Photographs taken on and edited on an Samsung GALAXY Nexus

[Doublethink]

Hello, here are some of my favourite photographs I've taken and edited on my phone using the stock camera app.

I'm new to photography and don't own a proper camera yet, but I enjoy taking photographs on my phone as a hobby.

Please feel free to critic and let me know which one is your favourite!

Thanks!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

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20.

21.

22.

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25.

 

[sashbar]

I think you have a good eye, especially for colors. I like nos 10 and 11. The black and white ones I like the least due to compositional flaws. You leave way too much empty foreground in nos 1 and 8. Now 2 and 5 are also good shots in my view.
Next time when you post multiple images, have it numbered.

Updated: now there is a completely different set of images on the OP, so my numbers are not related.

 

[Doublethink]

Thanks for your feedback Sashbar! I've just went back and edited my post with numbered photos.

Can you give some pointers on how to improve upon composition using my the photographs you specified?

 

[sashbar]

Thanks for your feedback Sashbar! I've just went back and edited my post with numbered photos.

Can you give some pointers on how to improve upon composition using my the photographs you specified?

The photographs I mentioned are essentially street shots, and with street photography the most common mistake with begginers is they shoot from afar, leaving a lot of empty space between the camera and the main subject. I know that it is not easy to shoot up close, but you should try if you want a more dramatic visual impact.
It is impossible to explain it in one short post, but if you start shooting it will come with experience. You need to develop a feel for the right size and placement of your main object in relation of the frame. You may also read some books on composition and perspective, which is basically a part of composition, to better understand the basics.

And by the way it is much easier to shoot from a close distance with a phone than with a camera. People do not care about phones any more.

But that is all specifics of the street shooting, all in all your photos are very good in my opinion.
Now the ones I like most are 16, 20 and 21. You clearly have an artistic touch.

 

[Derrel]

Pretty good. These are real photos, no matter what shot them. They have a sort of detached, dispassionate look to them, as if you're an observer, with no real feelings about the subjects, just a seeing-eye as it were, there to show us the scenes. Your color palette is very muted, and favors a grainy, less-than-immaculate look, which I think works pretty well for photos of this general type. The detached look makes these seem more universal, more timeless, than photos where the photographer is really up super-close and revealing everything. But by the same token, the detached, far-away nature makes some of these not feel very compelling or involving; however, I think thee' plenty of room in the world for that, since we see a lot of street/genre photos that are too much in-your-face! from many younger shooters today, and that gets old very quickly. Please, promise us this: that you will NEVER try to become another Eric Kim, okay?

 

[Doublethink]

Thanks for the feedback Derrel!

I'll try to take some more pictures of different styles, what do you suggest?

And I don't even know who Eric Kim is but I promise not to become another him. =)

PS. I showed my photos to a friend who uses Leica cameras last night and he dismissed them all because they were shot on my mobile phone, so hearing you calling my pictures photos was nice. Thanks!

 

[sashbar]

PS. I showed my photos to a friend who uses Leica cameras last night and he dismissed them all because they were shot on my mobile phone, so hearing you calling my pictures photos was nice. Thanks!

I think you should not take his advice seriously. You have a vision and you can shoot, this is obvious. Not all Leica owners can.

Re Derrel post, he gave you an excellent advice, as always, but there is a big difference between an in your face Bruce Gilden style, that is very, very specific, and just the right distance. Eric Kim is a young street photography enthusiast and blogger, who actively promotes a certain style of street photography, which is in itself a narrow genre.

 

[Derrel]

>SNIP> I showed my photos to a friend who uses Leica cameras last night and he dismissed them all because they were shot on my mobile phone, so hearing you calling my pictures photos was nice. Thanks!

Your Leica using friend should be (sternly) reminded of Oskar Barnack's original intent in making the first Leica protoype: to make a small, light, easy-to-use, "transparent" camera, one that could always be carried, and which could be brought to the eye and shot rapidly, and easily, without fuss, a camera to document the real world, in real time, without the need for elaborate posing and staging and lengthy camera preparation in focusing, film loading, shutter cocking, and so on. Your current mobile phone, some 90-odd years newer than Barnack's original camera, is in fact a BETTER camera, a better machine, than Barnack's original cameras were. It has a better lens, a faster shutter, multiple "film speeds", automatic focusing, and built-in light metering, and is smaller, lighter, and easier to carry and shoots many more pictures--in color!-- before it needs to be reloaded. Your friend is a snob, and a bit of a fool, and is utterly ignorant of the original aesthetic of the Leica.

 

[Doublethink]

Thanks guys! You're educating me a lot!

I kindly ignored his remarks because I didn't claim to be a professional photographer and was merely sharing pictures I have taken on my vacation, and I think my pictures are pleasant to look at even if they were shot on a cheap camera phone.