I'm angry and need to ventilate..

It's good to see you're out shooting. Looks good!

Thanks, yea i try to find different angles.

I like your experimentation with composition Bent, and your affinity to RR tracks....... a man after my own heart . A suggestion on that shot with the man on the tracks: it looks like you chose a focus point somewhere in the middle, neither the person nor the foreground. Pick one or the other. The viewer is not sure where to look, and IMO the man is more important than just gravel.

You also need to work on your processing skills though.

Your compositions are really moving in the right direction and create interest, but they are diminished by blown highlights and the lack of true blacks in some of your finished images. Black and dark areas are rendered as washed out grays when they could really add more impact if shown as strong tonal values. This can easily be corrected with some exposure adjustment layers in post, or perhaps camera settings.

Again, I'm not trying to be critical....... I just want to see your work represented as favorably as possible.

You may also want to cull some of the photos on your monthly updates. Show only the best - the cream of the crop. You have some really engaging, solid images there but they get lost in many of the plain old snapshots. Now, if you want to feature EVERYTHING that means something to you, then my comments are out of place. Borrowing from my own habits though I only like to feature the images with the most impact. That is what grabs attention, making people stop, stare and wonder. - Stu

Bent, I didn't mean to single you out about your gallery content. I see the same thing with many POTN folks. Less is MORE. It is better to feature 10 dynamite images instead of 50 "so-so" pictures.

sapearl wrote in post #15244597
I like your experimentation with composition Bent, and your affinity to RR tracks....... a man after my own heart . A suggestion on that shot with the man on the tracks: it looks like you chose a focus point somewhere in the middle, neither the person nor the foreground. Pick one or the other. The viewer is not sure where to look, and IMO the man is more important than just gravel.

You also need to work on your processing skills though.

Your compositions are really moving in the right direction and create interest, but they are diminished by blown highlights and the lack of true blacks in some of your finished images. Black and dark areas are rendered as washed out grays when they could really add more impact if shown as strong tonal values. This can easily be corrected with some exposure adjustment layers in post, or perhaps camera settings.

Again, I'm not trying to be critical....... I just want to see your work represented as favorably as possible.

You may also want to cull some of the photos on your monthly updates. Show only the best - the cream of the crop. You have some really engaging, solid images there but they get lost in many of the plain old snapshots. Now, if you want to feature EVERYTHING that means something to you, then my comments are out of place. Borrowing from my own habits though I only like to feature the images with the most impact. That is what grabs attention, making people stop, stare and wonder. - Stu

The thing is, i want dirty, rugged, old-looking photos.. i don't want the image quality to be perfect, even though i put some work in composing the photos, i want them to look like half-assed snapshots...(may seem very odd to some) a perfect photo with great sharpnes, beautiful color etc, that doesent cut it for me. Think of my style in England, working class around the eighties... kinda Hard to explain, but my goal is not to acomplish picture perfection.

You are right that i try to get the viewers attention.. but more from the scenery, moment and un-perfection of the photo.

To explain.. this photo is one of my best photos imo i've ever taken:

bent toe wrote in post #15244874
The thing is, i want dirty, rugged, old-looking photos.. i don't want the image quality to be perfect, even though i put some work in composing the photos, i want them to look like half-assed snapshots...(may seem very odd to some) a perfect photo with great sharpnes, beautiful color etc, that doesent cut it for me. Think of my style in England, working class around the eighties... kinda Hard to explain, but my goal is not to acomplish picture perfection.

You are right that i try to get the viewers attention.. but more from the scenery, moment and un-perfection of the photo.

To explain.. this photo is one of my best photos imo i've ever taken:

It's far from good anywhere.. but too me, it's awesome.. it captures the moment, steel, people, subway, cold, unfocused etc..

Oh.. and it's hard to kill your darlings, a year from now.. most of my photos will probably be crap imo.

This has a very nice flow to it, and I agree it catches the essence of the moment. The "dotted line" of the overhead lights provides a nice counterpoint to the composition. It's obvious you put some thought into the setup.