Selecting a pumpkin.

What do you think about the framing? Any thoughts on lighting? What could I have

done better?

 

And if anyone is willing to flip through my other photos and give them some critiques

as well, I'd appreciate it.

Framing and comp are both good. I like the DOF as well. I think the shot was well executed.

 

From a post stand point, I would have pumped the saturation up a bit, but I like a little over saturation sometimes.

Ken... I've noticed that a lot of professional photographers use over-saturation to enhance their work. Why do you like it? Artistically, what does it do for you? And what program do you use to do it?

Hi Chad,

 

I agree with everything Ken said. This is a very good image in many ways but it just lacks a little .... "pop". I'm better at explaining with examples so in the attachment I increased the contrast and saturation slightly and then brightened the center and darkened the edges a bit to draw your eye to the subject. Ofcourse this is all just a matter of personal taste. :-)

 

As far as software goes, I primarily use a combination of Photoshop CS3 and Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0.

 

 

Hi Chad,

 

Amy, hit the nail on the head, with her example. Maybe it's fad and maybe it's the reaction when you show somebody their portraits and they do the wow thing..and say "those just jump off the page"...bear in mind it's not always fitting and you have to make an "Artistic Judgment" for lack of a better term. Shooting for B & W is a similar thing...You must visualize the image in B & W (IMHO) for it to be a success...now granted a little luck now and then when doing a conversion helps, but I don't generally convert to B & W unless I shot for that purpose.

 

PS CS4 / Lightroom / Photomatix Pro and various plugins i.e. Kubota Actions

 

Enjoy the Journey!

Thanks Ken and Amy. I have been meddling with photography for a couple of years now and I began to wonder if I had a photographer's eye or not. I just felt like my photos lacked that wow factor. They all seemed to look good but I couldn't figure out how to make them stand out. Judging from your comments, it sounds like some of them have potential but that I just need to learn how to do the post-production stuff a bit better? Did I catch the essence of your comments right?

 

And thank you both so much for imparting your experience to those of us who are just trying to learn all we can from our seasoned colleagues.