Brutal Friday Critique - are you ready? Well punk are you?

Todd Lambert wrote in post #8540412
Awesome stuff here... love it.

Here is a semi-recent shot that I liked, what do you think?

Todd - I completely understand why you like this....lots to like. But again this is Brutal Friday Critique so I will have at it. This is another one of those that details make the difference.
This would have been a killer photo "if" - maybe you were in the water, yep I know hard to do - but sometimes you got to get a little wet for the sake of art
-- I can image this photo being taken from just in front of the rocks--- and cutting out a tad on the left side (the light) -- so the photo is now not so busy- there are still a lot of interesting elements but it is not overly busy.

Well gang - I have to run out and have a little dinner - if I can get the slimy bug picture out of my memory -----I will return to my office in a few hours and willing to continue this until late this evening - if anyone has any others for critique.

Okay, I'm in! I'm new here, so I apologize for not having any of my information available. These are from a portfolio building senior portrait shoot. Aside from the trees growing out of her head (whoops!), I'd love your brutal CC. Thank you so much!

Thanks Scott.. enjoy your dinner!

I never really thought about cropping out that left side, but you're right, I think that would have helped.

I was not in the water on this shot, but for the sunset shot(to the right in this photo) I was... I moved back to take this shot. Thankfully the train comes by pretty often, so I might get another chance at this one.

Anyways, thanks again for the CC... I appreciate it.

stathunter wrote in post #8540178
No problem Christine - I did look at some of your other work - I am inspired to shoot more birds - I live in a rural area and there are lots of them around - I image they do not respond to "hold your chin up.... a little higher" type commands though.

Be careful once you start it becomes addictive, all the birds I photograph are taken in my own garden, I also live in a rural area. The birds of prey are the most fascinating.

stathunter wrote in post #8540354
No limit -
I like this. At first I thought the foliage was distracting but I think it kind of frames the photo nicely - this is a nice capture. I think it could use a cropping off the top- maybe a bump in exposure -- then after looking at it - it was a little flat so I added a little depth to it with a high pass.
Here is my quick edit -- but this was overall a good capture.

Thanks, especially for the edit, my post processing skills are severely lacking. Here are a couple I took just now actually. You should be able to be plenty brutal with them, I've not tried much with b&w and full manual yet. I'm going to have to experiment with this subject a bit more though... could yeild some interesting results. By the way, I have not done anything with these in gimp yet.

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stathunter wrote in post #8540432
Ok - my first thought is ewwweeeehhh! Tell me that thing is a snail,slug and not something from some kids nose.

Here in the US - it is just minutes before dinner time - and you have not taken away what I had for an appetite.
I have made a dinner safe edit of your photo:

In all honesty - as someone who does not appreciate bugs - I think this is an interesting capture - I like the green background - but again not much with bugs.

Lol, hope you have a good dinner. Honestly those things gross me out less than the mushrooms I tried to eat for dinner a few minutes ago. Thanks for the critique

luvsadog2 wrote in post #8538365
Here's one my favorites .. have a go at this one, thanks!

the last chair on the middle row isn't the same length apart from the rest- other than that, i wish it were my shot!

I called this, "Perfectly Presidential," and posted in the people forum for laughs. But please critique, especially the lighting. Should a reflector, if I had one, been used, and if yes, which portable one do you recommend?
Thanks.

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stathunter wrote in post #8538106
Ok - well at first glance it looks like a boat hit the purple teletubby --- or it could be one of those trick shape cards that they evaluate psychiatry patients. --- ok I understand what you were going for here - but it might be a better image if indeed it was a defined palm tree in the photo and maybe a tad toned down on the color.

Thanks.
In this neck of the woods, that silhouette in that type of location is probably as recognisable and meaningful as a palm would be elsewhere. It's a pohutukawa, an iconic New Zealand shoreline tree.

Interestingly, on the conversion to web colours, the blue became a shade lighter than I had intended, so I'm even further from where you recommend than you think! I'll play some more with the hue/saturation layer and see how that works out.

Hope you enjoyed your dinner. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my photo as well.

-John

Captured a while ago, interested in your expertise. Thanks in advance.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #8540452
I'll offer one up for a no holds barred chewing...

A little inspirational poster idea I cooked up:

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Yea or Nay?

Jay - I totally understand the concept here but it is really not that gripping. Maybe a more interesting subject - or something a bit "more" funny.....than it might have more legs to run with.
So unfortunately I have to vote Nay.

MelissaMA wrote in post #8540499
Okay, I'm in! I'm new here, so I apologize for not having any of my information available. These are from a portfolio building senior portrait shoot. Aside from the trees growing out of her head (whoops!), I'd love your brutal CC. Thank you so much!

Melissa - howdy - welcome to the fold! I am glad to see even someone new sticking their neck out for a little critique.
Ok you already know about trees coming out of her head.....but what you also forgot about it the rest of the background. Let's imagine the trees in the head thing are not there -- the background is sparse grass/gravel/dirt that does not complement the beautiful girl. I shoot a lot of weddings and I am always moving people around to find a background that is suitable for the subject --- sometimes moving even a few feet or shooting from a slightly different angle can make a HUGE difference.
Also - I think you need to study poses - get fashion magazines - I am not exactly a girly looking guy but I am always picking up fashion magazines - so I can take in trends in fashion and poses.
In taking your first photo - my initial thought - lets say you just had to have the girl on the pic-nick table -- I would of had her sit in the middle of the table - pull her legs up to her chest - have her arms around her legs - sit forward and ask her for a cute look- take it from a little higher angle looking down a bit - and see how it works with her etc.
The second photo--- well this needs work also -- the location looks fantastic - the angle is good maybe a tad high- I love how you have the sun on her back/side - but you made a crucial mistake - you cut her legs off --- you needed to get in for a tighter crop or back up and get her legs in --- again more refined poses would make this killer. You have the girl/location but made some beginner mistakes.

Here's mine

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skidzam wrote in post #8541098
I called this, "Perfectly Presidential," and posted in the people forum for laughs. But please critique, especially the lighting. Should a reflector, if I had one, been used, and if yes, which portable one do you recommend?
Thanks.

"You sir are no John Kennedy" --- that is from a pres debate a few years back.....anyway.
I have had the privilege of photographing Senator Obama during the Presidential campaign and I have a secret ......... his belt and shoes looked like he picked them up in a second hand shop--- they were worn kind of like the t-shirt here....
Anyway.....for every wedding/portrait shoot I go to I always have a reflector in my trunk.....honestly I hate dragging equipment out -- many times the client is on a tight time schedule or the more crap you drag out and use the more "unnatural" they will become ---- so I would have simply moved the person over a tad to light them naturally -- the light here does really not look too harsh.
But as a rating I would say that this photo overall is not worthy of putting in a portfolio..... but keep being creative....crazy or whatever it is you do.