Some pics for constructive criticism

McCrackus · May 7, 2011

Thanks to everyone for their help with my first post about my 50mm lens. Now that I'm here, I thought I'd post some pics for feedback, since I've seen some other people upload pics and get very helpful criticism.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a beginner, but almost all of my shooting experience is concerts, so I've been trying to expand my palette and practice shooting other environs. Let me know what you think!

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4.

I know #4 is crooked, kicking myself for not being more careful. Just kinda like the idea.

Thanks, everyone!

shmne · May 7, 2011

1. The black and white weakens this image more than anything. There are many dark objects, and they are not distributed in any kind of aesthetically appealing manner to warrant keeping this in black and white (assuming it was shot digitally and later turned b/w) Just too much contrast. I think the moment you captured was good, and I like the thought process behind it. Overall the technical side of things came out well, and the composition isn't bad either. The image is just too busy in my opinion, my eyes want somewhere to rest.

2. Railroad track image... really nothing I can say about it, especially the height of the camera for this one does nothing really as I've seen so many of this exact shot. I think the surrounding view is wonderful, the landscape is actually quite beautiful and the railroad kind of takes away from it.

3. Image feels a little tilted, however it tilts in a helpful direction ( I didn't bother to actually see if its straight or not, either way it just feels like its leaning to the left). I think this was a nice shot, and a good set up. Properly exposed, not too high contrast, plenty of resting area for the eye, black and white fits this very well.

4. Its a neat shot, but again very busy and contrasty. Just recrop to fix the tilt. This one may be interesting in black and white actually, because there is a lot of contrast, however the cement parts will act as a resting area for eyes. Try it out.

#3 is by far your strongest, I would go back and ask yourself why it works so much better than the others. I've already given you a lot to work with but I purposely didn't mention everything. Go back through these and just try to figure out why #3 works while the others lack. Consider eye flow, contrast, composition, creative intent, weight (where light and dark create heaviness and lightness in your photo) as well as consider colors working together to ease the viewer into understanding the scene.

vtf · May 7, 2011

#4 I like, it's not tilted, it's distorted,refer to the horizontal lines compared to the photgraph's horizontal edge.. I do like the relections.

This image was shot upwards from the lower left of the building. The horizontal lines narrow the more right, (further away) they get.

McCrackus · May 7, 2011

Thanks, guys. Really helpful. Yeah, I don't usually go out of my way to seek out cliche shots like the railroad tracks, I just happened to be there with my camera. In fact, that one and the B&W beach one were both taken on the same day at the same beach in California.

One thing I need to get better at is deciding b&w vs color. I know it's an artistic decision but the image also dictates which is better. For comparison purposes, here's the kite picture again, this time in color:

Sharfy · May 7, 2011

i think railway will be beautiful in landscape ^^, nice shot there but its so common. I have same problem too i have so many shots which are very common and i can't post it because nothing so special with common shoots