Critiques

lennarts (547) 2007-12-03 1:16

This photo is taken not in Tallinn but in Viinistu. It's more than 60km from Tallinn. The building on a photo is Viinistu Art Museum - a private museum holding a remarkable collection of Estonian art.
Too much PS for my taste. It would be nice to read a note from you as well.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-07 17:49

I've never to Bejing, but now I know at least how one of it's temples looked 10 years ago :) Your photo has a really retro look - reminds me some of the old diapositive slides my father used to screen on a white bed sheet fixed with thumbtacks to the ceiling.

So, what do I think of this photo... The POV is good. The composition is alright. However, IMO it would be much better, if the woman on the stairs was not there. The woman kneeling is excellent (and gives you the right to label the photo as “Prayer, and the woman peeking at the doorway does not bother me.
Now about colors – leaving the “interesting retro look” aside, the colors are quite “washed away”. And there is a strange reddish cast over everything. And it all looks kind of “bleary”. In real life Chinese temples are quite colorful, I believe.
The photo also lacks contrast and sharpness. Looking at your other photos, you probably know all that yourself. But after all, it’s great to get huge China on the map ;)

You also asked about ideas, so I did a workshop. Of course working with a small version does not provide as fruitful result as working with original file, but still, I hope you find some of what I tried useful. All the digital manipulation I went through was of course way beyond exceptions mentioned in TOS :) But there’s lot of things you can do in PhotoShop.

Thanks for sharing and I hope you find my criticism and honesty useful.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-07 16:24

Hello David,
First thanks for a beautiful note :) Your photo and accompanying note is what I would expect a TE posting to be, from reading TOS and Guidelines, but which in reality you can find so rarely. I like your photo also for showing us not a typical tourist landmark and a bit different side of Latvia (and frankly all other post-communist countries). You are also documenting something that will soon be gone. Sure, there will always be deprived areas but the new ones won’t be quite the same. Your photo certainly conveys a feeling, there’s very strong atmosphere.
Now about technical aspects – I like your POV. The photo has nice feeling of depth. Contrary to Isabel I’m quite happy there’s no sign of life – this is an abandoned place, people don’t live or work there anymore. It’s past. The colors are pleasant and match the atmosphere, the sky of course would be better if it there was some color or clouds. I like the reflection in the water and I wish the puddle was even bigger. I might have tried a crop from upper side, not to cut off the construction there completely, but at least so that the sky would not be visible there through the glass.
TFS!

  lennarts (547) 2007-02-06 13:17

For my taste this is a TrekLens rather than TrekEarth material. Yeah, it's damn beautiful. But if I'm here to see Ho Chi Minh Chinatown, then I don't see much of it. Of course, different users have different aspirations.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-06 12:52

Halong Bay in Saigon??? I don't think so. TE is not just about snapshots but about learning more about world. This also means, it is quite important to get the locations right. Please correct this mistake.
To critique your photo I must say it is not in focus. The placement of the floating house right in the centre is maybe a bit boring too. But the focus is really the main problem. It's sad, because the subject is really interesting and your photo is certainly in TE spirit in terms of showing the typical traits of different countries.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-06 10:32

In your notes you have written certainly an interesting analysis of horizontal and vertical tendencies in the compositional aesthetics of your photo :D
Good job :)

The details (horizontal, verical and diagonal, etc.) all all there, just as you describe, but I cannot quite get how you fast-jump to the conlusion that this photo makes a statement about Alberta as a "province filled with much sun and flaght lanscapes".
There's no landscape visible and there's not much sun visible either. I believe the Hamiltons are right that most people here love to learn about the world. From your photo it is quite difficult to learn the things about Alberta you advertised :)

Neverthless, your note was very amusing :)

lennarts (547) 2007-02-06 9:33

Hello Linda,
I like your photo for having so many layers. It is almost like one of those children's pop-up books. The fog is simply great and it adds to the colors of background beautiful pastel shade. Foggy photos are often "sad" photos, as the sky tends to be cludy and sometimes there's rain, etc. You have captured very "happy" and sunny fog.

I agree a bit with David, but not completely: for me the background is perfect, only the bushes in front, especially the one on the left hand side seems a bit overexposed. And perhaps there is indeed a bit too much sky, as Jason suggested.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-05 15:59

Very nice photo. Good compo, colors, nice reflection, good idea. One thing I don't like: shallow DOF.
Here the point really isn't about separating the toes from the background, the background is equally important. So I think you should have used smaller aperture and have a greater DOF.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-05 4:57

Hi Luko,
The cast of characters certainly is great. I like how the rickshaw wallah (I hope I'm guessing the characters right) is looking towards the camera but others not. One of them looking is good - it invites the viewer of the image to "join the circle", who has gathered arounf the fireplace, while maintaining the circle itself and not turning the scene into "let's pose to the camera" setup.
The shopkeeper's (the guy on the left) head is a bit too dark for my taste, perhaps little postprocessing (Shadow/highlight tool in PS) would have helped. But overall I like the shadows.

I think the downward angle in combination with wide lens has created a very pleasant result here. I'm not a big fan of grain, but here it is OK for me. I would perhaps had adjusted the color balance slightly away from being so yellow. I like the blue glow through the door.

lennarts (547) 2007-02-04 13:40

Hello Veronica,
I found your photo through "random orphan photo link". To be very honest with you, I must say I think you have not accomplished the opportunities this location provided to the fullest.
The POV is ok, the placement of the horizon on the upper 1/3 is also good. The things I don't like so much about this photo are the overexposed sky, plain colors and that there's no interesting foreground detail. Also the horizon is just a little bit tilted CW. The photo is also overexposed.
I hope you find my criticism useful. Good luck with next photos!