Home Forums Photography Showcase Please critque my photos.

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  • #23370
    hazel-rah2014
    Participant

    Please have a look at my photos and critique them. If I have any strong points, let me know. Also I’d greatly appreciate any advice on where I can approve. Thank you. https://www.flickr.com/photos/54301449@N03/

    #23374
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I’m guessing you are a student, so I’ll start by saying “approve” is to like or agree with something.  “Improve” is to get better.  I’m hoping you want advice on where you can improve.

    There are a dozen photos at the link provided.  They are mostly abstracts and if I came across the gallery on my own, I would just press the “Next” button and keep going.  Not so much because they are bad, just that they are not the kind of “eye candy” that attracts me.

    “Outdoor metal table (close up)” reminds me of the grates we used to slip under tires in winter to give a car enough traction to move.

    “Spiral of a notebook” reminds me of a toy called Slinky.

    I like the curves of “Mesh”.

    The spaghetti looks like a cosmic event of some sort!

    The CD and stack of CD’s don’t do anything for me.  The bicycle chain has a lot of dirt on it.  The bottle dryer is a graphic pattern but it doesn’t speak to me.  Neither does the low horizon with a distant lamp.

    Flowers often have waxy surfaces, are translucent and reflective, so they are often a challenge to photograph well.  Flash doesn’t often suit them, and when it does, it has to be carefully controlled.  I didn’t load it into an editor to confirm it, but I suspect you have a couple of burned out areas.  Like the others, it seems somewhat abstract, like a graphic instead of a portrait of a beautiful delicate tulip.

    The drain is interesting.  The running water adds to it.

    The spider looks like it crashed into a turquoise wall!  It is reasonably sharp but you don’t see the eyes and the photo’s orientation seems off.  I might like it better if it were rotated 90° CCW.

    So, all that said, I don’t know if these are the way you see the world, or are part of some school assignment.  Nor do I know what you were trying for.  Not knowing where you are trying to go, nor why, it is difficult to provide useful direction.  I will say that exposure and focus seem reasonable so you probably know what you are doing, or your camera does, since the couple I looked at used Auto mode for exposure.  Auto is not a bad mode if you are getting the result you desire.  If you are not getting the desired result, other modes may be more appropriate.

    Some photographers want to show you things as they are, and their photos show rust, dirt and decay, as is.  Others want to show what could be, and they clean up their subjects before shooting them.  If you have specific questions, then ask.  If you want to know if the photo achieved what you think it did, we have to know what you were trying for.  Visit art galleries, look at pictures in magazines, try to figure out what you like and why.  Then try to figure out how to get what you want from camera and editing software.

    Here are some different takes on similar subjects:

    This one is like yours

    2011-05-08_13-58-58_IMG_2598

    but I prefer this one from the same day

    2011-05-08_13-58-28_IMG_2592

    And, here is a different bike chain close-up

    2010-05-21_15-34-40_IMG_1457_640

    which also shows the camera sees all the little bits of dirt and fiber that we don’t.

    Finally, a flash photo of a spider

    2010-09-28_13-42-38_IMG_9415_

    #23375
    hazel-rah2014
    Participant

    You are correct, I meant to write “improve” instead of “approve”.

    I think mostly what I’m going for with the pictures that I take is that I like taking photos of everyday objects and making them look interesting or not what they actually are. For instance, I like when people see my photos and ask “what’s that?”. Perhaps I didn’t upload the best photos to showcase that, but that is what I’m going for.  I am more drawn to abstract photos.

    As far as the spider (I should have noted not to include him in the critique). He’s only on the site, because I had asked in another forum what spider it was and I needed a link to that photo.

    I do thank you and I am looking to improve as I really enjoy taking photos.

    #23378
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I think mostly what I’m going for with the pictures that I take is that I like taking photos of everyday objects and making them look interesting or not what they actually are. For instance, I like when people see my photos and ask “what’s that?”. Perhaps I didn’t upload the best photos to showcase that, but that is what I’m going for.  I am more drawn to abstract photos.

    Spiral notebook, bottle dryer, metal table, bike chain, mesh, spaghetti and the drain all do that pretty well.

    The macro world is full of shapes and things that are not immediately recognized due to their size when viewed through a macro lens.  You can get a similar effect with extension tubes but you have to have the lens even closer to your subject then.  Very short focal lengths of ultra wide angle lenses also offer some interesting effects and distortion at very close distances, though you have to watch live subjects.  I stuck a 16 mm lens in a 6 month old’s face on the weekend and she tried to grab it!  Dogs will stick their nose into a lens hood and get guck all over your lens if given a chance.

    Enter “abstract” into the search engine on Flickr, you will get lots of interesting stuff to look at.  Lots look like someone went wild with magic markers, but some look like what you are doing.  Results might be better if you use  “abstract Canon” or “abstract Nikon” as the search string.

    #23379
    EyeDocPhotog
    Participant

    @cc:

    Totally off-topic, but your ‘improve-approve’ post reminded me of a joke told by the late Mitch Hedberg.

    “Working an Improv in some town in Canada last month, it was a really bad set that first night, and I was scheduled there all week. The next night I came back, they had added an ‘E’ to the sign. I thought to myself, Man, those Canadians know just how to help out struggling a comic.”

    #23580
    Atifraza
    Participant

    You know you’ve been aching to ask the community this question. Well maybe not, but we do get this question a lot!You know you’ve been aching to ask the community this question. Well maybe not, but we do get this question a lot!You know you’ve been aching to ask the community this question. Well maybe not, but we do get this question a lot!

     

     

     

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