@remirixjones Of course posing action figures for photos is art! By that person's definition, photos of still life couldn't be art, either. How about posed photos of people? Personally, I find your action figure photos to be both creative and entertaining. They certainly fit in my definition of art.
As to the photo you posted here and asked for thoughts, I like the two action figure poses and the story it tells. I find the flesh tone in the foreground to be distracting, however. I'd recommend either eliminating it entirely, or going with a longer depth of field so it's less blurred. The background you selected for the shot is perfect. I like the color and pattern, and the blur is just about right for it. Overall lighting on the scene is very good, and the colors really pop. Your subject is well focused. I'd just eliminate that flesh tone foreground.
well your answer is in the thread I guess. They are a popular subject, but if you scroll down the page there's not many different pictures to be had, imho. They get less humerous as you see them repeated. As for the person who ranted at you, just do more, and tag them in. Do some super-cheese ones just to annoy them. ;)
i think they are fun to do, excellent composition practice and can be amazingly creative... altho', like anything else, once you're supersaturated they start to get old real fast...
for your shot i find the large bit that is out of focus (her sleeve i guess) to be rather distracting on my eye... but that's just me (and my wonky eyes)... playing with dof can really add to these shots so you need to do what works for you...
as for the troll - well, they're entitled to their opinion, right? but you can ignore it and as you will have seen from all the responses you got, lots of photogs like playing with toys :)
How fun, there are many that I really like and I can definitely see how it's artistic...I agree if that is what you want to photograph then GO FOR IT.......not every picture is for everyone....if they don't like it oh well....but if you do then awesome...I think I will try it myself, they look fun....
honestly, what do I think of them? they can be cute sometimes, but most them time I wish people would stop taking pictures of fake things and get to the good stuff: real peoples ;)
Thanks to everyone for their opinions. I'm still trying to see the problem with the sleeve being out of focus. But yeah, people are entitled to their opinions. My question about the DA troll was more what do you think of someone calling something 'not art'? That's more what I was getting at.
Don't ask me about Art. My photography is about science, so I call myself a Scientist. I have met artists who create art, they use a skill and ability to which I have no way of achieving when I hold their brushes and canvas yet when they hold my camera, they can capture the same moment in time as I do.
@remirixjones art is in the eye of the beholder, no? there are all sorts of works of art that sell for bazillions that i don't "get" and have no interest in trying to "get" - but someone clearly thinks they are art, right? one person's garbage is another's art and vice versa and so forevermore!
@remirixjones - Its all about factors that can have values, light can be measured, ISO can be set, f-stop has values. You get the mix right with assistance from a mass-manufactured machine. In some cases, the machine sits on a tripod and is remotely activated - even less human contact. Also, 90% of the photographs here and around the world are of things that exist, we don't create them, we find them. We don't create the image, we stop time for a brief second.
The Artists I know, have spent years like me learning their craft, when they apply paint to paper or canvas, they are creating an image that no-one has ever seen before. Except for those hyper-realism freaks... I would gladly pay hard earned money to enter a gallery and stand quietly in front of an oil, an acrylic, a watercolour and say wowee, how much skill and ability and time has gone into that? Even if I stood alongside Van Gogh, used the same paper as he, and the same paint as he and the same brushes, I could not in my wildest dreams reproduce what Van Gogh would. But if we stood side by side and aimed at the same view, with the same camera and the same settings, we would both produce a very similar image.
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As to the photo you posted here and asked for thoughts, I like the two action figure poses and the story it tells. I find the flesh tone in the foreground to be distracting, however. I'd recommend either eliminating it entirely, or going with a longer depth of field so it's less blurred. The background you selected for the shot is perfect. I like the color and pattern, and the blur is just about right for it. Overall lighting on the scene is very good, and the colors really pop. Your subject is well focused. I'd just eliminate that flesh tone foreground.
for your shot i find the large bit that is out of focus (her sleeve i guess) to be rather distracting on my eye... but that's just me (and my wonky eyes)... playing with dof can really add to these shots so you need to do what works for you...
as for the troll - well, they're entitled to their opinion, right? but you can ignore it and as you will have seen from all the responses you got, lots of photogs like playing with toys :)
i have several toy shots... here is one...
So I thought I'd have a go, albeit without any actual action figures:
The Artists I know, have spent years like me learning their craft, when they apply paint to paper or canvas, they are creating an image that no-one has ever seen before. Except for those hyper-realism freaks... I would gladly pay hard earned money to enter a gallery and stand quietly in front of an oil, an acrylic, a watercolour and say wowee, how much skill and ability and time has gone into that? Even if I stood alongside Van Gogh, used the same paper as he, and the same paint as he and the same brushes, I could not in my wildest dreams reproduce what Van Gogh would. But if we stood side by side and aimed at the same view, with the same camera and the same settings, we would both produce a very similar image.