I'll Critique Your Photograph......version 3.0

On this image, I find the blown out part of the photo to be very distracting. The image is so green, and the purple flowers would be a great contrast to that, but I wish they took up more of the frame. I don't think this image has a whole lot to make it stand out in the crowd of flower images to make it sell.



This one has some potential, interesting scene, neat little birdhouse, good texture in the background, like that there is falling snow. I question the crop, why square? I think this would benefit from some additional contrast, and then the biggest problem is its a very small image (1000 some pixels on the longest side).

Thank you, Thomas! I always learn a lot by reading your appraisals.

Like it alot, love the deep blue of the sky. I wish maybe there was some other colors too, (like maybe greens) but at the altitude, or maybe time of the yaer, that probably isn't posible. I like the composition, my only critique would be maybe the tiny rock in the lower left distracts me, and looking at full res there seems to be some artifacts...maybe from sharpening or saving as .jpg in the reflections.



Love how the composition leads my eye into the deep mountains, color of the river is great, like pretty much everything about it. Shadows from the clouds aren't ideal, but aren't bad, and you couldn't really help that.

Both of these images I would think could sell if you could get them in front of buyers from that area.

Thank you! I can remove the rock in the water at Mono and possibly reduce some of the artifacts in the psd file but I wonder how much of the artifacts you see are a result of FAA's diddling with the file. I don't think that what we see within the green box is a faithful representation of the file we upload but I've never seen a definitive answer from FAA regarding that. If I recall, there was an awful lot of noise in the water (both images) and I spent quite a bit of time trying to smooth it out.

I don't recall if I've participated in your past threads.

Kathleen, I think what I am seeing looks like it could be left over after something was scrubbed for noise. I would think that is the culprit.

That makes sense, Thomas. I probably did go overboard trying to remove noise. Maybe I can go back and add a bit of grain.

Taken in Malibu Creek State Park

This is from Big Sur Area

This image is very simple, and thats not necessarily a bad thing, but when I see something this simple its easy to pick out things that bother me. Cropped mid window at the bottom, cropped on the left side mid arch, barely being able to discern the cross from the background. I would crop it in tighter to remove the bottom window, and dodge the cross so it stands out. I do wish that there was something going on in the sky too.

Not a bad photo by any means, good exposure, color, etc. I do see some motion blur at 100%, and there is a person cropped in half at the right side.

I have no idea who would buy it for art on their wall, I question its market because of the people in it.

Same thing.......who would buy this for wall art? That is my only critique here.

Hi Thomas. Have a look at this one, please.

I meet people on my trips everywhere. I can't resist to ask them for posing.How photography can be without people? I think I appreciate life around me. Thanks, Thomas.

I like the color here, the cool and the warm, full scale its a bit soft. Ultimately though, my eye doesn't ever engage well. I follow the walkway up to.....nothing.....and then I search over to the left and again don't find much to look at, and I lose interest. I don't see a clear subject my eye finds interesting.

Viktor.....you are absolutely right, people are interesting, but how many people do you know with photos of random strangers hanging in their house? Thats my only point, in my opinion the people in those photographs really limits their commercial appeal on THIS art site, which speaks nothing to how good or not good the photograph itself is. I tend to judge things by how well I think they will sell though, as I derive income from this.

I do wonder who the people and the dog are, where are they from, where are they going? But ultimately, I wouldn't buy a print of them for my wall. I very well may not be your target market though.

Thanks for offering, Thomas!

I am agree with your point about commercial value of people (exclude celebrities) on the wall. Anyway, it's nice touch in artist portfolio.
I very appreciate your opinions what can and what can't be sold.

Dead center composition and brightness along with angle just make it not that interesting to me. The DOF is also very shallow. In a crowded world of flower shots, it would have difficulty standing out and selling IMO.



This has some visual interest, and I love the colors, but with nothing being really sharp or in focus due to the motion blur, and some noise issues, I again think it would have some trouble standing out and selling.

Getting ready to be offline for a few hours, thanks to those who have posted, I'll be back later tonight if you want to leave some more for me to look at.

Purple Rosemary. In Cherry Blossom I think you are at point between real and surreal.Would you consider to crop bottom significantly?
It will tighten image and made Moon bigger?

Thanks, Thomas.

Not sure why it was a bit soft. I shot it on a tripod with a remote release.

As to where the stairs lead? While you see them leading to nothing, I see them leading to mysterious and wonderful place.

I wonder, did you take time to read the description?

At any rate, thanks again for your critique. I am always happy to see how other photographers view my work.

Thanks for this great service Thomas!

I always jump on this offer, Thomas. I'm expecting a canvas wrap of the version with the oil paint filter to arrive tomorrow - afraid it might be too dark. As you see, I have the same image without the filter, but I wanted to see how the filter would print up. I would love your thoughts before it arrives :) Please feel free to critique one or the other - your call; I'm not trying to get a freebie here LOL

John I like this one, The line of the ice leads my eye right to the distance lighthouse. It is quite noisy, especially in the sky. Part of me wonders if a tighter crop might have been more successful, but then the other part of me likes seeing that break line in the sky. The ice is a bit dirty too, which I am sure it was in real life, but in the surreal world of art I wonder if you could take some of the brown tint out somehow and if that wouldn't make it more saleable? I donno just thinking out loud.

This is a neat composition, and seeing the reflections there is alot to look at. The lighting is pretty flat, I think it could be revisited when the light adds more visual interest, and ultimately with the reflections being clear I struggle for my eye to fall and say onto the subject, which would be the wood IMO. I would be interested to see it with a long exposure, 30 seconds or longer, where the water would smooth out and the focal point would be come more clear.

Oh and the sliver of shoreline at the top I think detracts, I think I would like it more as all water.

I would appreciate some feedback on a couple of my images.


Thanks!

Would enjoy some honest critique , thank you

Thanks so much for he input, espececially on the noise. I was testing a new noise program with these and was seeing how far could get away with on my ISO and it sounds like I was right at the limit. Thanks again for the honest critique. Much appreciated :-)

Thomas - No hurry - just when you get your "round tu it". I seldom ever take photo's with people in them - although I do have a couple. I'm more drawn to nature, flowers and landscapes. Here is one that I recently took - what do you think? Thank you very much in advance - rd

Was hoping you hadn't closed this yet... Outside my norm on this one. Input?

If you're still up for it, I'll send you one. Thanks for doing this for us!

How do you put pictures into a thread?

Richard,

Go to one of your picture's pages and look right above where it has your pdf sales sheet link in a box on the right hand side (you might have to scroll the page down a bit). The line above that should say "Link". If you copy the link (usually starts with "< a href") and paste it here, it should show your photo. Hope that helps.

- Brad

Thank you, Thomas. All of what you've mentioned, other the long exposure part, did come to my mind as well. The life preserver...the contrasting busier look to the second image. Now, if only I knew how to use PS to make the minimalism feel more solid.

Thanks for the info. Appreciate you taking the time to look at my photos.

I love the roots in the water, really unique, just wish the light was more compelling and i really think you would have something.



I think this could have been framed better, to me the water in the foreground really doesn't add much to the photo.

Neat macro, like the framing.



The bee is really dead centered, I think this could be cropped in so it would be more visually pleasing.

Really compelling tree, the lighting leaves alot to be desired, to sell a photo of a tree, its gotta stand out from the crowd of....well...trees. I think this is a great location to go and try to make something special.

I think ya nailed it JC...frame well, lots for my eye to look at, good stuff.

I don't have much I can improve on, compelling scene, great light, even has some birds, the levels of mountains are sweet. Well done.

I think the concept here is awesome...I just wish it was straight, and I wish it was more compelling light. Really cool shot though.

Thanks appreciate your imput

Shaking in my boots,cringing,but.....ok.......here goes.............edit.......oh, and thank you..........

No reason to be scared.....just one random person's opinion on the internet.

I like the silhouette, dislike that the windmill is cut off at the top, and wish that the bulk of plan mass coming out of what looks like a bucket tower for the farmstead wasn't there so I could more clearly see the lines of the windmill. The gradient of dark on top to light in the background is nice. Overall its a good shot, I could see it sell some.

Thank you kindly, Thomas..........I'm such a twit...........as usual about photography from a painter's eye!...........

Here's the 'other' I took, and not to be greedy,but, maybe it's best I find out, only when convenient, if this one's a 'goer'.....please&thanks,V.

I much prefer the silhouette myself.

Thank you for your time. There was another bridge next to that one, and I was really trying to capture one without the distraction of the other. I always like the critique of another to help grow and perfect my line of sight,

Thomas, thank you very much.

Thanks for your time Thomas. I am planning to backpack up to the lake this summer, so hopefully I can get some better lighting on that trip. I'll do some more exploring in the other area and see what I can come up with.
Thanks again!