Critique My Image

michael66

I posted this one originally in PAD. Upon further review (as the saying goes) it seemed a bit flat -

Then I tried again by increasing the whites slider instead of exposure, with the same bump up in added contrast.

Of the three, the third variation. The whites of the birds and the water looks cleaner. Although some might object to the glare of the surface. Obviously, IMHO. YMMV.

Msmoto

@dissent

Crop the top and bottom….

dissent

so here (5x7)


or here (16x9)

spraynpray

Cropping dead space is usually a good thing Ian - much better like that now. Another trick is when doing landscapes, don't crop it, compose so the dead space is all sky and compress it in PS - it really adds depth to a shot.

TomB

@jimo

I agree with Freezeaction. Lower camera angle. Would have maybe got some sky or other foliage in the background to give you a break. The single color and texture of the background as is produces a flattening effect. Maybe lighten the bird a little to make him pop.

cvong

Oops Sorry I will repost once I figure how to get the picture on here.

Msmoto

I like the 16x9

elopez95

This was my first time attempting to take portraits with the flash off camera and a shoot through umbrella. I wish I would have experimented with a different background because I don't like how his hair blends with it. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Hopefully I'll be able to practice this weekend with a more compliant model lol

CarvingEnsos

Hello everyone, I'm new here, and thought a post in this thread could be a good introduction. I'm a photographer now based in SE Asia (originally from UK). The people here are very open to having their photos taken and I am having a lot of fun interacting with them, and taking portraits. I've included a couple of recent shots and would love to know peoples opinions on my work







PS I've still not figured out how to process images for the web to maintain sharpness after compression :F

ptrmcky

Hi CarvingEnsos. A very nice set of images. Firstly, I really do like your photos, but since this is a critique I will offer my opinion on how I think they could be improved.

I really like the first image. I love how you've included the tarp above your subject. Traditional composition rules might have had some people crop that out, but it creates great lines leading into the image. My one issue with it is the man in the background mixing. He's coming out of your subjects shoulder and distracts from it. Probably not much you could have done about that, but it's my one critique of a very good image.

The second is nice. The sun is at an awkward angle to him, which creates some harsh shadows. I would like to be able to see his eyes better. Maybe if you had put the sun behind him and stood near a reflective wall, or used fill flash. Still it's a great pose.

The third image seems to have a lot of interesting stuff going on. The problem is you must have used a fairly large aperture and you're focused on that guys back, so that's all I can really make out. Maybe if you were able to get round more to the side, so we could make out some faces, and been able to see what the subject is doing.

Benji2505

Elopez: two rim lights would work as hair light (nice shine) and bring out his contour and suit. Maybe some light shapes on the background to make it interesting?. The background choice is not bad since it gives a nice contrast. White subject on white background is difficult. You should consider yourself lucky that the kid held the pose, that is a rare coincidence.

cvong

Here is a practice shot with a 50mm 1:1.8 lens on a D90. Don't really know if I'm doing it right or not but I'm up to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks in advance!
f 1.8
ISO 1600
Shutter Speed 1/40

spraynpray

@CarvingEnsos: You can add to the above comments that your cropping of the bottom of the first frame is awkward - if you did that in post, move it down. Second shot just needs some shadows lift brushed over his face. Third needed to be shot wider to give more atmosphere as well as the focus point moving to the boat and a deeper depth of field selecting.

@elopez95: Ther's more good than bad about that image, Benji2505 made good suggestions.

CarvingEnsos

@ptrmcky

I agree the head-arm thing going on isn't great! I'd say it seems more distracting on the web-compressed image than the original, which has him having a sharper outline and so not appearing to blend as much, but agreed, not ideal. I'll check back on that days shooting to see if the others are any better. I think I clicked off a couple maybe I'll be lucky and can use a layer mask in PS to hide the chap in the back.

Yah fill flash would have been good. When I'm on the streets here I try to get people as natural as possible, I try to be pretty fast about it and don't really think about repositioning people. I'll have to remember fill flash next time for sure as the light gets pretty harsh early on, I think I took this photo around 930am-10am?

Third image the intention was to focus on the individual. I had hoped it was clear what he was doing but I suppose not. He's straining to pull the boat to the shore. Agreed if I had shot it slightly to the side it would have revealed the rope and so made it clear but it was such a transient moment with the billowing smoke from a nearby diesel engine I didn't have time I guess! Again the compressed version has lost a bunch of definition on his shirt, which IMO, contrasted nicely to everything else being blurred. Maybe I'm too much a fan of shallow DOF

@spraynpray

Agreed wish I hadn't cropped his hand out of the frame. Unfortunately that was in camera not in post I did the same thing with another shot (of a boat) where I juuust cropped the edge off and ruined the whole photo! doh!

I'll try lifting some shadows off his face, you mean a bit of dodge?


Here are a couple more if you guys are interested

spraynpray

Could do with giving your subjects a little more space around them and doing the final crop in post. Seems a consistent trend in your images.

calengor

Downtown Frederick, MD
D7100 18-55mm @ 18mm, f/9, 1/60 sec, ISO 100

Msmoto

@calengor

I like to see the verticals vertical in architectural shots. And, I would like to have the center of interest either the building on the left or the church in the background. Your technique with the B & W is nice for the subject.

calengor

@Msmoto

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by having the verticals vertical. I would agree with you that the picture doesn't really have a focal point. I wish I had a wider lens so I could get both streets in the shot going to the horizon.

dissent

a post processing question; the shadowed pine needles in the upper left part of this image seem to have some excessive bluish cast to them. anyone know of a clever way in LR (or PS) to reduce this bluish cast of the fine lines in the needles?

Msmoto

If you have darkened the sky with a brush this may be a result of that. I might try to play with some of the CA corrections in post and see if that affects this effect. Or try increasing the sky contrast to determine if this can reduce the blue fringe….

dissent

I've been trying to use the CA corrections, but haven't found a good formula for it. It does, though, look I can get rid of a fair chunk if it by using a modest size adjustment brush with a large feather setting, and then just reducing the saturation level on the portions of the tree needles painted. Had to figure out how to scroll the scene when zoomed in (hold down the space bar changes the adjustment brush back to the hand) so I've learned my new thing for the day. With a tiny bit of care in painting crudely over the tufts of groups of needles there doesn't seem to be much of any effect on the background sky appearance.

spraynpray

Maybe you could use the brush set to temperature Ian?

Elvishefer

Try boosting the shadows for whatever brush you used to mess with the sky... it sometimes helps.

dissent

All good ideas everyone. Thanks. I tried the brush on temperature, Andrew, and it seems to work similarly to saturation in this application, though the saturation brush seems to be a bit subtler in appearance to my eye.

Here's the image with some desaturation of the shadowed pin needles -

Vipmediastar_JZ

@Msmoto

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by having the verticals vertical. I would agree with you that the picture doesn't really have a focal point. I wish I had a wider lens so I could get both streets in the shot going to the horizon.

I beleive @Msmoto is refering to the Keystone effect