Wide Eyed Girl

[duckizz]

Took a wild candid shot of my friend and it turned out to be pretty good in my opinion. Did some photoshopping to make it look like a cover of an album Tell me wat you think or how i can improve on it ?

[espion]

why is it "pretty good" to you?

[shojibake]

The aspect ratio for a CD cover is wrong. It's more a 1:1 square crop.

[Chris Lim]

Looks like a friend of mine also. haha Doess her name happen to be audrey?

[schon]

Originally Posted by Chris Lim Looks like a friend of mine also. haha Doess her name happen to be audrey?

er it reads nicolette there.

as for the photo... yup it does look pleasant, and it does look nice. but if i'd nitpicked i would prefer less hair over the lips. otherwise it looks sweet. nice typeface btw.

[Drudkh]

If only the fingers weren't there.
Too much hair covering her face.

[reachme2003]

way too much.

[duckizz]

hahhah ok ok maybe i sua koo lah but none of my other portraits ever had this wind effect thingie.. plus i was just candid shooting so din look thru view finder and just snap snap snap away... maybe i shld crop away the hand or something....

[SniperD]

Good stuff.. I like it for it's whimsical and towards a less than perfect composition which I personally appreciate alot coz of spontaneity and feel.

Well done The worst of mistakes can be the best of the lot

[duckizz]

Originally Posted by SniperD Good stuff.. I like it for it's whimsical and towards a less than perfect composition which I personally appreciate alot coz of spontaneity and feel. Well done The worst of mistakes can be the best of the lot

yay !!!! thanks you !

[Deadpoet]

This is an ok snapshot. It's perfectly ok to snap snap sanp away, tryng to catch that one picture. However, if you didn't catch anything, so be it, don't force it.

Forcing it is what this picture is showing. Granted, the audience probably did get the point that this was an spontaneous shot, but a "pretty good" one, that is far from the truth.

Wind thru the hair can convey a lot of different feels and emotions, but this one is messy hair to the max. Too mny strands of hair going in too many directions.

That hand in the bottom of the left is very distracting, so is white scratch marks, to the right of the model If you did that much DI already, I wonder why didn't you fix these distractions?

The model's face, particularily her left cheek, is so over exposed, all details are blown. However, hair is way under exposed, details gone also.

What save this picture from the trash bin is you managed to capture the emotion at the time. A happy snap shot.

[leumas01]

I think this shot would be good to the photographer if he is not very experienced in portrait and he took it out of the blue. But it seems that all cold water are poured onto this poor photographer when he thinks this is a good shot and ask for comments. Doesn't Clubsnap have any kind of encouragement for fellows who are new?

I think if I were him, I will not be that willing to share next time if everyone is negative and some even never leave comments of improvement but only sour words.

Comon, everyone start somewhere rite? If you think you are good, please give good advise so everyone can learn.

Not to offend anyone here, just my tot. Duck you did a good job, candids are mostly accidential and the most unique and not on purpose. And I can say you had capture a moment which I think your friend and you had never expect to come out great. Keep it up.

[Moonstone]

Why? This is what Critique Corner is about; to find out what needs to be fixed.

Like saying goes: " No Pain No Gain"

My advise to the Thread Starter is to take all this comments as a stepping stone to further improve the techniques of his shot.

[Deadpoet]

Originally Posted by leumas01 I think this shot would be good to the photographer if he is not very experienced in portrait and he took it out of the blue. But it seems that all cold water are poured onto this poor photographer when he thinks this is a good shot and ask for comments. Doesn't Clubsnap have any kind of encouragement for fellows who are new? I think if I were him, I will not be that willing to share next time if everyone is negative and some even never leave comments of improvement but only sour words. Comon, everyone start somewhere rite? If you think you are good, please give good advise so everyone can learn. Not to offend anyone here, just my tot. Duck you did a good job, candids are mostly accidential and the most unique and not on purpose. And I can say you had capture a moment which I think your friend and you had never expect to come out great. Keep it up.

Your reasoning does not hold any water. A picture, good or bad, should be based solely on the merits of the picture presented. Whether it was taken by a pro or an amateur should not be part of the determining factor. Of coure, our expectation will be higher or lower depending who the photographer is, but if a picture is bad, it does not matter who took it , it is bad.

Well, everyone starts somewhere. If all the comments are nice, nice, or pro ... will the OP learn form this expereince. I dare say, the insincere compliments are doing more harm than the "cold water" you alluded to.

The picture did capture a moment, but unfortunately, so often with such candid pictures, if is full of holes and problems.

Btw, if you are so thin skinned, well, you will have a problem posting on any forum.

[Edwin Francis]

Totally agree with SniperD's comments here. I don't care if the final image was more the result of good fortune than diligent training and planning, the shot exudes a carefree exuberance that would be difficult to plan.
Does it work as a portrait? That's only something your model (and perhaps those who know her well), can really say.
Album cover? Why not? But only if she was the artist, and the mood of the photo matches her style of music.

Originally Posted by SniperD Good stuff.. I like it for it's whimsical and towards a less than perfect composition which I personally appreciate alot coz of spontaneity and feel. Well done The worst of mistakes can be the best of the lot

[duckizz]

oooo ok... yea i am amateurish when i take my stuff.... i duno really a lot of technical stuff whenit comes to planning and still a long long way to go when it comes to DI (only very minor auto-contrast stuff i know how). mostly i go by feelings and mood when i take my pics.. but yea i do appreciate the comments and stuff... at least it helps me become more acceptable as a pro. I guess whilst i hope to be on the way to becoming more pro with an acceptable std, i am still looking for my own style/identity bah

i got some more to post but am following the 1 pic / wk rule that someone show me previously

[solarii]

Originally Posted by Deadpoet Your reasoning does not hold any water. A picture, good or bad, should be based solely on the merits of the picture presented. Whether it was taken by a pro or an amateur should not be part of the determining factor. Of coure, our expectation will be higher or lower depending who the photographer is, but if a picture is bad, it does not matter who took it , it is bad. Well, everyone starts somewhere. If all the comments are nice, nice, or pro ... will the OP learn form this expereince. I dare say, the insincere compliments are doing more harm than the "cold water" you alluded to. The picture did capture a moment, but unfortunately, so often with such candid pictures, if is full of holes and problems. Btw, if you are so thin skinned, well, you will have a problem posting on any forum.

Agreed. I don't believe in being condescending, even if some may feel its discouraging.

Give praise where its due, but if the work is flawed, I do not hold back for fear of discouraging or offending the photographer. This is the real world.

I had my work thrown out by micro stock websites on 3 occasions before the finally accepted me as a contributor. Yes its disheartening to read the same old "not sharp" or "not suitable" lines over and over again... they're blunt and they're not afraid to tell you your work is trash.

But it got me thinking seriously about what I was doing... I started using tripods where I would have hand held, triple checked exposures, shot in RAW and saved at higher quality setting etc. If they had just accepted my trash and said "Nice, good attempt", I would still be churning out trash.

Wanna be thin skinned? Keep your work on yr com. Wanna improve? Be prepared to get trashed... the harsher the comment the louder the wake up call to buck up.

[Moonstone]

Yes! duckizz. That's the way to improve. Hope to see more photos from you.

[leumas01]

I not saying that harsh comments are not recommended. But I am stating that comments should come with reasons at least right? And not just a "No Good" statement. But what's your view of "no good"? How to improve?

If answer is backed with a reason or way to improve it, then it will do best to the photographer.

[solarii]

Originally Posted by leumas01 I not saying that harsh comments are not recommended. But I am stating that comments should come with reasons at least right? And not just a "No Good" statement. But what's your view of "no good"? How to improve? If answer is backed with a reason or way to improve it, then it will do best to the photographer.

If only everyone thought like you, photographers' jobs would be much easier.

I'm sure many a photographer has encountered clients who look at your work and say, no, this won't do. When you ask them why, they'll just say "I feel its not right... not what I want." When you ask them for specific comments, they can't offer anything concrete to work on. They'll just say they don't like your concept. So what do you do? Slap yr client?

Photography, as a form of art, is mostly value judgements. Its not an exact science. Which is why its call "Leaning to see". Some things work, some don't. Not everyone can explain and not everything can be explained. What people can tell you is if they like it or not.

By asking people to suggest ways to improve with every comment made, you are assuming the person is knowledgeable and experienced enough to be able to do better, which may not be the case. But does that mean his/her view is worth nothing just because he/she can't tell you how to do better? Perhaps some of those who say its no good do not have any idea how to improve. They just don't like it. Period. Does that mean they cannot comment or have an opinion, even if its just "No good". Will you slap them and insist that they explain themseleves, explain why they don't like it?

Just because a comment isn't accompanied by a reason doesn't mean its not worth anything, unless of course your objective in photograhy is self-gratification, in which case other people's opinion won't matter.

If you wish to approach photography as a scientifc study where every observation and opinion must be accompanied by a reason and explanation, that's your prerogative.

Photography is art. If the comments come with solutions to improve, treat it as a bonus. It its just a view, do not insist that the viewer explain/justify him/herself.