Photography Post Vol. 2

[dkatz]

I'm planning on entering a photography competition at my university for fun. I don't reeeeally expect to win, but I like the idea of trying to do something with my photos!

I respect the eye of a lot of the photographers on here, so I created a flickr set with the photos that I'm debating between. I can only submit 3, so I have a lot of cutting-out to do! Any opinions will be appreciated! (sorry for the lack of actual names & descriptions... far too lazy!)

http://www.flickr.com/gp/96938720@N00/b65662

Thanks for the help all!

No comments whatsoever from anyone? Any of you photographers out there who are so ready with a technically critical eye? Carl? Ayn? Bueller? Anyone?

[swooc]

I like your portraits. Some of them are really sharp! Sorry can't really help you select 3 though, they all look great!

If you are after some critique, the outdoor photos arn't as good as your portraits. They don't seem that interesting to me? I don't know what it is but they are lacking something.

[RAISED BY WOLVES]

No comments whatsoever from anyone? Any of you photographers out there who are so ready with a technically critical eye? Carl? Ayn? Bueller? Anyone?

OK...I'll try and be of help to you real quick.

Your photographs look like any old flicker account I've seen. A smattering of candid portraits of friends, and intimates, some pictures of flowers, a couple "landscapes", an obsession with the semi Macro capabilities of camera function (ie: close up of peeling paint on a fence post), and of course, some "night photography". While there is nothing wrong with this at face value, and it serves its purpose just fine as a flicker account, pulling a contest worthy edit out of this group here is going to be difficult.

I think that the picture that stands out most to me is the one of the rain shower and the traffic shot through the trees. I find the light really pleasing, and the composition works because unlike many of your other pictures, it doesn't look too "thought out". I'm not suggesting you shouldn't think about composition. you should. But what you need to avoid is a lot of the stuff you are shooting up close that has an incredibly static feel to it.

It is plenty possible to shoot objects, cityscapes and interiors without movement in them well, but you need to pull back a hell of alot more so that the viewer (and you) can begin to see the way that these things fit into their context. Alot of the objects you chose to photgraph say little or nothing when phtographed by themselves. You should continue with these inanimate character studies, but for god sakes give then some life! Step back. kneel down, lie on the ground. Move your body when you shoot. What makes a flower beautiful, or a decaying fence post sad has alot to do with how its percieved emotions play off the other objects and environs around it. This is not to say that a single object cannot be photgraphed well...it can. But you and your 10D cant quite do that yet until you learn more about the way that you see.

People: Jesus their not easy. You shoot some allright pictures of your girl. But you know what? We all do. To make them interesting you need to shoot more candidly, or more formally. Next time she is in an environment you find interesting. Stop and think about why that is. When she is in front of the camera...wait a moment, and let her begin to relax, and drop the face that goes up instinctively when a camera is pointed in her direction. Part of the reason people still use medium and large format cameras in this day and age is because they slow down the process in a way that makes a portrait less about taking, and more about a negotiation between subject and photographer. Take Your dreadlocked subject, sit her in a place in her home that gets nice window light, and spend half an hour with her observing the way the light falls on her in different ways.

Tape some gaffers over your viewscreen on the back and shoot without knowing what your getting for once...

In conclusion...the only picture I find remotely contest worthy would be the one I analyzed an mentioned above. I'll leave the rest to others.

Technically critical eye?...

How you like them apples?....

[dkatz]

^ I like them apples quite a lot.

Thank you so much, I needed/need someone to pick apart my photographs. Thinking about what you say and about how I feel when I'm out with my camera, it seems to me 2 big parts of my problem are, frankly, my laziness & embarassment. I need to force myself to feel comfortable laying on the sand fully-clothed in the middle of the day on a populated beach for 15 minutes to really explore a fence-post. And I need to build up the confidence in my own agency/ability to tell a subject exactly what I want her to do, and wait until she does it (whether she knows it or not).

And you're dead right. That rain/traffic shot was taken in about 10 seconds pretty much without thought because I thought the view was pretty.

So basically I need to think more & less at the same time... just about different things! haha.

Thanks so much for the criticism, it always hurts a bit, but I appreciate it like crazy!

[keagan]

more here.

[swooc]

more here.

*shudders

life like dolls give me the creeps.

[mellowbonsai]

dkatz, i noticed two pictures above the others: the woman in the sunglasses on the sidewalk and under the bridge at night. Your pictures need to be bigger and with a more even horizon line (tripod). Try tweaking the brightness/contrast in photoshop, or putting in screen/overlay layers. If you don't overuse it, unsharp mask makes most digital photos look better. Also, compositionally, your photos tend to have only one subject/object. Try composing photos with more than just one thing to look at.

a few examples (yes, they aren't stellar, but the subject isn't singular):

[airfrogusmc]

Carl no blood & guts but some of my medical stuff. Most of it has been in ads or brochures. The Chef was the cover of a cookbook. Most fairly old.

[Guest DUM]

Hey, RAISED or anyone else really...any critiques/comments/tips you could give on my stuff ( more concerning the film shots)

www.flickr.com/photos/andnoneshallsurvive

Thanks!

[youngluc]

Hey, RAISED or anyone else really...any critiques/comments/tips you could give on my stuff ( more concerning the film shots)

www.flickr.com/photos/andnoneshallsurvive

Thanks!

http://flickr.com/photos/xlucx/

agreed, i'd really like some criticism

[mike lowrey]

dkatz, I cant say much after Raised, he had a lot of good critique. I too like the rain shot, and I also like the 3rd last pic, I would definately include that in the 3 out of that bunch.

DUM, I really like some of the shots, especially on the first page. which ones were taken with what camera, though?

luc, some of your portraits are ok, and as family photos they are nice, but in terms of photography I think you could think more about composition and cropping on them. I like the shots of your grandpa(?), this one most.

[dkatz]

mellowbonsai - thank you for your critique as well. I definitely tend to shy away from multiple subjects, but I'll try to start giving it a shot!

Mike - thanks for the opinion!

[youngluc]

luc, some of your portraits are ok, and as family photos they are nice, but in terms of photography I think you could think more about composition and cropping on them. I like the shots of your grandpa(?), this one most.

thanks for the thoughts.

most of the shots were done real quick and what not cause everyone loves to make funny faces when theres a camera around and its hard to get them to just pretend im not there. any thoughts on the color? i shot them all raw and am still somewhat new to editing them from that format so i think some of them might be off color-wise.

[Guest DUM]

Thanks Mike, the pictures of the Yashica, picture of the 'odyssey', and most of the 3rd page are taken with the digital. Rest are with the Yashica, tried a little harder with those.

[mike lowrey]

wow, seems like the yashica takes some great shots!

I've been wanting to get an older film camera but I'm a total noob in both categories (old and film) anyone have suggestions?

[C0C0]

love this one dum

[airfrogusmc]

wow, seems like the yashica takes some great shots!

I've been wanting to get an older film camera but I'm a total noob in both categories (old and film) anyone have suggestions?

Mike an old Canon F-1 a Nikon F. If thats to much $$$$ you can find an old FTB.

http://cgi.ebay.com/EXCELLENT-CANON-FTb-W-50mm-1-8_W0QQitemZ150088779597QQihZ005QQcategoryZ107919QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150088779597

[poly800rock]

i like the film idea...

old pictures

i don't remember doing any photoshop on these, but i could be wrong, they're like 4 years old. crappy yet lovingly kyocera t4. would love to get the yashica t4, but that electro pics are crazy.

[aaronS]

I love my yashica t4.

heres a question.

I love shooting color film, usually i shoot fujichrome whatever one my local photolab has, but i don't mind color negative either. Heres the dilemma: I'm on a tight college student budget and the lab is expensive as hell to get the film developed and scanned or developed and printed. I've had them just develop it, which was still expensive (they recently doubled the price) and tried to scan it myself at school but the quality is so shitty. Anywhere i can find to take them to get scanned at a decent quality is like $5 a slide. any ideas?

[arevalo]

aaron

Get a film scanner.

I understand budget is tight, but you won't regret it.

Shoot color film .. take it to the local one-hour lab for developing. Negatives only, which should be around $2. Then scan at home.

How much are you paying for film? Might want to order online. bhphotovideo.com perhaps. or freestylephoto.biz

btw. the cameras in the photo.

Yashica T4, Contax T2 (which has the same lens as T4, just not the plastic body), Lomo LC-A, Olympus Stylus Epic (aka Mju).

That's about it for the point and shoots.

quiver

thanks man.

Gaffers tape. ;D

Debadged my camera. STEALTH!

[RAISED BY WOLVES]

i don't remember doing any photoshop on these, but i could be wrong, they're like 4 years old. crappy yet lovingly kyocera t4. would love to get the yashica t4, but that electro pics are crazy.

You definately photoshopped these (a little too much I would say) but I like the shots and their kind of cool tone alot. I loved my Yaschica T5 , but I shoot all medium format now so it doesn't see much action these days. I actually just lent it out so it doent feel so neglected...

I love my yashica t4.

heres a question.

I love shooting color film, usually i shoot fujichrome whatever one my local photolab has, but i don't mind color negative either. Heres the dilemma: I'm on a tight college student budget and the lab is expensive as hell to get the film developed and scanned or developed and printed. I've had them just develop it, which was still expensive (they recently doubled the price) and tried to scan it myself at school but the quality is so shitty. Anywhere i can find to take them to get scanned at a decent quality is like $5 a slide. any ideas?

Definately Buy a decent scanner in the 200-300 dollar range like arevalo suggested, and get yourself some monitor callibration software. I would argue there is no reason to stop shooting Chrome if you like it and it works well for you. It actually scans really well, and is easy to handle when doing so. at 5 a slide, you could have a decent scanner with what you'd pay for about 45 of those.

Definately consider it.

[aaronS]

Thanks arevalo and raised by wolves.

any recommendations on scanners? price is a factor but if i have to pay for quality i will.

arevalo i like the last shot and your leica. the shot of the wheelchair has a little to much contrast

[arevalo]

Thanks arevalo and raised by wolves.

any recommendations on scanners? price is a factor but if i have to pay for quality i will.

arevalo i like the last shot and your leica. the shot of the wheelchair has a little to much contrast

No prob.

I'm using a $120 scanner at the moment. Canon 8400F. Does the job for me. Another affordable one would be the Epson 4490. Those 2 seem to be the most popular while I did my research for an affordable scanner.

I agree with the contrast, rescanned this morning.

[ishboo]

see more at my website: www.ishboolamez.com

[Guest DUM]

Just more pics of my friends and random stuff. Agfa Optima 400.

[will_i_am]

nice zimas.

[aaronS]

ishboo the very first picture made me laugh.

found this site while bored today. I enjoyed it alot.

http://www.yamasakiko-ji.com/

[Spaghettini]

[Carl]

This thread is doing so well. Im so proud of all of you, haha. This has been my baby ever since i started posting and i can safely say its the best thing about this place.

RBW - Fantastic critique. Im still really looking forward to the Alaska work.

Airfrog - More surgery! Pleeeeeeeeease. The opening shot feels like just the tip of the iceberg. The little boy with his mother and a nurse is also quite beautiful.

Poly - The color in those are gorgeous.

Ishboo - Portrait series is interesting (concept and execution) and well done. The first and fourth are my favorites. If you are going to display them as sets such as they are, then the composition in the polaroids needs to be improved. Either by getting closer or shooting a cleaner frame.

*edit*Spaghetti - very nice

Something from a few days ago. Guy on campus was giving out free high fives and candy with his friends.

[homi29]

i dont claim to be a great photographer but im trying to learn to improve, feel free to critique these pics

they were taken on a 3.2mp camera p/s

and i wasnt too concerned, i just snapped some on my night out.

mind the shitty facebook resizing

keep in mind also that they were slightly touched up in PS