Brand New to Critique Discussion the weekly critique theme. I (or someone selected) will try to post the theme toward the beginning of the week (so this will be a short week. Topics will vary from topics, to techniques, etc. etc. Not only will this help our editing skills but our ability to critique photos in a helpful manner as well. :)
Rules:
Posting Rules:
1) Post a photo that fits the weekly theme. It may be a photo you just took or a photo you took some time ago that you like.
2) Do NOT post a photo if your feelings get hurt easily –
3) Also keep in mind the comments are often someone’s opinion and their opinion may be different than yours so you may learn something or not.
Commenting Rules:
1) You will make a plus & minus comment on as MANY PHOTOS as you would like to comment on.
2) Your comment must include One positive comment of what you specifically like about the photo (No More than ONE positive). Generic comments such as “great shot” does not count as a positive feedback.
3) Your comment must ALSO INCLUDE One improvement suggestion (NO More than One suggestion of improvement per photo per person). Generic comments such as “I don’t like it” doesn’t count as a suggestion of improvement.
4) YOU MAY NOT COMMENT ON A PHOTO IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO SAY A PLUS AND MINUS ON THE SAME PHOTO. In other words something positive AND an improvement suggestion.
5) Keep comments to photos relatively brief
Comment Example:
Plus - I love how you used the rule of thirds in this photo. I feel the garbage can in the right corner distracts from the photo and it would have been improved without it in the shot.
@northy We will see what the response is like and if we don't get a good response it will disappear. I think people are often afraid of providing useful feedback so this could be the format to do so.
Posting only one good thing or bad thing is tough as many "things" go together. Since we are limited to one. I will post the first impressions I got when looking at this image.
+) I love the color pallet of this shot, and the processing to give it an almost matt look. The color of the sky is not overdone and compliments the whole image. Really great job.
-) Normally, I love foreground elements, but i find the building to the right a bit distracting. The building is a bit distorted and not vertically corrected, and my eyes keep going to it.
@vetsky Yes that is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping people would give. I think more than one comment is okay, I'm only concerned that people will not provide an area of improvement suggestion OR they write a huge book of comments. So to me more than one is fine as long as it isn't a book.
I think the suggestion you gave is very helpful. I can see what you mean about distortion and I will consider the suggestion of the building on the right.
@myhrhelper I have similar comments to vetsky's... The ice colour palette works well - and communicates the weather nicely... But I do wonder if the comp would be stronger if you went for a portrait orientation and focussed on the blue gold gold and pink buildings, and their relative depth...
@vetsky I really like the composition - particularly the scale and depth... I also quite like the overall dark and moody tones to the light - but I wonder if upping the brightness of the whites and highlights would make the overall image more vibrant? (That said, I am working from my phone so possibly not seeing this to its best advantage)...
@northy I do go to that location from time to time and I think I will try to re-take the photo with this suggestion - I think it could be a stronger composition as you mention.
@northy -- very dramatic and the balance of positive/negative space enhances the message and mood of the picture. Keystone effect also adds to the drama
Suggestions: hard to say anything to improve but the sun flare is probably too far over the edge and distracts from the balance of the two towers. I might have moved to the right a little more, gotten less wash out on the right tower and more reflection on the left. Also was the sky processed separately? (seeing some fringe effect on the far right side of the tower).
@vetsky Fantastic shot! I love the mood, drama and details of this photo. It definitely pops in b&w! The cable between the buildings is a bit distracting, and the photo might benefit from its removal.
@myhrhelper As several others have said, the colors really stand out in this shot, and the focus is impressively sharp! There is an antennae at the top of the yellow building in the middle of the photo that seems to go out of the photo. The shot might be improved if that were removed.
I submit this one for architecture because I took it for an architecture project with the intent of capturing the building in a way that I would enjoy seeing the photo. Tough for me because architecture is not my passion at all, but I thought I had captured and processed it in a pleasing way.... Definitely anxious to hear critique!!
@myhrhelper on your photo the color is popping well but while it is always hard to determine where to set the horizon line sometimes, the buildings and bridge pilings are all leaning to the left and has quite a bit of distraction on seeing the picture.
@myhrhelper Really interesting topic, I'm keen to see people's pictures and critiques
@shesnapped I like the composition of this shot with the angular house against the trees in the background. I feel like the colours kind of blend together though and dilute the contrast - I would consider changing it to b&w to highlight that more if it were my picture
@vetsky when I saw this early this morning I immediately liked the balance, composition, and path. What I would focus on as constructive is that sometimes black and white from a color shot is a bit harder to get spot in than it looks. In film when I print, I look to get my whites just off paper white and my blacks to not get too dark and cause a loss of details. I think the black may be a bit more aggressive and is taking away attention from the details.
@northy I quite like the softness in the photo, but overall the photo has a slight heaviness about towards the bottom. It feels like the details are there but are not coming out.
@shesnapped one of the hard things in architecture is getting the vertical lines to be vertical and I think you really have a nice line to the photo. For the constructive comment and this is just my preference and may not match the editing style or programs you have, but I wonder what the photo would look like with a bit of sharpening. It is a bit soft for my taste.
@clearday I personally would have changed the crop to lose the building on the left or the building(s) above the highway on the right. I feel that there is just too many buildings to create a focal point that grabs my eye. On the plus side I always adore architecture in black and white.
@phillyphotos Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated, I'll bear it in mind for future shots.
For your picture, I really like the composition and how the reflection shows so clearly and with such detail. As you mentioned that you don't usually like to crop out small distractions my constructive comment is that I think I'd have changed it to black and white (I seem to be changing everything to b&w this week though, so it might just be a phase!).
@clearday I shoot in black and white film (about two rolls a month) so I understand the black and white groove you are going with this week. From that I have learned to see a scene in black and white before I even take the photo. Thanks for the input.
@vetsky
Your Venice shot is great - could it be anywhere else in the world? It feels very 'Venice', very classy to my eyes. There is a lot of detail in the b&w. I wish the wire between the buildings was not there - I wonder if you could have taken it from a slightly different angle to exclude it - but still get the top of the balcony railings - which I think is an essential in the composition.
@shesnapped - Lovely autumnal colours in the trees (where I like the processing style) - reflected in the warm brick tones. For me the processing overall is a bit 'much'. I'm curious as to how the original shot might have looked.
@clearday - Fabulously shaped buildings! You've caught a really odd, unreal landscape. The image is a little too monochrome for me (I'd like a little more contrast). There is a lot of sky and sea without much drama. I'm not sure how you can improve that though!
@phillyphotos - I think this is technically a very good photo - you have the right depth of field to get the church and the people and the window in focus, and nicely exposed. I'm a little frustrated that I can't see the top of the church
@jaybutterfield@phillyphotos tx Jay, Paula... i know i tend to go over the top with flares and contrast... i'm trying to be more nuanced about it, so your feedback is much appreciated!
@shesnapped i quite like the warmth and softness of this - a stylistic choice that i think works well with your subject... i wonder though if the comp might be improved if you swivelled just a teensy bit to your right and left a little less space on the left... i'm not sure of this, mind you... just that my eye is feeling like there is a smidgeon more empty space than it wants to see :)
@littlequeenie great idea and the only thing I really would have differently was crop it down to a landscape to get less concrete on the bottom and a bit less sky on the top.
@shesnapped colors are nice and the processing this shot does have a bit of an abstract feel to it to me which does make it interesting. - I do feel that so much of it is out of focus that I wonder what the focal point of the photo is. .
@northy I am a fan of your work, and I love your black & white (I for sure think a black and white them is in order in the future). Your eye for finding the interesting repeated pattern is so cool the zigzag along the edges of each building. What I struggle with the most in this photo I feel the buildings should either show a bit more building(s) detail or show even less and have a stronger contrast between sky and building. I notice a bit of shadowing around the edges of the buildings I'm not sure what caused that effect. .
@phillyphotos such a unique perspective using the reflection while capturing the people shadows etc. I really like it. I know you don't like to crop but I really do feel that if you could clone out the flag on the left it would bring this photo to the next level - IMO
@clearday I like the clarity of the water and buildings. I am struggling a bit with the composition - I'm not sure what is your focal point - where does my eye go? I can see the same could be said with the photo I posted as well. I think finding something of interest in the foreground or midpoint could have improved it a touch.
@littlequeenie I love the tones of grey in this shot and the contrast looks nice. I am not sure what the focal point of this photo is.
@myhrhelper + Nice and sharp with no nasty edges, light or dark. - Yes, on the right. I might have tried to include the full building. lopping off the top of such a prominent component is like lopping off legs in a portrait.
@vetsky + The deep tones work well in B&W, the sharpness sets them off nicely. - A little one, but I'd clone out that power line top center frame.
@northy + Huge wonderful shapes of the buildings. - Too much loss of detail in the blacks and flares for my taste. It doesn't have to be much in the blacks, just a tad more.
@shesnapped + The colors are very dramatic. - Same as the +, the colors are so dramatic it pulls my eye away from the white lines of the building.
@clearday + The line of the buoys works nicely to echo the horizon line. - I'd pull the tones for more contrast and punch. Not to overdo it, it can be somewhat easy to get carried away, but for me the attraction of B&W is a wide range of tone most of the time. Here they are a little bland.
@phillyphotos + The frame in frame idea. - The top of the tower has been lopped off.
@littlequeenie + The nice ample foreground element to the right. - Yes, this is where processing, or lack of it shows. For me, I'd try to pull a little detail out of the buildings and then pull the edges of the resulting histogram at the right and the left to the edges. More tonal contrast that is, yet get some detail into what I consider the subject, the buildings in the back.
My self-evaluation. + The sharpening turned out well, the edges, white to the right and black to the left were well balanced. - The sky handling is quite crude, I should have tried harder for something less garish as well as blurring out the noise induced by the tone mappings. It should have been more generally un-sharpened and blurred anyway, very careless.
@frankhymus I like the lines and patterns captured in this photo. (I tend to attract to lines and patterns) I also like how the clouds seem to make horizontal layers. That said, I would like to see more emphasis on the clouds, so they stand out more.
@littlequeenie Thanks for your feedback. For your photo, I love the composition and your use of the reflection. I do think it might be improved by cropping out some of the ground and sky to make a landscape instead.
@frankhymus I like the lines and contrast in the tower. I agree with @dmdfday about possible making the clouds stand out a bit more. Thanks for your comments on my shot.
@myhrhelper Thanks for your feedback. I see what you mean about the similar issue with focal point in your photo. I think cropping the building on the right of yours might help that though. I like the warmth and shades of the colours you've caught.
@frankhymus I tend to disagree with the other feedback on your picture. I like how the building "pops" against the muted clouds. They add a soft background against which the hard edges and strong contrast of the building works. I also like the very tight crop.
I don't have any negatives.
@spanner Thanks, that's kind of you. I agree with your sky assessment. In fact if you read my self assessment, I'd make the sky less intrusive than I originally made it.
@spanner Significantly. The sky is bright blue and under a normal tone mapping is the usual "white sky" of classic B&W. You can't see any cloud layers in it until you map the blue content way low, the clouds and the sky are about the same original luminosity.
@frankhymus
+ the building pops out wonderfully and it is really crisp
- the format doesn't work for me, it is either too long or too short. I'd love to see how this looks cropped slightly below the lowest single "white" pane or be even longer to emphasize the skinniness of the building.
I like the background, i wonder if you could bring out the horizon/dark line to give it a bit more interest.
@littlequeenie i like how you are showing the modern vs. the old. It looks like a neat place to visit.
If you can't do editing, i would work on composition. As others said, it needs a focal point, and I keep wishing that the person on the steps was more in the lighter area.
Btw, there are plenty of free editing programs. For my basic needs, I use Picasa. If you are an ace member here, you can use Picmonkey. Doesn't work with apple products unfortunately.
@phillyphotos I took me a while until I saw the people in the reflection. Those are awesome! I think you could try to bring them out (by darkening them to almost black), so it looks more like a shadow theatre.
I am sorry if I don't get it right - but the comment is only possible here till the next picture is in - correct? Otherwise it is difficult to understand what the comment refers to. @myhrhelper
@roulin No we didn't have those rules but I'm thinking about how to fine tune this in the future - this is the Test version - I want to allow a lot of comments without the confusion.
@myhrhelper So, the question is still there - how to comment, for example, the top picture? The author will see that comment if I tag his/her name, but the comment goes down the thread and may seem relevant to last posted picture?
@roulin You click on the link "reply @myhrhelper" and it will open a window to comment. If the poster has notifications set up, he/she will see that someone has replied on the thread. Does that help?
I really like the perspective of this shot, looking down on the house. I also like the background landscape, especially the sloping. I think adding more light to the house to make it pop.
@transatlantic99 I really like the texture of the house, or rather all the different textures. And I agree with Diane that it needs to be brighter to stand out from the background.
This is a great idea. I almost never take architectural pictures, so this is all I've got. I do like some things about it, but the view from that escalator really caught my eye, and I wonder how I could have captured it better.
@transatlantic99
+ interesting object, straight verticals
- lack of sharpening on the object. Too little space on sides, constrained feeling. Also, to give some contrast, would probably keep it colored.
@bsheppard Thank you. I think you're right. I'll give it a try.
@roulin. I have to go back to the color shot and see what made me go b&w. This house was crowded next to nicer homes, all close together. But you make me realize that I should have done a wider shot as well and take it from there.
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Posting only one good thing or bad thing is tough as many "things" go together. Since we are limited to one. I will post the first impressions I got when looking at this image.
+) I love the color pallet of this shot, and the processing to give it an almost matt look. The color of the sky is not overdone and compliments the whole image. Really great job.
-) Normally, I love foreground elements, but i find the building to the right a bit distracting. The building is a bit distorted and not vertically corrected, and my eyes keep going to it.
I hope that is okay.
I think the suggestion you gave is very helpful. I can see what you mean about distortion and I will consider the suggestion of the building on the right.
If it were my image I would have removed the wire in the center of the image.
Suggestions: hard to say anything to improve but the sun flare is probably too far over the edge and distracts from the balance of the two towers. I might have moved to the right a little more, gotten less wash out on the right tower and more reflection on the left. Also was the sky processed separately? (seeing some fringe effect on the far right side of the tower).
Overall very good.
@shesnapped I like the composition of this shot with the angular house against the trees in the background. I feel like the colours kind of blend together though and dilute the contrast - I would consider changing it to b&w to highlight that more if it were my picture
Off to find one of mine to contribute
shot on dslr, edited in light room, and my personal style does not include removing out small distractions in photoshop.
For your picture, I really like the composition and how the reflection shows so clearly and with such detail. As you mentioned that you don't usually like to crop out small distractions my constructive comment is that I think I'd have changed it to black and white (I seem to be changing everything to b&w this week though, so it might just be a phase!).
Your Venice shot is great - could it be anywhere else in the world? It feels very 'Venice', very classy to my eyes. There is a lot of detail in the b&w. I wish the wire between the buildings was not there - I wonder if you could have taken it from a slightly different angle to exclude it - but still get the top of the balcony railings - which I think is an essential in the composition.
@shesnapped - Lovely autumnal colours in the trees (where I like the processing style) - reflected in the warm brick tones. For me the processing overall is a bit 'much'. I'm curious as to how the original shot might have looked.
@clearday - Fabulously shaped buildings! You've caught a really odd, unreal landscape. The image is a little too monochrome for me (I'd like a little more contrast). There is a lot of sky and sea without much drama. I'm not sure how you can improve that though!
@phillyphotos - I think this is technically a very good photo - you have the right depth of field to get the church and the people and the window in focus, and nicely exposed. I'm a little frustrated that I can't see the top of the church
@northy I am a fan of your work, and I love your black & white (I for sure think a black and white them is in order in the future). Your eye for finding the interesting repeated pattern is so cool the zigzag along the edges of each building. What I struggle with the most in this photo I feel the buildings should either show a bit more building(s) detail or show even less and have a stronger contrast between sky and building. I notice a bit of shadowing around the edges of the buildings I'm not sure what caused that effect. .
@phillyphotos such a unique perspective using the reflection while capturing the people shadows etc. I really like it. I know you don't like to crop but I really do feel that if you could clone out the flag on the left it would bring this photo to the next level - IMO
@clearday I like the clarity of the water and buildings. I am struggling a bit with the composition - I'm not sure what is your focal point - where does my eye go? I can see the same could be said with the photo I posted as well. I think finding something of interest in the foreground or midpoint could have improved it a touch.
@littlequeenie I love the tones of grey in this shot and the contrast looks nice. I am not sure what the focal point of this photo is.
@vetsky + The deep tones work well in B&W, the sharpness sets them off nicely. - A little one, but I'd clone out that power line top center frame.
@northy + Huge wonderful shapes of the buildings. - Too much loss of detail in the blacks and flares for my taste. It doesn't have to be much in the blacks, just a tad more.
@shesnapped + The colors are very dramatic. - Same as the +, the colors are so dramatic it pulls my eye away from the white lines of the building.
@clearday + The line of the buoys works nicely to echo the horizon line. - I'd pull the tones for more contrast and punch. Not to overdo it, it can be somewhat easy to get carried away, but for me the attraction of B&W is a wide range of tone most of the time. Here they are a little bland.
@phillyphotos + The frame in frame idea. - The top of the tower has been lopped off.
@littlequeenie + The nice ample foreground element to the right. - Yes, this is where processing, or lack of it shows. For me, I'd try to pull a little detail out of the buildings and then pull the edges of the resulting histogram at the right and the left to the edges. More tonal contrast that is, yet get some detail into what I consider the subject, the buildings in the back.
My self-evaluation. + The sharpening turned out well, the edges, white to the right and black to the left were well balanced. - The sky handling is quite crude, I should have tried harder for something less garish as well as blurring out the noise induced by the tone mappings. It should have been more generally un-sharpened and blurred anyway, very careless.
@frankhymus I like the lines and contrast in the tower. I agree with @dmdfday about possible making the clouds stand out a bit more. Thanks for your comments on my shot.
@myhrhelper Thanks for your feedback. I see what you mean about the similar issue with focal point in your photo. I think cropping the building on the right of yours might help that though. I like the warmth and shades of the colours you've caught.
I don't have any negatives.
+ the building pops out wonderfully and it is really crisp
- the format doesn't work for me, it is either too long or too short. I'd love to see how this looks cropped slightly below the lowest single "white" pane or be even longer to emphasize the skinniness of the building.
I like the background, i wonder if you could bring out the horizon/dark line to give it a bit more interest.
I guess that was 2 +/-.
If you can't do editing, i would work on composition. As others said, it needs a focal point, and I keep wishing that the person on the steps was more in the lighter area.
Btw, there are plenty of free editing programs. For my basic needs, I use Picasa. If you are an ace member here, you can use Picmonkey. Doesn't work with apple products unfortunately.
@myhrhelper
+ interesting object, straight verticals
- lack of sharpening on the object. Too little space on sides, constrained feeling. Also, to give some contrast, would probably keep it colored.
+ straight line and laconicism;
- need more air around, that would give some volume. Doubt about shifting to the right, was it necessary?
@roulin. I have to go back to the color shot and see what made me go b&w. This house was crowded next to nicer homes, all close together. But you make me realize that I should have done a wider shot as well and take it from there.