Please help me to decide what to enter -- Critique Corner in photography-on-the.net forums

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Joined Aug 2010

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Aug 13, 2010 02:40 | #6

J.David wrote in post #10711440

I have been taking a couple of local photo classes and they have asked me to submit a couple of shots. Subject matter is unlimited. Thanks for your critique.

My likes are 3 & 5 with 2 being an alternative choice.

My critiques in the order you have presented the images.

Couple on a sandbank surrounded by water:
This image does not communicate a clear idea as to its reason for existing. The defining characteristic is a presentation which is very murky. The inclusion of the duck, the object which could be anything and which is intruding into the image frame from the right and the sensor dust nearby, are difficult to understand if they were your intention. They are included in the image frame and you have obviously seen them and chosen to leave them. The main subject is placed awkwardly in the frame. People need space to look into and where they are at the edge of the image frame looking out, they tend to draw the eye out of the frame. If your intention was to display the smallness of humanity against the loneliness and size of nature / our planet / the universe &c., this does not really work for me. Over half the value of light has been lost in your processing with 120 points of highlight detail missing from the image, which is also very noisy with chroma noise present. Overall... nothing to hold the eye or the interest and image execution a long way from accepted values.

Part image of a vehicle:
This is an almost monochromatic image and to an extent that causes the observer to want to know more. It is intriguing because we do not usually view our world in this way and images are merely a sliver of time which show us a bit of our world in ways that we do not usually have the time to stop and see. Good photography will often take us to that place and make us think about the image presented. Your gear list (if current) shows me that you do not have a wide-angle lens. The wide-angle viewpoint is difficult to mimic and you have done well to get as much of the vehicle in as you have. Sharpness in depth is another characteristic of wide-angle viewpoints and the use of a tripod and a longer exposure time would have permitted you to use a smaller aperture and define more of the vehicle. I would question the inclusion of the tree because it draws my attention away from the vehicle. It's a general principle that the photographer should try to give the observer nowhere else but the subject matter to look at, notwithstanding that some elements that are included can help to focus the eye and the mind of the observer on the subject matter depicted. Overall... This image works as a single image and could use a little improvement along the lines I have mentioned. It indicates that your photographic seeing is headed in the right direction.

Sunset scene:
A fairly typical capture of the setting sun with objects in the water which are placed fairly centrally in the image frame. The colouring shows some nice graduation although the image is a little small to see much in the way of the finer details. There is an object in the right hand foreground that causes a distracting break in the line of the foreground. The reflected colour in the foreground area in front of the objects in the water is a welcome area of added interest. The silhouetted objects are placed centrally in the frame and if this were my image, I probably would have taken a much lower viewpoint and used the upwards pointing bits as a sight to mimic the rectangular gap in the clouds. I also would have opted for losing the stray objects in the water to the left of the silhouetted objects, especially at the left edge of the image frame. I think the foreground up to the water's edge could also have been usefully removed so as to accentuate the ripples in the water. Overall... I would suggest the image needed to be captured about a minute earlier so that there was more colour variation in the sky. The image does induce a sense of calm because of the gentle ripples at the water's edge and the very flat horizon line suggests very calm water.

Statue pointing skywards:
A statue pointing to the sky with a tall building in the background and a tree and roof of a building just behind the statue. If you had taken a few steps to your left, the building in the background would not break the line of the statue. Zoom lenses do not teach the photographer to move position and for that reason, I really dislike them as first lenses for people who want to improve their photography skills. The size of the building in the background tells me that you used a zoom lens at the long end in order to create this image. The statue is not vertical in the frame and it leans to the left, as evidenced by the plinth and the gap between the left edge and the bottom of the image frame and the right edge and the bottom of the image frame. The lens vignettes clearly as you can see from the darkened corners at the top of the image frame. There is also some sensor dust at the top right. I think your photographic idea might have worked if you cut the image just beneath the columns, and had moved further to the left so that you could have cut the building out of the image easily then you could have cropped the image quite tightly but left all of the space above the statue. Overall... images of someone else's artwork (the statue) are derivative and many photographic schools would consider it lazy to just record someone else's artwork.

Dandelion seed head:
A close-up image of a dandelion seed head against a white background. This one did not miss by much and shows that you have a good eye. The execution has let it down a little. The whole of the seed head should be shown and the image frame cuts into it on the left hand side. The depth of field is about right (scientific records require complete sharpness throughout) for a creative image. The colours are fairly accurate although I think that the stem would usually be a little darker. Possibly you could experiment with that because it would probably serve to underline the delicacy of the seed head. The out of focus elements in green should be removed, and I would argue that you could leave the single closely touching leaf and remove the one that barely touches the stem at the tip. This would clean up the composition by removing several distracting elements. Overall... a good image, which speaks to the idea of showing the observer a moment in time that they would normally be too busy to stop and observe.

Section of a statue:
An image depicting a section of a statue with a human arm holding a pot of flowers and some of a female form draped in some garment. It is not in focus and the point of focus appears to be at the tip of the sharp point in a fold of cloth, so it is some way behind the focal point and the reason for capturing this image. It does not tell the viewer any story... no why, no where and no point. Overall... a derivative work that says nothing about you as a photographer and does not give the observer any sense of what it is that you want to say to people through your images.

hope this helps

if you keep on doing what you have been doing, you're going to keep on getting the same result

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