Reply To: Critique please? I don't want to be another fauxtog teen with a dslr

[cameraclicker]

This Gabrielle Shamon:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielleaphoto/ ?

There is an Annie Leibovitz gallery here:  http://alafoto.com/listing/thumbnails.php?album=2 and http://www.google.ca/search?q=annie+leibovitz&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=CcwCUrGQKKacyQGy64DQBg&ved=0CDIQsAQ4Cg&biw=1920&bih=1096

Gabrielle has some very dark stuff (in the sense of subject material, rather than in the sense of lack of exposure)!  She does have a few with reduced contrast, they are still not a style I like.   Annie Leibovitz”s photos seem to have pretty good contrast.   I think my objection to the low contrast style is the appearance of a film of fog over the image.  Sometimes excess humidity causes my photos to look like that and unless the shot was taken in fog and I am trying to show the fog, I adjust contrast to bring out the detail and make the photo appear clear.  Sometimes, light striking the lens gives a similar result which is why I use a lens hood.

What I like doesn’t really matter.  What matters is what you like and how you can use the tools available to get pictures you are happy with.  The key to that is knowledge.