Sharing Comments and Criticism..

[havoc315]

So I had an idea for a new thread. We all seem to do so much photo sharing, within the threads of our own camera brands. But to me, it's pretty meaningless if my photo was taken with a Sony or Canon or Nikon or Fuji.
We have some great photographers on this board. And many of us, myself included, are still growing as photographers, often learning from each other.

So I thought I would try this thread.... A place to post pictures, and take comments and criticism of the photos. A chance to learn from each other, by opening our work up to constructive criticism.

I invite everyone to be honest.... When sharing a photo in this thread, we should feel free to discuss its technical, compositional, and post-processing aspects. What we liked about the photo, what we disliked, ways it might be processed in a better fashion.

This is a chance to learn from each other. We should all try to have a bit of a thick skin... I am happy to take harsh criticism of my work.

I'll go first and put myself out there:
Sunrise at 5 Island Park by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Now Criticism of my own photo, that I can see now that I'm looking more carefully:
I have some pretty bad CA. Another pass through lightroom, and I *might* be able to take care of it.
I also might have gotten some nice sun-burst had I shot with a smaller aperture. Though I had enough light to shoot handheld, a smaller aperture, slower shutter speed, and tripod might have given me a sharper photo. The corners are quite soft.
I mostly like my composition, though the sun is a bit too far off into the corner, and the horizon is a bit too close to the center.
The overhanging branches and leaves are horrible, and I should have cloned them out in photoshot.

 

[fractal]

Great idea for a thread. Thick skin indeed. :0

First off, the light you captured is beautiful. I agree with the CA. Star burst may have or may have not been better. The glow of the sun and the color of the light off the grass gives is a warm comfortable feeling that I like.

Composition wise, I would have cropped out the entire right 1/3 of the shot (taken out the dead tree) and cropped down from the top (as you said) to take out the overhead branches, which would then raise the horizon. I would also like the sun in slightly more towards the center. past what looks like a trash can to maybe between that bench and lamppost. Also in post I may have screwed around with a graduated filter to see how the sky looked a bit less exposed.

The interesting and best part of this photo to me is the warmth of the sun and it's light through the trees and on to the grass and leaves. It's very inviting - makes you want to throw down a blanket and enjoy. Everything else is distracting.

 

[fractal]

Here's one of mine. I took a bunch of shots of this sponge boat and at the time I was so excited because it was interesting to me. Don't really like any of them including this one.

So, fire away, what could I have done better?

 

[havoc315]

Here's one of mine. I took a bunch of shots of this sponge boat and at the time I was so excited because it was interesting to me. Don't really like any of them including this one.

So, fire away, what could I have done better?

The issue to my eye, is the clutter, especially the blue rope dividing the frame in half. So you have a frame of clutter, without any clearly defined subject to draw the viewers' interest.

This is often unavoidable in an unstaged shot.

If I could shoot it all over again, I'd try two opposite directions -- use a telephoto like your 200/2.8 for an interesting detail shot. Maybe just of the sponges.
Or step back with a wide angle lens, and try to capture the whole boat.

In terms of this capture, I like the position of the dock on the right. I'm just very distracted by that blue rope cutting the frame. You could try erasing it in Photoshop. A content aware erase might do the trick.

(And I'm going to try your suggested crop of my shot. Thank you for the feedback!)

 

[havoc315]

@fractal Took your advice on the crop.... Still need to fix a couple more things, but you were absolutely right about the crop. This is much better. I just wish I had framed it more like this originally.

Sunrise at 5 Island Park by Adam Brown, on Flickr

 

[fractal]

The issue to my eye, is the clutter, especially the blue rope dividing the frame in half. So you have a frame of clutter, without any clearly defined subject to draw the viewers' interest.

This is often unavoidable in an unstaged shot.

If I could shoot it all over again, I'd try two opposite directions -- use a telephoto like your 200/2.8 for an interesting detail shot. Maybe just of the sponges.
Or step back with a wide angle lens, and try to capture the whole boat.

In terms of this capture, I like the position of the dock on the right. I'm just very distracted by that blue rope cutting the frame. You could try erasing it in Photoshop. A content aware erase might do the trick.

(And I'm going to try your suggested crop of my shot. Thank you for the feedback!)

thanks @havoc315 . I think a wider angel shot would do the trick.

The blue rope - thats it! There was always something that bothered me with this shot and you spotted it. One of the things I'm trying to do a better job with is taking into account the background and foreground and taking more time composing a shot. Maybe I'll try this in B&W.

 

[havoc315]

thanks @havoc315 . I think a wider angel shot would do the trick.

The blue rope - thats it! There was always something that bothered me with this shot and you spotted it. One of the things I'm trying to do a better job with is taking into account the background and foreground and taking more time composing a shot. Maybe I'll try this in B&W.

To me, that still is one of my biggest issues. Especially when shooting portraits, you need to pay attention to so many factors. Pick the best angle and location for the light. Pose your subject. Be conscious of the aperture you're shooting. I'll often neglect to notice some stray elements in the foreground or background.

Fortunately, you can do wonders with photoshop at times.

I like this shot of my son, except for cutting off the tip of his foot:
alaska-326-Edit.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

But as I was taking it, there was a girl passing by the railing on the far right. Now, I liked the composition, so I didn't want to crop her out. If you look very very carefully at the railing, you can see it is photoshopped. But you really have to look pretty carefully to tell. I tried to remove the guy in the background playing with his shirt, but the background was too complex for me to remove him with my limited photoshop skills. I feel like a total novice whenever I open photoshop.

 

[fractal]

Took this portrait of my Nephew. It was my first "real" portrait shoot. whoops - no feet for you! lol.

 

[havoc315]

Took this portrait of my Nephew. It was my first "real" portrait shoot. whoops - no feet for you! lol.

Alright, I may get a little harsh here......

The good, I like the light. In general, I like his posture, looks relaxed.
Now what I would have done differently, personally..... The wall is very interesting rockwork -- and becomes more prominent than him. What aperture and focal length were you shooting at? I would have pulled him forward from the wall and shot with narrower DOF, to create some separation from the wall.
Second, you typically don't want to shoot so low, you don't want to be shooting up at his face. Though that can become subjective. if you are trying to give him a very strong imposing look, it works for that. If you wanted to make him look warm and friendly, it doesn't work.
Last, you didn't leave enough space over the top of his head. Most people make the opposite mistake -- the face too low in the frame. But you made the opposite mistake, too high. Think of your rule of thirds grid... head should be around the height where he has the logo of shirt shirt.
Without pixel peeping, it's hard to tell, but looks like you may have missed focus as well. The wall almost looks sharper than he does.

Here is a portrait of my son with a similar backdrop:

untitled-103.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

 

[dmaxphil]

So I had an idea for a new thread. We all seem to do so much photo sharing, within the threads of our own camera brands. But to me, it's pretty meaningless if my photo was taken with a Sony or Canon or Nikon or Fuji.
We have some great photographers on this board. And many of us, myself included, are still growing as photographers, often learning from each other.

So I thought I would try this thread.... A place to post pictures, and take comments and criticism of the photos. A chance to learn from each other, by opening our work up to constructive criticism.

I invite everyone to be honest.... When sharing a photo in this thread, we should feel free to discuss its technical, compositional, and post-processing aspects. What we liked about the photo, what we disliked, ways it might be processed in a better fashion.

This is a chance to learn from each other. We should all try to have a bit of a thick skin... I am happy to take harsh criticism of my work.

I'll go first and put myself out there:
Sunrise at 5 Island Park by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Now Criticism of my own photo, that I can see now that I'm looking more carefully:
I have some pretty bad CA. Another pass through lightroom, and I *might* be able to take care of it.
I also might have gotten some nice sun-burst had I shot with a smaller aperture. Though I had enough light to shoot handheld, a smaller aperture, slower shutter speed, and tripod might have given me a sharper photo. The corners are quite soft.
I mostly like my composition, though the sun is a bit too far off into the corner, and the horizon is a bit too close to the center.
The overhanging branches and leaves are horrible, and I should have cloned them out in photoshot.

Having cataract surgery next week - I've let my eyes get pretty bad. So I can't really critique much. Regarding composition - some photos just don't work for me and this is one of them. I would have tried something else. Maybe closer to water with the fence along the shore, trees on left and background with a big fat sunburst somewhere. Love the colors.

Here's one of mine. I took a bunch of shots of this sponge boat and at the time I was so excited because it was interesting to me. Don't really like any of them including this one.

So, fire away, what could I have done better?

Maybe get lower towards rear of boat and capture the entire front to back and left out everything from white pole to left and incorporate more of whatever structure was to the left. Or maybe so closeups of details, curves of boat, rust, cabling, rope or mechanical stuff or go black and white, or vignette out some of the details. Cluttered, busy. In other words, I have no idea.

To me, that still is one of my biggest issues. Especially when shooting portraits, you need to pay attention to so many factors. Pick the best angle and location for the light. Pose your subject. Be conscious of the aperture you're shooting. I'll often neglect to notice some stray elements in the foreground or background.

Fortunately, you can do wonders with photoshop at times.

I like this shot of my son, except for cutting off the tip of his foot:
alaska-326-Edit.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

But as I was taking it, there was a girl passing by the railing on the far right. Now, I liked the composition, so I didn't want to crop her out. If you look very very carefully at the railing, you can see it is photoshopped. But you really have to look pretty carefully to tell. I tried to remove the guy in the background playing with his shirt, but the background was too complex for me to remove him with my limited photoshop skills. I feel like a total novice whenever I open photoshop.

Cool picture of your kid, but he's not really the focus. My eyes are drawn to the guy leaning over the rail. Decent enough job with PS. Just looks like a bad paint job on the wood. I wouldn't have noticed.

Took this portrait of my Nephew. It was my first "real" portrait shoot. whoops - no feet for you! lol.

I like it - Obviously he would be better with feet, but I've seen this this type a shot in sports magazines. A darker background should do the trick. Hope you don't mind but I played with it. I'll delete after you have a chance to see.

Alright, I may get a little harsh here......

The good, I like the light. In general, I like his posture, looks relaxed.
Now what I would have done differently, personally..... The wall is very interesting rockwork -- and becomes more prominent than him. What aperture and focal length were you shooting at? I would have pulled him forward from the wall and shot with narrower DOF, to create some separation from the wall.
Second, you typically don't want to shoot so low, you don't want to be shooting up at his face. Though that can become subjective. if you are trying to give him a very strong imposing look, it works for that. If you wanted to make him look warm and friendly, it doesn't work.
Last, you didn't leave enough space over the top of his head. Most people make the opposite mistake -- the face too low in the frame. But you made the opposite mistake, too high. Think of your rule of thirds grid... head should be around the height where he has the logo of shirt shirt.
Without pixel peeping, it's hard to tell, but looks like you may have missed focus as well. The wall almost looks sharper than he does.

Here is a portrait of my son with a similar backdrop:

untitled-103.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

I like this as well. Again, I'd probably adjust the background so the subject's face would stand out a bit. His skin tone is a little too similar to the background. I really like the composition.

I have crazy thick skin, so will post some of mine shortly.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm enjoying the discussion. Great idea for a thread!

 

[dmaxphil]

I visited a museum a while back and nothing seemed to work for me. There were lots of cool lights, shapes, reflections but nothing really came of it.

Some examples.

 

[dmaxphil]

And here's photo of my daughter I really like, but I've got mixed reactions when showing it to people I know. I mean it was a dark room, handheld flash and actually got close on focus with a pitch black evf.

Caroline Art - B&W on Flickr

 

[havoc315]

I like it - Obviously he would be better with feet, but I've seen this this type a shot in sports magazines. A darker background should do the trick. Hope you don't mind but I played with it. I'll delete after you have a chance to see.

.

The darkened background makes a world of difference here. Nice idea.

 

[havoc315]

I visited a museum a while back and nothing seemed to work for me. There were lots of cool lights, shapes, reflections but nothing really came of it.

Some examples.

Hate when that happens... seems like a cool place to photograph, but nothing really works. Nothing technically wrong with the top shot that I see... But all those reflections just create a dizzy image, instead of something special. I might have tried going ultra ultra wide, moving close to the mummy and still getting background. Just a thought, not sure if it would have worked.

The second image..... the lit display on the right takes away from the image, creating confusion of where the viewer should focus.

I think this crop works a little bit better:
i-f28KVVX-XL by Adam Brown, on Flickr

May have also worked better if taken from a lower angle... hard to say.

 

[havoc315]

And here's photo of my daughter I really like, but I've got mixed reactions when showing it to people I know. I mean it was a dark room, handheld flash and actually got close on focus with a pitch black evf.

Caroline Art - B&W on Flickr

Count me in the camp that loves this shot. If I'm going to nitpick, I might darken the zebra print in the top right corner, just bury it into shadow. The one negative element is the hand. Obviously, out of focus was a necessity due to the narrow depth of field. But combined with the perception that the hand is bigger due to being closer to the camera, it distorts the size of the hand a bit and makes it look unnaturally big. So perhaps, a tighter crop might work a little bit better. But I'm being super nitpicky (which is the point of this thread). Honestly, I really like the picture as it is.

 

[havoc315]

So taking the feedback here on the first shot I posted, including my own feedback when I looked more closely.....

This is my new result after new cropping and photoshopping:

models125-16-Edit.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Still far from perfect. As a footnote, I wasn't there for the express purpose of shooting landscapes. I was waiting on the arrival of a model for a shoot and essentially did a couple snap shots as the sun came up. I likely would have moved closer to the water and framed it with far more thought, if I was there just to shoot landscapes.

 

[dmaxphil]

A lot better. Pretty good photoshopping to remove the branches from the tree you were standing under.

 

[havoc315]

Now that we have gotten the ball rolling..
Not sure if I like this shot or not, but it does make me hungry:

Sliders at Chappaqua Station by Adam Brown, on Flickr

 

[dmaxphil]

That looks yummy