Portfolio Critique +K for serious criticism
- Thread starter Isaac.
- Start date
Michael_Thatcher
Member
Ok I'll try and give you some honest critique but it may come out a little harsh. Personally I'm not a fan of the smugmug header at the top but you're stuck with it (I find their logo cheesy). Your main picture on the page is low resolution so you may want to look into whats causing that (it isn't that sharp and looks blurry, but I think its a resolution issue).
Under the people category, moving left to right:
1. Creepy looking angle for this shot, I don't like it and wouldn't include it in your portfolio. It's also grainy. There are plenty of better angles to make that girl look more flattering.
2. Take it out of your portfolio, it doesn't fit the people category because its the shoe in focus, not the girl.
3. This image doesn't have a lot of interest for a "people" photo, its more of a scenery photo. Its also grainy and again, lacks sharpness.
4. I'd remove this photo, its out of focus, not that interesting, and looks like the guy is passed out.
5. I get what you're trying to do here but I don't think it worked out quite the way you wanted to. I think you're trying to say that people get so consumed in their phones that they don't notice what is around them? I think that's cool but you could make this a lot better by putting the camera on a tripod, long shutter speed, and then using a flash to freeze the girl texting. It would make the girl really stand out and she wouldn't be blurry. The shot also has some chromatic aberration in the tree and it has a weird purple tint. I know you can make this shot better!
Still Life
1. The first one is uninteresting and really not that impressive. You want to be showing your best images on your site (especially if you only have 3-5 in each category).
2. This isn't that good, it's a picture of a picture except you've got glare coming off of the frame that ruins it and it really isn't in focus. It makes you seem like an amateur by taking photos of other peoples work as well.
3. You got the glasses in focus here nicely but I think you could've cleaned it up in post a bit. I think you used some fake photoshop blurs which look pretty bad once you notice them. You could have also removed the serial number off the side of the sunglasses frame. If you really wanted to get picky you could also have changed the sunglasses lens so that you couldn't see yourself in the shot.
Ski
1. I like this shot. Good aspects are that you separated the skier from the background (he's above the trees and against the clear sky). The composition here is also nice. I think you crushed the blacks a little too much though and I think you missed focus by just a bit (it's still alright though).
2. This one is underexposed. Not sure how I feel about it. I think if you shot it a little wider so you could see more of the snow below the wall ride it would improve it a bit. You got the skier in focus this time though which is good.
3. Yuck, the shot and composition were fine (maybe leave a little more space above the skiers head) but the grungy HDR b&w is gross. The way the rail glows looks gross and the snow is turning grey.
4.You froze him against a clean background but you can't tell what the context is. Your just shooting the skier in the sky. Try showing some context to the shot (ie. the jump, landing, etc.)
5. Same as #4
6. Leave more space above and below the skier. This one could've been great because you got his skis in perfect focus, and it's visually appealing.
7. Same as #4 although this has too much contrast for my liking. It's also a snowboarder.
8. Best shot in this series. Basically addresses all of the problems I had with previous photos in this set. This one should be higher up (it's the last in your set).
Nature
1. Would have been better to see the birds head separate from the body.
2. Grainy but good composition, could straighten it a bit though.
3. Nice shot but could use some work in post (removing green aberration behind birds head, reducing saturation on the fence post, cleaning up some color noise, etc.)
4. Not really an image I would put in a portfolio. The blur on the lower half of the image looks weird too.
Places
1. The buildings are leaning sideways, straighten that
2. Again, leading sideways and could use some perspective correction in photoshop
3. Nice shot, I think its a little too closely cropped on the right though. You could also experiment with doing some dodging and burning to make the middle rock structure stand out.
4. Not really a fan, the waves are blurry and the foreground is uninteresting.
5. Underexposed and not that flattering. That's such a beautiful place and I know with a little planning you could take a much more flattering photo in that area.
6. This is a cool photo, you did a good job not overexposing the sky but the silhouette of the person kayaking could be a bit more defined.
7. It's a flattering sunset but a not so flattering angle. The background silhouette is blurry and the image doesn't seem level.
8. Decent photo but it isn't flattering by any means.
I'm not sure what you are trying to do with your website. If its just personal than keep it up. I think you could improve a lot by reading books about composition and lighting as well as getting ideas from others on here and trying to replicate their work (don't do this forever though, make sure you develop your own style). Also maybe watch a few YouTube videos about Photoshop/Lightroom. You seem to have the fundamentals down, you just need to take it to the next level.
Under the people category, moving left to right:
1. Creepy looking angle for this shot, I don't like it and wouldn't include it in your portfolio. It's also grainy. There are plenty of better angles to make that girl look more flattering.
2. Take it out of your portfolio, it doesn't fit the people category because its the shoe in focus, not the girl.
3. This image doesn't have a lot of interest for a "people" photo, its more of a scenery photo. Its also grainy and again, lacks sharpness.
4. I'd remove this photo, its out of focus, not that interesting, and looks like the guy is passed out.
5. I get what you're trying to do here but I don't think it worked out quite the way you wanted to. I think you're trying to say that people get so consumed in their phones that they don't notice what is around them? I think that's cool but you could make this a lot better by putting the camera on a tripod, long shutter speed, and then using a flash to freeze the girl texting. It would make the girl really stand out and she wouldn't be blurry. The shot also has some chromatic aberration in the tree and it has a weird purple tint. I know you can make this shot better!
Still Life
1. The first one is uninteresting and really not that impressive. You want to be showing your best images on your site (especially if you only have 3-5 in each category).
2. This isn't that good, it's a picture of a picture except you've got glare coming off of the frame that ruins it and it really isn't in focus. It makes you seem like an amateur by taking photos of other peoples work as well.
3. You got the glasses in focus here nicely but I think you could've cleaned it up in post a bit. I think you used some fake photoshop blurs which look pretty bad once you notice them. You could have also removed the serial number off the side of the sunglasses frame. If you really wanted to get picky you could also have changed the sunglasses lens so that you couldn't see yourself in the shot.
Ski
1. I like this shot. Good aspects are that you separated the skier from the background (he's above the trees and against the clear sky). The composition here is also nice. I think you crushed the blacks a little too much though and I think you missed focus by just a bit (it's still alright though).
2. This one is underexposed. Not sure how I feel about it. I think if you shot it a little wider so you could see more of the snow below the wall ride it would improve it a bit. You got the skier in focus this time though which is good.
3. Yuck, the shot and composition were fine (maybe leave a little more space above the skiers head) but the grungy HDR b&w is gross. The way the rail glows looks gross and the snow is turning grey.
4.You froze him against a clean background but you can't tell what the context is. Your just shooting the skier in the sky. Try showing some context to the shot (ie. the jump, landing, etc.)
5. Same as #4
6. Leave more space above and below the skier. This one could've been great because you got his skis in perfect focus, and it's visually appealing.
7. Same as #4 although this has too much contrast for my liking. It's also a snowboarder.
8. Best shot in this series. Basically addresses all of the problems I had with previous photos in this set. This one should be higher up (it's the last in your set).
Nature
1. Would have been better to see the birds head separate from the body.
2. Grainy but good composition, could straighten it a bit though.
3. Nice shot but could use some work in post (removing green aberration behind birds head, reducing saturation on the fence post, cleaning up some color noise, etc.)
4. Not really an image I would put in a portfolio. The blur on the lower half of the image looks weird too.
Places
1. The buildings are leaning sideways, straighten that
2. Again, leading sideways and could use some perspective correction in photoshop
3. Nice shot, I think its a little too closely cropped on the right though. You could also experiment with doing some dodging and burning to make the middle rock structure stand out.
4. Not really a fan, the waves are blurry and the foreground is uninteresting.
5. Underexposed and not that flattering. That's such a beautiful place and I know with a little planning you could take a much more flattering photo in that area.
6. This is a cool photo, you did a good job not overexposing the sky but the silhouette of the person kayaking could be a bit more defined.
7. It's a flattering sunset but a not so flattering angle. The background silhouette is blurry and the image doesn't seem level.
8. Decent photo but it isn't flattering by any means.
I'm not sure what you are trying to do with your website. If its just personal than keep it up. I think you could improve a lot by reading books about composition and lighting as well as getting ideas from others on here and trying to replicate their work (don't do this forever though, make sure you develop your own style). Also maybe watch a few YouTube videos about Photoshop/Lightroom. You seem to have the fundamentals down, you just need to take it to the next level.
Isaac.
Member
13669755:Michael_Thatcher said:
First off, thanks for taking the time to really look at it, it means a lot. Second, at this point its merely a hobby, as I've never taken any classes or really even watched tutorials, but I'll definitely try that.
For the people gallary, I really haven't had much experience shooting people at all, so I put what shots I could into it. Clearly I need a lot of work. You got the idea of the phone picture though, so that's good.
For still life, again not much that I've shot. I might entirely remove it, but I actually didn't use any blurs on the glasses picture haha.
For skiing, this criticism is really helpful, thank you. Nice to know what works and what doesn't. Same goes for Nature.
For places, I didn't even notice the buildings sideways, but that's for pointing that out, I should be more aware next time.
Again, this criticism is exactly what I was looking for so thanks. I've only been shooting for a couple months, so now I think its time to step it up.
ascent_studios
Active member
The ski shots were underexposed and could use a lot of post
Check out this: http://www.altitudefotografy.com/
Grant^ makes his pictures perfect when it comes to exposure and you can learn a lot just by looking at one of his photos. I know I did
Check out this: http://www.altitudefotografy.com/
Grant^ makes his pictures perfect when it comes to exposure and you can learn a lot just by looking at one of his photos. I know I did
ascent_studios
Active member
13670150:Isaac. said:
No don't do that. You really don't need to pay money to get great classes online
Start with this video and then watch the others in his series and also look stuff up on your own
This channel is great too for anyone
ascent_studios
Active member
13670259:Isaac. said:
Oh ya nevermind then. Definitely take those classes and good luck!
I thought you meant pay for classes at some photography teaching thing or something
grantwhitty
Member
Going off of what Michael said, at this point I don't think it is all that necessary to have a portfolio website. Once you have a nice collection of decent shots, put the best 10-15 on there minimum. Then you have more than 3 or 6 photos in a gallery. I use smug mug for my site as well, let me know if you have any questions about it, I can try to help ya.
grantwhitty
Member
13669960:ben_collins said:
Thanks man
ascent_studios
Active member
13670312:AltitudeFoto said:Thanks man
Ya no problem! I bought a few of your pictures cause they're so good
grantwhitty
Member
I saw that! Thanks brother!
CabbyArrant
Member
topic:Isaac. said:
I think you are making technically good shots but I feel that some of them are compositionaly lacking; I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the subject because it's something I struggled with for a long time. There was one or twk photos I want sure about though, the monochrome shot in the city I feel would have been better had there not been the sun glaring off buildings. I always feel monochrome is better suited to overcast or hazy days if you are shooting outside, that's just me though. Another thing about it was the huge amount of contrast with the sky which I didn't particularly care for. There was also one picture of the Canyon and towers which left me wondering If you bracketed the photos from two different times. The tower in the foreground looked as if it was illuminated by the sun yet the sky was overcast.
all in all just keep trying it gets better with time but you are well on your way
ascent_studios
Active member
13671237:Isaac. said:
Those look so much better!