Feedback on my pictures?

[Ara57]

Well, I see you have removed the good image that was not yours and added a bit more. I was glad to see the picture of the dog. I guess that means you can snap a photo of something that is alive! In addition it is not an awful shot. You have a catchlight in his eye and the fur is showing nice texture. You have cut off his paw at the lower edge, but it is still a pleasant shot, mostly because the subject is endearing, unlike shots of the Dell logo or a page from a random book.

One problem is your subjects and your treatment of them. Random closeups seem to be the thing with beginner teen photographers. There is nothing wrong with shooting what you want, but these pictures will likely not mean much to you in the future. Aside from the technical problems, they are simply not interesting. They are not well executed, many have major composition, lighting, exposure and focus problems. To make matters worse, you have taken a heavy hand in post processing with excessive saturation and contrast in many of them. Massive post processing manipulation does not turn a mediocre snapshot into a work of art, and in fact often ruins what might otherwise be an OK shot. Post processing has a place in digital and film photography, but it is neither a rescue tool nor a miracle worker. Here are a couple of quick and dirty critiques, first the wooden mannequin: While the lighting is creating shadow and highlight (necessary in a 2-D image to create substance and form) , the highlights are largely blown areas with no detail, and the shadows are blocked, again with no detail. It is not quite sharp, and his hands are cut off in the framing.

This one: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater
The subject is very out of focus, and again has large blown areas. In addition this one, as many of yours, is tilted. Sometimes tilt can be dynamic, but when constantly substituted for good composition tilt becomes a crutch, and not a good one. I know you may hear to always shoot from different angles and see other photos with skewed horizons, but most of the time your horizon line should be straight. The leaf is also cut off at the edges.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater
I like this one best from your group of inanimate objects. It has an abstract feel, and the spots of red add to the cubist notion.

In short, you are still at the beginner stage even if you have been shooting for several years. What are you doing to learn about the craft and advance your skill and step away from making the same old novice mistakes? Learning the basics of exposure and composition are the first steps you should be taking.

Asking for critique here on Y!A will get you a mixed bag. Many will be other teen beginners with very little understanding of the craft. These are the gushers. Then there are the meanies, who delight in tearing into beginners because they can on the anonymous interwebz. You may also get a few responses from some regulars who know their f/stop from a door stop, but many of them are not doing that so much any more because of the abuse they get in return for their honesty. The best way to get meaningful feedback is to join a group or club at your local level, or take a class at your school, or submit some of your work to local juried shows or contests. There are also many books available at the library on basic photography and composition. Lots of on-line sites for every level photographer from beginner to advanced. Here are a few I like:

http://digital-photography-school.com/

http://asp.photo.free.fr/Composition/pho...ss01.shtml

http://photography.nationalgeographic.co...NavPhoHome

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutoria...posure.htm

Here are some galleries of mostly good to excellent work so you can see what good photography should look like: First still life:

http://photo.net/gallery/photocritique/filter

Abstract:

http://photo.net/gallery/photocritique/filter

And everything:

http://photo.net/gallery/photocritique/filter

Be inspired to learn and improve. Best wishes to you and happy shooting!

Also here is my Flickr, mostly my own snapshots of my daily life, kids and pets, but have at it if you wish:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12604020@N05/

In fact, you might get better responses here if you put your photos on Flickr rather than FB. FB compresses small files even further, and many people will not leave comments on FB or even go there to view. Flickr is free.