BootsnAll Travel Community

Ok fellow travellers, I'd like your help!

I'm currently travelling/living in Spain, and have taken a ridiculous amount of pictures. A friend of a friend who saw my pic suggested that I submit some of them to various places, but I'd like to get some other opinions. Soo...that's where y'all come in. If you wouldn't mind, could you take a peek at some of my pics and tell me what you think? Any kind of feedback is great...good, bad, or otherwise!! Thanks a million

Em's pictures

ps-I'm sorry if it takes you to an advertisement site first. You just need to click the link at the bottom (the one that says 'return to deviantART' or something like that. Sorry!

WOW. Your friend was right, those are some amazing pictures. I especially like the one with the lighted archways. Beautiful stuff. It just makes me want to go to Spain even more now. What city are you living in? Which is your favorite that you have been to?

Keep up the good work, and definitely submit your stuff.
-A

Hi Em!
Did work my way around the advertisement and saw your photos. Now, I'm not an expert, so please don't hold my critique as the ultimate word. First of all, I like your choice of shooting in B&W. I really like the B&W medium but it has always been something that is tied to the darkroom process for me. In the case of your photographs, I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that your are shooting digitally (or are you just post- processing?) in B&W.
That being said, your photographs are a mixed bag in terms of quality and composition. The photos "Closer to God", "Over the top" and "Sidestreet in Toledo" instantly catch the eye in terms of composition and content and I think they are probably your strongest photographs. The other photographs I would say are OK. The one thing that I notice is that you are using very shallow depth of field for each of these photographs (the apertures are all either 4.8 or smaller), and while this might be a limitation of the camera that you have, I'm sure that you can at least go upto F8.0 or F11.0. This will not only increase your options in terms of DOF composition but also give a much higher sharpness to your photographs.
Again, I would like to emphasize that these photographs are quite good especially considering that you are still an amateur. Also, one thing that I have found out about travel photography is that most viewers instantly connect to photographs that include portraits of local people. I am often guilty of ignoring this aspect of travel photography myself but believe me the impact of having even a single good candid portrait of someone while on the road makes a big difference.
Another thing that I would suggest is that if you did originally take these photographs in color and desaturated them later on, try presenting them in the original color format as well. I think that photographs like the "la cremera" and "something smells fishy" will look a lot stronger in color than in B&W.
Also, while photographing interiors of buildings like churches and mosques, if you don't have a tripod (or if you're not allowed to use it like in the Alhambra or the Mosque in Cordoba, I was refused in both those places!), try to find a ledge or wall on which you can rest the camera and take a picture. This will greatly reduce the chances of blurring.
Sorry if this comes off sounding a little condescending or preachy, believe me that is not the intention.
And remember, the only way to improve is to keep taking pictures and asking for critiques!

Thank for the comments both of you!

Maverick, that's excactly the kind of critique I was looking for!! I know that I'm by no means an expert, and this was kind of my first attempt at taking "real" pictures, rather than just snapshots of random things. (That's part of the reason there's not a lot of local people in my pictures...)

I took these all digitally, some in b/w and most in color (then used a photo program to extract the color). Just for kicks, I went back and added the color versions of the 2 photos you suggested just for comparison (The La Cremera color version is also pre-cropping). A tripod or something similar is definitely something that I've considered getting, but that probably won't happen until I'm back in the states.

Thanks again for the great critiques from both of you!

Em!

I didn't get an ad going to your site, so I was happy about that.

"sidestreet in toledo" & "empty prayer" & "entryway to heaven" are nicely composed and you made nice use of available light. especially with B&W, it's all about attention to light and shadow. keep that in mind. what camera do you use and do you use photoshop (or something similar) for some post-production editing?

definitely anchor your camera in low-light settings to get rid of the blur in some of your photos due to camera shake. there are some creative ways to do this without a tripod. Place your camera on a table or chair back, and if need be, use a key, coins, etc to prop up the front in order to get the aim you want. another option is to use a wall or a column, but in this case you need to shoot vertically & anchor the base of your camera against the vertical surface. Any kind of anchoring like that will reduce blur considerably. another idea is to crank up the ISO on your camera, say to 400 or 800 - that will let you use a faster shutter speed.

another excellent resource to get feedback on your photography is photo.net -- I call it the "BootsnAll of photography" - it's a community of amazing photographers full of photos and discussions. You can create a profile there, upload photos, and "request critique" and you'll get some feedback from some very accomplished photographers. Just an option if you are looking for another outlet for critiques. It's also a great site for inspiration and learning just about anything about photography.

keep shooting and let us know when you post up another batch of photos!

cheers,
STEVE

quote:

Originally posted by Steve H:
what camera do you use and do you use photoshop (or something similar) for some post-production editing?

Steve, thanks for the critique. I actually just use a Kodak DX4530 (simple, basic digital) and then just Kodak EasyShare software (which came packaged with the camera) for editing. I haven't really invested in any better equipment yet since I'm just kind of in the beginning stages of this photography thing (and since I'm going to be paying off this trip I'm on right now well into the future )

And thanks for that website suggestiong. I'll have to check it out...

Em

I am new to this forum today. I enjoyed viewing your photos (most of them are B&W — my favorite).

I will return to view again, and learn from your experience. Thanks.

thanh

as capt steve suggests, photo.net is good. another one is "fotocommunity.com" or "fotocommunity.de": .com is in English and .de is in German.
photo.net has ratings and comments. they are sometimes brutally honest. fotocommunity is only comments and is very friendly, hard comments are not often done. two different outlooks, i post on both for the different outlooks.
tip: don't sign up using capitals!!! good luck. jh

The pictures are very beautiful and creative, but here's a bit critique you asked for; black & white is a very sensitive method of photography, and it is not always the best. You have to have a very good reason to use b&w, otherwise it becomes boring, senseless, untasteful and a bit affected. I would suggest to learn to use colours in the targets that need it and restrain using b&w unless it is not necessary for the message of the picture. It has to have a meaning, as not to become just one of those wannabe-artistic pictures which give a little but melt into the herd easily.

This I have myself learned having photographed relatively little; I am also not very experienced (I'll try to put my travel pics here some day) and have much to learn, but I have noticed that there just has to be a good reason to use b&w. It's like a beautiful dress; don't wear it everyday, wear it only when you have the perfect occasion for it, and make it shine and stand from the crowd by saving it for the best moments.

Otherwise, please, do continue taking pictures, you do have the eye!

I agree that there is a mixed bag of composition and quality. The architectural pictures are very interesting and I think well composed. I don't know if these are representative of all your pictures, but they seem to trend in the same basic style (angled composition, complex geometry). Not that that's bad (I really like most of them!) but try changing the "feel" a little to widen the range of viewpoints.

Big swings in light and dark can be tricky, especially with a basic camera's built-in meter and especially in b/w, which I think you'll see in some of the interior shots. If you can't use a flash try to avoid deep shadows and bright spots in the same frame. I actually like the off-focus arches, but I'm not sure that was your intention.

I typically don't have people in my photographs (my wife nags me about it all the time), so I'm not so intrigued with the people pictures. Not knowing who they are greatly diminishes any emotional reaction to the photograph, which in the end is a large part of what makes us like a picture or not.

In my opinion, especially while learning to photograph, don't be in too much of a hurry to abandon black and white. While it's true that color adds zing and interest to most pictures, it can easily be a crutch that forgives poor composition and technique (think of a cool boardwalk picture, framed with bright red umbrellas, where you didn't notice an overflowing garbage can until you made your prints...) Since you're shooting digital, strip away the color when you are editing them and see if you like what's left. Then add the color back in. If it makes you LOVE the picture, then it's worth keeping.

I hope you enjoyed your trip. Keep up the good work.

I see what it is you are trying to capture, but I can tell that what you're seeing is not what the camera is recording.

You tend to photograh high contrast scenes. Unfortunately, your eye (and mind) sees in much greater detail than your camera, whether it be via a film media or digital. So, your shadow areas tend to be under-exposed in most cases.

Unless you are capable of using your camera in a "manual" mode, where you can make adjustments to expsoure, you'll continue to lose important detail.

Try shooting when light isn't as harsh. Cloudy days are great times to shoot. Use fill flash for subjects (especially people) so the contrast will be lessened. Shoot with light over your back, if you can, instead of into the light.

Secondly, your photos tend to be "flat," showing little depth. Although photos are two-dimensional, you can "fool" the eye of the viewer by including objects in the foreground so that there is a "line" of movement throughout the photo, this is especially true for landscape shots. Placement of an object in the foreground connects the image from front to back, giving a sense of depth and perception.

Finally, before you take any photo, ask yourself what the "subject" of the photo is. And then whatever the answer is then fill the frame with that subject.

I oftentimes see photos of travel photos with this magnificent large backdrop only to see a miniscule image of a person..."that's my mother so and so..." but unless you knew that beforehand you'd never had known because the mother is tiny in the frame.

Good Luck and keep shooting...