PLEASE NOTE A FEW CHANGES:
** Tagging photos
***Giving photo a Title/Name when posting & referring to.- We will see if this makes it easier to follow the comments.
Brand New to Critique Discussion the weekly critique theme. 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.
****4) TAG your photo "plusminus-people" ****
(5) TITLE the photo you post so others can refer to the title when commenting.
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 at least One positive comment of what you specifically like about the photo (No More than THREE positive). Generic comments such as “great shot” is does not count as a positive feedback.
3) Your comment must ALSO INCLUDE One improvement suggestion (NO More than THREE 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
6) REFER TO THE PHOTO TITLE if provided when commenting
Comment Example:
"Green Lake Song" - @myhrhelper 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.
Learning - @cherrymartina - overall this feels like a nicely composed shot - (triangle) the eyes and face are nicely in focus as well. My main suggestion would be to have just a little more space between the right hand - it almost feels like some of the hand is cut off. The tag I suggested earlier doesn't work so I'm changing it to "plusminus-people"
Ava - @jaybutterfield This seems to be a nice candidate shot. Nice space in front of the direction she is looking for - the legs and right arm is cropped in such a way that I feel it works. What I think could be improved (which is something I do so often but when doing portraits I need to be careful of ) is the fingers have been cut off. The tag I suggested earlier doesn't work so I'm changing the tag to " plusminus-people "
@myhrhelper Thanks. I would have liked to include more hand but there was a distracting element there that I wanted to crop out. Appreciate the feedback.
I have also a Three Generations shot. Don't shoot many portraits, so very few to choose from. Just a quick shot from many snaps at Lucia's birthday dinner.
Three Generations.
Self Evaluation. + The separation from the background is pleasing to me, with Lab color sharpening (High Radius, Low Amount - HIRALOAM in Mike Margulis' terminology) and some added background blur. - That darned background, but what can you do when it is just a quick snap at the restaurant?
@jaybutterfield + The tones on the subject are really lovely. - I think too much background, I'd try to chop those lighter tones of the sky and the houses that I find distracting.
@cherrymartina
++ I really like her concentration, and the way you included everything we need to see (face, two hands, key piece of the guitar) and nothing we don't need to see. [breaking the rules with a second compliment - i just noticed the reflection of her face in the guitar - really nice!)
-- Did you use an on-camera flash? The shadow are kind of harsh and the left hand maybe too bright.
@frankhymus I like the placement of the 3 of them - I know with candid snapshots sometimes there isn't a lot you can do about the background and all the work is in post processing. The main thing I see with this is it seems to me that the eyes are not in focus. That is the first thing I look for in portraits. Either way it is a special photo they will treasure forever.
@bsheppard I love the reflection and you really caught a special moment - again for me the eyes are not in focus and for me that makes the difference in a shot with people.
@myhrhelper Thanks. The eyes have been sharpened especially. Regret you still think they are somewhat flat. Did you look at it "full size" in my project? I always down-sample to 1024 long side and then give it a final output sharpen for this very problem, especially here on 265. Flickr for instance seems to do a much better job. So does my Firefox browser.
@frankhymus I did look at it on your site and I do agree it looks better full size but if you want my honest opinion I still feel the women on the right and especially the women in the back could be sharper. To me you shot f2.8 and I think that accounts for it when you have 3 people. I'm assuming they didn't sit perfectly still at that aperture. I will use a wider open aperture when shooting one person and narrow it to a larger f stop as I add people .I know we can try to get it in post processing (I personally do this myself) but what a difference when I nail the focus on the eyes in camera verses trying to sharpen it post processing. Frank you are a great photographer and I hope you take this as just a small suggestion. For me in portrait photography it is all about those eyes. I don't think the eyes are flat just not as sharp as they could be. I do a lot of portrait photography and the first thing I look at did I get the sharp focus with everyone in the shot (unless it was intentional). Also the shot I used in this thread I'm not satisfied with the focus of the eyes in my shot either. Since I did a photoshoot with them I trust I have better ones to present.
@myhrhelper No problem at all. In set situations, I hope I would be more careful.
BTW, the Sony RX100IV has a 1 inch sensor (big for a compact or P&S camera), about a full frame x4 "crop" and the same (two doublings or stops) as regards the DoF you can get from a particular f/stop. f/2.8 on this camera is about f/5.6 as regards the DoF that can be achieved Full Frame. So I have no out to blame f/2.8 for any DoF softness, it should get all three people's eyes fine, just my carelessness.
Have you noticed that your new FF camera can get a noticeably narrower DoF for a particular aperture than with your APS-C camera? By about a factor of two, one stop that is. The fact is not always appreciated, and one reason FF can be so attractive especially to portrait photographers. f/2.8 on any camera gives me an f/2.8 exposure for sure, but not the DoF. DPReview has a very good article explaining the DoF/small sensor effects, but I can't immediately find it. Another common example, the fixed aperture of the lens on the iPhone 5 is f/2.4 on an even tinier sensor and no one ever accused the phone camera of being subtle regarding the DoF. :)
@myhrhelper, Thank you for a critique on "learning". I agree with you I might have cropped little bit too much on the left... I am really a beginner and I have "trouble" thinking about all the things that make a better photo. I was mainly focused to reduce the background since I couldn't change a scene.
Plus&minus is a great idea, and I follow. It helps me to learn a lot, not just from my own photos but from all the critiques.
@bsheppard, Thank you Beth for commenting my photo "Learning", and for liking the idea of a photo.
Well I am a beginner, and yes I used built-in flash. As for the shadows... I was trying to reduce e bckg on the right side since there is a kitchen and a window in the back, pretty distant (I couldn't choose a photo scene), So I tried ti darken it in PS, a probably messed with a shadow...
Thank you for a constructive critique...I appreciate it a lot!
@frankhymus@myhrhelper I think it was the shutter speed; 1/40 drags enough to catch candid subject movement. But having said that, Frank was already at aperture and (arguably) ISO limitations for the RX100 so there was nothing to be done other than fall back to flash. One really neat feature of the RX100 series on-camera flash is that if indoors without too high a ceiling you can use one finger to pull the flash back pointing it upwards to bounce the flash of the ceiling. Works pretty darn well in a pinch and I don't know of any other compact-size camera that has this capability.
@bsheppard Puddle
+ I personally find the "eye focus" quite crisp and sharp relative to the figure and the surroundings. I might have sharpened them a little more especially if cropped (see the - below), but that's a quibble at this size I think. Local sharpening can be overdone.
- I'd crop it significantly for a portrait. Keep the reflection and the puddle, they're great, but much of the surround is quite ugly and distracting, pulling the eye away from the great looking boy. I hope you don't mind that I tried a crop from the small image to make it more personal, it is such a great piece of the image. No extra sharpening,,, https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmpigyn94x39swa/6458374_acfglnprs1_l%20mine.jpg?dl=0
@ohsnap365 Yes, the tilting flash is a nice idea. Here the ceiling is too high and truth to tell I never considered it. I find "bounce" for portraits much more satisfactory if I can use a (close) side wall. For me the shadows fall in a much more flattering way across the face horizontally.
@dianen Prom
+ The girls' hair is nicely captured.
- I would wish they all had opened their eyes for a portrait shot, the guy especially as he is facing forward and the main subject.
Thanks for your comments! Funny that you had different views of the focus. I find that it looks pretty soft in this thread, sharper on my project, and sharpest when on black. Go figure.
Thanks for cropping, Frank. You're right. I had another image from the same time where I really liked the grungy background ( http://365project.org/bsheppard/365/2016-05-14), but this one doesn't have the advantages that one does.
@littlequeenie hi there, I like this portrait of your mum very much, she has a natural smile and its a nice tight composition with her hands adding to the detail. for me I think the slight overexposure makes the top of her head look a funny shape and i would crop down slightly to avoid this. this is a photo to cherish.
@granagringa Go to the page your photo is posted on your 365 project.
Right under the image you will see the date and if you look to the right you will see a pencil, a mini conversation icon, a star and then a group of small dots. click on the dots and copy the code and paste the code in the thread you want to post you photo.
Thanks....I got as far as finding the code, but now can't figure out where to paste it. I was trying the new week's theme and saw your photo and the comment area, but not where to paste the code.
Sorry for being such a dummy on this; really appreciate the help. Thanks
@granagringa it is tricky - once you find the code the dots at the right just copy (right click) and paste in the thread of the discussion where you type your normal comments in the discussion page
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Ava - @jaybutterfield This seems to be a nice candidate shot. Nice space in front of the direction she is looking for - the legs and right arm is cropped in such a way that I feel it works. What I think could be improved (which is something I do so often but when doing portraits I need to be careful of ) is the fingers have been cut off. The tag I suggested earlier doesn't work so I'm changing the tag to " plusminus-people "
Three Generations.
Self Evaluation. + The separation from the background is pleasing to me, with Lab color sharpening (High Radius, Low Amount - HIRALOAM in Mike Margulis' terminology) and some added background blur. - That darned background, but what can you do when it is just a quick snap at the restaurant?
++ I really like her concentration, and the way you included everything we need to see (face, two hands, key piece of the guitar) and nothing we don't need to see. [breaking the rules with a second compliment - i just noticed the reflection of her face in the guitar - really nice!)
-- Did you use an on-camera flash? The shadow are kind of harsh and the left hand maybe too bright.
BTW, the Sony RX100IV has a 1 inch sensor (big for a compact or P&S camera), about a full frame x4 "crop" and the same (two doublings or stops) as regards the DoF you can get from a particular f/stop. f/2.8 on this camera is about f/5.6 as regards the DoF that can be achieved Full Frame. So I have no out to blame f/2.8 for any DoF softness, it should get all three people's eyes fine, just my carelessness.
Have you noticed that your new FF camera can get a noticeably narrower DoF for a particular aperture than with your APS-C camera? By about a factor of two, one stop that is. The fact is not always appreciated, and one reason FF can be so attractive especially to portrait photographers. f/2.8 on any camera gives me an f/2.8 exposure for sure, but not the DoF. DPReview has a very good article explaining the DoF/small sensor effects, but I can't immediately find it. Another common example, the fixed aperture of the lens on the iPhone 5 is f/2.4 on an even tinier sensor and no one ever accused the phone camera of being subtle regarding the DoF. :)
Plus&minus is a great idea, and I follow. It helps me to learn a lot, not just from my own photos but from all the critiques.
Well I am a beginner, and yes I used built-in flash. As for the shadows... I was trying to reduce e bckg on the right side since there is a kitchen and a window in the back, pretty distant (I couldn't choose a photo scene), So I tried ti darken it in PS, a probably messed with a shadow...
Thank you for a constructive critique...I appreciate it a lot!
+ I personally find the "eye focus" quite crisp and sharp relative to the figure and the surroundings. I might have sharpened them a little more especially if cropped (see the - below), but that's a quibble at this size I think. Local sharpening can be overdone.
- I'd crop it significantly for a portrait. Keep the reflection and the puddle, they're great, but much of the surround is quite ugly and distracting, pulling the eye away from the great looking boy. I hope you don't mind that I tried a crop from the small image to make it more personal, it is such a great piece of the image. No extra sharpening,,,
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmpigyn94x39swa/6458374_acfglnprs1_l%20mine.jpg?dl=0
+ The girls' hair is nicely captured.
- I would wish they all had opened their eyes for a portrait shot, the guy especially as he is facing forward and the main subject.
Thanks for your comments! Funny that you had different views of the focus. I find that it looks pretty soft in this thread, sharper on my project, and sharpest when on black. Go figure.
Thanks for cropping, Frank. You're right. I had another image from the same time where I really liked the grungy background ( http://365project.org/bsheppard/365/2016-05-14), but this one doesn't have the advantages that one does.
help please...I am new to this? how do I post a picture to the critique section? thanks
Right under the image you will see the date and if you look to the right you will see a pencil, a mini conversation icon, a star and then a group of small dots. click on the dots and copy the code and paste the code in the thread you want to post you photo.
Sorry for being such a dummy on this; really appreciate the help. Thanks