Want honest opinions

[Click It And Stick It]

I’m not a faux because I don’t charge and definitely don’t market myself as a pro.  I don’t have a FB page other than my personal one.  I would just like a few opinions on my pictures.  I only loaded a few photos because I would like the comments to be fairly specific.  www.flickr.com/photos/89989598@N02/

 

p.s. sorry if you have to copy and paste the link

[cameraclicker]

The praying mantis on a rusty pipe is over exposed a little with too much brightness behind it.  On the other hand, congratulations for finding one.  If you are going to shoot nature where you find it, you have less options than if you capture it and place it in a studio setting…  Perhaps spot metering?  If you like praying mantis photos, and other bugs, there are a lot here.

The fish in ice must be pretty fresh.  The eye is still clear.  I like the photo.

BW Shisha feels tilted, and too dark.  I would remove the power lines.

Boat is tilted and has noise (surprised at the noise in the cloud since ISO 100).  Fix the tilt, fix the noise, add a little fill light to the foreground, crop about 600 px (most of the empty sky, keeping the clouds with just a little breathing room above) and it is very nice.

Beach 2 looks level.  The horizon is in the middle.  Try cropping it so the horizon is on the upper third line.  The lump of old concrete in the lower right is not in sharp focus, so try cropping to remove it (make the lower edge at the very top of the rock in the lower left, keeping the rock above it) which puts the lower third line just above the lower third line.  Three different “looks”.  Which do you like best?  Why?

“God got me” girl has lots of noise in the background, her hands and arms are perhaps too bright.  That’s all nit picking stuff.

The girl in the loud dress looks better taken from the side than square on.  Her skin could stand some post production work, just cleaning up little blemishes, which is picky work to do well.  Good retouching is an art, bad retouching gets you on the front page here.  You don’t have anything to be ashamed of regarding any of them.  They could be improved a little.  68e has a light background with almost white sky.  Depending upon how reflective that wood is, you may have a good result if you exposed for the background and lit the foreground with a flash at part power.  It depends on why you took the picture.  If it was a vacation photo, probably I would not bother getting out a flash.  If it was a photo shoot, I would.  If a flash is used, the angle of camera to wood may have to change or a circular polarizer may be needed to handle reflection.

[reality check]

Manza
Good comp, other than the thing in the foreground.  The water looks fantastic, but the rock formation doesn’t have any umph or detail.  I think this could be improved by just shooting a different time of day.  The light is just too harsh.

Mantis
Light and shadows are too harsh, it just doesn’t work

Eye
The color and subject matter are really cool (never thought I’d say that about a photo of a dead fish). This is the image that pops out to me out of the bunch.  I think it would have worked even better if the eye wasn’t centered, and instead was crossing the bottom and left thirds.

Shisha
Black and white conversion is muddy and dark.  The subject just bleeds into the background, and my eye just goes “power lines” try tweaking it and really pay attention to your red, yellow, and blue this time.  I think with just the right balance it could be improved greatly.

Boat
It took me a minute to even realize there was a boat in the photo graph.  Straighten, and PP a little to make the silhouette stand out more.  (Maybe play with black point a bit, would do the trick). As is its just another sunset snap.

Beach 2
This I like.  Good balance, good light, good moment

Black and white portrait
Good conversion, I like the tight comp, but my eye is drawn to the light in the upper right, and not to the subject.  Watch your backgrounds

Color portrait
A touch too much head room, you cut off her hand, unflattering pose, and she looks a bit uncomfortable and stiff

Color portrait 2
Too much head room, awkward stiff pose, you cut her off at the ankles. This would have worked if you had moved in tighter, or moved back to get her completely in the frame.  When posing in a sitting position pay close attention to posture.  Shoulders back, OR more relaxed and leaning into the camera would have worked.  Also, having your sitting subjects only sit on the edge of their seat will be more flattering (or completely relaxed fully in a chair)  In this case though, being that its a backless seat, the edge would have worker better.  Watch the hands.  Instead of her hands placed neatly in her lap, I would have liked to see them dropped.  If leaning in towards the camera, have your subject relax their elbows and rest them above the knee, this will automatically make their hands drop and relax, and usually cross one another in a more pleasing way (having them wiggle and shake their arms and hands before hand helps get a more relaxed casual look). If shoulders back is more your preference, of course it would be achieved differently.  This has proved very difficult to explain in text.  Go ahead and look up directing tips for posing, and posing techniques  you’ll be amazed at the subtle changes you can make that can vastly improve your portraits.

Color portrait 3
I like this pose much better.  Her dropped arm looks a little stiff though, and I’d like to see her feet instead of all that head room.  Back off or move that camera down.

Color portrait 4
Nice angle, again too much head room, and her elbows are locked and stiff

Thank you for not being in business until you learn.  Admiral and right thing to do and very refreshing to see.  You are a photographer

[Click It And Stick It]

Thanks for the feedback.  Mantis and boat were both taken with a point and shoot.  Mantis was on a hike in Okinawa and the boat was taken when I was walking out to go deep sea fishing.  Photos of opportunity that I just really love.  I knew the shisha dog was too dark and muddy.  I actually have a better version printed.  I never thought about the power lines though.  The girl is the loud dress is a friend and she was stiff the entire shoot.  She just had no idea how to pose.  Beach 2, that isn’t concrete, it’s a coral formation.  I see what you mean though.

Ohh, I don’t intend to start a business.  What I do takes care of myself and my kids just fine.  Photography is my hobby and borderline obsession.

[stef]

Some issues with exposure. Tilty water on sunset pic.

It looks like you can generally get things in focus and with the DOF you want, although you also need some work on posing people.

I don’t like your static crops, but don’t hate them… they could be a bit better thought out. Composition overall isn’t bad.

 

[creyes8519]

Honestly, I did not connect with any of your photos.  The pictures of the kids are out of focus, except for one and it’s really not that interesting to anyone other than the parent.  The landscape shots are nothing spectacular.  The mantis is over exposed, but even with proper exposure it is unlikely that I would find it very captivating.  The picture of the Shisha is probably your best shot.  Although I would have probably not used B&W.   The pic of the boat  is OK, portraits are OK.  I don’t know what it is…. I think you’ve got pretty much the handle on how to take photos properly, but I really didn’t see any of your photos and go, “Wow!”.  I really don’t have much advice to offer on that….. perhaps more experienced photographers may be able to chime in…

[Author]

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