need some critics????please

[eyevan]

ok guys and gals .Would you all check out my gallery and tell me some critiques??i feel this class has helped me with knowledge about photography and it should be evident by my improvement I hope.At least in composition.Thanks for the replies.

[umajo]

i am new also but have been looking through the gallery and noticed there is a lot of wonderful photos no comments

[dkippen]

eyevan -

I like the black and white, you can see the moodiness. I love the little girl shot and her expression. I'm not much of a critic, but I'm sure others will chime in. I'm not a cat person - so no comments there.

[laura]

Hi Eyevan, I don't tend to comment to much on other people photos as I don't feel sufficiently qualified or experienced to do so. But as a beginner/amature, the depth of field is good on the pics of the little girl and the cat. The movement of the water in the B&W one is very impressive. (And the statue of Mary sent a shiver down my spine!!)

[Benthic]

I'm with Laura, I liked the photo of the branches and the water. I too should point out that I'm pretty new at this.

Brian

[reval8r]

Ok eyevan,
I'll give you my observations. First remember that this is an art form and all artists are different and this cc is only for you to think of your images differently.

The first image of the wagon wheel is your strongest compositionally; however, for a black & white it’s tonally flat. You can fix it in PS and make it a much stronger image. Black & white images really need good tonal value to stand out. A poor color image will be more visually pleasing to the human eye than a good b&w. This is a good image and my favorite of yours so far. Adjust some curves in PS to get more contrast and bring out the tones and you’ll have an image that should be printed and framed.

I really like mesmerized, but it needs cropped differently. The little girl is too centered in the frame and the area behind her is dead. Crop out the area just behind the little girl. This will strengthen the composition by using the golden rule and give some space in the direction she is looking. You did a great job on focusing the viewer’s attention to her with nice sharp focus on the eyes and everything else in soft focus. You also used contrast very well, her face is lighter than most of the image, thus bringing our attention to it and holding it there. For more impact, brighten her eyes in post, they’re just a tad bit flat.

Messing around has great tonal value for a b&w and good work with the shutter speed to show the water movement. But I personally would like to see a different prospective, such as a lower angle to emphasis the rushing water and less framing with the branches. As it is, my eyes are pulled away from the water and back to the framing branches. The water is the beauty of the image, but there’s too much framing with branches that compete for attention.

Ceramic Face of Life, I think would be a good candidate for b&w or some antique toning to help portray the age of the statue. Also the center of focus should be the eyes, but they are a little soft and the focus is on the forward cheek. When shooting these types of images I generally shoot manual focus. Auto focus tends to miss the focus area and for me manual is easier and faster. I find that shooting statues is harder than people think. To be successful with shooting a statue you need to dissect it and you done a good job of that. I would like to see this image with side lighting to really bring out the texture and age of the statue.

Just take these observations with a grain of salt. You’re really off to a good start and I’m really interested in where you take your creative talents.