Home Forums Photography Showcase Developing a personal style – Color vs Realism?

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  • #24834
    harryd
    Participant

    Aloha community. And thanks in advance for your time,

    I’d like to say that I’m feeling let down by the lack of critical comments on photo sharing sites. I’ve read a number of comments here, though, and am impressed by the knowledge and thoughtfulness people share.

    I’m new to photography. I was injured a couple of years ago, so I took up photography to take the place of my passion for snowboarding. I have not had an opportunity to be involved in art previously in my life (I’m 54 now). A new chapter.

    I enjoy deep, rich, saturated colors, but don’t want to communicate a cartoon(ish) feel. It seems like a very fine line. Especially with Facebook’s image compression. Yikes. On the other hand, I’d like to have my own “style” and to me that means some deviation from realistic.

    I use Magic Lantern on my camera and Darktable on my computer.

    My long term goal would be to be involved in science communication through photography. Maybe with an NGO or such.

    Please give me some feedback on where I’m succeeding and failing in communicating through my photos.

    http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/898394/

    #24842
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    Harry, Nat Geo’s pages say: “We encourage an active community discussion that adheres to our community guidelines.”  And, the guidelines say you can’t be offensive.  Reading through the posts here, you have probably seen people take offence when someone posts a negative comment.

    You posted 21 photos of which I find 20 are just boring.  I like the Golden Gate Bridge photo because of the 700 odd pages of photos of the bridge on 500px, yours has a different perspective and the sky’s colour helps, too.  The turtles photo just misses because the light is falling on the back of the shell instead of on the heads.  Power and Grace has a similar problem.  The bright white spray tends to hide the much darker surfer.  I must have looked at it half a dozen times before I noticed the surfer.  If I wasn’t trying to evaluate your photos, I would have looked at the thumbnails and clicked onto the next site.  All your photos seem to be in focus, with good exposure.  They are saturated and would be right at home on 500px in that respect.  Colours look OK.

    They are all record shots.  I came.  I saw.  I clicked the shutter.  I have tens of thousands of them.  They are all over my galleries of trips we have taken.  They fill out the record of the trip by showing the overall conditions, scenery, whatever.  By themselves they could be printed and hung on the walls in some corporate office downtown.  But, they’re not portfolio shots.   They don’t grab the viewer and hold attention.

    #24843
    picstop
    Participant

    I take it your main reason for requesting feedback is regarding the colour. Everyone’s tastes will vary so for myself I think they are fine. I’d say you are borderline though and any more and you’ll be oversaturated. Just for fun, try pulling back the colour. Sometimes a muted palette can draw more attention to the form of the subject when you have strong lines or textures. However, if you’re wondering about general feedback regarding the photos themselves, I would call them pleasant. That is neither praise nor condemnation. They are simply pleasant, something you’d see in a calendar but not something that I would print and frame on my wall. Technically they are reasonable but subjectively they are lost in millions like them.

    #24846
    harryd
    Participant

    Cameraclicker, you are right. I have been going to exciting places, exciting to me ;), and “recording” them. Instead of “creating” the scene. Hmmm, I should concentrate my attention to composition and engaging the viewer. I very much appreciate your insight. Thank you.

    #24847
    harryd
    Participant

    Picstop it’s very reassuring that you agree that my colors are borderline. I think you’re right about pulling back a little to be safe. I hadn’t thought about the saturation overpowering the form. Great insight. Thank you.

    #24858
    Worst Case Scenario
    Participant

    I LIKE COLOUR! And I think your colour is okay, but everything looks a little flat. There’s no pure white or strong black shadows.

    I don’t know the programs you mentioned, so I can’t tell how techy you are with the post processing, but it’s an easy fix in photoshop ( though it will give the colour a boost!)

    If I was a landscape photographer, I’d be using LAB colour methods. You can do amazing stuff in LAB mode if you don’t have to be perfectly accurate with the colour.

    i.e.: no one will mind if the sky is not the right shade of blue, but if you get the wrong shade of white on a wedding dress, your the devil incarnate.

    #24859
    picstop
    Participant

    Harry…I hope you don’t think that I meant you have too much colour. I too love colour and by “borderline”, all I meant by that was, in my opinion, you may be getting close to too much saturation. Any more than what you now have may start to risk comic book photos. And by pulling it down a little, I meant that you might want to try it with some, not all, that have strong form/texture, just for something different.
    And, WCS, “i.e.: no one will mind if the sky is not the right shade of blue, but if you get the wrong shade of white on a wedding dress, your the devil incarnate” made me laugh. How true!

    #92887
    bradvictor1
    Participant

    I found realism of picture is okay but some we need some special effect, more contrast and hide something unwanted from photo. in this case we need a little bit editing. This apply in case of personal picture optimization. If we taking business products defiantly we need most special editing tools for change the picture or make impressive for customers. Ans we have another option for this we can hire relevant image editing service provider company. Here experts take responsible on your business picture.

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