shot, however, so I think you're going to have to remain with the framing as it is unless you go extremely into funky crops. It winds up being a somewhat creative snapshot of the family pet. (and a nice one at that) However, something like this, perhaps...

BTW, I just noticed the picture is saved with your camera's RGB profile embedded and that is affecting how it is viewed in the browser. You probably should save your images in sRGB as most browsers and applications either assume that color space or effectively only display that color space properly. I corrected it for my version of your image.

 

[doogan]

I think your ideas are very good. #1 has a different angle,
and that's great. A good portrait. However I agree with
manaheim, yours didn't have enough contrast, that's why
it looked washed out. Think of what you can do to dramatize
a photo, to give it punch.

#2 is, well, just #2

I like 3 a lot. If it were mine I would add some colour to it,
in the background or colouring the chess pieces.

I want to like #4. It seems to me shooting down would work
better, but who knows. Here again, if you could find a way to
dramatize it, zero in on the pieces more, hit the viewer between
the eyes. Least that' how I see it.

I think you have the makings of a very good tog.
______________________________________________

http://www.dreamworldimages.ca
Pet Photography Business
Child Photography

 

[PatrickCheung]

i, like many people in this thread have said, really like the first one. the angle is perfect, the light is interesting (but like someone already said, it makes his head look a little washed out). iunno if i should be giving critique (i'm a beginner myself), but i'm not feeling the fact the subject is centered. i think the crop is too tight on the dog's face too, so maybe try giving it a little space? iunno. it's looking to the right so i'm kinda looking with it, but all i see is the edge of the photo. a little space would've helped imo.

 

[moze229]

Well, speaking compositionally, I think the best is the third. Hands-down, IMO.

You have an angle which is off-kilter, which is interesting. The focus is very sharp on the knight, and the reflection of the knight is cool. The knight is also pretty close to one of the "rule of thirds" hot spots/lines of focus. The rest of the pieces are nicely out of focus. The background texture is pleasing to the eye, and also nicely out of focus. Good shot.

The dog one... it's ok... I think some of the technical issues of the shot are distracting me a bit. It's washed out and needs more contrast. The rays of sun on the dog are interesting, but I think the dog is too centered to bring real interest. It's REALLY hard to find a good crop on that shot, however, so I think you're going to have to remain with the framing as it is unless you go extremely into funky crops. It winds up being a somewhat creative snapshot of the family pet. (and a nice one at that) However, something like this, perhaps...

BTW, I just noticed the picture is saved with your camera's RGB profile embedded and that is affecting how it is viewed in the browser. You probably should save your images in sRGB as most browsers and applications either assume that color space or effectively only display that color space properly. I corrected it for my version of your image.

Thanks. I hadn't really even considered attempting to adjust the contrast, because after I saw the shot I liked the effect of the rays. I suppose I assumed by bringing the contrast up it would remove some of the rays, which it did but to a nice effect. Also, I didn't want to mess with the image because it was taken in full auto back then as a .jpg, so any editing would bring the quality down. All beginners mistakes and I'm glad that you pointed that out.

As far as the color space, I have no idea how that happened. The original .jpg that I have is sRGB and it was taken in sRGB. Something must have happened when I resized it yesterday. I now take all photos in RAW Adobe RGB and I do convert to sRGB as part of the PP. I just didn't check this one because I didn't think I had to. Elements must have changed it for me. Thanks again.

Matt

 

[moze229]

I think your ideas are very good. #1 has a different angle,
and that's great. A good portrait. However I agree with
manaheim, yours didn't have enough contrast, that's why
it looked washed out. Think of what you can do to dramatize
a photo, to give it punch.

#2 is, well, just #2

I like 3 a lot. If it were mine I would add some colour to it,
in the background or colouring the chess pieces.

I want to like #4. It seems to me shooting down would work
better, but who knows. Here again, if you could find a way to
dramatize it, zero in on the pieces more, hit the viewer between
the eyes. Least that' how I see it.

I think you have the makings of a very good tog.

I might try adding color at some point to see what it looks like. My thing at the time of shooting was glass - I was trying to capture the glass look but this was a bad example with a cheap $10.00 glass chess set Thanks for your comments.

Matt

 

[moze229]

i, like many people in this thread have said, really like the first one. the angle is perfect, the light is interesting (but like someone already said, it makes his head look a little washed out). iunno if i should be giving critique (i'm a beginner myself), but i'm not feeling the fact the subject is centered. i think the crop is too tight on the dog's face too, so maybe try giving it a little space? iunno. it's looking to the right so i'm kinda looking with it, but all i see is the edge of the photo. a little space would've helped imo.

Thanks for your comments. Don't worry about being a beginner - I think critiquing is a part of learning too.

I notice a few saying that #1 being centered is bad, and I suppose it's not the best, but I personally feel that any portrait can be centered as long as it's made interesting in some other way. I tried a different angle on this and I think it worked. Of course, this was done completely by "accident" rather than trying to achieve an effect. As far as the crop goes, I think your assessment is correct. A little more space would suit nicely here, but this photo is straight out of the camera - it's not cropped at all so I can't really correct anything easily on that.

Thanks again for your comments!

Matt