Critique on Nature Photos

[jtimmons]

Please provide critique on these photos from around my neck of the woods...

Thanks!

[1]

[2]

[3]

 

[jann1033]

nice shots, esp. like the bluebird!

 

[PhotobearSam]

That first shot could be used in advertising...Nice shot.

The others are very nice but that 1st on is the bomb...

 

[MICKEY88]

Wow

 

[MicMin]

Great pictures. That is an amazing shot of the bluebird.

 

[photo_chick]

That is a great stop on the first shot!

 

[scejas]

I love the first shot -- the second shot makes a great screen saver (especially for a city boy like me)....

 

[tinksdad]

Nice work!! I like all of them, but the bluebird caught midflight is very nice. You even got the daddy longlegs spider in that shot too!! Surprised the bird didn't already eat him......

 

[AbbysFamily]

Well, since you asked for Critique....
The first and 2nd shots are great. DOF is perfect (narrow in 1, deep in 2)..

Shot 3 doesn't do it for me at all.. Its mostly a feel thing... My first impression was that there was more picture to the right that was 'cut off'. The 'blades of grass' and the shadows seem to detract too for me.

All in all, incredible shots!

 

[DueyDooDah]

I agree with the other comments. I would have probably PSed the insect in the first shot. It leads my eye away from the subject.

 

[tiggr33]

You did say critique, so here goes, I'm going to take an approach different from other coments here. I compete in a photography club locally, that is state and PSA goverened. If you entered the first two into a nature classification in a competition they would be disqualified, as the hand of man shows in both.
#1 Would fall into Pictorial as would #2. By hand of man, I mean the birdhouse and the bridge. I do not like the brightness of the birdhouse. It distracts my eye.
#2 I would crop the left more, I find the tree in the foreground distracting. Not sure since all computers are different, but I find the lighting harsh. Was it the middle of the afternoon? I would have tried this shot earlier or later in the day.
#3 Crop more off the left, and not as much off on the right. Again I am not fond of the lighting, I'd like to see more and softer shadowing. It just doesn't pop for me.

 

[Miss Kelly]

Love #2! Would look fantastic in a chocolate color or in black & white.

#3 could use a color pop

 

[MarkBarbieri]

My order of preference matched the display order.

Shot #1
I love the "pose" and the composition. It looks like you missed with the focus, getting the birdhouse rather than the bird. The shutter speed was also too slow to freeze the wing. Fill-in-flash might have helped lighten up the bird, which is dark relative to the birdhouse.

Shot #2
Like tiggr33, I'm not too keen on the composition. The foreground shadows and tree on the left distract. I'd also find a more interesting place in the picture for the bridge; dead center is rarely a good spot to put your focal point. It might have been better if you'd moved left and aimed right, removing the foreground tree, keeping the sunlit yellow flowers in the foreground, and moving the bridge up and to the left.

Shot #3
You have a big empty space on the left. Either the back part of the flower or the flower behind your flower is out of focus and distracting. It just doesn't tell me an interesting story. It just looks like a flower past it's prime. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be looking at.

Nice pictures.

 

[jtimmons]

Thank all of you for the comments and thanks for all of the great (Harsh) criticism on the photos. I really enjoy the criticism to try and better my photo taking skills.

I also received this comment from the moderator at thephotoforum.com

QUote"The motion blur in the wings works just perfectly for me, even more frozen action would have killed the feeling of flapping wings, I am amazed at finding the far wing almost without blur, anyway. What a lucky moment to be captured so perfectly! I envy you for this one! Nice light, too, and a wonderful background (also colourwise - ah, you need to know me better to understand).

The second is "serenity" ... very soothing sights, lovely reflections.

I do like the reddish either early morning or late evening light on the flower in the last! The out-of-focus mirror-image flower helps this photo a lot, as does the chosen DOF (depth of field) and good focus. And the flowers as such are lovely, too.

One nitpick, though: your presentation size is too large.
They are 1024 wide (the horizontal ones), which means that all those with older screens will have to scroll horizontally to see the whole of the photo, which will not help you get replies.
Experience has shown that the best size for the long side of your photo is between 640 and 800 pixels."

 

[AKLforever]

I love #2, how did u take that? What settings?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It shows how subjective photography is. I honestly liked the first two pictures. I just thought I'd try to help by pointing out things that might make them better. I think photo forums would be better if people offered constructive criticism more often rather than just real or polite compliments. I think you learn more than way, even in those cases where you don't agree with the criticisms.

I guess he's right about the presentation size. A surprising number of people still run monitors at 1024x768. Given that the browser itself will consume some of that real estate, you should post smaller for a general audience. Some people actually run at 800x600, but I just ignore people like that.

We had a professionally judged photo contest at a local photography club last night. It was interesting to see how much I disagreed with the judges and how much they disagreed with each other. One of the judges also made it clear that so much of what appeals or does not appeal about a photo depends on the mood of the judge. He'd had a really hectic day, so he was particularly drawn to calm photos that night.

 

[tiggr33]

It shows how subjective photography is. I honestly liked the first two pictures. I just thought I'd try to help by pointing out things that might make them better. I think photo forums would be better if people offered constructive criticism more often rather than just real or polite compliments. I think you learn more than way, even in those cases where you don't agree with the criticisms.

We had a professionally judged photo contest at a local photography club last night. It was interesting to see how much I disagreed with the judges and how much they disagreed with each other. One of the judges also made it clear that so much of what appeals or does not appeal about a photo depends on the mood of the judge. He'd had a really hectic day, so he was particularly drawn to calm photos that night.

I fully agree with what Mark said. Photography certainly is subjective. And a critique or judging, is open to perception. I did not say I didn't like the photo's. I offered a critique based on my perception, and my honest opinion. OP, sorry you felt mine or other comments were harsh.

I agree that learning from critiques is invaluable learning tool. I have entered competitions thinking I was going home with a 10 and slide or picture of the month, only to go home with a 6 and solid critique. (6 doesn't get advanaced or get an honorable mention in the local scoring system). I've taken a couple of the photos applied the suggestions of the crituque and have gone home with a HM or better.

If you open yourself to be critiqued, by asking for it or by competing, you have to be prepared to hear the worst. Hopefully you get more postives, but you will hear some negatives too. Sorry you felt I was harsh, buy my Momma always taught me honesty was the best policy.

 

[jtimmons]

Oh, I don't want my previous comment to be taken the wrong way. I appreciate tggr3 (??) and mark's comments more than any comments I have received so far. (I meant harsh in a good way) In order to learn, you have to be challenged! Again thanks for all of the help. Also, does anyone know of a website or something where I can submit my photos to be viewed as potential photos for publishing???? I have my photos, but I want to try and get a few of them "out there". Thanks, Jonathan