New to POTN

[pixlebender]

I found it easy to critique other photographers' postings. But I am having 2nd thought in posting any photo of mine.

Here are some shots that I took in the early days.

I do appreciate any input


1) Smiley Face

http://coolasacat.com/share_photos/Gecko_closeup.jpg


2) Hermosa Beach, CA

http://coolasacat.com/share_photos/Hermosa.jpg



3) A lonely night at the beach

http://coolasacat.com/share_photos/night-at-the-beach.jpg



4) Downtown San Diego

http://coolasacat.com/share_photos/San-Diego-at-night2.jpg


5) A dog left behind in a beat-up RV

http://coolasacat.com/share_photos/lonely-dog.jpg



Thank you for your time and input.

[Flo]

First and last seem to be lacking some contrast?
The first few of your landscapes, your horizons are titled;)

#4 is really nicely done.

[jgrussell]

First off, welcome to POTN.

Second, folks here don't bite (well, not much at any rate) and there's no way to learn except to post and get feedback. So don't be timid.

Third, each and every one of your shots shows good composition and a good eye for the ultimate image. Each of them also, however, at least on my monitor, appears a little soft -- not as crisp or as contrasty as the image itself deserves. A couple of the landscape shots have a tilted horizon, and that's easy to fix in post processing.

If you'd like, you can turn on the Image Editing option in the UserCP (upper left hand side of the forum page) and folks can take a crack at editing the images to improve some of these issues.

[pixlebender]

Flo, jgr,
right on.
thx for the input. I have also enabled the image editing to see how you would modify the photos.
I just purchased a 24" dell monitor and all of these images look too hot or contrasty to me. I suspect that my monitor is off. I may have to calibrate this new monitor.

[julioangelortiz]

I really like 2 and 3, and I love 4. 2 and 3 look a bit soft, though. Overall, a very nice job and you clearly have a good eye. ;)

[lonelyjew]

1 and 5 have low contrast and 3 seems tilted. I really like 1, 2, and 4.

[danno~]

#1 makes me think of geico :D

[Flo]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/emmaloudawg/Critters/lonely-dog.jpg Some bleach contrast and tonal levels.I love this shot.

contrast and tonal adjustmenthttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/emmaloudawg/Critters/Gecko_closeup.jpg
He is cute:cool:

[songexe]

I'll admit that super-narrow DOF shots have never really been my cup of tea, but #1 doesn't really speak to me.

#2 and #5 are quite nice, though I might consider copping off a bit of the left side of #5; I like Flo's processing on the shot as well. #3 and #4 are also well done, but they seem to be fairly soft which takes away from the shot.