Home Forums Am I a Fauxtog? So, am I doing Ok for a beginner? Reply To: So, am I doing Ok for a beginner?

#8415
stef
Participant

I suspect if we let you self-examine and post a few more times, you’ll be back to your top post again. But the next time around, you might think about it more.

 

It’s rough to hear any kind of criticism, and it’s especially rough on this forum although I think Brownie’s was pretty tame.

 

You have a great lens collection, covering all the important stuff. All the ingredients are there, but you’re trying to bake before preheating the oven. While saying “That’s how I like the picture to look” seems reasonable, others see it like you’re dumping half a jar of salt into your soup and exclaiming that’s how you like it. And then inviting others to taste it, ready to jump on them if they say it’s too salty.

 

I looked through a few pages. The saturation in most of the shots is way too high for it to not look like a cartoon. Some of the shots work with saturation turned up to 11 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/94214228@N05/8577505302/in/photostream/) but most do not. It’s not abstract or art… it’s too much salt.

 

There’s definitely some bad photoshopping. Most of it is passable, but there’s some that’s just bad. http://www.flickr.com/photos/94214228@N05/8577509684/in/photostream

 

And your compositions could use some help. I see you’re having a lot of fun with that 100L, so maybe it’s time to start looking at making more interesting images with it. Nearly all your macro shots are bullseyes. You had one nice moth with a shadow under it that was pretty good, although I would’ve liked to see some more of his back.

 

If you asked, I’d call you a fauxtographer in a heartbeat. As a beginner, you’re not doing bad at all. You’re having more advanced issues right off, and already showing some real artistic skill. It’s not that you can’t make a good photo, it’s that if you hone your basic skills of composition and post processing, your good photos will be more than just 1% of the total. Saturate all you want, but that’s not the only issue you’re having.