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    • CommentAuthorupsadaisy
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2009 edited
     
    Hi, can you critique this for me? I would like to know what can be improved but also how I would go about improving it...... I am a beginner and I love photographing flowers (amongst everything else) and need tips, advise and critique. Thank you.

    http://upsadaisy.aminus3.com/image/2009-04-09.html
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2009
     
    Marie - it is a pretty image and from the comments on your blog, you can see it was well received...

    I guess if I would offer some criticisms - let's see

    With regard to the composition - your main flower subject is somewhat centered in the frame. It might be more dramatic to have cropped it a little different so the main flower sits in a corner or side of the frame (aligning things in accordance with the rule of thirds)

    The lighting is great on the main flower - love how it brings out the soft velvety texture (hence the title :) but it is a little too contrasty on the other flowers as the ones on the left are in shadow and the ones on the right are a bit too exposed. Plus the ones in the top left are kind of half shadow half bright which is a little distracting.

    They say a cloudy day is the best time to photograph outdoors because those clouds diffuse the light which prevents this type of bright highlights and shadow effect.

    One way you can even it out in Photoshop is to create a new layer, set the mode to Overlay and check the box "Fill with 50% neutral gray"
    Now you can use the brush tool (with a low opacity like 15%) set on black to tone down the highlights and set on white to add detail to the shadows
    That is a pretty high level explanation of that technique - see more info here
    http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/dodge-burn/

    Those are some quick thoughts - hope they offer some new ideas for you
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      CommentAuthorowlmountain
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2009 edited
     
    First of all: everything I say here is totally meant in a positive way and also, it is very subjective.

    Overall, I like the image especially the rich blues and the focus seems to be on the center of the flower. The background visible at the bottom right is nicely out of focus.

    My impressions:
    Beautiful, rich blues in the left bottom side, getting lighter in the middle and disappearing in blown highlights towards top right and that's where my eyes end up, it takes me out of the frame.
    Second, I don't have a sense of composition here. The flower in the middle (not always the best place for a subject) has too much competition around. It's like you were not quite sure what you wanted to include in the frame; a cluster of small flowers, like here:

    where you did a really good job on that,

    or like here:

    where you've isolated one flower.

    The point I'm trying to make is to have a clear idea of what you wanted to achieve with the image. At least that's what I'm asking myself before I press the shutter (...OK, maybe not every time and even when I do, on most occasions it doesn't do me any good, a masterpiece that I saw with my mind's eye doesn't look like one on the monitor...). But I think you get my drift, there is a story and emotional meaning behind a well composed and interesting image. And in this case I think "less would be more". Sometimes it takes time to find the right angle, direction,distance, a subject flower and a pleasing background, take your time....
    So, with flowers, always think subject - composition - background.

    Now, a little bit of technical stuff. The highlights on some of the petals are blown (it means that the camera's sensor couldn't handle that much light in this spot and recorded it as pure white) and you lost the detail.
    How to prevent that ? well there are many ways.

    One: carry a nice umbrella with you and shade your subject (hm... actually, I never thought about it before now, and it seems like a good idea !!). You might also want to consider carrying with you 2 pieces of cheap cardboard, one white and one black. You can use them for blocking the sun but also as a background behind the flower, depending on your mood. Some flowers look really nice on black background. Very handy tool. Anyway, the idea here is to even out the lighting somewhat to lower the dynamic range in the scene so your camera can handle it.

    Two: using spot metering system on your camera, try to meter off of the brightest part of your subject (and you have a kick-ass camera, it will do that!) and then shoot. If it's underexposed in other parts of the image, increase your exposure by half or one stop and shoot again, and watch the histogram. The point here is to try to have the graph on the histogram not squished too much against the right side but barely touching it.

    From your EXIF data I'm not quite sure why you chose such a high ISO, it looks like it was a bright sunny day. The higher the ISO the noisier the picture, especially in the shadows. So try to keep you ISO as low as possible. (And again, with your EOS 50D you don't have to wary about it too much until you reach 800 or 1000 and above, yeah, your camera is that good !)

    I will stop my rambling now and I only hope this will give you some ideas and pointers when you shoot next time. And I'm sure those flowers are still there so, happy shooting !

    We want to see another of your flower images here !!
    • CommentAuthorupsadaisy
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2009
     
    Hi, Firstly I would like to thank you both for your time and help with this critique. Secondly as you can imagine being a beginner that is a lot to take in and understand. However I have read and re read the critiques and am very pleased with them. I have learnt a quite a few things including that I have a great camera. I have only just received this camera (March for my birthday) so I am still learning how to use it and what it can do, and am pleased to know that my husband chose well.

    Back to the photo. I love the idea of having a black and a white piece of card with me, this is a simple yet great idea. Here in Australia we don't get many cloudy days that coincide with me being off work. So I need to remember that for the lighting in my shots. I actually got a nice umbrella for my birthday too, so I will be giving that a go too.

    I will be looking at the link you have included Jason, and I will be playing around with this photo over the weekend, I will try out all of your suggestions and when I am happy with the results I will let you see the photo again. I am also a beginner to photo editing so please go easy on me with the technical stuff....... haha.

    I am very pleased with the help these critiques have given me, and I am sure I am going to learn more from these than I have for a while, I am so eager to learn and understand my camera, this critique forum will be a great addition to Aminus3.

    Thank you both again. This really is a tremendous help.

    Marie:-)
    • CommentAuthorcraiger
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2009
     
    I do like the repetition of shape in the petals and the variations in the color blue is pleasing to me. Some of the petals are a bit "hot" and the photo might be improved by "burning" these in a little. To me the photo is a bit busy and the hot out of focus flower in the upper right pulls my attention to much as it is the brightest part of the image. The photo could be improved by using some isolation techniques at exposure time. I love the detail you captured. Well done!

    Note: I just figured out that the critique goes here and not on your website. Sorry.
    • CommentAuthorupsadaisy
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2009
     
    Hi Craiger, thank you for your critique it is very useful to a beginner, thank you for you tip, however I am a beginner and using some isolation techniques at exposure time will need a bit more explaining to me..... sorry but I am a genuine beginner, I understand the critique really well and take it on board, however I am a bit of a blond and will need the how to improve my photo in very much layman's terms................ thank you. Do not worry about writing your critique on my photoblog, I have used it in the hope that it directs people to the "Critique my photo" section in the forum..... so this may be a blessing. Thank you again, and look forward to seeing more people on this part of the forum. It is a great way to learn and definitely a big addition to the site:-)
    • CommentAuthorcraiger
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2009
     
    "Isolation techniques" at exposure time just means that when you are snapping the picture be mindful of the ways you can isolate your subject. One common way seen on AM3 is the use of selective focus: blur everything out before and after your subject. This puts all the focus on your subject. Another way is to isolate with "value". Place a bright subject against a dark background. You might also use proportion or shape to help isolate your subject from the rest of the scene. Hope this helps!
    • CommentAuthorupsadaisy
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2009
     
    Thank you Craiger, I appreciate your help. I understand what you mean now, and will definately remember this in future. I will be trying out some of these tips over the next few days. Your help is much appreciated:-)
    • CommentAuthorcraiger
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2009 edited
     
    There are a handful of photographers on AM3 that consistently produce superior images. I like to visit their sites in the hopes that some of their talent will rub off on me (hasn't worked so far but I keep trying). Richard Irwin's site is one of these. Check out his site at http://wideangle.aminus3.com/image/2009-04-11.html?comment=1459708 to see how he used value and proportion to isolate his subject.
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    It is so great to see that this forum group is taking off and we get more and more activity here, excellent !! Here's the link to Richard Irwin's blog.
  11.  
    I would just like to second some comments made earlier: one of the very best things you can do to be more creative in your photography is to look at good photography ("good" meaning, here, photography that you like). Trying to see how others approach similar subjects, similar problems, and similar themes is very useful in developing your own work. And trying to figure out *why* someone's image looks so terrific is good training for when you want to make your own terrific images as well. Good luck and keep taking photos and looking at photos you enjoy by others.

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