Home Forums Photography Showcase Request for Constructive Criticism

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #4757
    dalelempa
    Participant

    Hey all,

    I would love to get some constructive criticism on our website/portfolio:

    http://www.lempacreative.com/

    https://www.facebook.com/LempaCreative

    I know that we are not fauxtogs, but that we also have plenty of room to learn and grow.  I am looking for any kind of criticism: the strongest strengths and weakest weaknesses on any aspect of our web presence: photo skills, web design, marketing, logo, etc.  I am ready for you to hit me with your best shot and I am ready to take it like a man.  You don’t have to be polite; I sincerely want to hear the truth.

    I would especially like to know what you think are the weakest photos in our portfolio, and I can fairly guarantee that I will remove them.  I subscribe to the philosophy of showing only the best of the best, rather than spewing out everything for the world to behold.  Thanks in advance for your help.

    Dale

    #4767
    nairbynairb
    Participant

    So I looked through your website portfolio and noticed a few things.

    First, in your ‘Seniors’ portfolio you have 3 very similar pictures of the boy, all edited different ways. In my opinion only the second one is a good picture (the third being the worst.)

    In ‘Portraits’ you’re so hit or miss with the quality. the first two pictures are wonderful, but then the third one isn’t doing anything for your profile.

    The first picture in the ‘Families’ slide has the dad blinking and the mother almost blinking, not my favourite.

    A lot of the photos that you over-edit end up on the green side too, watch out for that.

     

    Other than those few things, very nice images!

     

    #4768
    reality check
    Participant

    There is a lot of hit and miss in your portfolio.  I don’t know if this is because you are both shooting and editing, and one of you is quite good, and the other is quite bad, or….  All I know is I’m confused.  I see some fabulous shots, and some horrible flops that should be no where near a pro’s portfolio.  I think I may need to come back another day when I have more time and go through some images with you, and dive a little deeper

     

    #4772
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    I’m not fond of tilted images.  Some people seem to like them and I know a few pros that recommend tilting the camera when they do seminars or blogs.  I know others that eliminate anything tilted from submissions to contests as the first step to choosing a winner.  If there is nothing in the image that can be used as a reference, tilting or not is not relevant, otherwise I generally prefer not tilted, although I have seen a few images that tilting probably helped.   When I looked at your images I wondered why so many were tilted.  One might be OK, even two perhaps, but three is too many.  John & Katie, 16 of 21, for instance… Nice looking chandelier, but odd looking when it should be hanging down and instead everything is listing.

    The image of the children holding the frame would be a lot stronger if the couple kissing were also in focus.   Even the little girl does not seem sharp.  If that scene were shot with a really hard lens, then in post processing, another layer was given lens blur and masking was done so the children, frame and couple in the frame were sharp and everything else was blurred, I think it might look cool.  I just found another with the couple in focus and the children and frame blurred!  Same message as for the first image I found.  Try combining the two in Photoshop to see the effect of sharp children, frame and couple with everything else blurred.

    Thomas and Sarah 1 of 13, almost the first thing I saw was that huge downspout drain at the bottom of the pillar.  If this was reportage, it would have to stay, but these are wedding photos, so I think it would be safe to take a few seconds and clone it out, there are lots of pixels available so it should be very fast to do.  Watch the shadows though.  This is one that may have been better with less depth of field to blur out the doors in the background?  In 2 of 13 the brides smile looks tentative and the bridesmaid behind her looks worried.   That picture might have been stronger if they were all in focus, as might 4 of 13, the guys.  In 4 of 13 the groom’s expression is better than the bride’s in 2 of 13, and he really stands out.  It is the better of those two photos.  In 11 of 13, there is that tilt again, it looks like a mistake.   The tilt is there in 12 of 13, and definitely it was on purpose, but why!  And we move to 13 of 13, where suddenly we are at a 24th of May or 4th of July party, or a birthday party or bar mitzvah?  It certainly looks like a totally different event!

     

    Not sure how to identify the image.  “cary-wedding-photographer-09.jpg”, on your web page, B & W, might be a father, tight check pattern suit, grey hair and beard, looking out a window.  Except for the position of his right arm, I really like that photo.  I just can’t figure out why he has his arm up like he is going to block someone.  It does not seem that he is leaning on part of the window and I doubt there is a latch to open a door at the height his hand is.

     

    In the engagement photos, of the guy in a green shirt, I like the “Danger” signs!  I think I would have removed them with Photoshop.

    I would bury the photo (engagements/11w.jpg) of the black couple on the red chairs where the only thing in focus is the foreground weeds.

    Why, when the guy is already a head taller than the girl in the white dress and blue jeans, would you pose them with her standing down slope from him for a kiss, it looks awkward.   If they were standing in opposite positions, it would be easier to kiss and it would look more natural.

    Enough of that.  “cary-wedding-photographer-07.jpg”, the B & W with 3 bridesmaids looking over the fence and the bride turning back to look at the camera is nice.   It would also work well with a softer background.    “cary-wedding-photographer-17.jpg”, black bride looking at new husband, they fill the frame, I like that one.

     

     

     

    #4800
    dalelempa
    Participant

    Thanks all for your comments so far!  We have really appreciated having fresh eyes look at our work; since it is hard to objectively judge your own stuff.  We have already implemented some of your recommended changes, so sorry if it gets confusing as we are in the process of updating our portfolio.  The main thing we have done so far has been to remove the seniors gallery from our website and throw in two of the senior pictures into our portraits gallery.  Also we changed out the photos on our home page and slightly adjusted our portraits and families galleries.

    Also, for convenience of communicating, you can right-click on our images to “save as…” in order to see the filename.  Hopefully that will save further discussion from having to describe each shot in order to identify it.

    Updates to our engagements and wedding galleries will be coming soon!

    #4820
    samantha198822
    Participant

    I actually liked your work!

    #4837
    dalelempa
    Participant

    Thanks for the encouragement, Samantha.  We don’t mind constructive criticism either, since we hope to learn and grow from it.  I don’t think the other commenters were tearing down our work; they were offering helpful suggestions to build us up as photographers.

    #4841
    reality check
    Participant

    Let me know when you are done organizing and cleaning up, and I’ll be back as soon as I can, to give you some input

    #4939
    addidasshop
    Participant

    Le scarpe da corsa adottano materiale ClimaWarm. Caldo nel freddo inverno, il sistema di 360 ° in modo efficace riscaldare i piedi. Questo esecuzione macchia grande scarpa luminoso è che la tomaia con un rivoluzionario tridimensionale della struttura airbag, può essere efficacemente isolata dall’aria fredda.adidas superstar
    Caldo allo stesso tempo, anche una prova di schizzi. Con questa struttura, adidas galaxy l’aria calda possa circolare tra la visualizzazione della forma di calzatura e suole, garantendo metri di lunghezza traspiranti asciutti.
    La suola, l’uso dei triangoli dispari suola TRAXION chiodo, il chiodo solido strano l’uso di una vasta area, per cui queste scarpe per adattarsi a tutte le condizioni atmosferiche le condizioni stradali, moltiplicare l’aderenza sul bagnato a terra. Superiore e la lingua il materiale duro riflettente scarpe con fibbie in metallo, e migliorare il dettaglio generale texture.adidas store napoli

    #5241
    dalelempa
    Participant

    Alright folks, we’ve done our homework and our site is now fully updated.  Feel free to mosy on by and offer additional comments based on our revisions.  Thanks in advance for your help,

    Dale.

    #5242
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    Your web page is looking good.

    #5243
    reality check
    Participant

    Much better!  You cleaned up well.  Still not crazy for the “trendy” colored/filtered editing of some of your photos, but thats just all a matter of different tastes.  The important thing is, your portfolio looks more consistent and clean.  Things are flowing much better, and your really good shots are standing out quite nicely.  Well done

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.