Photo critique thread?

[timberghost72]

I've seen these type of threads on other sites so I thought I'd see if there is any interest here. The idea I was thinking is if you have a photo and are not sure about its composition, exposure, DOF, sharpness or post processing outcome you can post it up here and get some advice or feedback on it. One reason I was thinking this is sometimes I am not sure if my post processing is making the photo worse or better. Or how to improve on it. I am not a big fan of post processing only because I'd rather not sit at my computer for hours doing this. My eyes just get fuzzy  so my skills there are not great. So you can post one photo or post a before and after photo. What do you all think? I know there are some great photographers here and getting their ideas along with everyone else's would be beneficial. I'll post up first if there is some interest.

Tony

[Bean Counter]

Tony,

Sign me up. How about a rule? No loose praise or criticism without specific comments. "Great photo" will stroke my ego, but "I like contrast in the foreground" is useful feedback. The biggest fault of threads like these is people begin afraid to hurt someones feelings or everyone wanting to jump in on the backslapping bandwagon.

I also don't think we necessarily need to make a single discussion thread. You can just post a photo and put "C&C" in the subject line, soliciting comments and critique.

[timberghost72]

Tony,

Sign me up. How about a rule? No loose praise or criticism without specific comments. "Great photo" will stroke my ego, but "I like contrast in the foreground" is useful feedback. The biggest fault of threads like these is people begin afraid to hurt someones feelings or everyone wanting to jump in on the backslapping bandwagon.

I also don't think we necessarily need to make a single discussion thread. You can just post a photo and put "C&C" in the subject line, soliciting comments and critique.

Ego stroking is always nice  One other idea is the poster of a photo can ask about a specific element also instead of open feedback if they wanted. Being respectful and tactful will go a long ways to keep from hurting anyone's feelings and to also encourage people to continue as opposed to not posting something up because of negative feedback (different from positive constructive feedback). Either way whether there is a specific thread or a single post works. I was just thinking a thread might make it more fun to keep it organized so people can read through all the ideas put out there. Also the critique could also be positive feedback on the photo with respect to something specific that is done well. Idk, just some thoughts. I can post something up when I get home.

[timberghost72]

Ok I'll throw this one up. I like this photo scenery wise but the time of day made it tough to get a good exposure so I played around with. I use Lightroom 4. Before and after.

[Tree Killer]

timberghost... I think much less foreground would have made a better composition.  Maybe crop some of the foreground up to the dark bush and some off the left side of the frame.  Those clouds would be much more interesting then the dirt and scrub in the foreground.       Did you use a polarizer for this shot? 

[timberghost72]

Yeah, I think that would make the picture much better with the forground cropped out. Unfortunately I didn't have any filters when I went to Utah. I have since bought a circular polarizer but no other filters in the bag. I really should buy some since I like landscape photography. Thanks for the feedback 

[Bean Counter]

PP: I mostly agree with your choices of colors and contrast

Composition: I would have liked to see something in the frame for foreground interest. Maybe a rock or plant or something.

Good start.

[timberghost72]

I agree. Something in the foreground would be ideal.  Thanks

[wapiti hunter2]

Three things. Two of them are easy. One: your horizon line appears tilted a couple of degrees to the right. The second I saw the shot, my head tilted. Two: Utilize the rule of thirds when you compose the shot. I agree with the other comments, the foreground is not the interest. It is the cliffs and clouds are. Put the cliffs on the lower third line. two thirds clouds. Three: Polarizers help emphasize the clouds and make the sky bluer. But really, they are a crutch. In landscape photography, time of day is critical. Hour after sunrise and it is over till evening. But, again, sometimes you can't really control that.

This is a great photo to critique. I like your idea for this thread.

[Bean Counter]

Alright guys, lets have it...

[timberghost72]

BC, cool photo. The moon with the sunlit peak is neat.  Was this taken at high ISO? I'd maybe try and use a bit of noise reduction with adding some black and a little saturation on it. Definitely a keeper 

[wapiti hunter2]

I like this shot. It is hard to capture the pastels of the low light and not overexpose the moon. Because of the pastels, I don't even mind that it is not sharp. Excellent composition too. So my question is. Was this an actual moment in nature or did you need to phptoshop it?

[runamuk]

I am curious if an artist might be allowed to critique?  while I am not a photographer I am pretty educated in art, emphasis in sculpture and photography and visual arts education.  I was taught to critique.  However my own predilection is not even close to what many of the photographers might choose.

Timberghost your first image has a wonderful leading trail on the right if I were to compose the shot I would first use the lightroom straightening feature to set the horizon line correct this is one image where I think it would benefit from that.  Then using that line that draws the eye back to the two rocky outcrops as the focal point of the first third and crop from the left there is an awful lot of extra rock that is unneeded.  The foreground will actually look less excessive once some of that rock and less dynamic sky has been removed. Then crop foreground based on what you feel looks most like how you remember or want people to see the landscape.  The contrast looks better in the second and the color is also more saturated however I think you could possibly tweak some of the areas independently simply warming and cooling a little.  Cool down the sky and foreground and warm up the rocks. Play with it and have fun some of my best work happened when I was willing to totally trash something and screwup in a big way.
Find your eye as well, if lanbdscapes intrigue you I suggest you read about how Ansel Adams created his landscapes nothing he ever shot actually looks how he presented it and its a great thing to learn that he manufactured the landscapes he is so famous for.  Man for the first time ever i wish I was in a live room critiquing in person typing it out is a pain.

I also wont hurt someones feelings I will always try to frame a critique in a positive manner. if someone is hesitant because they dont like being ripped apart I offered before I will privately critique things this is actually what i have been trained to do and oddly I like it, looking at art makes me extremely happy.

[wapiti hunter2]

I think those of us who are going to participate should show some work too. Here is one of my favorite shots.

[JohnVH]

I like these threads, a little critique never hurts.  Biggest thing I see with pictures is they are not sharp with no DOF, and if its an action shot, the shutter is so fast it stops its motion, like airplanes for example, or cars, if they are moving, the back ground should be blurrier than the subject.

looking through my pic gallery, man its been too long since Ive been out shooting...

[runamuk]

um the vast majority of my photography is fetish stuff and not allowed on a site like this.  my non fetish stuff is what I do as snapshots just for kicks.  wonder if there are no body parts and just items if that would be doable.  I also tend to make a print and not edit so much for digital, like things to be one of a kind and only one of them.

ok this is just a fun flower I ran across while on a little hike this does give an idea of my vision I tend to tight crop and get in close to what I shoot. 

[timberghost72]

Run, been waiting for someone to see that trail. That is why I like this pic and why I chose it. I knew there were problems with the pic as a whole but the trail leads you out to the expanse and its why I like it. As for the horizon it's hard to say because that plateau is at an angle and moving away from my position, not perpendicular,  so it naturally looks slanted to the right and two individual plateaus are a lot further away. When I get home I'll correct the horizon and see how it affects the valley floor and where it meets up to the plateau. Im thinking the valley floor might end up being skewed upward.

And yes, I think an artists outlook is a great addition to this. 

[jyerxa]

I've seen these type of threads on other sites so I thought I'd see if there is any interest here. The idea I was thinking is if you have a photo and are not sure about its composition, exposure, DOF, sharpness or post processing outcome you can post it up here and get some advice or feedback on it. One reason I was thinking this is sometimes I am not sure if my post processing is making the photo worse or better. Or how to improve on it. I am not a big fan of post processing only because I'd rather not sit at my computer for hours doing this. My eyes just get fuzzy  so my skills there are not great. So you can post one photo or post a before and after photo. What do you all think? I know there are some great photographers here and getting their ideas along with everyone else's would be beneficial. I'll post up first if there is some interest.

Tony

I LOVE this idea! 

I am my own worst critique. But I think that is good. I want excellence every time I touch the shutter release. I know what I am after and I don't think I have ever really mastered a camera. A camera has just been an extension of what I see. And then I try to capture it. I do take a lot of memorable family pictures. But the excellence of a photograph I find elusive. There are some truly outstanding photographers here. And I have learned a lot from their experience. It is just applying it now. And usually I forget before I get around toit. CRS. 

In my way of thinking using photoshop is really taboo. I want captured what I see. And this thread can help all of us and maybe even help our master photographers too. Teaching also teaches the teacher with the questions asked. 

[jyerxa]

Alright guys, lets have it...

I'm just catching up to all of this.

I love that photo's composition. Very cool. If I would try to take that same photo I would want to reduce the haze and make it sharp. Is there a way to do that? I don't know. That is exactly how you took this photo right?

[timberghost72]

@ Runamuk,
I think you nailed the rule of thirds with this photo  . I really like how the flowers flow across the top of the photo, then drop down into the third segment of the photo. It flows well and it adds much more than just a flower shot. I like some extra saturation in photos so if it were mine, I'd probably bump that up a bit and maybe sharpen it up some.

[jyerxa]

I think those of us who are going to participate should show some work too. Here is one of my favorite shots.

THAT is a really cool tree.  Oh yeah. Beautiful photo too.

[runamuk]

Wapiti that tree is pretty spectacular as an object.  The image is appealing to me I like the almost monotone quality however there is something about the water that I want to see differently but I am not sure I can begin to explain how or what, thats where my working as a process person would just start tweaking until it felt right.

That image is very painterly I really do love it.


Thanks Rinber I bumbed the saturation pretty high for me I was always a want to shoot it and not have to edit, then I learned cameras stink at capturing reality, so I learned how to edit to show MY vision how I see the world.  I really dont care if the photographers like it because its not about photography for me its about my vision my reality my view of the world which may not be how the world is.  Learning that all the great masters created those landscaped through vast amounts of editing made me feel better about "falsifying" my images through editing

[Bean Counter]

I am curious if an artist might be allowed to critique?  while I am not a photographer I am pretty educated in art, emphasis in sculpture and photography and visual arts education.  I was taught to critique.  However my own predilection is not even close to what many of the photographers might choose.

PERFECT. An eye for composition, colors, and lines without getting caught up in technical photo crap.  Last thing we need is another tool bag with an overpriced camera who is overly fixated on pixels and flash sync speeds... i.e. me 

Alright guys, lets have it...

....I love that photo's composition. Very cool. If I would try to take that same photo I would want to reduce the haze and make it sharp. Is there a way to do that? I don't know. That is exactly how you took this photo right?

A circular polarizer is the way you reduce haze, reflections and enrich colors. Unfortunately, a polarizers effect is greatest 90 degrees from the sun, and almost worthless at 0 & 180 degrees from the sun. For this sunset shot, the sun was 180 to the moon--at my back. Polarization is one effect you cannot replicate in PP. The best we can do is play with colors, sharpness, and contrast.

I like this shot. It is hard to capture the pastels of the low light and not overexpose the moon. Because of the pastels, I don't even mind that it is not sharp. Excellent composition too. So my question is. Was this an actual moment in nature or did you need to phptoshop it?

I tried using Photoshop Elements and I hated it. Yes, that's really where the moon was at that time in the day. In addition to hating the interface of Photoshop, I don't like what it stands for. To me it has become more about graphic design than actual photography... cutting and pasting one object from one photo and putting it in another or making a fat person less fat or legs a bit longer than normal is just plain tacky IMHO 

I like this shot. It is hard to capture the pastels of the low light and not overexpose the moon. Because of the pastels, I don't even mind that it is not sharp. Excellent composition too. So my question is. Was this an actual moment in nature or did you need to phptoshop it?

Your comments about sharpness along with the others about noise reduction are really what I was getting at... This is what I am lacking in my PP skills. Its a tool available to me in Lightroom but I don't seem to get it right. I need to watch more YouTube tutorials. One thing I'll say: the sky looks  a lot smoother on the file on my computer, but somehow when it gets uploaded it gets more clumpy. Also, the foreground vegetation is a bit outside the depth of field because I am focused on the mountains in the distance and this is shot at F4 on a full frame. The greens were more meant to serve as framing and not be in the focal plane. I thought about stopping the lens down and cranking up the ISO to compensate but didn't want the vegetation in focus.

BC, cool photo. The moon with the sunlit peak is neat.  Was this taken at high ISO? I'd maybe try and use a bit of noise reduction with adding some black and a little saturation on it. Definitely a keeper 

EXIF Metadata: ISO 320 with 200mm focal length for 1/400 second @ F/4 (full frame). 

I wondered if I had over saturated it! 

[blacktailcody]

How 'bout this one.

[Bean Counter]

That's a great buck.

Great composition. I'm not sure if the highlights are quite clipped but you might try pulling them down if your editor allows it. The neck, face, and vegetation in front of the deer are a bit blown out for my tastes.

[jyerxa]

And just as we speak. I got an Amazon emial telling me that the very polarizing 72 mm lens we just talked about is on sale for $27.90

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004ZCGX/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jyerxa]

I take pix for fun and forget about some of the ones I liked too.  So here is one I always liked. And I am not to sure what I could have done better. I was really after the morning mist and the hot summer sun rise. I was really trying to landscape scene. There are some cows in the mist that you can't see so in that I didn't get what I was after. You got to be quick with the shutter to catch a moment that is always changing.

I should also say that my lens was the basic economy 70-300 Nikor 1:4-5.6G lens. Is that G also the F/stop?

[Bean Counter]

Seems as though the fog is your intended subject, or the cows. I definitely would have composed the shot a little lower, or cropped the out the sky in post. Eyes are attracted to the lighter, warmer colors and with there not being much of interest in the sky it makes the photo fall flat. I also probably would have waited until the sun was a little more high in the sky but its tough to say without having been there if any fog would have been left. You have to wait for just the right moment to make a shot like this pop. That would have given you options as to either zoom in on the cows and played around with their arrangement in the scene, or maybe you could have done a semi-pano with the fog and he cows as an afterthought.

The range in the F-stop (4-5.6 means that the widest minimum aperture changes as you zoom out. i.e. the widest you can shoot the lens at 70mm is F/4 (or "G/4") and at 300mm its 5.6. Contrast that with the more expensive offerings that allow for a constant F/4 or even F/2.8 across the entire zoom range. You can still shoot great landscapes with a cheaper telephoto but may need to pack your tripod to make up for the slower speeds--even if your lens has VR.