What is your opinion?

Question

What do you think of these photos?

1. Landscape
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c215/myleshowling/fall-small.jpg

2. Frog
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c215/myleshowling/frog.jpg

3. Overgrown Steps (its a little lopsided, sorry)
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c215/myleshowling/stairs.jpg

4. Ghost Crab (I won first place in a contest with this one)
http://picture.com/pics2/bst/2268478.jpg

I have taken all the photo classes that my high school offered. I have yet to sign up for one in college. I like to take photos of wildlife (including pets) and landscapes.

I have not edited any of them yet. I have photoshop so I can easily fix them when I have the time.

Thanks for the constructive criticism. I take it all.

The crab is the only one I REALLY want to improve. I brightened it and fixed the contrast a little.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c215/myleshowling/Crab.jpg

When I had it printed at Walmart, it came out a lot brighter.

I have heard of the rule of thirds. I just have been out of practice for a while. I have other better photos. Since my school switched from B&W to color, I think my photo qualities have gone down.

Here is a better frog picture. I think I may have posted the wrong one:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c215/myleshowling/frog-1.jpg

Well, I just double checked it. They are the same ones.

I am really seeing all of the flaws now. I need more practice. Thanks to everyone.

These were not taken for "creativeness." At least not the animals. I have always had trouble with landscapes and can never seem to get them right.

Answer 1

Your images of wildlife are better than your scenics.

I would work on the composition, especially on the scenics. With wildlife you may need a stronger lens to get in tighter. And with the scenics you may need a super wide lens to get a more unique perspective.

I would use a 300mm or better for the wildlife (sometimes) and a super wide which offers a 180 degree field of view for the scenics (often.)

Scenics are really cool with a super wide if you can find a small subject like a mushroom for example to be in the close foreground. If you shoot at a very high aperture such as f22 everything is in focus and things take on a very unusual dimension and perspective.

You can get by with a "standard" lens but you will need to be much more creative with the composition.

Answer 2

y'know i've not yet been able to get a shot of a frog as good as that...(the first photo was good, but the cropped one is even better, i like it.
the overgrown steps had the wires in the background as a distraction, and i didn't care for it (my own taste, here...i've shot many many pictures like that, good for practice i suppose, but not much else).
i can see why the ghost crab got first place, it is a first rate image...
landscape i think is very well composed and executed...i like it too.
thankyou for the share, i enjoyed looking at your work.

Answer 3

#1 Has great leading lines, but they lead to nothing. The eye needs a resting place.
#2 Great frog, needs a tighter crop.
#3 Crooked and nothing really of interest in the picture. Wires at top distract.
#4 Great shot but the colors are dull and flat, needs a bit of Photoshop to pump it up.

Answer 4

landscape - view point issue, has lots of purples in it?

frog - this is close to a great image, a crop might make it so

steps - the hues are weak? exposure issue? could do with the top 1/3 being cropped - then its a bit stronger

crab - this is most cool, as with the frog the composition weakens it, try a crop if you can - remove the foreground

the animal shots are close to great, the landscapes just dont do anything for me, your off to a flying start - well done

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Answer 5

1. Dull, uninspired, the horizontal branch is distracting.
2. Mr Frog!
3. It's Kudzu, it's all over the place down South.
4. Nice pic of a crab.

Answer 6

Landscape: Uninspired. I would have deleted it a long time ago.
Frog: Has potentlal but, for the WOW! factor, this needs to fill the frame and be pin-sharp. It doesn't and it isn't. Also, have you not heard of the Rule of Thirds?
Steps: No Wow factor here either. Think CLOSER and then think CLOSER STILL. Boring as it stands.
Crab: Again, the subject is centred in the frame and there is no 'drama' in the presentation. Have you ever heard of the principle of Denial Of The Whole? Visual power is more easily attained if the viewer does NOT see ALL of a subject.
See this below. You do not see ALL of the subject and you don't NEED to see all of it. Deny, deny, deny.
http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=603606
Just one snatched at random from my files. The subject is a WWII Jeep but you don't get to see all of it.
"You do not have to see all of a rose to know that it is a rose and, more often than not, it is far better NOT to see all of a known subject". Crop, Deny and crop again.
Here is an even better example.
http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=301015
Trust me on this, seeing ALL of this subject is not the best idea. Deny.