Brutally honest critique thread

[lawrence]

Seriously, are we getting anywhere here?
Starting to feel like one of those TV "grudge" matches - 15 wrestiers in a cage fighting anyone they can grab hold of.

Seems to be going pretty well to me. I'd often thought about starting a thread like this but figured it would never work and didn't have the inspiration to use the 'b' word, which I think perfectly describes its purpose.

 

[daveleo]

probably my one track brain . . . too many interlaced conversations for me.

carry on guys.

 

[Bingley]

OK, I'll wade in. Curious what folks in this thread think of this one:


Burlington, Vermont by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Hsg]

Thanks Simon, your ideas are useful. I was treading very softly taking these photos as I didn't want to distract anyone with my large camera (5D/24-105mm). Original image @70mm.

I would've felt more confident using something more discreet. I only made one other picture of this group, @65mm from a different angle, without the lady on her mobile:

Greg - thank you.

This image in its original color would look more interesting. I say that because as a b&w there is no separation between the foreground and the background.

 

[shadowfox]

The restricted range of colours is nice but apart from that I don't think this works. To me a good photograph has to be complete in itself and here I feel something is missing, which is what they are looking at. Clearly it's something that interests them so why not show it? Also the cropping's a bit weird, with too much empty space at the top. Finally, the metal box in the centre is given too much importance as in my view it doesn't add to the meaning of the photo at all.

You know what, I agree with you. I feel that the composition is a bit weird. I noticed the symmetry of crossed arms, and the two dots on the metal box. But other than that, the upper part of the picture distract more than to contribute.

Good feedback, thank you!

 

[thompsonks]

@Bingley: To me, this one is all about 'gazes': I'm interested in the way everyone is looking at something else in the image. And your gaze at the central shaved head is central. It's 'eyeballs in all directions.'

@ Mikhail: I can agree with the point that it's hard to critique one image without a context of others – you can't tell if the photographer is onto an important line of work, or just came upon one instance. But if I follow a thread closely (for me mostly the Monochrom threads), I soon grasp what Dave or air frog or unoh or some of the regular posters are working on. (I can remember their pictures better than their names!)

But I feel differently about critiques and their value. My expectation. in critique groups or when teaching, is that ideally everyone will end up with both (a) a clearer idea of where the strength of his/her work lies, and (b) something they might push farther or improve on.

Overall, the value of critiques for me is that I tend to 'love all my children,' and so I need help figuring out what to keep or edit out, and what threads, projects, or techniques to work on.

Kirk

 

[Kwesi]

What are you searching for?

Are you hoping for a one man show at the Whitney someday?
Are you thinking of approaching galleries?
Are you considering quitting your day job and making photography your career?
Are you considering of applying to Yale?
Are you thinking about another hobby?

And why that particular photo? Where, why, when, do you like it? Too little information for a proper crit.

Well if you were in my photo class what would you answer? And don't give me some kind of "Yoga Studio" answer about improving your practice, so you will be a better person - just for the sake of art and your soul. No one wants a blunt critique for that. 🙂

Bravo Photomoof,
I think Everyone posting images to this thread should take this advice to heart.

 

[nightfly]

This thread is in danger of going meta, a criticism thread about criticism.

To bring it back to an actual photo:

I'm generally suspicious of backs and back of heads in photographs. They imply that the photographer was not courageous enough or more charitably didn't have the opportunity to take the shot they really wanted. I know this is the case in my own work.

This one just leaves me cold. The back of a head, someone walking around outside, nothing really grabs me. And the highlights are blown out.

I feel like there might be an interesting photo to be had here, but this isn't it. There is a sense of interesting compositions with the windows and the the groups of people. I wish I could see this from the other side of the bald woman and see her face but it's more a frustration than a sense of mystery.

OK, I'll wade in. Curious what folks in this thread think of this one:


Burlington, Vermont by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[FrankS]

OK, I'll wade in. Curious what folks in this thread think of this one:


Burlington, Vermont by bingley0522, on Flickr

The only thing that is interesting in this picture is the bald head.

 

[back alley]

OK, I'll wade in. Curious what folks in this thread think of this one:


Burlington, Vermont by bingley0522, on Flickr

at first glance i immediately saw seanade(sp?) o'conner looking at david bowie...

 

[Pherdinand]

at first glance i immediately saw seanade(sp?) o'conner looking at david bowie...

At David Bowie? Haha thats really funny🙂

 

[Keith]

Interestingly, my eye is constantly drawn to that piece of string!

 

[Pioneer]

I would appreciate some direct feedback on this street photo taken at Sydney's Central Station. What got my attention was the contrast between the old ladies who were being sociable face to face, and the young woman alone and isolated on the other side of the bench making contact on her mobile phone.

I think this could have been even stronger if you had dropped to a knee and isolated the 4 socializing ladies against the one on the phone. Additionally that great big suitcase is distracting. Hard to eliminate though.

I do think this type of photograph would work very well as part of a project with similar observations.

 

[thompsonks]

IMO the woman at the right is essential, not only to the composition but to the content – that is, to the contrast between a busy group of elders who seem to be going on a little outing together, vs. a lone figure who's prepared for traveling far – and maybe even saying goodbye.

But I'd like to see it processed so that the '3/4 tones ' – the broad areas of floor and background that seem whited out – were brought down nearer to middle gray. At the very least I'd burn in all the edges to create the 'natural' look of a lens that vignettes.

Kirk

 

[airfrogusmc]

IMO the woman at the right is essential, not only to the composition but to the content – that is, to the contrast between a busy group of elders who seem to be going on a little outing together, vs. a sole figure who's prepared for traveling far.

But I'd like to see it processed so that the '3/4 tones ' – the broad areas of floor and background that seem whited out – were brought down nearer to middle gray.

Kirk

It also says a lot about out society and the way older people have conversations in person and younger people live trough their devises.

And I also agree that it might work well as part of a larger body of say work exploring those differences?

 

[thompsonks]

I took this a while ago, when I switched back to BW; and I've always wondered how others might respond to it (if at all).

Kirk

(PS: Maybe I should mention that the point of focus wasn't just an accident.)

[/url]Blocking hand by thompsonkirk, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Lss]

The moment is a good one. One person is perhaps reading, the other one is distracted from reading and gazes out. It's believable that she's looking at the person walking by. The scene is unfortunately a bit too busy, the highlights are blown, and given the part in focus it's quite unclear what the shot is about (I'm going back and forth between the earring, the book, and the piece of string). I wish the old man wasn't there, his position is not good. But okay, can't change that from this angle. I would have framed out the person on far right, and focused on the woman (?) who is sitting towards the camera. I think you could still get decent depth of field to make out enough of the younger woman. She's the interesting looking person in the scene, but all we see is her back. Let's make her a support rather than the main subject then.

I wouldn't throw away this image, there is something I like about the atmosphere.

 

[lawrence]

I took this a while ago, when I switched back to BW; and I've always wondered how others might respond to it (if at all).

Kirk

(PS: Maybe I should mention that the point of focus wasn't just an accident.)

[/url]Blocking hand by thompsonkirk, on Flickr[/IMG]

I think the strongest aspect of this is that it complies with the Rule of Thirds, which naturally creates some interest, but I don't think that the rest of the photo delivers on this initial promise. I looks like someone who doesn't want to be photographed gazing at an empty table in a restaurant and beyond this initial impact it doesn't hold my attention.

 

[Brian Legge]

I threw this in to another thread and then deleted it as off topic. I am curious what thoughts on here:

 

[thompsonks]

IMO it's about the juxtaposition of the different subjects' arms - a 'dance of life' picture in which different figures for a moment form a composition through their unintentionally complementary gestures. It does have that strength, but I'd have to call it a 'minor instance' in which other parts of the image - particularly the entering figure and the empty center - don't contribute enough to the whole.

(Just giving this a try - I belong to a critique group but haven't tried it before w/o prints, on Internet, and w/o seeing a body of work.)

Kirk