Your photos (130) |
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 Hints and tips by Philip Grosset If you'd like to submit photos for criticism, click here. |
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with comments from Philip Grosset "Here's a photo i took in Stockholm, Sweden about a year ago. It's photographed with a Minolta Vectis S-1 APS camera. I had a Kodak ISO 200 film then so it's a bit grainy. The lens is a 22-80 Minolta. It's photographed without a tripod so therefore it's blurry, motionblur and i'm not sure where i focused (heh..). The idea i had for this photo was to grab a nice night scene of Stockholm. If you got some sparetime i'd be happy if you could take a look." (Magnus Rönnkvist) |
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| I think you did pretty well in the circumstances with your photo on the left, but, as you say, it's not quite sharp, and a tripod could have made all the difference. But it's an attractive picture, you've managed to keep the verticals vertical by choosing a high camera position, and I like the inclusion of the two people standing by the road. In fact, the total effect is very colorful and pleasing. In my version on the right, I've tried moving in just a little closer so as concentrate attention on what seems the most interesting part of the scene, and this also places slightly more emphasis on the two figures in the right foreground. I've also removed a couple of little white specks from the sky area. Take your pick! Reply from Magnus Rönnkvist: "I like how you cropped down the image and removed the unnecessary parts from the photo. Next time i'll be using a tripod and a ISO 100 or ISO 50 film when photographing to get a much finer grain. I like your site alot, tips and this feedback helps me alot as a newbie photographer to improve my skills and learn from mistakes." "My name is Peter and I took these photos(and many more) around Santorini Greece where my wife and I were having our honeymoon. Oh yeah! I come from Australia (Perth) but live in London at the moment. These photos were taken with a olympic 990Z digital. The first is of my wife doing the "titanic" over the cliffs of Santorini Greece. The second is a picture of the little resturant area at the bottom of the cliff at Oia,Santorini Greece. Thanks for the help" (Peter Sharper) |
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| Your photo on the left is a fun idea and an attractive view, but you really need to be closer to your wife if we are to see what she is doing. I've tried moving closer in on the right, but a very much closer view (perhaps with her glancing over her shoulder back at us), with the scenic view behind her, might have been more effective still. |
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| Your photo on the left works very well, but, it might have looked even more pleasing if the man in the blue shirt in the middle of the picture, had been positioned in the empty space on the left, as in my version on the right. The difference is very slight, I know, but it makes the picture feel better balanced. These both make very happy honeymoon pictures as they effectively capture the sunny feeling of the place. Reply from Peter Sharper: "What photo editor are you using philip? I liked how you moved the person in the second photo. This is a great service you have. Thank you for your comments, I look forward in becoming a better photographer." I use Adobe Photoshop - but would recommended the much cheaper Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 for most non-professional purposes. |
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| Your photo on the left is very striking, as is the distinctive coloring. You don't say how you obtained it! But the result is very pleasing, and I like the idea of tracks leading us up into the picture, although the right-hand part of the scene is left looking rather empty. In my version on the right, I've tried moving the horizon from exactly halfway up the picture, so that it and the top of the bright area of clouds are now a third, and two thirds, respectively, up from the bottom. I've also cropped the picture so that the trees now end two thirds of the way across it. Yet another example of how trying to apply the "rule of thirds" can help most landscapes? Also, the tracks now seem to lead us more towards the right of the picture than just up to the trees. Reply from Graham Briant: "I'm not sure how I achieved that colour either!....I was using a Fujifilm Finepix 1400 digital at about 3 in the afternoon & experimenting with white balance & brightness settings, then later by adjusting the colour tint on a photo manipulation programme.....it's easy when you dont know what your doing! Thanks for your advice too." "I have sent you another landscape following your last advice, again this one taken on Charnage Down, Wiltshire has been toyed with to affect the colours, I quite like it, I would value your opinion." (Graham Briant) |
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| This is an interesting experiment. Your simple composition with the bright area of clouds "pointing" towards the solitary tree is quite effective, but it is the coloring of the sky that you really notice, as this takes up such a large area of the picture. To me, I'm afraid, it looks a bit too unreal. An evening sky can look so dramatic, it seems a pity not to make more use of the actual colors. But then I usually feel that the best use of a photo editing program is when you can't tell it has been used - so it may be that I'm not the best person to give unbiassed advice on this sort of picture! | |||||||||||||||||
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