Two new photos, C&C Please

[tom_anderson18]

Here is just two new photos I took today.

1.)

2.)

 

[bazooka]

Hi Tom. I'm interested to hear what your thoughts on your photos are. What thoughts were behind each of the two shots? What impressed you? If you were to describe the strengths of each shot, what would they be? Weaknesses?

 

[tom_anderson18]

Well the first picture came about because I was outside looking at the roof as it needs retiling some point this year and noticed the green on the bricks the slight bit of rust on the antenna and thought it may make an interesting photo as for number two I have only recently got my camera and still had yet to take a picture of anything outside and figured the clouds look like they could make a decent photo.

As for weaknesses in the first I'm not really sure I personally like it and think it came out okay, second on I would say the exposure on the chimney/roof could be better or not even there at all and focus on the clouds more.

 

[hazieq_96]

what the picture trying to tell?? i don't get it

 

[tom_anderson18]

There not really trying to tell anything .. I just thought they may make a good photo

 

[Scuba]

I think you need to have a purpose behind your photo's it will help you improve. It can be as simple as I wanted to show the detail in the moss growing on the chimney.

C&C per request:

#1 you missed the focus or motion blur, hard to tell without the settings. I also don't like that the antenna is cut off.
#2 This is just not interesting...sorry. The sky is nothing special and the chimney does not give an interesting silhouette. Also, there is a lot of noise in this image probably from a high ISO.

 

[bazooka]

Ok, so on #1 you noticed the similar colors between the bricks and the rusty antenna. We can work with that. You were going for green and red. But you also have blue, a deep saturated blue, and lost of it. And a strong white line at the bottom. And many different shapes and angles. So compositionally, it's very busy. And the red and green's are competing strongly with the blue. This all comes together and kind of makes a mess of things which means the purpose of the image (displaying the green and red) is lost on its viewers. Work to simplify.... whittle down the composition to it's bare minimum... ONLY the things that you were trying to get a cross. Sometimes this can be down before you open the shutter, sometimes it can only be done after, in post. Sometimes it cannot be done. And sometimes, even if it is done, the idea that you had or the thing you saw just doesn't work.

#2 I agree with Scuba on this one... the sky is underexposed so the clouds aren't popping. Even if it was properly exposed, the sky would closely match the tone of the clouds so they still wouldn't pop without some dodging and burning or a controlled black-and-white conversion. You could possibly use a polarizer to knock down the blue depending on which way you are facing. And the silhouette of the antenna and chimney is simply not interesting. It also has a tree limb growing out of it.

Next time, work on cutting the composition down to it's bare essentials. This is the easiest way for a beginner to make better photos.

 

[brush]

There not really trying to tell anything .. I just thought they may make a good photo

My 2 cents...if you can say this sentence about photos, they probably don't. Every photo should be saying something or else it probably won't be interesting and if it's not interesting it's not a good photo.

 

[bazooka]

There not really trying to tell anything .. I just thought they may make a good photo

My 2 cents...if you can say this sentence about photos, they probably don't. Every photo should be saying something or else it probably won't be interesting and if it's not interesting it's not a good photo.

I agree with this. While you may not be trying to make a complicated statement about your views or opinions, the statement is usually something very very simple like "This pattern of colors and shapes is interesting" or "This scene is wide open and inspiring." I would suppose your statement in #1 is "Observe the color and texture contrast between moss, brick, and rust." This statement has no room for blue sky, wires, strong forms, chimneys... etc...

One thing that might help is to read a few haiku poems. Notice how so few words can create such a strong mental image. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a better picture should be communicating only a few.

 

[KmH]

Here is just two new photos I took today.

1.)

#1 has a distinct greenish cast to it, and some other issues -

 

[tom_anderson18]

Thanks for pointing that out.

Another reason for these pics was that I have yet to take anything using the full zoom on my camera, just wanted to test it.

 

[classixuk]

Ok, so on #1 you noticed the similar colors between the bricks and the rusty antenna. We can work with that. You were going for green and red. But you also have blue, a deep saturated blue, and lost of it. And a strong white line at the bottom. And many different shapes and angles. So compositionally, it's very busy. And the red and green's are competing strongly with the blue. This all comes together and kind of makes a mess of things which means the purpose of the image (displaying the green and red) is lost on its viewers. Work to simplify.... whittle down the composition to it's bare minimum... ONLY the things that you were trying to get a cross. Sometimes this can be down before you open the shutter, sometimes it can only be done after, in post. Sometimes it cannot be done. And sometimes, even if it is done, the idea that you had or the thing you saw just doesn't work.

#2 I agree with Scuba on this one... the sky is underexposed so the clouds aren't popping. Even if it was properly exposed, the sky would closely match the tone of the clouds so they still wouldn't pop without some dodging and burning or a controlled black-and-white conversion. You could possibly use a polarizer to knock down the blue depending on which way you are facing. And the silhouette of the antenna and chimney is simply not interesting. It also has a tree limb growing out of it.

Next time, work on cutting the composition down to it's bare essentials. This is the easiest way for a beginner to make better photos.

Sorry if this in anyway embarrasses you but I just wanted to say that I hope I get you reviewing my very first efforts (when my camera finally arrives).

I'm a teacher by trade and own a college delivering NVQs to young people and adults following the government framework. Sometimes, eager students will get stuck in there and bring back something that practically is a mess and shows no forethought whatsoever to the even slightly trained eye, but it takes a good teacher to scrape past the inexperience and lack of a result in the hope that igniting the passion and checking for a logical thinking pattern behind it might produce a more considered result on the next approach.

I hope I will be worthy of the same kind consideration when I post my first results (assuming the ones I already posted from my Point and Click don't disqualify me).


To the original poster, I am totally new to this site but I work in a creative industry and own businesses where my livelihood depends on having 'an eye' for things. Something to think about when taking a photograph (especially of a still life or stationary object where time is not an issue) is "would I sit and draw this with a pencil and paper for the next 6 hours if I didn't have my camera? Is what I'm looking at that interesting/beautiful/amazing to behold that I would do that"? If the answer is no, it's probably worth a quick snapshot for reference but nothing more. Only my very humble opinion. Good luck with your photography and finding great subjects.

 

[tlamour]

Photography and art are synonymous with each other. Notice how artist put only the things that help tell the story in their paintings.

 

[bazooka]

Sorry if this in anyway embarrasses you but I just wanted to say that I hope I get you reviewing my very first efforts (when my camera finally arrives).

I'm a teacher by trade and own a college delivering NVQs to young people and adults following the government framework. Sometimes, eager students will get stuck in there and bring back something that practically is a mess and shows no forethought whatsoever to the even slightly trained eye, but it takes a good teacher to scrape past the inexperience and lack of a result in the hope that igniting the passion and checking for a logical thinking pattern behind it might produce a more considered result on the next approach.

That's very kind of you. I'm fairly new to photography myself, at least in a serious sense; I've only been studying it for two years. However, I have practiced a lot and studied a lot and I think that I am beginning to understand what makes a successful image. Critiquing others' images, especially beginners', is a good challenge for me because it makes me look past the first "this is a bad photo" reaction and ask myself "why" and finally try to think of "how could it be improved".

If you or anyone wants me to critique a photo or a small set of photos, please feel free to PM me with a link to the thread, or if you don't want to start a public thread, just PM the photo to me. I'd be happy to give you my thoughts as long as you are willing to listen to them and make an effort to apply them.