- This topic is empty.
River Deel, Limerick And Askeaton Abbey
-
Hello lads took these photos yesterday. All critic welcome. :)
1.
River Deel Gort by mikeytoomo1, on Flickr
2.
Askeaton Abbey by mikeytoomo1, on Flickr30 views lads and not one critical thing to say. :P Some one please tell me where I can improve. :)
Hmmm TO me the first shot lacks a subject, as in theres nothing to focus on so this makes the picture less interesting to me! The second image is a but too grey for my liking. Just my opinions!
Hi Mikey, the images just do nothing for me so I was not inclined to comment, sorry!
They don’t have the Wow-Factor.Thanks ElJeff will keep that in mind next time. :) Ok John17 I kinda understand what you mean noting too different or striking about them.
It can be frustrating when asking for opinions and none are forthcoming, but dont take it
personally :) They are quite small so seeing any detail is hard, try posting a little bigger.The first shot, as has been said, lacks a focal point…presumably you were thinking the moss
covered rocks would be the focal point, in which case you could have put them more prominently
in the frame, there is a lot of empty space around them and I dont think the panoramic crop
suits it to be honest.The second shot is tones of grey rather than black and white, so more contrast and a levels
adjustment might bring a bit of life into it, or maybe colour would suit it better?Hope this helps some.
mikeytoomo wrote:
30 views lads and not one critical thing to say. :P Some one please tell me where I can improve. :)
Hi Michael,
First of all I would not be so quick to question the speed at which members get around to commenting on your post.
Your original post was at 9.39 am today and you posted the comment above at 6.50 pm.
Many regular members will have been out all day or otherwise engaged.In my own case I viewed the images earlier and to be honest I did not find them that intersting on first viewing.
So I did what I normally do in such circumstances I decided to come back later and see if I still thought the same.
Heres what I thought when I viewed them first time.I wondered what you were trying to show me in #1.
I could not find anything in the frame that grabbed my attention.
I found the format odd and wondered why you had cropped it this way.
The lighting didn’t seem to be that great and the resulting image looks flat, lacking contrast.
Not sure what you could do here but:
Maybe a wider view might reveal something interesting about the scene.
Including something that could be a focal point and give a viewer something to land their eyes on.
Try at a time when the light is better. Sympathetic light can transform a scene.#2 has what look like a lovely subject but you have presented a very flat representation of it.
It looks like the lighting wasn’t the best and this hasn’t helped you.
There seems to be lovely stonework there and with nice light and some good PP there is great
potential for a fine image here.
If you are lucky enough to live nearby a revisit might be in order.I know you put smiley faces in your rebuke but give us a break.
Finally seeing that I am answering a criticism might I suggest that you acknowledge it when a
member goes through the bother of replying when you ask for information or advice.All the best,
John.
Hi Shutterbug,
Thank you for the advice. Looking at them there I can definatly understand where your coming from there needs to be a better focal point. I will take your advice next time and try and get a more prominent focal point.
As for the 2nd picture I know the Abbey seems a bit dark but it was either the sky or the castle i could get the right exposure on Ill have to try and go back another day and try and follow you advice.Sorry 5faythe I might have of jumped the gun a small bit. As you probly guessed I am a beginner and it was the first picture that I took that looked half decent. Although I know that its still far from good. I was dying to find out where I could improve the two pictures.
You said there that it was a very flat representation how could I improve that if I was taking the picture again would a higher Fvalue do anything for it.Thanks everyone for you advice as its much appreciated and needed. Hopefully might get to go back to the two locations soon and put all of your advice to good use.
Thanks again,
Michael O MHi Michael,
I really appreciate your response to my comments.
I am a lot older than you and I still have so much to learn.
Remember too that nobody produces masterpieces everytime they go out in fact masterpieces are probably a rare breed.
Getting a good knowledge and understanding of how all the different elements and camera settings affect the resulting
image will be an enormous help to you.Light is so important.
The quality (Soft, direct, diffused, reflected….) and direction (front lit/side lit/back lit with high sun to low sun) of the
of the light has a huge affect on how the final image will look.
This is why many landscape photographers favour the horizontal light which can be available around sunrise and sunset.
So my first suggestion would be to visit these locations at one of these times or even both.
It means learning about your chosen location to dermine what time of day might provide the best light to allow you to
make the planned image.Apart from how it influences exposure the look of the sky is important.
Sometimes a clear blue sky is best, sometimes fluffy white clouds are the business and other times broody black clouds
create just the right atmosphere.
In your 2nd image there is a load of white cloud in the RH half of the sky while the LHS is nearly devoid of cloud.
I think you might agree that the sky dosen’t look that great and I have a feeling that it might look a little better in colour.
My second suggestion is that if the sky dosen’t suit you have to wait ’til it changes or come back another day or days.Then we have the exposure.
The sky is nearly always going to be brighter than the land.
Depending on the conditions it can be 2, 3, 4 or even more stops brighter.
If the camera is on auto it will try to average everything out and….well neither sky nor land will be correctly exposed.
If you expose for the land the sky will be overexposed and if you expose for the sky the land will be underexposed.
You can check the difference by taking a reading with only sky and another with only land. Note down the 2 readings.So how do we sort this out.
We can (1) use graduated neutral density (ND) filters or (2) take 2 images (1exposed for sky and 1 for land) and blend
them in post processing. A tripod is vital for #2.
Graduated ND filters are made to let less light pass through the top part of the filter. When held in front of a lens they
let less light through to the sensor from the brighter part of the scene.
They come in various strengths with the 2 stop possibly being the most popular.
So you can’t just point a camera at a scene with a bright sky and expect to get a properly exposed photograph.
My third suggestion is that you take some action to compensate for the fact that the sky is going to be brighter.
Either go when the difference is not too great, include less sky in the frame, take a number of frames and blend in
PP software, use graduated ND filter or any combination of the above.Of course there are many other things that have an effect on the final image.
Viewpoint, focal length, f stop, composition, ISO, tripod, point of focus…If you visit your location when the lighting conditions are good and you get the exposure right the resultant image should
have a nice combination of tones (Black, White and Midtones) and not look flat.I hope this helps a little.
I look forward to seeing more of your photographs.
All the best,
John.
Hi John,
Thanks for the advice I will try and go back there when the lighting is better and ill use the the two different exposure technique like you said.
Also ill try and get the photo in the evening when the sun will be behind my back and should illuminate the Abbey better.As for the first image do you think if i got the rocks to the foreground of the picture and had them in sharp focus would it make it any better.
Thanks again,
MichaelHi Michael,
As an artistic endeavour photography can be very subjective.
What one person may think is a fab photograph another might not look twice at.
Therefore I am resistant to dismissing an image.That said sometimes I feel that there is just not a good photograph in a particular viewpoint of a scene.
Your 1st image struck me as just such an image although that is just my opinion.
There is no doubt that this image could be improved.
If it was raked with low evening or morning light there might be some nice shadows to increase the contrast and
make the scene more vibrant.
The colour looks a little muted so maybe a little increase in saturation could help.Personally I would look around to see if there might be a better image available.
Cheers,
John.
will be honest with you if you dont mind. Personally i dont think there is an image to be had at location 1. nothing at all to hold an interest. I have taken images when starting out that i was happy with and when i look back now at them i cringe ! this reminds me of them.
no. 2 has a subject matter thats worthy of working with but you need a re visit. you need better light, sky, foreground, more contrast and….. ah wow factor. If you have time and passion for landscape photography you should spend time to look at websites of landscape photographers images and train your eyes to where we need to be.
lastly, you need to keep at it ! dont give up. some people enter competitions and dont hear what they like to hear and give it up. Your have taken a vital step to improving your skills, by joining this forum. look forward to seeing your progression here. well done !
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
