Critique Thread

[Rockefella]

Originally Posted by John Thawley

FIrst, I don't adjust other people's photos without asking. Second, with all due respect, your post processing changes nothing, in my opinion.

For me, it's a miss. Crop it, saturate it, sharpen it... doesn't matter. It's a miss. And, it's not my style to mislead people or betray my personal philosophies.


JT

I think with A LOT of post processing that photo could turn out quite good. It has the elements of what I think could compose a great pan shot of a (super)car, but just lacked in execution; most likely from a quick grab of the camera and a P&S with time being of the essence.

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by johnnynumfiv

Here's another one of mine.

Nice pan shot... is this Lime Rock? Looks like the old section going uphill before the chicane.

Anyway... this is a good shot. It could be made better... and it's never going to be GREAT. Simply because it's just a nice side pan... not a lot going on.

That said, to make it stronger, I'd shoot a little looser... and set the car to one side of the frame a bit.. depending on if it's coming or going. I like that it's low in the frame... cars should typically be kept low... if it's not an uphill section, I'd say straighten the horizon... but it's hard to tell. Again, if it were looser we'd have a better feel for the car's surroundings. It's just a little tight for my taste.

This is the location I was thinking of... might not be the same, and mine is slightly going away... hence the reason I'm letting it run out of the frame. But, should give you and idea of what I mean by looser.

JT

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

I think with A LOT of post processing that photo could turn out quite good. It has the elements of what I think could compose a great pan shot of a (super)car, but just lacked in execution; most likely from a quick grab of the camera and a P&S with time being of the essence.

OK... if that's what you think.

[Rockefella]

Originally Posted by John Thawley

OK... if that's what you think.

If that's what you think.

[basman007]

FINALLY we had some decent weather on sunday, so I went for a walk in the forest. I was looking for some deer, but instead came across wild horses. I'm limited to only 200mm and this is about as close as I could get. I made some more pics of the horses and wild cattle, but they were all alot further away. There were some prancing horses a little further back, a shame I couldn't reach those..

Please tell me what you think. Does anyone has some ideas how to do this differently?

I used F5 and 1/100 with ISO 100. In photoshop I did white balance, because it was too yellow/greenish (and slided with some settings to get the temperature I was after) and I changed the curves. I've also included a cropped version.
edit: if you're not colour managed you're probably seeing different colours...

[henk4]

perhaps I am not colour managed (whatever that is) but I think the colours are too bright even given the sunny day that we had yesterday. The uncropped version is better IMHO as it has something in focus on the right side of the picture. The cropped version is totally out of focus on the right side for no obvious reason.

[Sauc3]

Originally Posted by henk4

perhaps I am not colour managed (whatever that is) but I think the colours are too bright even given the sunny day that we had yesterday. The uncropped version is better IMHO as it has something in focus on the right side of the picture. The cropped version is totally out of focus on the right side for no obvious reason.

Given that the image was taken at around 5pm (hopefully I'm right on this, inner-head mathematics because my computer shows it as 3am but I know that's not right...) it would mean that the sun is in a much more 'yellow' phase, and thus casting strong yellow light on any subjects. I think that a little more tweaking of just the sky would also see a bit of an improvement, to get a more 'sunset' colour in the sky.

I half do and half don't agree with you about the cropping, the half that agrees is for the same reason so that the secondary subject is indeed out of focus, but I half don't agree because out of focus objects can be great enhancers of an image. Centering the image would most likely result in something quite boring, so placing the horses off to the side already helps the dynamicness of the image. Having out of focus background items gives a great indication of the environment of the animals, without having the background be intrusive in the shot. Having everything in focus pulls the eye away from the main interest in the picture - obviously the horses - and pulls it up and around the image to whatever else bright and sharp there happens to be placed around the subject. Focus really is a focusing agent, it not only keeps the subject sharp but also keeps our eye on the subject.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Sauc3

I half do and half don't agree with you about the cropping, the half that agrees is for the same reason so that the secondary subject is indeed out of focus, but I half don't agree because out of focus objects can be great enhancers of an image.

but the problem here is that there are no real secondary objects, just a messy piece of nature.....

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by basman007

FINALLY we had some decent weather on sunday, so I went for a walk in the forest. I was looking for some deer, but instead came across wild horses. I'm limited to only 200mm and this is about as close as I could get. I made some more pics of the horses and wild cattle, but they were all alot further away. There were some prancing horses a little further back, a shame I couldn't reach those..

Please tell me what you think. Does anyone has some ideas how to do this differently?

I used F5 and 1/100 with ISO 100. In photoshop I did white balance, because it was too yellow/greenish (and slided with some settings to get the temperature I was after) and I changed the curves. I've also included a cropped version.
edit: if you're not colour managed you're probably seeing different colours...

Well... first off, they're really quite beautiful. I think the light is amazing.

The composition, though, could be stronger.

The tree in the foreground on the left could/should have been used to bring the foreground into play. By moving over to your left, you could have got down a bit... shot under the tree branches (leaving them in the top of the frame) and moved the horses more to the left center.

The biggest improvement of doing that would come from eliminating that tree top sticking out of the one horse's head. It's a major distraction. In addition though, you'd have had a very classic composition of light comprising of three layers. Foreground, light on the horses, backgound.

As I said, it's a beautiful shot and a lofty attempt.When composing a shot like this, you need to really think it through before putting the camera to your eye. You need to be very deliberate.

JT

[John Thawley]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

If that's what you think.

Are you just going to get pissy about this?

Originally Posted by Rockefella:
I think with A LOT of post processing that photo could turn out quite good. It has the elements of what I think could compose a great pan shot of a (super)car, but just lacked in execution; most likely from a quick grab of the camera and a P&S with time being of the essence.

I don't follow the logic. You "think" with a LOT of post processing the photo could turn out quite good. -

I can think of of 10 things you CAN'T post prcess INTO this photo. Focus being one of them.

Please show me the "elements" of a GREAT pan shot.

And yet, after all this, you state: "it just lacks exectuion; most likely from a quick grab of the camera and a P&S with time being of the essence."

Gee... that sure sounds like a MISS to me.

That's what I think.

JT

[basman007]

Originally Posted by John Thawley

Well... first off, they're really quite beautiful. I think the light is amazing.

The composition, though, could be stronger.

The tree in the foreground on the left could/should have been used to bring the foreground into play. By moving over to your left, you could have got down a bit... shot under the tree branches (leaving them in the top of the frame) and moved the horses more to the left center.

The biggest improvement of doing that would come from eliminating that tree top sticking out of the one horse's head. It's a major distraction. In addition though, you'd have had a very classic composition of light comprising of three layers. Foreground, light on the horses, backgound.

As I said, it's a beautiful shot and a lofty attempt.When composing a shot like this, you need to really think it through before putting the camera to your eye. You need to be very deliberate.

JT

Good point. I don't think I could have gone lower, but I should have included more of the tree on the left. The tree is about a metre to the left. The reason why I didn't is probably that I thought the horse would get too much centered.
There isn't much time to think these things over. As you can see the horse is walking over the little hill and was just looking over it's shoulder when it heard me coming out of the bushes. After one click and 2 pics it was allready walking further. But you're right, I should work on making up my mind about all the compositional details before I go in for the shot. Just like I try to think of the type of diafragma and shutter before I actually encounter the animal I'm looking for.

thanks for the comment JT

[henk4]

Last month I was in Vietnam during the period of severe flooding. I had my 40D with me but only one saturday afternoon after 16.00 there was an opportunity to go out. Not much time for long considerations on what to take, mostly tourist snapshots. This one here I like, because it also tells a story. The three boys are sitting along the Turtle Lake in the old centre of the city, that as far an anybody could remember, never flooded before. No fancy camera settings (F9,400ASA, 1/60 and 110 mm) just a jpeg and no further editing and cropping.

[clutch-monkey]

whereabouts in vietnam did you go henk? i quite enjoyed my stay there last year in Saigon (ho chi minh city i guess it's called now..)

[henk4]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

whereabouts in vietnam did you go henk? i quite enjoyed my stay there last year in Saigon (ho chi minh city i guess it's called now..)

Hanoi, for 12 days...

[clutch-monkey]

nice, not as many tourists up there i was told.