Well here are some of my photos

PureEvil · Aug 12, 2012

Well these are some of the first real pictures I have ever taken, feel free to say what you want about them.

To give some BackGround:

Iam from Michigan, but Iam out in North Dakota working in the Bakken Oil Fields. Iam currently driving a truck, and Iam located in Beulah, ND where most of the pics are from but a few are from a load a hauled to Montana.

Sunset at Beulah Bay, ND

1.

2.

3.

4.

Long roads to no where Beulah, ND and Montana

5.

6.

7.

Endless Fields Beulah, ND and Montana:

8.

9.

Beulah Bay, ND

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Hope you like them,
PureEvil

LaFoto · Aug 12, 2012

These are waaaayyyy too many photos for any in depth critiquing, and they all have issues and would need to be talked about. They are not numbered, which makes critiquing them even more difficult, plus this thread will get moved to the General Gallery. Choose one or two that are important to you and show those for critique, OK?

PureEvil · Aug 12, 2012

Well they are numbered now, but I cant really pick just a couple seeing how these are the first photos I ever took Iam really not sure which would be good and which would suck. Iam sure there are "mistakes" all though that would seem to be more of a matter of opinion, other then if they are blurry or something along the lines of that.

fjrabon · Aug 12, 2012

PureEvil said:
I am sure there are "mistakes" all though that would seem to be more of a matter of opinion

Jesus christ, already with this? Sure, there are some things that reasonable people can disagree about, but the kind of stuff that is wrong in these pictures, almost nobody would disagree about.

7: whatever is in the bottom of the frame is awful. You HAVE to watch your frames and avoid stuff like that, and on occasion when you miss it, crop it out.

11: tilted horizon

you also in general need to either do full silhouettes or use a method to expose the ground and sky properly. you can use HDR, manual exposure blending or a grad ND filter, which all have different strengths and weaknesses.

There were a lot more comments I can make, but as others have said, it's just way too much effort for some random stranger to wade through your 15 or so photos and give you critique on each one.

The overall biggest critique I can give you though is simply that these are nothing more than just snapshots of mundane scenery. Nothing about them is particularly appealing. When you're composing a shot, you should always ask yourself, "what exactly am I taking a picture of and is it worth showing to anybody but me?" The best tool the photographer has is the ability to look for and attempt only things where there is a subject of some sort, even if the subject is an abstract ideal. The second best tool the photographer has is the trashcan for when he or she didn't properly make use of the first tool.

sm4him · Aug 12, 2012

PureEvil said:
Well they are numbered now, but I cant really pick just a couple seeing how these are the first photos I ever took Iam really not sure which would be good and which would suck. Iam sure there are "mistakes" all though that would seem to be more of a matter of opinion, other then if they are blurry or something along the lines of that.

Yes, some C&C will be a matter of opinion, but then there are things like out of focus, focus on something other than the subject, tilted horizons, incorrect white balance, underexposure, overexposure, lack of well-thought out composition, and so forth. And since some of the more experienced photographers here would LIKE to help you "see" all those issues so you can learn to deal with them, they give quite good, in-depth C&C. But to do so on this many photos would simply take WAY too much time, so most people aren't going to bother.

That means it's your choice--post them all and get very little (if any) helpful C&C, or post a few and improve your chances of better C&C.

Look at them again--new or not, you have favorites. If you absolutely HAD to pick YOUR 3 favorite photos from the above, which ones would you pick? Post those, and then if you want, make another thread with 2 or 3 of the other "favorites." You'll do far better that way in terms of getting information that can help you improve.

Almost all of these have some potential, imo. But almost all of them also have some issues, some more so than others.

IMO--If these were MY photos and I were asking for C&C on them, I'd pick ONE of the sunset photos (maybe #4) and ONE of the road to nowhere photos for this thread, then make another thread with maybe #10 and #14. Those, IN MY OPINION, are the best shots compositionally. The others I just wouldn't put up for now. Take the C&C you get on those four and see if YOU can then determine what's wrong with the others.

That's what I'd do--but my opinion tends to be worth very nearly what you've paid for it.

Oh, and welcome to TPF!

pixmedic · Aug 12, 2012

soooo many photos, sooo little patience to get through them all.
2,3 and 4 are basically the same picture, slightly cropped different. pick one. I like #4 out of those since you have the horizon as a focus, just crop out the rest of the grass.. pick a spot to focus on. big wide shots are only good if you have something interesting to shoot that's big and wide.
the rest, uh..roads, rocks, fields... #10 was way out of focus. 5,6 and 7 looked like pretty much the same road. crop out the end of the car.
aaaand im spent. this forum needs limits on how many pics you can put in one post.

LaFoto · Aug 12, 2012

pixmedic said:
...this forum needs limits on how many pics you can put in one post.

Not the forum does - the members get the hint and should thus learn *sigh*

A very first step towards photography as something more serious than just producing a heap of snapshots (and I'm saying this in general - yet again!) is to learn to sort out among them and decide on which of the various attempts to capture the same scene is the most show-worthy. That is the first form of self critique and is very important.

So, "PureEvil", please go through them again and decide for which of the ones that are practically the same in different shapes is the best TO YOUR MIND and present only that one, will you?

ronlane · Aug 12, 2012

LaFoto said:
pixmedic said:

...this forum needs limits on how many pics you can put in one post.

Click to expand...

Not the forum does - the members get the hint and should thus learn *sigh*

A very first step towards photography as something more serious than just producing a heap of snapshots (and I'm saying this in general - yet again!) is to learn to sort out among them and decide on which of the various attempts to capture the same scene is the most show-worthy. That is the first form of self critique and is very important.

I agree that being selective and not just producing a heap of shots is what we are all looking for. In the few months that I have had my first dSLR, I can look back and see where I did the same thing, I took a lot of okay (at best) pictures. But as I have gotten on sites like this and gotten quality c&c, and just gotten better, I now find myself WAY more selective with what I post for people to see.

A question that I have that I was hoping someone could address is in 1-4, how do you make the sun look not as blown out? Is this something in PP using masks or layers?

manaheim · Aug 12, 2012

I think the OP needs to adjust his approach to everything before going any further. He's already defending his pictures before anyone even comments on them and not following the advice of not just a member... but a mod... not just a mod, but one of the most helpful, positive-energy, constructive people I've seen on the internet.

The pictures have plenty of issues, too.

LaFoto · Aug 12, 2012

ronlane said:
A question that I have that I was hoping someone could address is in 1-4, how do you make the sun look not as blown out? Is this something in PP using masks or layers?

With the sun still this high up, it is almost impossible not to have it show as white in the photo, with only the sky reflecting the sunset colours.
It needs to be really low, and you would need to be able to even look at it with your own eyes to get it orange.
The sun IS extremely bright for most of the time! It's brightness will always show.

greybeard · Aug 12, 2012

As a general comment, your photos are too centered. The horizon is dividing them in 1/2 in several and often the subject is dead center. With some careful cropping you could really improve these.

PureEvil · Aug 12, 2012

I am not ignoring the suggestions, I just work 12 - 14 hour days and don't always have the time to check the forums and edit my posts. I will try to pick out the few that I personally like in post them in there own thread. I did kinda do that, but guess I need to pick even less. These were my 16 favs out of the 70 I took sense I got the camera but I will try to select a few out of these.

PureEvil · Aug 12, 2012

Started a new thread with just 4 of them: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-gallery/295078-2nd-attempt.html

jowensphoto · Aug 12, 2012

In regard to composition, try not to center the subject so often; mix it up a bit.

You're greatest strength in these is use of leading lines.

timor · Aug 12, 2012

PureEvil said:
I am not ignoring the suggestions, I just work 12 - 14 hour days and don't always have the time ...

Me to. Pick one, the best in your opinion, get quality c&c, evaluate the rest before posting next. Those are quite boring pics, so the talk will be mostly about skills. In photography quality goes looong way before quantity.
Regards.