+- Twitist Forums (http://twitist.com)
+-- Forum: Facebook forums (/forum-14.html)
+--- Forum: Facebook Marketing (/forum-12.html)
+--- Thread: Can you critique this photo? (/thread-49722.html)
Pages: 1 2
Can you critique this photo? - Jack Haskell - 12-09-2012 05:21 PM
Whenever I post my photography on any sites such as flickr or facebook, I never seem to get any serious critique (or any critique at all) when I ask for it. Can you tell me what you think about this photo, taken with my Nikon d3200, 18-55mm kit lens? http://imgur.com/74Puu
Hondo, how is the composition "boring"? I purposely used rule of thirds in this photo. Thanks for the opinion, but can you tell me WHY its "boring"?
- ImagineBeauty - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
That is gorgeous. Period. I would do a little color boost (the coloring is a little same-same) but all in all with a little cropping and editing, it would be amazing.
- deep blue2 - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
I wouldn't bother with Facebook for photography critique. As for Flickr - you get out of it what you put into it. Are you joining relevant groups & participating? Do you offer comments or critique others? If not, how do you expect to get comments?
Edit: ok seen it now. I have to agree it's not that inspiring. Yes you have put it on a thirds line - good, but photographic composition is about more than just thirds lines.
Good use of shallow dof too - but I would suggest it's not quite shallow enough - the background is still too 'busy'. There's tons of texture there to be brought out, but the lighting doesn't do that - try shooting with the light at a steeper angle (ie when it's going down) - that will really highlight texture AND give some warm colour tones. Alternatively, this could've been backlit to highlight the wispy bits.
I judge regional photo comps between clubs & the thing I bang on most of all is light. It creates mood in an image & can bring out detail - you need to think about light more - where it's coming from (above, behind from the front or side), it's colour temp (warm or cool) and its quality (hard/soft). ALL these influence the 'feel' of an image.
9 times out of 10 it's the light in an image that gives it the wow factor & elevates a mediocre shot into a stunner.
- Hondo - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
It's a snapshot with a boring composition taken in flat middle of the day lighting.
Just because you used the rule of thirds does not make the composition compelling... You tell me, what makes a photo of a plant in a field taken in flat middle of the day lighting compelling or interesting in any way?
- c. - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
I think it's a nice shot, but not very outstanding.
In my opinion it lacks the kind of light that would make it more special. Although your main subject is the plant you photographed, the used light will make it stand out in a certain way. The whole of the picture looks rather "flat" to me, not leading the eye towards any specific feature of your subject. I think you need to pay more attention to the time of day and weather conditions when you're doing shots like this.
Although you made a picture of a landscape, I think in this case it could have been better to choose a vertical crop, making the aspect ratio of your crop follow the natural direction of the subject.
- «imagi» - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
Color is good. Composition is ok.
If I were to frame it I would shoot it as a portrait.
It's an ok shot, just that there's not much to catch interest. It gets 3 seconds of my time and that's about it. If you want to make that more interesting, try to stage it. Like release one of the seeds and shoot it floating free.
- Mark - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
I'm with C. It's in no way a bad photo, but neither does it scream "look at me!" - which is what we want our pictures to do.
I think if you had zoomed out a bit it would have been more compositionally interesting. The colour also is a bit meh, to my eyes at least. It's not offensive to the eyes at all; the problem is that it's nothing to the eyes. There's nothing in it to make you want to look at it for more than a moment.
I think it was either Jay Maisel or Joe McNally who said "if you weren't excited when you took the shot, why would the person viewing it be excited?" It looks like you we're thinking "oh, let's take a picture of a flower", rather than "oh man, I just gotta shoot that!" If someone took a shot because it moved them, that can often come across to the person viewing the picture.
If you saw something interesting in the scene, then good, but it doesn't come across in the shot.
Not a bad picture, but not an exciting one either.
- Dragon - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
it's nice, especially the top right part with the delicate stuff against the blue sky. but I think I'd prefer the image taken portrait instead of landscape. now it feels like it's pushed downwards. and maybe frog perspective might have worked here too: it would confirm the 'glory' of the flower/plant. and I love to see the image against a full blue sky (almost to the point of unreal), so no blurry background. can you photoshop to try what that would be like? just to see.
if someone labels it 'boring' this might be cuz you're following all the rules. try to bend them a little and make your own, go with your intuition, mess it up a little, get out of your comfort zone. that's what's gonna set you apart from the crowd. have fun and step away from picture perfect.
- bluespeedbird - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
I think I'd have preferred it shot at a lower angle... Shot against a blue sky would have made the image stand out more... Your 18-55mm kit lens doesn't smooth out detail all that well in the out-of-focus portions of the photograph and makes the background look 'cluttered' ... Shooting from ground level would have improved this.
Also I would have shot it when the sun was a little lower in the sky, it would define the shape of the plant better and add to the mood. Even backlit by the sun and filled with a reflector would have added something.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antofa/6887340964/in/photostream/lightbox/ - This is not ideal, but shows the use of a blue sky background.
EDIT OOOerr... I've been got by the thumbs-down fairy!
- Briar - 12-09-2012 05:29 PM
Remember - rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men. Just cos you follow the "rule" of thirds doesn't guarantee a good photo.
The background is too confusing - the subject gets lost from the centre line down. Would have been better to have that subject standing out against a clear blue sky by shooting from lower down.
But even then the subject is hardly earth shattering - just a mish mash of fibre and seed case! That is why Hondo describes it as boring - I agree! Totally lacking in imagination.