Photo critique from my trip up north
- Thread starter rudedog41
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buttrapinpirate
Member
For the most part I'd say pretty good photos, my only few critiques would be
1. Photos 2-5 weren't the best color wise, they seemed to have too much of one color, like mostly all orange or all blue (like 2 especially it felt flat and lacked color depth). but photos like 6 were great balance wise.
2. Maybe work on your composition, if you want things to be dead center, make sure that they absolutely are. If not it detracts from the point of the photo and makes the viewer focus on the fact that the photo is just slightly off. But some in there were well composed, like the paper airplane one (maybe my favorite photo of your lot.)
3. Whenever possible, underexpose. There were a few shots that had some really white spots in the shot, and they made it seem really bright and washed out. Not too bad, but could be better. My advice would be to shoot RAW and set your EV value down at anywhere from -1/2 to even -1.5 or -2 depending on what part of the shot you're metering for. The reason being that once you overexpose the shot, you can't pull down those highlights even in post. What has been overexposed cannot be undone. If you underexpose certain parts of your image you can pull those shadows out in post with very little issues.
That's just my opinion, and I thought they were pretty good photos (way better than average) so don't take my critiques away as that I didn't like the photos altogether, just what could take them from good to great. +k man
1. Photos 2-5 weren't the best color wise, they seemed to have too much of one color, like mostly all orange or all blue (like 2 especially it felt flat and lacked color depth). but photos like 6 were great balance wise.
2. Maybe work on your composition, if you want things to be dead center, make sure that they absolutely are. If not it detracts from the point of the photo and makes the viewer focus on the fact that the photo is just slightly off. But some in there were well composed, like the paper airplane one (maybe my favorite photo of your lot.)
3. Whenever possible, underexpose. There were a few shots that had some really white spots in the shot, and they made it seem really bright and washed out. Not too bad, but could be better. My advice would be to shoot RAW and set your EV value down at anywhere from -1/2 to even -1.5 or -2 depending on what part of the shot you're metering for. The reason being that once you overexpose the shot, you can't pull down those highlights even in post. What has been overexposed cannot be undone. If you underexpose certain parts of your image you can pull those shadows out in post with very little issues.
That's just my opinion, and I thought they were pretty good photos (way better than average) so don't take my critiques away as that I didn't like the photos altogether, just what could take them from good to great. +k man
buttrapinpirate
Member
Sorry for dub post here, but I'd say the second and third to last photos were also some of the best ones, with the boy and the pier. The boy one was cool in that it's not a common perspective and I like nontraditional shots and angles from the uniqueness standpoint. The pier one was certainly what I meant with composition, it's a sick shot, it's just slightly off. If it was composed perfectly it might be one of my favorites.
rudedog41
Member
Thanks a lot ill definitely do that stuff you suggested...I really appreciate the time you put in to that. I really like the airplane one too, there's actually a bottle rocket attached and we tried to launch it...didn't go so well though haha. And were you talking about the one with the kid holding the phone when you said "the boy on the pier", he was trying to get reception.
CheddarJack
Active member
The framing on the second picture kinda bugs me. If it were me taking the photo, I would've either but the boat in the far right or far left of the frame and zoomed out a bit. The "rule" I generally go by when taking pictures of moving objects like cars, boats, bikes, etc is to put the object (granted it's the subject) leading into the frame (in your case, put the boat on the right side since it's traveling to the left), unless you want the focus to be on the back of the object or the trail it's leaving. Either way, I like to leave abut 2/3rds of the frame as empty space to give the viewer a feel of movement. However, In your picture, I feel like the guy kinda looking ahead in the back of the boat could be a cool subject, rather than the boat itself. In this case, I'd put him in the center of the frame with the boat in the left half and water (empty space) in the right half. It's kinda funny how taking a good picture of something so often comes down to the things in the picture that aren't even the focus of it.
Of course, there's no right and wrong and you could totally hate what I suggested - and that's fine. That's what's so cool about art, IMO. I liked your photos a lot too. The one looking up on the boy taking a picture is probably my favorite. I'd have liked the one of him on the bench the best if the coloring was correct. Overall, that's a pretty solid set, especially for someone using his dad's camera!
Of course, there's no right and wrong and you could totally hate what I suggested - and that's fine. That's what's so cool about art, IMO. I liked your photos a lot too. The one looking up on the boy taking a picture is probably my favorite. I'd have liked the one of him on the bench the best if the coloring was correct. Overall, that's a pretty solid set, especially for someone using his dad's camera!
rudedog41
Member
Haha thanks, I get the thing about things that aren't the subject can make or break the picture. I probably would've done the same thing with the picture but I didn't think like that when taking it because the boat was just flying by...and yeah, its a d3100. Not the best dslr, and probably the cheapest haha.
CheddarJack
Active member
Sorry for the double post but I meant to say 1/3rd or 2/3rds empty space. Although if the object is leaving an interesting trail or it's going down a path or something, 2/3rds generally looks better. It's all style though, so it's not very important as to which you chose, just keep in mind that different framing gives the photo a different attitude.
Idk if you know of the Rule of Thirds but it really helps when composing pictures. If you don't, google it. It's pretty simple and can make a picture look way more professional.
Idk if you know of the Rule of Thirds but it really helps when composing pictures. If you don't, google it. It's pretty simple and can make a picture look way more professional.
CheddarJack
Active member
haha yeah it can be really tough. My way of cheating is to take a zoomed out picture and then crop it. That's a solid camera though, my buddy has it.
buttrapinpirate
Member
Rule of thirds always helps everything, good mentioning that. It helps because when you try and get something dead center, it's not always perfect, and it looks awkward anyways. Also if you try and compose your focus point the the upper left third of the image, it tends to have the best result for the viewer. There have been tests on that sadly.
No.Quarter
Active member
*Regarding rule of thirds*
which do you think looks better
Basically, the rule of thirds shows that you take time to compose your shots, and it makes the picture more interesting.
Most macro photography doesn't use the thirds rule, that is why most, but not all, macro stuff is boring IMO
which do you think looks better
Basically, the rule of thirds shows that you take time to compose your shots, and it makes the picture more interesting.
Most macro photography doesn't use the thirds rule, that is why most, but not all, macro stuff is boring IMO
bigbromskier
Active member
pretty good job, man! I like how they're just simple compositions that are, for the most part, pretty well composed. I also like the soft kinda vintage feel to them all--that boat picture could be straight out of the 80s haha.
I'd scrap the 4th(?) one with the silhouette over orange. it could be cool, but the silhouette isn't that well defined and the orange and black is just overpowering in my opinion; where am I supposed to look? my eyes are just vibrating back and forth. also, when you're doing kinda mellow coloring like you have, make sure it's not too mellow or it'll just be boring--just a recommendation for the future.
I think my favorite is the one where the kid's sitting on the dock just looking into the water..simple, but poignant I guess I might say. I also like the one of the girl, but if it weren't for her expression it wouldn't really be much.
keep it up!
I'd scrap the 4th(?) one with the silhouette over orange. it could be cool, but the silhouette isn't that well defined and the orange and black is just overpowering in my opinion; where am I supposed to look? my eyes are just vibrating back and forth. also, when you're doing kinda mellow coloring like you have, make sure it's not too mellow or it'll just be boring--just a recommendation for the future.
I think my favorite is the one where the kid's sitting on the dock just looking into the water..simple, but poignant I guess I might say. I also like the one of the girl, but if it weren't for her expression it wouldn't really be much.
keep it up!