jason_b6

Jason, thank you for giving some feedback. I've just taken a very quick look at your gallery. The photo of the girl with her face half covered and the photo of the poles are very intriguing. I think that you have something there with those shots. Keep up the good work (from one who *isn't* taking enough photos at the moment). ;-)

I am sure that you should *not* have to explain yourself. To submit a photograph for critique is a brave thing to do. However, not everyone is going to see what you see or what you intended with the photograph. Please do not take offence or be upset by what anyone says - we are all different and I would be very surprised if *everyone* agreed. Please, keep taking photos and we would love you to submit more if you wish.

Goodness. From the Louvre? That is a substantial distance.

 

I think that the foreground rooftops do not add any interest and they even block the view of the subject. Because it is a distant subject, the resolution and detail of Sacre Coeur suffers as a result. The pale featureless sky does nothing for me either. Sorry, for me this is just a holiday snap and has nothing to really grab me.

I like the colour, the contrast and the composition. If I was getting picky I'd say that the strands of hair over her shoulder are distracting. I'm not sure if the cement in the foreground works for me - I'd get rid of that. And the g-string doesn't work for me. The strap is too high on the hip and the marks it's making in her skin are distracting too.

I can see some potential here but the photo as a whole isn't really going anywhere and hasn't got anything to really draw the eye. The rock in the foreground is distracting, as is the hedge in the background. The photo itself might have benefitted if you'd exposed for the sky better and the tree would have been reduced to a silhouette - but you would have needed to get closer to the tree to block the sunlight some more so there was just a halo around the trunk. Another option would have been to get in close and take a shot of the twigs with snow on them and dripping water catching the light. Lots of options, I just don't think that this has taken full advantage of the situation or does justice to what was probably a much prettier scene on the day.

Good that you've got the black background to accent the colour but you need some more light in the centre of the flower where it's dark. Try using a white card or something to reflect a little light in there and lighten it up.

It's interesting but it's too symmetrical for my liking and I'm not sure if it is too processed or not processed enough for my liking. I'm not sure what I should be looking at - is it a pretty pattern or is it a photo of something that should be attracting my attention. If it's a photo then the subject matter is pretty boring. If it's a pattern, there is still too much original detail that makes me think that it should be a photo and something to look at and see. I just feel that it doesn't know what it is.

Sorry, but I am hardly inspired by this. Please don't feel that I'm ragging on you but flower pics are a dime a dozen, and while pretty, are easily taken. Look around you and use your imagination - there must be a dozen other subjects that you can see right now that, with the right creative idea, would make a more imaginative subject for a photo than a flower.

Okay, you've captured just the right moment but I think that you need a faster shutter speed or better panning technique. There is still too much blur on the horse and the rider and either too much or too little on the background depending on your point of view. Either make the shutter speed faster and the aperture wider to freeze everything (including the background) and make the background out of focus, or go with some blur on the subject and develop your panning technique better. You may need to set the camera to manual focus and prefocus just in front of the jump where the horse will be if the autofocus has problems tracking. I also think that the angle is wrong and the background is a little distracting. I would have moved much further to the right to frame this better. Speaking of framing, you framing is pretty good but you have cropped off the right rear hoof.

 

I don't know your intentions for this photo, but if you want horse people to buy it they want the "classic" shots and those are mostly from in front of the jump, not behind it. This is good but not quite there.

 

I'm curious, did this horse and rider clear the jump? It looks like the horse has jumped from a long way back and might clip the rails with it's back feet.

That's cool. I like it. Looks like you had some fun jumping around and probably trying to keep a straight face at the same time!

 

With the right background it could look very cool. The garden is a bit static for my liking. Some urban backgrounds could look good - or atleast something with other people in it.

 

As far as this one goes, you've done too much too the clouds - that's a little distracting, as is the clump of grass in the foreground.

Personally I prefer the photo without the plastic in it at all.

It's a fantastic photo.

 

Is it fine art? No, probably not. But that shouldn't distract from the fact that it is a fine photo and probably a near perfect example of photographing that style and subject.

 

I would have preferred to see a slightly more diagonal composition but I love the flowing curves of the shark and of the fish sweeping out of it's way. Some have said they'd like to see a blur of speed, but in this situation I doubt the shark is attacking - it's just swimming and the school of fish are moving out of the way. There's no speed to show here.

 

It's a very tricky thing to expose and colour is a bit subjective here too. I think that it's a fantastic job and doesn't deserve even half of the criticism that it's received. And BTW, of course it's low res. There is copyright and KB's to consider after-all.