Your photos (151)


Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset



If you'd like to submit photos for criticism,
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with comments from Philip Grosset




"I thought it'd be fun to see what you have to say about some of my pictures (if you have the time). I don't study photo or anything, so I never really get a chance to hear what people think. I'd like to apologize for the copyright bar on the bottoms of the pictures - I'm not trying to be arrogant - it's just that I don't have photoshop on this computer so the only JPEG's I had available were on a website I sometimes have my brother post things on. They are all taken with b&w film, but the canoe one was done with a plastic Holga camera - the colour then put in with a computer. Thanks." (Lukas Rieppel, Montreal)
Boat
Balloons
My immediate reaction to your balloons photo on the left, is how much more appealing it would have looked in color! I'm puzzled by the two black shapes almost halfway up the picture.
I'm a bit puzzled too by your photo on the right, but, if you're trying to produce what looks like a damaged old print, you've certainly succeeded!
Clown cropped
Clown
Your picture of the clown on the left seems to me to be much more successful. The superimposition works well, and it was a good idea to make the background image darker than the foreground image, so that the latter stands out clearly from it, but I'd be inclined to move in a little closer and remove the black area in the left backround, as I have done on the right.
Tyre
This is a fine dramatic shot that well communicates a feeling of size and power.




"Hello I am Jesse.. these are some of my dog pictures.. Now the only thing wrong that I know of is that there pretty much is no good background.. though they are in my opinion pretty good for a 12 year old boy.. I was trying to get the whole body(s) and making sure the animals are looking.. only in one is a pug is not looking. I am not that great but still need to improve to become something of a photographer which is probably a fun job.. Hope you like them.." (Jesse H.)
You must be the youngest contributor, yet you've picked one of the most difficult subjects: a mixture of extreme black and white. This makes it very difficult to show any detail in the black. In the circumstances, you've done pretty well, but, as you say, the background doesn't help.
Pugs

Pugs
The light wall may have caused your camera to underexpose the pugs which is a pity because you really need to be able to see their faces.

Pug cropped and lightened
Pug
This photo is, I think, your most successful as you've got in really close. But you really need either to use fill-in flash or a longer exposure to capture any detail in the face. In my version on the right, I've lightened the picture and have also tidied up the background and moved in even closer. I'm intrigued by that part of a tortoise that creeps in at the back of your picture, but, unless you want to feature the tortoise, it's better to aim for an uncluttered background. The result here is a really good photo.
These are certainly a lively set of pictures, so you've got off to a good start!

Reply from Jesse H: "thanks much.. .It took me awhile to find the pictures.. The digital camera i have is not the world's greatest.. I Agree with you and I will try to Add some backaround.. I will sometime email you again to get more tips.. it was helpful." (Jesse)


"Yes it is true I won't give up. In these Pictures I tryed doing some of what you said to do. Trying different angles; I picked the three best pictures i had.. I took a picture of my yard to show there is not really any color but green and red. I tryed my best.. ( one thing is.. the green in the picture with the pug standing on the rock is a cool looking weed that is like ground cover.)The pug on the rock is a female named:Maggie and The other one is a male: Magoo.. I tryed adding color here they are.................." (Jesse H.)
In this picture, the flash has overexposed the pug because it is too close to the camera (and the background is underexposed because it is too far away). This picture could have looked really good in daylight as the pose and background work very well.
Pug
I've used just one of your new photos. Although in my new system there is no limit on the number of photos you can send me, there is now a small charge for all but the first one. Please see my submitting photos page for more information.

For more advice, please see my comments on other people's photos, the Using Flash page or some of the suggested Useful Books.




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