The SSP Photo Critique and Suggestion Thread
Given the extremely high level of skill so many of our SSP photographers exhibit in their photothreads here, I thought it would be a great idea to have a thread in which people could offer their photos for helpful and constructive critiquing, suggestions and the like. Let's face it, photography is an art form that takes years of practice and thousands to tens of thousands of photos to really develop true skill at, and we've all got occasions where we'd like others to help us get even better in our skills.
So with that being said, this thread is for us all to submit our photos here for others to give their critiques and suggestions on how to improve them. Just please keep comments and criticisms on a "professional" level, please. ;) If noone offers up any of their photos by this afternoon, I'll throw a couple in as the guinea pig. I'm really curious how much interest there will be in a thread like this! Aaron (Glowrock) |
I think it's a great idea! :) Let's try to all start taking Flash-quality photos, :haha:!
I'll volunteer one that represents an area I'm struggling with. Just so you know: I'm not defensive or possessive about my photography at all. Please be polite, :haha:, but don't hesitate to tear it apart. http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...h_edited-L.jpg So... I think I've got a handle on proportion, where to crop photos, how to compose them, etc. Sometimes, out of necessity (not wanting to include something ugly, wanting to include something attractive), I have to line things up a little strangely... but that's fine. I'd rather the left side of the photo look cut off a little too soon than to have half a building's blank wall in it. Where I'm struggling most is photographing at distances during the day and, especially, during the fog. I find the photos are often far too grainy. I've figured out that the main key seems to be leaving the shutter open as long as I possibly can and I have to process lightly, and ensure I reduce noise if I'm adding any HDR effects. Beyond that, I've no ideas what to do. Also, I often end up with a sky that's far too white. But I just can't figure out what to do short of taking separate photos for the land and sky and blending them as a panorama, such as this one: http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...8_edited-L.jpg Any advice, tips - GREATLY appreciated. :D |
Here's one of mine I could use some suggestions on:
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...psb8d13291.jpg |
Photo critiques are hard to do online. You'd have to be there in person to see he situation at hand.
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Aaron (Glowrock) |
Glowrock, the only thing I would suggest is to use the widest aperture you can when doing isolated portraits so the background won't be as detailed unless there's something back there that you would like to keep visible. What lens did you use for the pic you posted?
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Moral of the story: CHECK YOUR SETTINGS BEFORE SHOOTING!!! :yes: Aaron (Glowrock) |
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The blended image you posted still looks like the shadows are underexposed and the blending between the sky and buildings is unnatural. Do you have photoshop? You can select the sky easily along the roof line and then create a mask that allows the blue sky to show through. Right now it looks like there is a gradient applied to the mask which is why there is an odd transition from white to blue near the roofs. |
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A lot of times when you find a subject you like it helps to just observe for a bit. Usually you can wait for a better background or more decisive moment to come into view. As for the framing of the shot, the afro on the side and the green leafs in the background are too distracting. Maybe a change in position before you shot could have used the leaves to frame his head rather than pass through it. |
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I concur |
Maybe we should have a thread about 'How would you edit this photo?' - where forumers post a 'straight from the camera' shot in JPG format (for god's sake, in a reasonably sized format like no more than 1000 pixels in either height or width at 80 dpi?) and then those who can, edit the photo how they think it should be? Maybe the OP can offer a few lines of "I took this photo, trying to capture _______, and here are a few points of context" and let the editing folks run with it?
That said - glowrock, consider the focus of your photos; if you're focusing on one subject, i.e. a portrait - think of it as showing a performer on a stage. If you crop in too tightly, they have no stage for the 'magic' to show - if you don't crop enough, they get lost. When it comes to portrait or single-subject shots a good rule of thumb is 75% of the shot should be allocated for the subject. I noticed in some of the shots in your Cleveland thread with the West Side Market - part of the magic of the market is the backdrop. For example, the gal with the short-cropped hair at the Cheese Shop? Waaay too tight on the cropping, especially when you consider her surroundings - polished subway tile, the 'landscape' of cheeses, etc. Give me some time and I'll go through my archives and find examples. |
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But anyhow, I'm not going to get defensive, as I really do appreciate your comments. Just wanted to explain a few background details, that's all. ;) Aaron (Glowrock) edit: As to MayDay's comments above, I definitely do think I cropped a bit too tightly in some of my post-processing. Honestly, it's mainly because of the ISO issue/my own stupidity I mentioned above, leading to a far too constricted aperture, leading to backgrounds that are in far too great a focus and nowhere near as blurred as I would have liked them to be. Ah well, the learning process, eh? :) |
"Ah well, the learning process, eh?"
Yep, and it never stops and that's half the fun :) |
So, who's next in line in front of the SSP photography firing squad? Come on, don't be shy! Show us your photo(s) you want to have critiqued! :yes:
Aaron (Glowrock) |
Thanks, OkayYou! I think I will invest in Photoshop.
Right now I just use Sagelight for colour tweaks, and Windows Live Gallery or Hugin for merging panoramas. And I keep forgetting to monitor ISO. I'm not really in control of my camera's settings yet. I basically shoot in Auto No Flash during the day, and Manual (trying to achieve the slowest shutter speed while keeping the amount of light just left of centre on the little scale) at night. |
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But what throws this off the most is the open mouth dumb look he has. Not really showing dude in his best light. This is an example of a similar shot that is framed just a bit better. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6091/6...d658aa0d01.jpg Pirate with Sword by DiskoJoe, on Flickr See how I cut in between the wrist and the elbow? This could have been better though had I centered him more. |
I like the click how sweet the guy smile http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6091/6...d658aa0d01.jpg
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