The Off-Topic Brutally Honest Photography Thread

[mr_a500]

I thought I'd start a thread about photography. It would be nice to be able to post a photo and ask real photographers (or people who pretend to be real photographers) their opinion about if the posted photo absolutely sucks or not. I won't (and I hope others don't) take it personally if the photos are critically demolished as the pieces of crap that they inevitably turn out to be.

I'll start with this photo, taken this morning. This photo looks like one of those annoying super-saturated images, but it is completely unaltered - no saturation, no sharpening, no changes at all, just cropping. (cheap camera and lens) Yes, it probably needs shadow highlights, but this is a completely unaltered photo, done in low lighting early in the morning.

seagull on Bug.jpg

[mr_a500]

Before anybody questions the bright colours - yes, it's autumn in Canada and those bright reds, oranges and yellows are real - and the early morning sun is highlighting it.

[mr_a500]

What about this little guy?

little guy on bicycle.JPG

...or this guy here?

dark guy on bumper.JPG

[User101]

The kind of thread for me. Is that a vw beetle I'm looking at here?

[xxhellfirexx]

For the seagull picture, I would blur and darken the background more as it is busy and bright. The seagull should be brightened to bring out the feather details with a vignette blur to bring focus to it.



For the first squirrel picture, I would brighten the squirrel to bring out the detail on the fur and saturate the background. The dark splotch on the top right corner is distracting so I would take it out.



The second squirrel picture is the best of the three. Again, I would brighten the squirrel and saturate the background.

[mr_a500]

For the seagull picture, I would blur and darken the background more as it is busy and bright. The seagull should be brightened to bring out the feather details with a vignette blur to bring focus to it.

Yes, I agree about brightening the seagull. As I said, it needs shadow highlights. And it's interesting what you said about the "dark splotch" in the first squirrel photo. I didn't even notice that. I'd say what you did with the first two photos are definite improvements.

However, with the second squirrel photo, I think your version is over-sharpened and colour is wrong. I know the little guy in real life and he looks too red. (he's dark - hence his name, "the dark guy" ) While I might agree that sometimes pictures look better with different colours and with over saturating, I prefer to faithfully reproduce exactly what I see in real life - even if it looks worse.

The kind of thread for me. Is that a vw beetle I'm looking at here?

Yes, 1958 VW Beetle. (unfortunately now rusting to hell, thanks to the sea air)

Bug sunrise 2048.jpg

(once again, colour is a bit dark and pale, but this is exactly how the sunrise looked - strangely coloured)

[User101]

What a beautiful car! Sorry for the rust but at least it looks awesome on the surface

[andrewjoy]

That Hitler car is blocking the view of the beautiful beach !

[mr_a500]

That Hitler car is blocking the view of the beautiful beach !

Yeah, Hitler cars will do that.

Here's a picture of a Hitler car blocking a view of Hitler.

Hitler Volkswagen.png (254.6 KiB) Viewed 22642 times

[flowerlandfilms]

That Hitler car is blocking the view of the beautiful beach !

Yeah, Hitler cars will do that.

Here's a picture of a Hitler car blocking a view of Hitler.
Hitler Volkswagen.png

The composition of this Hitler and his cronies photo is horrible.
Hitler is clearly supposed to be the focal point, but is predictably leaning to the right, ruining everyones good time.
Using a strong flash with stacked subjects is inadvisable, as it creates shadowy figures, although this is admittedly inevitable with Nazis.
Relying on the dynamic range of Black and White film can not save a lack of attention to detail and planning.
<speculation> Perhaps the same reason they froze to death in Russia </speculation>

[mr_a500]

Well when I took that photo of Hitler, I was very young. Also, I was originally standing to the left to centre it, but Hitler said something like, "Get out of my line of sight, you little wiener schnitzel!" (...or something to that effect)

[mr_a500]

Nobody else is posting photos?

Here's another - a somewhat evil looking blue jay, looking in my window. (actually, not a bad guy)

evil blue jay.JPG

[User101]

Nobody else is posting photos?

I tried, file too large

[mr_a500]

What about these:

weed in winter c.jpg

seagull May 14.jpg

sparkly Jan 22.JPG

Yes, they're somewhat boring, with accurate real-life colours, too centred and not using the "Fibonacci Ratio".

Maybe there are not enough keyboards in the shot. What about this:

Gigi &amp; Datasystem.JPG

[mr_a500]

What about this? It was taken through my window screen. I'm unsure if people think this makes it interesting or annoying.

upper window screen.jpg

Before anyone says, "don't film vertically, asshole!" I did this deliberately. I thought the vertical cloud patterns were more interesting than the horizontal landscape.

[Yasu0]

I like that last pic with the data system thing. Sparklies is pretty great too. Maybe crop out the top of it?

The dark face of that gull super irks me. Like shaky hands blur lvl irk. My brain thinks his face is blurred. If he had a white area on his eye ball it probably wouldn't as much.

[mr_a500]

I like that last pic with the data system thing. Sparklies is pretty great too. Maybe crop out the top of it?

The dark face of that gull super irks me. Like shaky hands blur lvl irk. My brain thinks his face is blurred. If he had a white area on his eye ball it probably wouldn't as much.

Which gull irks you? You mean the first one in the thread? I already know that one sucks. xxhellfirexx showed me the error of my ways. I would have lightened it anyway.

If you've got a problem with the second seagull photo, well then you'll have to talk to my lawyer... and of course, the seagull himself, who will probably be horribly offended and peck your brains out.

Actually, the thing that irks me about the second seagull photo is that there's too much noise. It was sunset and the seagull was moving fast, so I had no choice but go high ISO. (I'm still irked about it though.)

[mr_a500]

What's the opinion about sharpening? When I try to get foreground sharpness (like this squirrel's fur), it makes the background bokeh less smooth. (...of course, this is using a cheapo camera. Maybe this isn't a problem with expensive cameras.)

tired baby 2 June 12s.JPG

[mr_a500]

Yes, I know this thread has too many squirrels and not enough keyboards. Here's one of the first DSLR photos I ever took:

IBM 3278d.jpg

I suppose maybe the cropping could have been better.

[Yasu0]

Yeah the first gull pic before the lightening. It looks like motion blur to me for some reason. I think its the missing "white" of the eye.

I don't know about damage to bokeh from sharp masks, but that pic is excellent. Background looks good to me.

[Yasu0]

I like sharpening myself.. not in principle but my brain and eyeballs seem to like it. Nice board there!

I like the screendoor effect but I feel like normal people won't like it. Also I don't mind the framing of it at all..

Are these pics from your home? Where do you live at?

[mr_a500]

Are these pics from your home? Where do you live at?

Yes, all the pictures are from my home. I live... somewhere on the Canadian coast. I wish I could be more specific, but I'm pretty sure at least one Terminator from the future is after me and I don't want him to pinpoint my location. You know they absolutely do not stop... EVER.

[hellothere]

I rather like the "Sparkly" picture. Also a thumbs up on the keyboards. The squirrel in "tired baby 2" looks really good.

Sorry; I'm definitely non-pro. If it helps, I do know a lot of artists. I could go into detail about why I liked those pics, if you'd like. Hey, it's the weekend!

[mr_a500]

I rather like the "Sparkly" picture. Also a thumbs up on the keyboards. The squirrel in "tired baby 2" looks really good.

Thanks!

That little guy is pretty photogenic.

little guy peeking out of wood.JPG

I was going to make a calendar with these guys, but it didn't work out.

little guys calendar.jpg

[Weezer]

I like the picture through your screen. I think it's the most visually interesting. Where do you live where you have such a nice view outside?

[AJM]

There can't be too many squirrel photos!
Concerning sharpening: Maybe I'm just stupid, but sharpening and noise reduction always cancel each other out, when I use them in Lightroom, so I usually don't touch the standard settings and move on.
I probably wouldn't prefer the picture taken through the window screen over the "normal" one, but it looks artsy and you could try to sell it as a Gerhard Richter painting.
Oh - and don't be so coy regarding your residence. You certainly would enjoy my visit. I'm reliable, a very good listener and I'm extremely funny.

[mr_a500]

There can't be too many squirrel photos!

That's what I've always said.

OK, I'll be more specific about my residence. I live on an island off the east coast of Canada. That should help.

Here's a photo of my "front lawn", about 20 feet from my house. (late December)

windy Dec 16.JPG

It looks pleasant, but that's December and it's fucking cold water. Here's what it looks like just 3 weeks later:

nice day for a swim.JPG

[AJM]

That looks lovely, indeed!

(And just to be sure - my remark regarding your residence was not meant to be nosy, but was (as far as I thought) a hilarious hint at your Terminator reference, which might be lost, if you haven't seen the last installment of that franchise, of course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rRMItohXkw)

[mr_a500]

That looks lovely, indeed!

(And just to be sure - my remark regarding your residence was not meant to be nosy, but was (as far as I thought) a hilarious hint at your Terminator reference, which might be lost, if you haven't seen the last installment of that franchise, of course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rRMItohXkw)

Ah, OK. Now it makes sense. I never saw that movie, only the first two Terminators. I try to avoid most movies made this century - too much propaganda.

Now if you had said, "Give me your address - there." (with strong Austrian accent) I would have understood instantly.

[Yasu0]

--> Has an Ansel Adams print in his bathroom that looks like your "front yard" pic. I like it because its just a regular picture taken by a 'legendary status' photographer. Reminds me that they are just pictures..