@pixieperfect - Hi Elizabeth, up front, I do not like bnw photography (and I will leave it at that) and when I look at your family portrait, I see smiling, I see joy, I see laughter, I see love, I also see it is brown.
Yes, agree. The browns are a bit overpowering and the blue flower is pretty but the background seems to be distracting. Maybe a tighter crop would be better. Subjects are great.
I like your subjects and the composition of your photos, but the b&w/sepia shots seem more like they are under exposed, which makes them look dull and dark instead of sepia toned. Perhaps use more contrast in the B&W/Sepia (darker brown and lighter white). The flower is really nice, but it, too looks a bit dark. I think you just need more light :)
Agree with all above: Tonally, there is simply no appreciable contrast in most of your shots - the darks aren't truly dark, lights aren't truly light. They seem muddy - even the blue flower, though it has slightly better contrast, has sort of a dull, uniform blueness. I think your cropping and perspective are fine (IMHO the background and framing are quite nice in the blue flower shot), but again, nothing truly dynamic or exciting visually. How many shots of each image do you take? Try shooting all around the subject, from at least 5 angles, with multiple shots at each angle adjusting lighting or your settings, just to see if you can hit on some new ways to see. Good luck!!
1 believe
I like the angle and the depth of field but there is little contrast in the subject compared to the rest of the photo so creating a sepia image or a monochrome image from this just has the effect of blending everything together in a brown soup, had the vases been patterned in some way or the background had more detail then perhaps it might have worked better.
2 Daisy daisy
I dont like seeing flowers in sepia I always end up wondering what beautiful colours have been lost thats just a personal choice though
3 sibling love
Nice shot nice composition, would probably have been better in black and white and I would have centered the subject more because the space in the upper right somehow seems to distract from the rest of the image
4 Winter 2010 012
Lovely colour blue, but it is awash with blue it just seems to overpower the picture the little green tips of the leaves seem to be drowning in a sea of blue, maybe by showing more of the leaf in the image you would create a greater contrast of colour which in turn would bring out the vibrancy of the flower more
@Jason Daniels, @Dorrena Ortega, @SPace, @Jesa SE, @Elizabeth Hanna, @Lee Gordon
Thanks so much for your comments.
Another question, how do you personally decide what gets to be color, what is b/w and what is sepia?
Again thanks for being honest... I really want to learn! :)
That last one, I can't really comment on the contrast as I'm still learning some of those tips myself, but the highlight on the vase/bottle/whatever the flower is in is distracting. I think if you could 'see' more of that glassware, it wouldn't be as bad - but it's a reflection of a window, just kind of hovering out there in no man's land. It's not connected to, or attached to, anything in the photo and just doesn't seem to fit.
1. believe
I like the angle and the depth of field also. I do not like this in brown. Have you tried to use selective coloring on the vases?
2. Daisy
I don't like the murky brown tone to this. Composition is fine for me. I would like to see this either in a sepia, B & W or stunning color.
3. sibling love
I like the composition of this. I like the smiling faces and the body postures. At first, I did not like the brown tone, but this grew on me. The "white space" on the right is O.K. with me. I felt like you were trying to portray a feeling or a family unity with this. However, if you want, you might crop the right off a little and see what happens (would save retaking the shot).
4. Blue flower.
I liked the blue flower and the composition of the flower. The blue background was too much for me. How about washing out the background or even putting in a contrasting background or really softening the background?
I live in a glass house so I'm not sure I should critique :-)
I really like the one with the vases, but I would love to see the colour version. I'm not sure the sepia is adding anything and is more than likely taking away from a great shot. maybe also shift the focus to the second vase? Have the nearest one out of focus to draw the eye into the picture. Possibly crop closer to the last last vase? And yeah, tweak the contrast as others have said.
The flowers also gain nothing by being sepia. I know they are only white and yellow, but there's nothing wrong with that.
The family is nice. Happy faces in the man and child and very candid the way the women is looking to the baby. Better cropping could help. Tweak the contrast and try B&W if not just stick with the colour. Also ISO 1600 and f4.0? Was it dark where you took it? I know the boy was probably not sitting still but there are ways to keep a fast shutter speed. The background is pretty abstract, so a shallow DOF is not so important in this case. SO, a smaller aperture would help the focus. If possible get more light on the faces. Even a piece of paper to reflect may help. And take the ISO down to reduce the grain. The background seems pretty light. Perhaps that was confusing the camera? So maybe you need a flash fill to allow you to use a smaller aperture and ISO? Generally the few times I use an ISO of 1600 is if I'm in a church or really dark room and need to use a high f-stop and get into the shadows and can't anchor the camera.
I just looked through some of your other photos. You certainly have a good eye and some of the others are generally better pictures.
@pixieperfect I usually use sepia if I want to portray a sense of age or timelessness, Black and white when I want to create impact or when a subject has a lot of contrast but little colour and colour for when the subject has colour, of course they are not the only options, if I am unsure of a subject I take it in colour , produce a range of different images and compare them :)
and I dont think you need to do a great deal with that last one it has a lovely simplicity and that delicate yellowy green at the center of the flower really makes it stand out :)
Easy does it on the Post Processing. The Sepia thing is nice, if not done over and over and over again. And always watch your color saturation.
My recommendation always is not to get carried away after the fact. Too many (including I at times, do).
I do like your composition. it is very natural.
For a little extra dimension, add a little (a little) contrast when needed. Contrast can help duplicate how Slide film behaves, versus say, print film. But it also limits your exposure zones, so one must be careful.
Sometimes, less contrast is even better. For example, your first image, which I like as is.
Keep it up, and my best to you and your continued involvement in this wonderful hobby!
Take a look around at some albums. See if there are photos you like te feel of, whether sepia or color. It's all about mood, I think. Sometimes sepia and b&w are good for nostalgia. Selective coloring is tough - it either looks really good or really crappy, so play around with it a lot if you want to get really good :)
I commented on several of your past pics, of course it is my non professional opinion. Look at each one you will see where I am comming from. Keep up the good work.
if your not sure about an edit that you have just done on an image, then take it off. dont over edit just because you can. the family shot is lovely, you have captured a really loving moment, but your over editing everything.
@pixieperfect - also, in order for your response to send a notifications to the intended respondee, use the blue "reply" icon on the top right of the comment. This way you will get @bobfoto as opposed to typing @jason daniels.
@jason daniels doesn't send me a notification but @bobfoto will.
I agree with the flower comments, I think that reflective window light in the vase is a little distracting. perhaps a shallower dof, really focused on the centre of the bloom would work better....
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1 believe
I like the angle and the depth of field but there is little contrast in the subject compared to the rest of the photo so creating a sepia image or a monochrome image from this just has the effect of blending everything together in a brown soup, had the vases been patterned in some way or the background had more detail then perhaps it might have worked better.
2 Daisy daisy
I dont like seeing flowers in sepia I always end up wondering what beautiful colours have been lost thats just a personal choice though
3 sibling love
Nice shot nice composition, would probably have been better in black and white and I would have centered the subject more because the space in the upper right somehow seems to distract from the rest of the image
4 Winter 2010 012
Lovely colour blue, but it is awash with blue it just seems to overpower the picture the little green tips of the leaves seem to be drowning in a sea of blue, maybe by showing more of the leaf in the image you would create a greater contrast of colour which in turn would bring out the vibrancy of the flower more
but then I am being hyper critical, :)
Thanks so much for your comments.
Another question, how do you personally decide what gets to be color, what is b/w and what is sepia?
Again thanks for being honest... I really want to learn! :)
How is this one on contrast? What could I do to make it better?
I like the angle and the depth of field also. I do not like this in brown. Have you tried to use selective coloring on the vases?
2. Daisy
I don't like the murky brown tone to this. Composition is fine for me. I would like to see this either in a sepia, B & W or stunning color.
3. sibling love
I like the composition of this. I like the smiling faces and the body postures. At first, I did not like the brown tone, but this grew on me. The "white space" on the right is O.K. with me. I felt like you were trying to portray a feeling or a family unity with this. However, if you want, you might crop the right off a little and see what happens (would save retaking the shot).
4. Blue flower.
I liked the blue flower and the composition of the flower. The blue background was too much for me. How about washing out the background or even putting in a contrasting background or really softening the background?
Have fun experimenting and processing!
I really like the one with the vases, but I would love to see the colour version. I'm not sure the sepia is adding anything and is more than likely taking away from a great shot. maybe also shift the focus to the second vase? Have the nearest one out of focus to draw the eye into the picture. Possibly crop closer to the last last vase? And yeah, tweak the contrast as others have said.
The flowers also gain nothing by being sepia. I know they are only white and yellow, but there's nothing wrong with that.
The family is nice. Happy faces in the man and child and very candid the way the women is looking to the baby. Better cropping could help. Tweak the contrast and try B&W if not just stick with the colour. Also ISO 1600 and f4.0? Was it dark where you took it? I know the boy was probably not sitting still but there are ways to keep a fast shutter speed. The background is pretty abstract, so a shallow DOF is not so important in this case. SO, a smaller aperture would help the focus. If possible get more light on the faces. Even a piece of paper to reflect may help. And take the ISO down to reduce the grain. The background seems pretty light. Perhaps that was confusing the camera? So maybe you need a flash fill to allow you to use a smaller aperture and ISO? Generally the few times I use an ISO of 1600 is if I'm in a church or really dark room and need to use a high f-stop and get into the shadows and can't anchor the camera.
I just looked through some of your other photos. You certainly have a good eye and some of the others are generally better pictures.
But I'm far from perfect myself. Always learning.
My recommendation always is not to get carried away after the fact. Too many (including I at times, do).
I do like your composition. it is very natural.
For a little extra dimension, add a little (a little) contrast when needed. Contrast can help duplicate how Slide film behaves, versus say, print film. But it also limits your exposure zones, so one must be careful.
Sometimes, less contrast is even better. For example, your first image, which I like as is.
Keep it up, and my best to you and your continued involvement in this wonderful hobby!
@jason daniels doesn't send me a notification but @bobfoto will.
I agree with the flower comments, I think that reflective window light in the vase is a little distracting. perhaps a shallower dof, really focused on the centre of the bloom would work better....