New here and to photography with some pics for criticism

animotionphoto · Jun 16, 2012

Hello all. Here's some pics I took with my D90 and Nikkor 50mm f1.8 G lens. I'm hooked on the hobby and want am taking it further. Let me know what you think, or what tweeks might make the pics more marketable. Have not edited them with software. Thanks!

Well, actually tried it several times on your control panel, but nothing owuld take. Is it Internet Explorer?

Ernicus · Jun 16, 2012

You would want to post your pictures in the Galleries section of the forums. Here is a link that may help you out.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum-functions-pictoral-guide-using-tpf.html

animotionphoto · Jun 16, 2012

Ok here it goes. Not edited by software. Thanks Ernicus.

1. Biker rally downtown Austin

2. Local band indoors

3. Young 20 something yr old girl with natural silver hair

Ernicus · Jun 16, 2012

No problem...I'm sure a mod will move it to the gallery section shortly. ;-) Glad it worked for you.

animotionphoto · Jun 16, 2012

Hmm, 93 views and no opinions...no news is good news.

Jaemie · Jun 16, 2012

Hiya.

#1: Cool sparkly colours in the black paint on the cycle. Is it a Harley or a scooter? I like the OOF building with its lights. I think I'd be more emotionally engaged in this image if there was more of the cycle in view.

#2: Geezer band. Hehe.. I like this. I'd straighten the background lines to give more attention to the players, or even better, straighten image and then crop out bass player and only have harmonica man in the photo. He's the focus of attention, anyway. Something like this:

#3: The light on the subject's face is weak and seems different from the other light in the photo. What is she looking at? Without some idea of the object of her attention, I can't engage with this image. I think it's cropped too close, too, and I'd straighten the horizon.

morganza · Jun 17, 2012

In my opinion these look quite good, artistic.

Designer · Jun 17, 2012

animotionphoto said:
Hmm, 93 views and no opinions...no news is good news.

The first shot has informed me that you are trying to make artful images, however successful or not. The other two are not attempting a similar goal, so now how to respond? I could simply give a critique on each one, as Jaemie has done, but sometimes we are left wondering where to start.

#1 Definitely tells the story; "bike rally in downtown Austin", but not much else.
#2 See Jaemie's crit.
#3 I definitely don't like the crop here, so where is that artful intent now?

Such a mix of subjects and styles makes offering criticism something akin to mind reading.

yerlem · Jun 17, 2012

I think #3 has an interesting subject...young, grey hair and green eyes, with well defined eyebrowns. The idea is that she is looking away, but she looks aware of your presence. She just looked away to have a picture taken. If she was my friend I'd definitely take more pictures of her.

animotionphoto · Jun 17, 2012

Cool, thanks for the responses. Well, at this point I dont know what my niche is yet. What I definitely know Is I like pics in low light. As I mentioned in the first post. THERE IS NO EDITING DONE TO THESE. Not yellling, just wanna make sure nobody missed it.

1. Biker Pic: Someone mentioned it would be nicer if the whole bike was in the pic, but then the building would be blocked. Also, if you notice at the lower portion of the building, you can see the top of the red construction fence, so i couldnt go much lower. I was lying on the ground at this point.

2. The band was a fluke. I went inside to have a few beers and noticed the stage lighting was great for my 50mm f1.8, so I ran to my truck to get my camera. It was also a revelation to purchase a small "point and shoot" and carry it in cases like these. I've actually played with the samsung 15.5 mp, and it's pretty awesome and very small.

3. The girl, I met at an outdoor Grill and her look was captivating, so I asked if I could take a few pictures of her, so yes, she was posing, not cropped, and I took several more at different settings. If you notice she has some facial hairs, but I don't know how to edit that.

At the moment I have Gimp 2.8 and it has a learning curve. BTW, I'm not a bad techie, but for me, I'd rather be concentrating on the artistry and photo taking, than sitting at my computer for hours editing. Can anyone recommend the easiest software for stuff like quick softening, changing to black and white, cropping yada yada? Anything fancier than that I'd rather outsource it.

I have musician friends and promoters who have asked me to take photos of their shows, but even though I like live music, the beers are free, the girls are hot, and the back stage passes are cool, I still don't know if this niche is for me. The constant loud music and stuffy crowds actually annoys me at my age now. There's also other photographers much better than me, but a friend of mine says this a good opportunity to practice, build a portfolio and name recognition. Thanks for ya'lls input.

Steve

jdsfighter · Jun 17, 2012

animotionphoto said:
Cool, thanks for the responses. Well, at this point I dont know what my niche is yet. What I definitely know Is I like pics in low light. As I mentioned in the first post. THERE IS NO EDITING DONE TO THESE. Not yellling, just wanna make sure nobody missed it.

1. Biker Pic: Someone mentioned it would be nicer if the whole bike was in the pic, but then the building would be blocked. Also, if you notice at the lower portion of the building, you can see the top of the red construction fence, so i couldnt go much lower. I was lying on the ground at this point.

2. The band was a fluke. I went inside to have a few beers and noticed the stage lighting was great for my 50mm f1.8, so I ran to my truck to get my camera. It was also a revelation to purchase a small "point and shoot" and carry it in cases like these. I've actually played with the samsung 15.5 mp, and it's pretty awesome and very small.

3. The girl, I met at an outdoor Grill and her look was captivating, so I asked if I could take a few pictures of her, so yes, she was posing, not cropped, and I took several more at different settings. If you notice she has some facial hairs, but I don't know how to edit that.

At the moment I have Gimp 2.8 and it has a learning curve. BTW, I'm not a bad techie, but for me, I'd rather be concentrating on the artistry and photo taking, than sitting at my computer for hours editing. Can anyone recommend the easiest software for stuff like quick softening, changing to black and white, cropping yada yada? Anything fancier than that I'd rather outsource it.

I have musician friends and promoters who have asked me to take photos of their shows, but even though I like live music, the beers are free, the girls are hot, and the back stage passes are cool, I still don't know if this niche is for me. The constant loud music and stuffy crowds actually annoys me at my age now. There's also other photographers much better than me, but a friend of mine says this a good opportunity to practice, build a portfolio and name recognition. Thanks for ya'lls input.

Steve

I general don't use gimp, instead, I use photoshop, but here's a generally nice technique to help clean the hairs off her face. Inside of gimp, create a copy of the original layer. Use the despeckle filter to smooth the skin. Then use the gaussian blur to remove the harshness from the despeckle (you'll also notice the hair disappear or heavily lighten). Once you've done this, mask everything except for the side of her face in which you're removing the hair. Tweak as necessary.

animotionphoto · Jun 17, 2012

@jdsfighter.

Thanks for the advice on removing the hairs. I spent hours trying to figure out even the simplest task on Gimp. Photoshop doesnt interest me because of it's learning curve. If the photo editing softwares came with video tutorials for each task that I'd like to do, it would be great. Is there any?

When I bought the D90, the manual was a joke and I almost left the camera at the back of the closest if it weren't for a "how to" DVD tutorial i found on the internet. After that, it was night and day, and I understood my camera and all those buttons much better. If only the photo shops were like that.