Help please - photography class final project critique

[gaea106]

Wasn't sure where to post this. I was wondering if you guys could help me pick my best 10 photos for my final project in Photo101. This week we have to take 10 best drafts and then next week we can refine the photos by reshooting. I have my own ideas on which I like, but I like second opinions. This is 30% of my final grade, so its important!

We can shoot whatever subject matter we want for the final project, I didn't know what to do so I took my niece out and we ended up at the zoo. It was her first time, how cute!

We are supposed to be showing our new knowledge of basic camera operation. Basically how to adjust aperture and shutter speed to affect the image and capture things like motion and making backgrounds blurry etc.

Notes: We are supposed to use full stops so if they are a bit over or under exposed that's probably why. No color correction or Photoshop allowed, just as is shots.

http://www.angelicapettie.com/Share/...ect/index.html

[OTRphoto]

1, 5, 7, 9, 12, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33

If I had to choose based on the criteria you stated - these would be my picks.

[gaea106]

You chose a lot of the same pictures I picked. Can you tell me why you like 12 better than 11? This was one that I couldn't decide which one I liked better. I am glad you liked my ice cream too, I thought I was nuts for liking that one!

[49884]

2, 7, 11, 17, 20, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33

Would like to know the results of your project. Good Luck!

[TXFZ1]

2.5.11.17.25.26.27.28.31.33

David

[seawings]

2-5-7-9-11-13-21-26-28-30

Best of luck with your project.

[Patti Edens]

My favorites were... 1, 7, 12, 27, 28, 31, and 33.

I think your biggest challenge on this shoot was the incredibly harsh light which is the problem I always have at the zoo. They don't open early enough or stay open late enough to get there during that nice golden light. But you found a lot of opportunities to make it work.

Here are some of my impressions... Please take them with a grain of salt since I am also still learning.

1 - Cute expression, Exposure on subject excellent, Nice tight composition
2 - Nice flowers but I don't care for the subject centered. Maybe if shoot again, put subject off to side a bit.
3 - Nice composition, but the subject is lost in the dark area.
4 - Too much dark space. I can't tell what is happening.
5 - Good exposure here, but the light is very harsh. I would like to see at least a part of the subject's face. I like the Depth of Field (DOF) with the rocks blurring in the backgroud. Good one to reshoot if you go back.
6 - Too busy. My eyes bounce around from critter to rocks to wood to nice color of dirt... Tighter composition on critter with maybe one other element (rock, wood) would be better.
7 - Very Nice! You took advantage of that harsh lighting and made it work for you. Great contrasty study of this wood. My only nit is that the very top is cut off.
8 - Same comments here as for #6.
9 - Underexposed on subject/critter.
10 - I can't see the face. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but in this shot I just wish I could see the face.
11 - Very cute expression and nice exposure in spite of the harsh lighting, but I don't like all the empty space in the bottom right.
12 - Expression here is not as cute, but I much prefer the composition with the diagonal (neck) coming in toward the center, the palm leaves at top right and the balance of space on top left and bottom right.
13 - Lighting harsh. Need more space in front of the critter. You probably already know this, but...When shooting animals (people too), if they are facing toward left or right, it is pleasing compositionally to put more empty space in front of them so the viewer can see where they are going or looking.
14 - The ground is just not very picturesque and the DOF seems a bit too shallow since some areas are not sharp.
15 - Again, I would like to see the critter's face/eyes.
16 - Harsh light
17 - ditto
18 - Too dark and need more space in front of the critter. Bright spots are distracting.
19 - Too dark
20 - Nice composition, but I would have preferred to see this at a very slow shutter speed (1/8th) to make the water look silky. You would have needed one or more Neutral Density (ND) filters to get that slow with all that light. (Or to be able to shoot in very early am or late evening which isn't going to happen at most zoos)
21 - Soft, no contrast, hazy - through glass? If so, can fix in post processing, but I understand that you can't do that for your project.
22 - I don't care for the composition - legs cut off, no eyes...
23 - Interesting composition but harsh lighting
24 - Too dark
25 - Better, but still too dark on the right. I like this composition, but I'm not sure how this could be shot without using some sneaky HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing since there is such a wide dynamic range. That would be a No-No for your project.
26 - Harsh light. I think I would like this composition better if the lion was on the golden third in the lower right.
27 - Very nice pattern shot.
28 - Very nice! - I like the composition, exposure and the great use of the complementary colors. Good eye to spot this and compose so nicely.
29 - Too dark on left - My eyes keep bouncing from the dark to the light areas and can't settle down.
30 - Same - harsh light with dark and bright areas
31 - My favorite of all! Wonderful composition that tells a great story.
32 - Too busy. It is possible that if you went to f2.8 to blur the busy background more that it might have been better. Also would like to see the fountain on one of the golden thirds if possible compositionally.
33 - Lovely photo. Excellent composition, wonderful blurred background - just enough so that it doesn't compete with the subject but not so much that we don't know what it is back there. It might be interesting to see with the background blurred even more though, but I still like this one a lot.
34 - I can't pick anything for my eye to settle on in this photo. What I try to do in this case is isolate one bird (hard to do when there are a jillion in a small area) or maybe zoom in very close and just get a face/neck of one bird or get some type of action between two birds. f2.8 would be your best bet in this case, but even then it would be difficult since they are so packed in there.

Hope some of this helps. It was fun to look at all your shots.

[rockpics]

I liked: 2 -- Shows background blur, cute pose, well-exposed face, nice composition.

5 --Well lit, hair detail, background blur, nice angle -- but of course it' d be better if you could see her face and if her hand wasn't cropped.

7 -- Good exposure and angle of light.

11 -- I liked this composition of the giraffe better than the others. 12 is too centered for my taste. It shows background blur.

20 and 25 -- Together they demonstrate the effect of shutter speed on motion of the water. I think the water motion looks more "frozen" in 20 than in 24 even though they are at the same shutter speed.

26 -- Nice side lighting and pretty colors.

28 -- Good composition and background blur.

31 -- Nice exposure, composition and background blur.

33. -- Demonstrates background blur and good foreground focus.

[ka5txl]

I like 1,7,9,11,14,20,23,24,26,31

[gaea106]

Wow, I am going to have to start an excel spreadsheet to keep up with the votes! Thank you to Patti for the wonderful feedback on each photo. I now have a list of things to think about when I go back to the zoo next weekend.

So far looks like I have about 6 strong shots (7,11,26,28,31,33). Based on feedback people were picking four more that perhaps they didn't feel as strongly about being great. That's good feedback and a great place for me to start on my next shoot.

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by gaea106

Wasn't sure where to post this. I was wondering if you guys could help me pick my best 10 photos for my final project in Photo101. This week we have to take 10 best drafts and then next week we can refine the photos by reshooting. I have my own ideas on which I like, but I like second opinions. This is 30% of my final grade, so its important!

We can shoot whatever subject matter we want for the final project, I didn't know what to do so I took my niece out and we ended up at the zoo. It was her first time, how cute!

We are supposed to be showing our new knowledge of basic camera operation. Basically how to adjust aperture and shutter speed to affect the image and capture things like motion and making backgrounds blurry etc.

Notes: We are supposed to use full stops so if they are a bit over or under exposed that's probably why. No color correction or Photoshop allowed, just as is shots.

http://www.angelicapettie.com/Share/...ect/index.html

Angelica,

YOU'RE CHEATING? And everyone here is helping you.
If this truly is an assignment from a class, then you are getting help and making it a group opinion project. Was getting other people's opinion a part of the assignment? Or were you to decide on your own?

Learning how to see your own work and judge it properly is probably the hardest part of photography. I am sure that is why your instructor assigned you to pick out your own images. Otherwise he would have brought the class into the process and let them have a say. You won't learn as fast if you go with public opinion but you might make a better grade. What do you want to do? Learn photography or just make good grades?

[rockpics]

I see it as similar to having someone proof-read your term paper. It is hard to see your own gramatical errors, because you know what you meant to say. Similarly, you know what you see in your own photographs. It may take practice and feed-back to know that others don't see the same thing. When I was in college, professors encouraged their students to get others to proof read their writings before handing them in.

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by rockpics

I see it as similar to having someone proof-read your term paper.

Proof-read, yes. But not make the major 10 points of the paper.

[gaea106]

I am not cheating. I already know what pictures I wanted to use for my finals, and I have shot all my work myself. There was one picture, the giraffe that I couldn't make up my mind between 11 and 12. I know 12 is the right answer, I just subjectively like 11 better and was hoping people would agree with me. My teacher would hate it though because the fence is down in the neck area and he is all about removing distracting intersecting objects. I was very excited that people loved my ice cream photo because I was going to throw it in just to irk my teacher because I think its really neat and I took like 12 shots to get just the right one I wanted. I also have chosen a picture of my niece that wasn't the popular vote (#1 instead of #2). Six of the other pictures were no brainers even to the untrained eye of a non-photographer, the lion, the leaf pattern, the flower, the log, the row of leafy plants, and my niece looking into the wishing pool.

You may not have seen some of my other posts either. My professor is new to teaching, its his first semester and honestly he sucks. He has had no formal training in photography, he is just an advanced hobbiest. I am not sure how he even got a job at my school. He is very nice and he is talented but as a teacher he lacks communications skills and good teaching skills. He gives us very little feedback on our pictures as far as useful critique and how to correct our mistakes.

He has a very distinct taste in photos though and he seems to grade based on some of his subjective opinion, not just technical know-how. He seems to hate nature based photography so I am already taking a big risk with my subject matter. He is big into urban photography. So getting a review of other photographer's reactions to my pictures helps me gauge which pictures I really liked but might be more of a subjective artsy feel that he and others may not like.

I was also hoping for, and received some really great feedback from some of you on why and why not some pictures worked and technical suggestions on how to reshoot to make them better. This feedback is really the sort of thing I should be getting at school and I am not getting it right now.

[luis_relampago]

7, 11, 13, 20, 21, 26, 28, 30, 31 and 33