I recently joined the photo club at work. I have an interest in learning more of the jargon/techniques in photography - like how to use back lighting. Anyways, the last Tuesdays of each month, club members (some semi-professional!) can submit photos anonymously. Then, we discuss them in a round-table setting. Thinking I'd get some
helpful/constructive criticism, I submitted the photo on the below.
This was after I
lightened and sharpened it, as suggested by a fellow club member.Personally, I would have liked to get more "
separation" between J's hair and background (which I tried to do by lightening it - didn't work). I was more interested in his
expression - reveling in the tickling sensation of the ribbons. I like the
light hitting his face too.
I wasn't able to attend the meeting, but I was told what some said about my photo:
Start over.
What exactly does that mean? Start over with a new kid? Start over and use film instead? Start over and sketch instead?
I don't like that I can't see the balloons.
Well at least you were keen enough to deduce that there were balloons. Do you think that, if I used a wider-angled lens, I could have captured the balloons
and his facial expression? Would you have rather just seen the balloons?
I don't mind
honest, blunt critique as long as it's
constructive/helpful.
Anyone out there have helpful tips for this photo?
I totally agree with your comments about criticism, Lisa ;) I'd recently got a new camera and have been enjoying it quite a bit over the last few weeks. Be great to read what you've learned in coming days and weeks!
ReplyDeleteFor an impromptu moment, I think it's a great photo and is nicely composed! It's not like you can pose J like a mannequin and keep the balloons still before you take the shot. It's too bad it's a little busy in the upper right with the table but the depth of field blur helps a lot. Was your camera on auto or did you adjust the aperture settings?
Also there's a little ghosting of the strings of the balloon which is more noticeable at full size, though I guess one can say it adds to the the impromptu feeling of the scene :) I imagine playing around with a faster shutter speed or a slightly higher ISO might get that cleared up. I think it gets slightly confusing with the DOF blur in the background and the motion blur of the strings in the foreground, especially when you realize the orange string is the frontmost object as he's holding it in his left hand.
Hmmm, one last thing, did you zoom in to frame the picture like this or were you further out and cropped it in post-processing? If you had more picture to work with, I might have cropped it a little differently to balance the scene more. If you're familiar with the rule of thirds, I might have positioned J slightly more up and to the right to get his face (the brightest object in the scene) and his body's vertical line in the optimal location in frame.
I wish we had a club like that at Trinity. Maybe we can start one up in our new location and you can come down and give us a special lecture =) All the best, Lisa!
Thank you for the WONDERFUL critique. See my response in my next post! Hope you and Kiyo are well! Guest lecture, pffff, yea right ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, to answer your Qs.
ReplyDeleteI think my camera was on aperture settings. It was a 50mm f1.8 lens. So no zoom. I was sitting close to J.