View Full Version : Critique #3 (5 person, 1 image/participant)
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The primary purpose of this thread is to provide a forum where photographers can give and receive constructive criticism on one another's photographs. By setting up some basic guidelines we hope that this thread will provide a forum where the give and take of honest constructive criticism can help us become better photographers.
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How do you look at photos (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26459)
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I wanna play too. I'm in!
Yup, that's 5, start posting!
I like how the grain and texture match the street well. The first thing I notice are that there appears to be movement in both directions, the runner to the right, and the arrow for the bike lane in the left. It appears to be a bike/running path, but a real road, just not for cars.
There are two things that are a little weird to me in this photo, one is that the motion of one of the runners shoes is much more than the other, and the lack of detail causes my eyes to discern detail there, is it a prosthetic, or an optical illusion? The second thing is I wonder if the you could have aligned the far sidewalk or bridge edge to align to the top of the frame without losing too much of the runner?
Something irrelevant to the photo, is I wonder if runners on this road are supposed to run a certain direction? obviously the arrow shows the bikes are supposed go in the direction of the arrow.
I'll go first... No title really. I'll view them all tomorrow. Now, us Europeans have to sleep... ;)
This makes me wonder what it is. I'm guessing something large like oil drilling or car or airplane fabrication. Looks like a dirty and noisy area, but with high precision machinery making large parts. The photo seems timeless in that it could be from decades ago, or recent. I like the aspects that the worker has dirty clothes on, and has a cup from a fast food place on his desk, it adds realism to the photo. The lamp with the white bulb is a nice touch.
It's very hard to think of what one could do to improve this photo, but one thing to try might be to use a shallower DOF to blur the details of the coffee or drink cup a little. So what kind of machine is this??!!
No title...
Am i late or something??
I thought i'd have a new roll developped, but well something wrong with nthe lab, doesn't matter, i need a critique for many photos here:D
Untitled
Okay there's something strange, looks like a lost duck over there, heading the other way, there are 2 things that i find quite attractive even more than the 4 ducks, they are both in focus and regadless of the space they take they are attarctive, the tree texture there, it;s not a pattern, it;s a texture, and these kinda things captivate me, my eyes keep staring there, and the other thing is the flower, the flower is well lighted and its color is vivid, it's beautifull and attractive, my eyes automatically skip the ducks for both.
That's why i find it quite distracting, because while i;m trying to focus on those 4 ducks, thinking of the lone duckie duck out there, there are things that act in a very strong way, and wouldn't let me 2, perhaps if there were a shallower depth of field...
None the less, i like the colors, the ducks are dynamic really, one has chosen his way individually, and the others are doing what ducks do, dollowing their mom, which is interesting in itself.
The colors and tones are great really...
Well i like it, it's pretty neat, simply dynamic, it keep your eyes running around. The arrow while pointing where your eyes expect seeing a subject, makes you go ack to the other corner where a guy is running, very logical i mean, you don't run on the side where a car or a bike are speeding behind me, you gotta face them...
Qhat i'm trying to say here is that, i find this photo quite attractive in the way it describes a normal, simple, logical scene, i like the framing keeps you undistracted and the tones, well done.
Nothing more obvious than the hats :D It's funny that i got this feeling, but you've a uniform here, and then the guy sitting there has a different hat, like the queen of the show or something. His make up and accessories, seeing other samples, make it easy to derive that out.
The sharp look of the guy down there, the way he's putting his arm on the other's knee, it's like yeah i'm the one, the queen is mine. It's more a malicious look than surprised which appears on the queen's face...
Don't be surprised, it's only my fiction:angel:
Great range of tones here, you framed that well too...In short you expressed your subject very well...
The industrial revolution, the 2st thing that came to ym mind, it's a classic as much as this revolution is a classic, being someone who's gettin ready to be an engineer i cannot tell you how comfortable i am looking at his photo, a guy is simply dealing with a complicated machine, some brilliant engineer have designed it, the guy is a typical worker, his outfit and all, as simple as that, i aree this is timeless, this machine, thta same guy could be there in a time that ranges between +/- 50 years minimum...Quite mechanical.
Only the coffee or what ever it is because i can see a straw would get you back to your senses...
I also think that the sheets and pen add soemthign here...
Lovely tones suits the environment...
Edit: That felt good, now i'm done.
Wow, I have not seen this much grain in a long time. The next time someone says their digital whatever gives "film like grain" at high ISOs, I'll have to reference this photo! I think clean cross cuts of organic materials have always made for interesting viewing and this is no exception. The grain in the first and third stumps remind me of cinnamon rolls, while the middle one shows what appears to be healthy age rings.
Two other elements in this photo add interest, the aluminum or plastic siding at an angle, and the texture and lines in the wood that the stumps are resting on. It also appears there is some blue in the right, especially lower right. With my monitor contrast and brightness settings, I can get several interesting versions of this single image.
Very good image. I can't think of any criticism. Maybe after more coffee!!
Am i late or something??
I thought i'd have a new roll developped, but well something wrong with nthe lab, doesn't matter, i need a critique for many photos here:D
Untitled
The film was either Fuji 200 or 400 negative film, most likely 200. The image was from my first roll through a Canonet QL17 from Gman. I hadn't thought of the distraction of the flower or tree until pointed out here, but now everytime I look at this photo I will :bang: :D
My first reaction was that of the absurdity of four stranded ducks. It's like someone dumped them there to die, and the plastic refuses to give up. And I really like the colors, there's this 70's "glow" to them. What film did you use for this one?
Also, I think I would have cropped this a little bit, to get rid of the flower in the left corner, my eyes keep straying to that part of the photo. And perhaps a lower viewpoint would have given it something else, I'm thinking lower - almost up close.
Ampguy-
"Four Ducks"-
Jumping out immediately is the "black sheep", the duckling facing away from the rest of the group. Probably not what the person who placed the ornaments was thinking of, or maybe they were?
Great use of color!
-Bryce
Patashnik-
Your bike lane picture's composition is great! My eye is drawn to the runners legs, then pulled to the bike lane symbol which insists you look to the left... It makes my eye do a circle.
So is the runner going the wrong way? Has he stolen something?
-Bryce
ManGo-
Your "Furry Hat Club" image just makes me ask questions... What are these guys DOING? Are they protesting animal rights groups???
Excellent control of tonality, the scene looks very contrasty but your low tones are well separated. Did you use any special tricks in this area?
-Bryce
Nomade-
I had to stare at that one for awhile. The muted tonality and color, as well as the intense grain have an impact by themselves. It feels very dreamy.
The composition seems to convey togetherness, as though the firewood pieces are keeping one another warm. Seems like a good image for the living room wall.
-Bryce
Firstly, I'd like to thank you all for your responses.
This photo is part of a series I did a couple of years ago while still working as a machinist. I was trying to document American industry in its death throes... So what better than old fashioned B+W news film? The scene in front of me was so astonishingly timeless that I tried to place something obviously from the present in each frame, hence the coffee cup. Sounds like it worked, aside from seeming a little awkward to some.
I shot quickly, and of course only when I had a moment when I could safely ignore my machine, so the pictures look a little rough. I didn't own a rangefinder at the time, though I'd have been much better served by one for this series! I kept an old Pentax with a 28mm lens in my toolbox. The film/ developer was HP5 and Rodinal.
Concerning Ampguy's questions, the machine is a vertical boring mill, basically a lathe turned on end with a 7 foot diameter chuck. The part being turned is the frame for a rock crusher(!)
In hindsight's 20/20 I'd have maybe used shallower DOF, but at the time I was trying desperately to make the stuff on the nearby table recognizeable...
-Bryce
Thanks for all your comments, i'm delighted really...
First question: What is this?:D It's very abstract to me, even though it resembles some pieces of timber. Grain is all over the place, but I don't mind that. I'm looking forward to an explanation of how you did this. And I like the patterns: Circles, waves, lines. And what about the colors? I'm having a hard time picking them out, is it color film? Some kind of advanced processing?
Perhaps some photoshopping? There are some lines running from bottom to top, that breaks with the other waves and lines. And (believe it or not), try cropping out the lower parts of the image, it gives a much stronger focus on the lines at the top. And I sure like those lines! I've attached a cropped version.
Well this was shot on the door of a fleuriste(flower store), he dries orange slices on that timber wood, it was still early in the morning, so they were stacked together, i liked the lines of the door(i donno what you call the iron large type) along with the wavey pavement, so i just hit the button...
It was an expired german B&W film called Tura, a kodak normal processing, but this film is grain rich, it's also iso 400,
The colors, the pavement is greay, the door is steel color, the timber is timber...
Your cropping is quite interesting and quite different, guess it cna be cropped in different ways, giving different senses and different feels to it, your cropping concentrated more on the circles...because maybe it looks a bit messy with all the lines, circles, wave patterns in there :D
I understand how you feel about it Mango, i don't have a meaning myself, but it provoked me and that was it, i was surprised with the amount of grain i found after processing it, it was beyond my expectations, all for the better though.
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