Your photos (118)


Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset



If you'd like to submit photos for criticism,
click here.

with comments from Philip Grosset




"I am originally from India and now living in California. Photography is my hobby. In the recent past I have been shooting a lot and I dont know whether my skills have improved. I got to know your site from one of friends. There are four pictures attached with this mail. Please critique on these pictures and provide tips for improvement. I have a Canon Elan IIE and Tamron 28-200 lens.
CMG.jpg - Taken this picture while waiting for a doctors call. This is the lobby of the hospital. The time was around 8:45am. The film was Kodak 200.
Butterfly.jpg - This is portrait of my daughter. I dont remember about
the climate of that day.
Glowing.jpg - This was taken as part of my night light picture experiments. This is a glowing ring. 6 sec exposure at f4. This is a glowing ring held in front of the camera for a while and turned the ring to the other side for the rest of the time.
Elephant.jpg - This picture was taken in Oakland zoo. This time was moreof 11.30am. very bright sun and no filter or polarized used for this
pic.
I would like to get your all possible comments, starting from, composition to lighting to framing to... anything that would help me to improve my skills. thanks." (Elangovan Shanmugam)
Room Room cropped
Your photo on the left is a bit too cluttered. In my version on the right, I've simplified it by cutting out some of the items such as the out-of-focus papers in the immediate foreground. The strong lines then make this quite an arresting picture.
Girl cropped
Girl
Your photo of your daughter on the left shows up the butterfly very well, but you can see it even more clearly if you move in for a really dramatic close up as on the right. It might have been even better, though, if she'd been turned just slightly more towards us.
Pattern of rings
I'm afraid I can't see much point in this! It's really more of an experiment than a photo that I can comment on.
Elephant
It seems very odd not to show us more immediately recognisable parts of the elephant. If you had been able to include its shadow on the ground, this might have made the picture much more effective.




"I have no idea if you are still giving criticism to photos, but I'll try. I really like your site, and I have learned a lot from your critics. I have send you 4 pictures. One is a closup of some glasses. I took them without flash, and even though they were placed on a white sheet, I can't really understand why it ended in a pink kind of backgroundcolor ! So maybe you can help me out here.
The first is one I took in Iceland, the same for the second. The last one is taken in Copenhagen. I would love to hear your comments.
By the way I have taken them with a digital camera, an Olympus 2020.Thanks in advance if you find the time to critize ! Best wishes." (Ingrid van Vliet, Århus - Denmark)
The problem with this photo is that the plants in the foreground are out of focus. You've a good camera - but something has gone wrong here. It might have been more interesting if you'd moved in for a really big close up - but it would need to be absolutely sharp.
Plants

This photo, on the other hand, works really well. You've concentrated attention on just where you want to: the flowers. A very pleasing picture. Having the horizon a third of the way down the picture is, as so often, very effective.
Field

I'm not quite sure which of the two glasses is meant to be the centre of attention. It might be better to concentrate on one of them (perhaps by showing all of the one in the foreground) then just glimpse the other in the background. I don't know where the pink color came from, unless there was pink reflected off the walls or curtains.
Glasses

A really colorful scene, but, unfortunately, all of it, except for the immediate foreground on the left, is slightly out of focus. Given a scene like this, focus on a third of the way towards the background so as to keep as much of it as possible sharp.
Waterside

Reply from Ingrid van Vliet: "Thanks for your incredible fast response ! I will keep all your remarks in mind, the next time I'm going out taking pictures, thanks. I am not really sure what your comment on the last picture (the Copenhagen colourful one) means: "A really colorful scene, but, unfortunately, all of it, except for the immediate foreground on the left, is slightly out of focus. Given a scene like this, focus on a third of the way towards the background so as to keep as much of it as possible sharp. " Apart from it not being sharp, should I have taken it from another angle ? Is that what you mean ? Thanks for a great site!"

What I mean is that if you want as much as possible of a scene to be in focus, you should focus on an object a third of the way between the foreground and the background. If possible, also use a smaller aperture and/or a shorter focal length.




Go on to YOUR PHOTOS (119)



 Finding your way around this site

NEXT PAGE