furiously boring photos?

tmyprod · Nov 11, 2009

I posted these about a month ago in the beginner's forum and got a grand total of one response. Is there something furiously boring about these photographs? Anyway, I'd like to get the "more advanced" section's thoughts and comments.

These were off the first few rolls from my Olympus XA, shot on Kodak and some expired Walgreen's film.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

Derrel · Nov 11, 2009

Pretty good shooting overall. But with a total of nine photos, it's unlikely you'll get many people willing to comment on more than one or two frames. Shots 2,3,4,8,and 9 are my favorites. Frame 9 has a large blob in the sky on the left that makes it look like a d-slr capture; maybe it was caused by a dirty window on a ferry ?

CCarsonPhoto · Nov 11, 2009

They aren't all bad.
#1 Compositionally and colorwise are just...well, not interesting at all.
#2 The texture of the "ceiling" is intriguing, but not the main subject. The rocks look boring compared to it.
#3 Is neat, but the black dirt just distracts me from actually seeing the image.
#4 I really like this one, because of the way you cropped and used the windows to frame the landscape
#5 Has great angles, perspective and color, but nothing is really happening here. Throw in a high fashion model and I would like it a lot more.
#6 Its okay, but the reflection on the water being cut off makes it look like its leaking out the bottom of the photo. Its also pretty dark, but doi. Its a cloudy scene

#7 Would be stronger I think if the windows weren't being chopped off, or if it were shot from a different angle.
#8 I really like this one too, but I wish the plane was either angled more or going straight

#9 Very nice capture, but maybe not cutting of the reflection of the hill?

battletone · Nov 11, 2009

1 doesn't do it for me. I don't see the point of it.

2 has potential IMO, but the outside seems over exposed. Maybe a little quicker shutter with some other sources of light to illuminate the whatever the inside is. It is interesting. Something that I would like to mess around with if I had the chance.

3 is kind of neat.

4 might be better if it was framed around the two halves without the left and right windows showing up. Also the center image might need to be less centered vertically? I don't know really.

5 I don't understand. But it does seem crooked.

6 would probably be a decent HDR candidate if you have enough exposures.

7 just doesn't feel right. Seems like it is crooked and might benefit from photoshopping out the perspective a little. But it still might be bland even then.

8 was up and over your head? It feels like it should be rotated 90 degs and then cropped to center the plan a bit more where it currently is.

9 has what many of my photos with sky have...the sky appears blown. But I won't open it up and view the histogram, it just looks like it.

tmyprod · Nov 12, 2009

This is more towards what I was aiming for, but it was a little tricky getting things just right shooting straight up

A little about each photo:

#1- This was like the 3rd picture I took with the XA. I was working late at the church I'm the videographer for and found the dark, empty church very unsettling and creepy and I was trying to convey that.

#2 - This is the interior of an ice cave up in the mountains, so it would have been a little difficult to bring in additional lighting.

#3 - A CU of the wall of the ice cave.

#4 - Is looking out a window on a ferry.

#5 - This is the interior of a ferry that is usually packed full of cars, and it was fun shooting an empty space that most everyone else only sees full.

#6 - Last of the ferry shots. I was coming off one shoot (video) and prepping for another that evening and was enjoying the sunset on the ferry to Seattle (I got lucky and was the last car on the boat, so that was my view the whole ride back)

#7 - This building has been taunting me to take a good photo of it for a few years and the XA gave me a unique outlook on it.

#8 - Finishing up a roll, saw a plane fly over, took a photo.

#9 - Was out boating in Prince William Sound, in AK, saw this little rock island and spent a few hours kayaking around taking pictures of it.

flightless_beaker · Nov 12, 2009

2 and 5 are my favorites. The texture in 2 is interesting and I like the way the tunnel pushes your eye to the outside. Only gripe about it is the outside is a bit over exposed. I really like the lighting and shadows in 5. It makes the photo look interesting, despite it being something fairly common that some people are used to and see every day.

John Sampson · Nov 12, 2009

Why do people do this to themselves? Why not try some naked girls? That way you could even get lucky!

tmyprod · Nov 12, 2009

#2 was a PITA to expose for on the XA. The XA has an auto iris and you adjust the shutter manually, however the exposure meter on mine isn't working so I've had to eyeball the exposure on all of these.