Have I really got to get up from in front of this nice warm fire and go outside? Playing around with some low-light/high ISO/no flash stuff. I need some pics for a competition, so would be grateful for some real criticism rather than the 'nice doggie photo' type of thing. Feel free to say anything and if you like it or find it boring. TIA
Being REALLY picky you could say that there is little detail between his/her right eye & right ear, no idea if or how that could be remedied though. Otherwise, great shot. Nice doggie btw
Thanks - I'm looking for really critical comments, so those are exactly what I need. I got a fancy new Manfrotto monopod with retractable little feet for my birthday, so last night I though I would have a play with it. At eleven o'clock at night it was far too cold and dark outside, so I decided to practice on the dog! The techie stuff is that I pushed the ISO right up to 1600 and at F5.6 it was 1/6 of a second. Also, I had to focus manually, as there was not enough light for auto-focus. Hence the noise and the burnt out highlights. My main problem, for competition stuff, is lack of imagination of what to take the photos of. Also, how to include the 'wow' factor. This one clearly doesn't have it, so I shall go away and try again! I'm not particularly good at photography, just keen to try and improve. Guess I'd better stick to the day job in the meantime. Ooops - just remembered. I haven't got one!
Digital Photo at 4.99 is a good one that I often buy. It also has a DVD each month with PS and Elements tutorials on it.
Have a looki on Ephotozine for inspiration, check out the gallery section and use the filters to get close to your competition specs... Wil help stimulate the grey matter I know it was only a testing of new kit, but its not a great photo, sorry but trying to be subjective in my critiscism, dont take it personally ... ... Its well executed, framed and a reasonable exposure but as with most peep's (INCLUDING mine) its very much a quick snap without much thought put in. As with most Pro togs photo's there will be somethin about the picture to draw you in, make you think about the subject, take your time over absorbing the detail and clarity or even just a WOW factor. I'm still looking for their ways, even to the point of going back to college to properly study photography. Could you post up the competition, or if you'd like to keep it up to yourself how about telling us the details and we'll help with posting ideas and critic your work before you submit it ? B xx
If you're not particularly good at photography where the hell does that leave the rest of us? Stop being so modest.
Gaz - thank you for your kind words, but you only get to see the better ones, and not the other rubbish I take! Barny - thank you. That's exactly the sort of comments I would like and I don't take offence. The competitions I usually enter are at local camera clubs, where sometimes I've done passably well and sometimes not. It's hard to quantify the 'wow' factor, but it's needed to win. The local judges I've encountered over the last four years always expect 1) pin sharpness - anything less and it loses points. (The Nikon kit lens, which is all I had until recently, is renowned for being soft, which doesn't help.) Particularly eyes - if they are not razor sharp = loss of points 2) cropping - everything with no interest, such as extra sky or extra foreground, has to be relentlessly cropped 3) nothing that's not meant to be in the photo should be there. I don't just mean the telegraph pole growing out of someone's head but such stuff as a slightly loud splash of colour (in focus or not) in the background to the main subject 4) sometimes, the way a photo is mounted 5) vibrance - along with the wow factor, this is one of the most important things, so any boring or washed out prints = loss of points I read everything I can - both online and books and mags and now I am in between jobs, hope to find time to experiment and learn. On another forum, I belong to the 365 project, which involves taking a least one photograph a day for a year, and posting it up on the forum. This is a good idea, as it forces me to take pics I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I am now on day 34. The dog pic was taken at 11pm last night, when I suddenly remembered I hadn't taken one for yesterday, and it was too dark and cold to go outside! So I am now going to wander over to Ephotozine for some inspiration.... watch this space!
for shots like that if you're aiming for pics of your dog... why not have the dog in the background in sharp focus with a toy or something towards the front of the picture (opposite corners of the image possibly to help draw you into it) and obviously soft focussed but not so it's un-recognisable? As Barny has said.. it's not a bad image by any means... but missing the wow factor that the pros seem to get every time. if you buy DP did you see there feature on Portraits the other month? i think alot of it can be carried across to pets. i think the excess cropping and detail you speak of is kind of excessive for club level photography
Thanks - points well taken. I missed the portraits feature, as I don't get it every month. Also, although I would like to try more portraits, it is a small miracle when I can actually get the dog to sit still. Springers don't seem to know the meaning of serenity! What I have got, and am proud of, is some great portraits of a small girl. She is stunningly beautiful and happy to pose, and it as good when she's bad as when she's smiling. But her mother will not allow me to put her photos online. She's OK with me entering prints in local competitions, but not where her daughter can be seen online. I am planning on practising on a neighbours small sons during the holidays and he doesn't mind if I chose to put them online, so I may have some to show off before too long.
I know this is a club (and those words - Photography Club - conjours up quite horrible images for me ) and they have their rules an opinions but some of the stipulations listed a above are a bit odd for me. Pin sharp focus especially on eyes is a dead cert on any human or animal, but the others are very odd! Cropping on specific detail or to loose a bit of dead area or even a random "someting" in the sky is fair enough, but to relentlessly do it for everything is totally wrong. The rule of thirds dictates there will be somethin in shot notnecessarily needed but will add to the pictures ambiance, taking it away could compromise the pic and leave it wanting. The splash of colour is relative to the moment and scene captured, so could go either way. Mounted with borders or extra lines can help finish the picture of nicely, but the best frame will be so subtle it wont distract you from the picture itself, so surely wouldn't be taken into consideration in the comp? Wow, vibrance or that special something is the key i believe to cracking photography, you have to make the viewer stop in their tracks and take in the scene you've taken, you have to make them want that picture, for them to imagine they are in their house looking at the picture you've taken. Photography is an art, Art itself can empower and motive people to do things, Photography can do the same. Think on your feet, Think outside the box ....... go and make the picture happen
Stella, I am always looking for good quality high definition images for our advertising. We can't make monetary payments I'm afraid but we can pay the animals in pet food if we use the photos. I know you use a proper camera most of the time, but if u are interested in sending any digital images to us that would be brilliant. Anyone else is welcome too.
