[Closed] Critique my photos please?

OK, for me they aren't particularly inspiring as they are photos that don't really offer anything new to me. Having said that you have to work with what you can find to capture. For buildings, or another objects that have straight lines, if you are going to have them oriented vertically or horizontally, you really need to make sure that they are perfectly horizontal of vertical. Yours seem to be slightly off, which is distracting and easily fixed when post processing (but spend some time getting it right in the camera) - same goes for water scenes.

A lot of the photos don't really have a point of interest for me. Take the railway shot, it just goes into a bend and there's nothing really that I'm drawn to.

You seem to be taking most photos standing up, don't be afraid to get right down in the dirt or up a tree for some more interesting angles.

Some of the photos may also benefit from some depth of field changes to - maker backgrounds really blurry to make the subject really stand out.

Best thing you can do is just get out there and play / practice!

Some great points there thanks, I'll look at leveling the photos now. I should have pointed out that i've taken the camera out twice so far and don't have a tripod which I think might cure the level.

Check the manual/web for how to use the auto exposure lock. It will help you maintain detail in the foreground.

Buy a book of the kind of photography you're aiming for, and recreate the images yourself.

Some of the landscape photos aren't helped by the uninteresting skies.
And no real focal point or point of interest in them either.
You probably aren't post-processing your photos(?)
Take them in RAW and use a Photoshop type tool to add contrast and "punch" to the colours because the colours look a bit flat.
Wildlife - requires closer cropping and use of DoF to isolate the subject more.
I like the B&W Arch.
Chasewater - you could use the rule of 1/3rd for your framing - but it's not an inspiring landscape scene anyway.
Plillars - has interesting composition using strong horizontal and vertical lines.
Crisp Winter you may want to use the digital darkroom to bring in more detail into the darker areas of the image.

Promising stuff - keep at it.

They aren't really OF anything interesting. You either need an amazing subject, or take a normal subject and do something interesting with it.

Lots of good stuff above i won't reapeat. I commented a couple on Flickr

not that crucial but I think a wider lens is a good idea. Just a basic 18-50 will hel

My 2 hints are overlapping. I'd say your photos look like most when people get a camera and then think I'll take some nice photos. As thats a bit vague you end up with what you though would be nice shots without any passion

Hint 1. take photos of things you really want photos of. My landscapes are better than my architecture because I really want those shots. It means I'll try and be in the right place at the right time. It also means I know more aout the subject as i care. e.g that beach faces west and should have a nice sunset pr brilliant shower clouds they' make a great sky

Hint 2. Plan a reason for the shot. I'm really lazy about photography and in particular people photos. This is mad when I have 2 kids. So every year I do a calendar for Christmas and a photobook in the summer. Again its purpose. I must get shots of the kids on this beach now or there will be nothing for the calendar. This is a great walk, ride, sail etc. but I need photos for the book

http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_clinch/

photo book example

http://www.blurb.co.uk/books/4362897-untitled

But had i been with you on those shoots my photss wouldn't be better. the light looked awful

Are you taking pictures as mementos of where you've been or as art in themselves? If it's the first case you've succeeded very well, if it's the second you've succeeded several times.

The rule of thirds is there for a reason, although one of the best pictures I've seen broke the rule every which way (not one of mine, sadly!).

Keep trying, keep taking pictures for your own pleasure and as aides memories for your travels (daily, holidays, whenever and wherever) and you'll get some gems - and some turkeys: it happens, but hey, this is digital photography and it's free, right?

And actually, I don't agree with any kind of processing after the event: if it wasn't right when you took it, it shouldn't be right afterwards. Except maybe a bit of cropping - but you should be able to do that when you take the picture: it's called composition!

Some really great stuff thanks guys! I've got a good book to read through and I'll keep at it because I think experience is key here

Well I like them - my style of photography!

Keep up the good work.

I'm a sucker for photos where the photographer has made best use of depth of field, give it a try.

And actually, I don't agree with any kind of processing after the event: if it wasn't right when you took it, it shouldn't be right afterwards. Except maybe a bit of cropping - but you should be able to do that when you take the picture: it's called composition!

nothing wrong with post processing.
that's exactly what is done in the dark room converting film to print.
and indeed, if taking RAW, then you *have* to do post to even get a photo, exactly the same as for film.

99% of the time, the most I'll do is crop, fix any undesired tilt, and tweak the black level a fraction.

Looking through your photos, Ross, you need to find a point of interest, and a way to draw the eye into the picture. Not always easy with landscapes, but trying to keep things as simple as possible helps. Things that just catch your eye can make a decent photo, don't try to force it. This one I saw just walking along a lane; nothing exceptional, but it's pleasing to me:
[url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3742/9029948382_b8e37db9a1_o.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3742/9029948382_b8e37db9a1_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/countzero1/9029948382/ ]Buttercup tracks[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/countzero1/ ]CountZero1[/url], on Flickr

Rosss, something that occurred to me while I was out walking this afternoon, and that would be to pick up a copy of [i]Landscape Photographer Of The Year[/i], which has lots of really stunning, inspirational photos in, unsurprisingly.
One thing that's worth keeping in mind, is that frequently, something that seems like it would make a fantastic photo ends up just confusing, because of the way the eye and brain can pick out details, or just 'blur' those parts of the scene that aren't being looked at, sort of like using a small aperture and shallow depth-of-field, (DoF).
I've abandoned loads of would-be photos because I just couldn't get the scene in the screen, or through the viewfinder to look like what I thought I was actually looking at.

The best way to appear to be a good photographer is to publish less photos. Rather than the best 29 from the last few days pick the best one or two, the rest are for lightroom and you to see and nobody else.

I'd go for this one...

[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/11591051363_0118647e6d_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/11591051363_0118647e6d_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/112659133@N05/11591051363/ ]B&W Arch[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/112659133@N05/ ]RossGarratley[/url], on Flickr

but get rid of the ugly watermark.

ampthill - Member

http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_clinch/

photo book example

http://www.blurb.co

Just to say, had a look through some of ampthills photos there on Flickr.
Fantastic! Some stunning shots....

Some good advice above for the op.

What CZ said. When taking arty photos, you're not just taking pictures of what's there, you're painting an image out of what's around you. You have to think in terms of a bit of 6x4 (or whatever) paper, rather than the 3D 360 degree scene that surrounds you.

The trick is to translate from the real world to the paper world but still convey the same feeling you experienced when looking at it. So that means picking out certain things or lighting effects. For example, if you are somewhere dark, your brain knows this. But your camera will expose the picture the same, so it will look like it does in daylight. So you stop down to make your picture darker, and the picture will look more like it did when you were there and convey that feeling. Likewise on a dull day you can was out the colours to make the picture look like you felt on that day.

First thing that strikes me about half of your photos is your name plastered across the bottom. This might be important to you, but the rest of the world doesn't give a rat's arse and it's massively distracting. Plus, it's serving little purpose as any sort of protection; if I wanted to rip off your photos I could just trim the bottom quarter inch off them and get rid of it.

There are better ways of watermarking; clue's in the name. The Mona Lisa doesn't have "(c) Leonardo da Vinci" plastered across the bottom in brilliant white letters two inches high.

I think you either have the eye to take great photos or you dont, you can learn all the techniques but unless you have that "thing" you will take good photos not great ones.

OP as has been said above find a subject that really interests you rather than taking generic shots, just play and have fun.

Photographers have been tweaking photos in the darkroom since photography was invented. Unless you're Henri Cartier-Bresson

He also tweaked and cropped 😉

The stage you're at is what I'd describe as "competent" - you know what all the buttons and knobs on the camera are for, you can take an image that's exposed and focused correctly - if I told you to go take pictures of something, I know you'd do a good job. Many people never progress beyond this stage, and this is the bit where you need to work on your own style - there's no "you" in these images.

Find books or photographers online that you like - why do you like their images? What did they do to take those images? If you're going somewhere that's been photographed before, have a look at what other people have done, then try to do something different. Play with angles, play with composition - know about the Rule Of Thirds, and know when it's good to break that rule.

It's not a quick process, but really you just have to keep taking lots of photographs 😉

I like them but as above no real subject matter. My tips for what they're worth:

Take pictures in RAW format

DO post process. As mentioned, post processing has always been part of photography. A camera is just a light recording machine and never sees the way you do. Use the bundled Canon software or even better spend 70 quid on a copy of Lightroom. Also, if black and white's something you like, a copy of Silver Efex Pro is a lot of fun. Try not to push the sliders too far unless that is your thing.

For landscapes, it's all to do with the foreground when using a wide angle lens. Try and find something interesting. Select a smallish aperture e.g. F/11 and focus a third of the way into the scene to maximise front to back sharpness

If skies are in your shots, you may notice that they burn out i.e. become pure white. This is because the camera cannot expose both dark foregrounds and light skies like our eyes can. Try a set of graduated neutral density filters. The top half is grey and the bottom half clear. Use these to balance the exposure. You can spend a fortune on these but Cokin & Hitech make them at reasonable prices. Alternatively you could take multiple exposures and blend them in Photoshop (faff) or use HDR processing (not really my thing though).

The best light is usually early or late in the day when the sun is low. Don't just point your camera at an orange blob in the sky which is easy to do. Think about turning around and using the directional light. This can help give your photos a 3D effect.

Composition as mentioned above is really important and the one I struggle most with. It's too easy to try and fit the whole scene in. Most of the time, less is more so try to simplify the composition.

If skies are in your shots, you may notice that they burn out i.e. become pure white. This is because the camera cannot expose both dark foregrounds and light skies like our eyes can.

Expose so that the sky doesn't clip and then lighten the ground in Lightroom

Kayak23

Just to say, had a look through some of ampthills photos there on Flickr

Thanks 😀

Expose so that the sky doesn't clip and then lighten the ground in Lightroom

Yes, except bringing shadow detail out also brings out noise.

Alternatively you could take multiple exposures and blend them in Photoshop (faff) or use HDR processing (not really my thing though).

You say HDR processing is not your thing, but you've already recommended it 🙂 I think you mean 'excessive' HDR processing to create weird shots. HDR doesn't necessarily mean that.

Anyway, this is beside the point I think. Composition is 99% of it. Ignore all the camera techno-geekery until your pictures are of something interesting.

Sorry, what I meant was sticking multiple exposures into something like photomatix and letting a computer decide on the final result. It can be done subtly but most a lot of people seem to like the surreal effect which I find horrendous.

HDR isn't a problem - it's when the tone mapping gets turned up to 11 that it gets horrible. In sunlight, HDR is really the only way to properly expose both sky and ground - a quick example:

[url= http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4107/5004436166_5184ee85dd_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4107/5004436166_5184ee85dd_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/cycleologist/5004436166/ ]Castle TS HDR 1[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/cycleologist/ ]Ben Cooper[/url], on Flickr

Best one I can find quickly via iPad 😉

Sorry, what I meant was sticking multiple exposures into something like photomatix and letting a computer decide on the final result.

Yes, and this is HDR, just to be clear 🙂

You either need an amazing subject, or take a normal subject and do something interesting with it.

One of the simplest and best tips I've read. Obvious really, but one that many fall foul of (including me!).

Yes, and this is HDR, just to be clear

Technically, HDR is taking multiple exposures and combining them into one image. But that image has too large a dynamic range to display on any monitor or print on paper, so the dynamic range has to be squeezed down - that process is tone mapping.

The HDR itself is innocuous, it's the tone mapping that can be seamless and invisible, or horribly overdone.

My aim is to make it look as if I haven't done any HDR at all.

I know I've posted this before, but when I started out, I thought it was possible to take an amazing photo at any time and of anything.

I quickly found out that this really isn't the case.

Lighting usually has to be 'just right' to get the intended shot.
For landscapes you really do need to be in 'golden hour' or some dramatic weather.
For detail shots of something outside, a flattish cloudy day can sometimes be best.
For some things you can't really beat some flashes/lamps.

Then there are a few staple rules/tricks that can help.
Rule of thirds
Foreground detail for landscapes
Keeping backgrounds uncluttered
etc
etc
These are the things that magazines/books and tutorial websites are really good at drumming into you.

Jad its a fair point that replicating a neutral grad lifts noise

However it is the way I do it and its never been a problem. I mean that noise has never been visible in any print. That includes loads of 18 by 12 inch prints all from a D70s which has the worst sensor ever tested by DXO.

Would agree with that - when it comes to printing, a lot of the stuff you can see on screen isn't visible. Photos still look best printed!

Anyway, agree too much techno-waffle above. Composition and light is all that is needed 🙂

Jad

how dull we agree 😮

Yes to printing, yes to composition and light

And on that note, the bible is [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Photographs-Camera/dp/0817439390 ]Understanding Exposure[/url].

...you know what all the buttons and knobs on the camera are for

Sorry for slight hijack - can anyone recommend a good internet guide to learn such things. I have acquired a DSLR with the intended of aim of learning such knobs, buttons and twiddly bits.

The manual it came with? Mine was full of information and explanation.

It didn't unfortunately, the camera was a hand-me down.

What camera is it?

You can usually find manuals on line.

I have acquired a DSLR with the intended of aim of learning such knobs, buttons and twiddly bits.

In all seriousness, other than "google for the manual" - it's almost certainly PDF-able from the manufacturer's website - there's a For Dummies book which is really good for this. I think offhand it's DSLRs for Dummies or some such.

Ah, here.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-SLR-Cameras-Photography-Dummies/dp/1118144899

I borrowed this off a mate when I got mine. It's a bit rambly (because it's a generic guide to all DSLRs) but it's a pretty good primer to work out what everything does (and moreover, why you'd want it to do it).

thanks chaps...

best end hijack now (sorry OP, i like your pics by the way but can offer no technical critique - other than agree with one of the first posts that they appear to be at a slight angle).

Brave man putting your photos on here for critique. Thats all

Some realy really useul words so far, thanks again. I've bought a comprehensive yet basic book to keep me reading and I won't be using watermarks until I can create a more subtle one. I'll take the critques on board and hopeully have a new set ready over the next days for stage two. Keep the comments coming please!

Hello Ross. After looking at your Flickr images for a while, I would recommend that you spend more time with your camera - specifically, looking through the viewfinder. Framing and focus are the foundation of every image, being vital in the process of representing a scene or subject to the viewer. Think very clearly about what you want in focus and where about in the frame/composition that subject needs to be in order to best present it to the viewer. If you have several focal points, you need to balance their positions in the composition so that the eye can easily move around them and none of them detract from the others.

Using your viewfinder to consider a scene assists you by placing a frame around it and demanding that you fit everything into it. This, and refraining from a zoom lens in order to make you manually zoom (walk around), will really help in improving your composition skills. After a while, you will start to 'see' a scene when you're not looking through the viewfinder.

As others have said, you need to pay attention to vertical lines because most of your images are on the piss a little. Use the grid overlay on Lightroom to help train your eye. Your camera may also have a grid setting for the viewfinder.

Your developing is rather nice; quite sympathetic. Many new photographers go too far with digital developing just because they can. Perhaps play around with pulling the highlights back a bit in order to bring some more definition to the sky/clouds.

Using the manual setting on your camera will teach you quickly how to get the correct exposure. Being able to instantly review and image is the real boon of digital photography, allowing you to experiment with different settings.

Slight hijack, but any recommendations for books for digital compacts rather than SLRs? I have a Lumix TZ40 which has a lot of manual settings that I rarely use because I'm little more than a opportunistic snapshotter. Having had some (accidentally) good photos out of it I'd like to know more about how to do it deliberately.

Something else that can help 'lift' a photo is having a really good sky in it, ie interesting clouds. I'm a bit of a cloud nut, I'm looking at skies all the time, and even a fairly mundain landscape or subject can be really improved just because the clouds are interesting. I've got a photo of the [i]Cutty Sark[/i], which I think is still in the long-running photo thread, and while the ship is interesting in itself, there was a stream of Cirrus blowing across which made her look like she was moving fast. Within a couple of minutes, the cloud had gone. One of my favourite recent photos, and it got a lot of comments on the Cloud Appreciation Society Fb page.
A polariser is a really useful filter to have on the camera, because it can darken blue skies, and enhance the clouds.
You can have a look at mine, such as there are, on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/countzero1/

Nice book ampthill I do something similar - make a yearbook and use it as a Xmas gift for parents etc. As you say, it gives a good motivation! No pics, no book.

Example book 🙂 http://blur.by/1cX6iJg

DrJ

I'll look at some of the other books later

But I loved this one

http://www.blurb.co.uk/books/2195366-the-elevator-is-out-of-order-please-use-the-stairs

I wish I'd done my treking in the DSLR days...

As others have said.....look at other photographers work. Also read up on the rule of thirds as a starting point for composition. Lighting is a big deal...many landscapes are shot around sunrise or sunset..when the sun is higher the lighting can often be harsher and more tricky to deal with.

http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds

whippersnapper - Member
...you know what all the buttons and knobs on the camera are for
Sorry for slight hijack - can anyone recommend a good internet guide to learn such things.

Check out the Fro! (AKA Jared Polin)
He has a Youtube channel and is quite good in my opinion at explaining things in an easy to understand way. He is also sometimes quite amusing...

[img] [/img]

[url= http://www.youtube.com/user/JaredPolin?feature=watch ]Fro Knows Photo Youtube Channel[/url]