Unhappy with my photography for awhile... Sunsets , Rainbows & Reculver

Neil79

Neil79

Neil79

Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2006
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For some time now my photography quality has been dropping and its kinda been depressing me , lack of replies on photography forums and when they do give feedback its usually not that great. So i decided to research all day today the good and bad of photography and find the cause of my quality problems. Yes i have the eye for good photo's , but i was always got fed up of what showed on the camera didn't on the computer , it all looked wrong!

Lets try with what i've learned today , any advice would be great!.

Start from the top

1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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7.
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8.
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9.
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10.
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Neil79 said:
For some time now my photography quality has been dropping and its kinda been depressing me , lack of replies on photography forums and when they do give feedback its usually not that great.
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As a photo noob from what I can see from this set of photos at least yes you do have a good eye for photography and certainly you can see the various 'rules' of photography applied to your pictures so technically nothing is wrong.

I'm sure I remember you got a good piece of feedback from one of your images posted in the 'post your pics here' thread. So its not all lackluster or negative feedback you're getting.

One thing I would say but this is my own personal feeling about this, the series you posted here lacks an element of punch to them. For me nothings jumping out at me to focus my attention.

Pictures 5, 10 and 14 are my favourite out of the set, they grab my attention the most.
 
Derek W said:
As a photo noob from what I can see from this set of photos at least yes you do have a good eye for photography and certainly you can see the various 'rules' of photography applied to your pictures so technically nothing is wrong.

I'm sure I remember you got a good piece of feedback from one of your images posted in the 'post your pics here' thread. So its not all lackluster or negative feedback you're getting.

One thing I would say but this is my own personal feeling about this, the series you posted here lacks an element of punch to them. For me nothings jumping out at me to focus my attention.

Pictures 5, 10 and 14 are my favourite out of the set, they grab my attention the most.
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Thanks , yeh i did get some good feedback for a few of the photo's but rather i'm talking in general. In what way would a shot say if i did these again would add an element of punch?
 
Don't give up Neil!

I always thought you were making good progress. You we're posting frequently in here and I thought you were improving every time. It's not something that's going to happen over-night.

#4 #5 #7 #9 & #13 are my favourites from this set.

As Derek says, some of them lack a real focus but it's all part of the learning curve.

One thing you might try next-time is varying the height at which you take the shots. Get low, get high, get dirty. :p

I think #9 might have been really special if you'd got a bit closer and a bit lower to the posts - perhaps followed the line of them through the view-finder so that it split the shot in a diagonal fashion.

Obviously everyone is going to see different shots in a different light *no pun intended* (as shown by Derek's and my own choices not corresponding). Ultimately you've got to keep yourself happy with the shots you're taking. Feedback is nice but it's not the be-all and end-all.

I definitely think you have 'the eye', it just needs honing a bit. :)

Chin up mate and keep posting.

Panzer
 
nothing really wrong with the pictures, maybe some could be shot a little different but thats just what happens to everyone. I just think you need to look at your pp and maybe change it about a bit. Not saying what you have done is wrong or looks bad but what does show is that your uninterested in your own shots... why dont you try pp some of them in a way you haven't tried before???

anyway hope you keep at it, i enjoy seeing your work!!! i do know how you feel though, my cam hasnt seen the light of day for ages :(
 
Thankyou both of you !

Panzerbjorn thats funny you should say that , i was trying to get as low as i could but i was right out in the sand. The wind was blowing and i was SINKING ! , not so good when you are wearing the wrong things at the time.Wellies would've been great , not trainers ;D
 
Neil79 said:
Thanks , yeh i did get some good feedback for a few of the photo's but rather i'm talking in general. In what way would a shot say if i did these again would add an element of punch?
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I think as its been mentioned as by myself the photos need a more specific focal point. In several of the pictures you've used 'lines' to draw the viewer into the picture but when they get there, they;re left with blank spaces or background.

I'm not sure if in a few of them you've used a filter or increased the yellow saturation in the photos but for me its washed out the image slightly.

There was another topic that I was thinking of to point you towards about taking pictures that you like, who cares what anyone else thinks..........that was until i discovered you posted it yesterday!!! :p

For me that set of images were better and had more of an impact on me than this set.

I think one final comment is that you've noticed yourself that you're not happy with the way you're taking photographs. Can you go back and look through the pictures you've taken that you're happy with and either think back to how you were feeling or just remind yourself that you can take pictures that you're happy with to see if you can reignite that feeling or just simply see why you liked the ones you do?
 
Derek W said:
I think as its been mentioned as by myself the photos need a more specific focal point. In several of the pictures you've used 'lines' to draw the viewer into the picture but when they get there, they;re left with blank spaces or background.

I'm not sure if in a few of them you've used a filter or increased the yellow saturation in the photos but for me its washed out the image slightly.

There was another topic that I was thinking of to point you towards about taking pictures that you like, who cares what anyone else thinks..........that was until i discovered you posted it yesterday!!! :p

For me that set of images were better and had more of an impact on me than this set.

I think one final comment is that you've noticed yourself that you're not happy with the way you're taking photographs. Can you go back and look through the pictures you've taken that you're happy with and either think back to how you were feeling or just remind yourself that you can take pictures that you're happy with to see if you can reignite that feeling or just simply see why you liked the ones you do?
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I'm actually Very pleased with this set , i was kinda in a low previously and doing shots just to get a great set reply rather than doing what i enjoy. Doesn't include the Tankerton-Whitstable ones :p

I think the saturation is the wrong whitebalance , i was using Shade at the time and its made it Far too orange. :eek:
 
PieEater said:
With the exception of a couple of shots I wander if you'd taken the photo's from a lower stance it might have added extra depth and interest....
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Yep i had considered that , if it wasn't for the fact i was sinking ( i went out too far ) then ofcause :D

13 - the White Balance was totaly Wrong , so this is the end result fixed

IMG_8174B.jpg
 
i dunno what to say about the photographs. maybe cause theyre not my taste or style but i just wanted to say it, cause a lot of people are praising you for good job on these photos but..

these photos are kinda boring, theres nothing to give and theres nothing that i think, WOW to them. im not a pro at photography, but i think you just got to find something that you think is worth shooting, dont keep shooting the same things and look at things differently compared to how you see things at face value. the only way youre gona get better is if you take critisim the hard way. when youre taking pictures, think about what youre trying to caputre, what story it is trying to give, and what feeling/atmosphere youre trying to give when someone looks at them. to me if i look at all of them they give me nothing but if you want to take that or not or feel bad/down about yourself of your photography then so be it, but obviously keep trying.
 
I don't agree with tbs, I can see you're doing a fairly good job of looking for interesting colours and textures and are giving thought to the composition of the shots, things which are beyond some. My only constructive criticism would be as I've already stated I think if you got lower down to the level of your main subject it might improve the overall shot and also perhaps your actual focal point and depth of field is a bit out. Otherwise I think the shots are pretty good.
 
I think the problem you have is that a lot of your shots are just not that interesting, yes the composure is fine, they follow set "rules" but the subject is quite often "meh"

Having said that I do like shots 5,6 and 8 in this set. This is the sort of quality you should be aiming for in my opinion.

When you look at a shot you have to think to yourself, "would I want that on my wall" if the answer is no then you need to look at what you're photographing again.
 
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My personal opinion: Photo 5 is the most promising. I've always thought photos with rainbows in are a bit naff because they are so small in the picture but are the main focus always meaning there is a lot of dead space. It is hard to take good photos with rainbows in. Secondly one thing all the photos lack is people. People add so much depth to photos because they give a scale and presence to the image.
 
PieEater, you dont have to agree with me, but hes looking for ways to let out his creativity which is why i said what i said, but that doesnt mean the photos arent boring to look at.

as i said to "me" they dont have the WOW factor, and all im saying is he just have to figure out a way to give that WOW factor into his photographs. im not saying he cant take a photo, im just saying his photos can be a lot more if he did something different.

just wondering Neil, what camera are you using?
 
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