Summer Travels

[Astairical]

I took these pictures in Singapore (where I hail from) and Vancouver this summer, with my iPhone 5C. I took them before I had any idea what proper photography is, really (looking back, I can see I made a lot of mistakes in composing the photos), so I'd like some critique, please. I edited them with VSCOcam.

 

[weepete]

Hi mate, its hard to give any meaningful critique on a lot of images. Try cutting it down to what you think are your best 2 or 3 shots and you'll get better answers.

 

[Astairical]

Hi mate, its hard to give any meaningful critique on a lot of images. Try cutting it down to what you think are your best 2 or 3 shots and you'll get better answers.

I cut it down to four, I hope that's alright?

 

[weepete]

Ok,

with the first 2 images its a bit confused. By that I mean there's no clear subject and they are both a but busy. In the first there's no detail in the sky and the second there's no detail in the shadows. These type of shots tend to work better if they are either a detail shot showing a part of an interesting building, repeating patterns or nice colour, or a wider contextual shot showing the relationship of the street and the buildings around them.

Shot 3 is underexposed quite a bit, its not great lighting (being backlit) and is compsitionally haphazard. Try to frame your subject so it doesn't have stuff behind it like the lampost.

Shot 4 you've lost the detail in the clouds, and compositionally I don't think the angle suits. Personally I'd have tried to shoot this dead straight on and a bit wider to provide a bit of context for the temple. If you could have had some morning of evening golden light it might have made a very good subject.

 

[Astairical]

Ok,

with the first 2 images its a bit confused. By that I mean there's no clear subject and they are both a but busy. In the first there's no detail in the sky and the second there's no detail in the shadows. These type of shots tend to work better if they are either a detail shot showing a part of an interesting building, repeating patterns or nice colour, or a wider contextual shot showing the relationship of the street and the buildings around them.

Shot 3 is underexposed quite a bit, its not great lighting (being backlit) and is compsitionally haphazard. Try to frame your subject so it doesn't have stuff behind it like the lampost.

Shot 4 you've lost the detail in the clouds, and compositionally I don't think the angle suits. Personally I'd have tried to shoot this dead straight on and a bit wider to provide a bit of context for the temple. If you could have had some morning of evening golden light it might have made a very good subject.

Thanks very much for your critique! I'll definitely keep that in mind next time, at the time I just wanted to get my phone out and shoot, but next time I'll spend time setting up a good shot. Thanks again!

 

[weepete]

No problem mate. It csn be tempting, especially at first, to just shoot whats in front of you. When you are someplace interesting your senses can be a bit overwhelmed and it can be difficult to cut things down to good compositions and framing. Often as photographers, we take our surroundings and emphasise the part if the scene that caught our attention by simplifying the world around us and balancing the composition to attempt to make a sucessful 2 dimensional representation of it.

 

[Peeb]

I particularly enjoyed your final shot as a compelling visual subject.

 

[Designer]

I took these pictures in Singapore (where I hail from) and Vancouver this summer, with my iPhone 5C. I took them before I had any idea what proper photography is, really (looking back, I can see I made a lot of mistakes in composing the photos), so I'd like some critique, please. I edited them with VSCOcam.

Depending on what the remainder of the file is, you might be able to re-edit your files to help bring the shadows up (make them lighter), and of course, cropping will usually help define a photograph to a more artistic composition.

Shooting with a cell phone means a wide lens, small sensor, and "automatic" shutter and aperture, so there will not be much you can do with the files, but you can try.

 

[Astairical]

I particularly enjoyed your final shot as a compelling visual subject.

Thank you! It's a really nice temple, I just wish I had more time there to take some good photos. Ah, well, there's always the next trip...

 

[Astairical]

I took these pictures in Singapore (where I hail from) and Vancouver this summer, with my iPhone 5C. I took them before I had any idea what proper photography is, really (looking back, I can see I made a lot of mistakes in composing the photos), so I'd like some critique, please. I edited them with VSCOcam.

Depending on what the remainder of the file is, you might be able to re-edit your files to help bring the shadows up (make them lighter), and of course, cropping will usually help define a photograph to a more artistic composition.

Shooting with a cell phone means a wide lens, small sensor, and "automatic" shutter and aperture, so there will not be much you can do with the files, but you can try.

I do have the original, unedited photos on my phone! Would you suggest making all the files lighter? Also I'm not sure how really to crop the photo down further, and which part of the image to focus on...

 

[Designer]

I do have the original, unedited photos on my phone! Would you suggest making all the files lighter? Also I'm not sure how really to crop the photo down further, and which part of the image to focus on...

I can't advise making all the files lighter, because parts of the photograph are exposed better than other parts. I grabbed one photo to see what I could do with my software. I managed to lighten the shadows a bit, but overall there are other issues that I cannot fix with Aperture.

As for recording, it just depends on if you see a better composition within the larger image. Sometimes it just doesn't have anything better contained within it.

Anyway, here is one that I messed with:

 

[rlemert]

I'm no expert (this is probably the first time I've launched GIMP in six months), but I thought I'd have a go at showing possibilities. All I've done is crop down to the upper left corner of the first image to focus on the pink facade, using the red banner on the right and the awning below to frame. I've also adjusted the levels to brighten the image slightly.

 

[Astairical]

I do have the original, unedited photos on my phone! Would you suggest making all the files lighter? Also I'm not sure how really to crop the photo down further, and which part of the image to focus on...

I can't advise making all the files lighter, because parts of the photograph are exposed better than other parts. I grabbed one photo to see what I could do with my software. I managed to lighten the shadows a bit, but overall there are other issues that I cannot fix with Aperture.

As for recording, it just depends on if you see a better composition within the larger image. Sometimes it just doesn't have anything better contained within it.

Anyway, here is one that I messed with:

View attachment 115632

Thanks very much - now that I have a proper camera (a LX5) I will strive to take better pictures and I'll keep your advice in mind.

 

[Astairical]

I'm no expert (this is probably the first time I've launched GIMP in six months), but I thought I'd have a go at showing possibilities. All I've done is crop down to the upper left corner of the first image to focus on the pink facade, using the red banner on the right and the awning below to frame. I've also adjusted the levels to brighten the image slightly.

View attachment 115633

Thanks! I do see how cropping it down makes it look much better and focused. I have a lot to learn about photography and editing yet!