PHOTO CRITIQUES

 

Emma Kenmore

Moth

Emma said "I attended your course at Clumber on 31st January and loved every minute.  I learnt so much and have put so much into practice.  I hope that you will see an improvement in my photos, I have limited myself to just one!". 

I have cropped Emma's image a little more tightly to draw attention to the moth.  I love the way the two patches of yellow flowers balance each other in the shot, and the moth itself is very sharp, which together with its colour makes it stand out from the background.  Because the moth is absolutely parallel to the lens, an even shallower depth of field would also have worked in this case, making the background even more blurred.

 

Alison Harrod

Hellebore

The hellebores at Hodsock Priory we a popular subject this Spring and Alison took this shot while trying out a new macro lens.

It shows good use of depth of field, with the central flower standing out from the rest and the other flowers rather more subordinate.  I like the composition, with the image divided into thirds but the focal point in the centre and the empty space on the right also helps draw attention to the subject.  A great start Alison!

 

Martin Godfrey

Hardwick Hall

 

Martin took this shot on a workshop at Hardwick Hall in early Summer 2009.

I've added a tiny bit of drama by darkening the sky. 

The composition is spot on, with the bright green grass leading the eye in a sweep through the shot up to the Hall.  The Hall itself is beautifully positioned using the Rule of Thirds and the dark sky is perfectly balanced by the line of dark trees at the bottom of the shot.

Great image Martin - and I hope to see many more like this!

 

 

Liz Pegg

Snow

I love the way Liz has cropped this image boldly to draw attention to the twig.  A very simple shot that's pleasing to the eye.  Just one comment - snow does tend to give shots a blue hue that can either be corrected in camera, or quite easily using Elements or Photoshop.

 

Simon Prosser

Hellebore

Simon took this shot of a hellebore at Hodsock Priory in Nottinghamshire.  Technically it is spot on, with the centre of the flower being absolutely sharp.

So far as composition goes, I have cropped it a little more tightly to put the flower right on one of the 'hotspots', and remove a distracting green leaf from the bottom right. 

Next time you take a shot like this one Simon, look out for an even plainer background where possible, as the other foliage in the background can be rather distracting from a lovely subject.

 

Peter Storr

Succulent

When he attended our Explore Your Digital SLR Part 1 workshop, Peter was keen to learn how to take close-up and macro shots.  This is one of his first attempts after the workshop.  Even when enlarged significantly the detail is crisp and the exposure just right for the pale flowers. 

I just cropped it very slightly to improve the composition by putting the flower on one of the 'hotspots'.

Well done Peter - I look forward to seeing more of your shots!

 

Dee Lane

Cobweb

Dee says "I was 'playing' on a misty Sept morning".

Technically this shot is good, being well-exposed, making good use of a shallow depth of field and having a very plain background.

In terms of composition, it's a shame that the seedhead on the left is just chopped off, I would have liked to see all of it, with a little margin to the left.  Also, would it have been possible to move the camera up or down so that the seedhead also falls on one of the horizontal thirds lines?  I think it rather chops the shot in half at present.

However, as anyone who has tried to take this sort of shot will know, a cobweb is a very difficult subject to get sharply in focus and this one is crystal clear.  With Winter coming on there should be plenty of opportunities to perfect the technique!

 

Cranefly

Helen Clarke

Helen took this shot before attending any of our workshops, being self-taught so far.  Technically it is quite good, although there are some burnt-out areas, especially on the tulip and setting negative exposure compensation would have helped, although it might have meant brightening the dark areas slightly on the computer.  

The depth of field is good, particularly the body of the cranefly which shows that the lens must have been parallel to the insect's body.  This gives good detail in the subject but a very blurred background.  Now that Helen has attended one of our Composition workshops I feel sure that she would recompose her shot slightly to give more space to the left (the wing is a little too close to the edge of the frame) and to include the legs clinging to the tulip's stem.  It might also have been possible to move the camera slightly to get a darker, more consistent, background to the entire shot, rather than one which is a mixture of blue, white and green.

 

Buzzard
Les Soden

This shot was taken on a recent Introduction to Birds of Prey photography workshop.  The small depth of field has completely blurred the background, making the subject stand out well.  The exposure is just right, with full detail throughout the bird's plumage.  I love the composition, with the space to the right of the bird making this a striking shot.
Just a little more light in the bird's eye would make this perfect.  It was shot on a dull day, so a tiny bit of flash would have done the trick. 

 

  

Paula Moss Eider Duck

This is a difficult subject exposure-wise, with the immense contrast between the duck's black and white plumage.  Here there's a lot of detail in the white feathers, at the expense of the black areas.  I just brightened the eye area slightly to bring out the catchlight.  The composition is good, with the duck having 'looking-space' within the image and the colours and detail in the water make a good background.  Depending upon the distance from camera to subject, some flash might have brought out just a little more detail.

Jon Willis Waterfall Here an aperture of f25 has given a shutter speed of 1/5 second.  This is slow enough to blur the movement of the water and give it a silky appearance. Jon's composition works well, even though the subject is placed centrally in the image, due to the zig-zags of water that lead the eye from the top to the bottom of the shot.  I increased the contrast in Photoshop to make the water appear a little brighter.

 

Sam Webb Pier Technically this is a great photo.  The light is perfect and the exposure is spot-on and an Aperture of f20 has given a long enough shutter speed to nicely blur the movement of the tide on the beach.  In terms of composition I would like to see the horizon one-third of the way down the shot, and the pier coming into the shot from the bottom right-hand corner, which would give diagonals throughout the image instead of horizontal lines which rather break up the shot.  I look forward to seeing more of your work Sam.

Christine Bennett Machu Picchu As a composition I like this shot, with diagonal lines of contrasting shades dividing up the shot. The exposure is good for the sky and snow-covered mountain-top, but as a consequence the foreground is very dark and contains no detail, because the camera simply can't exposure correctly for both very bright and very dark areas in the same image.  I tried lightening the foreground in Photoshop, using Shadow/Highlight, and was able to reveal a lot more detail of the trees on the hillside,  but at the expense of image quality. The way to get a correct exposure for both the sky and foreground when taking the shot would be to use a grey graduated filter placed diagonally over the bright part of the image.  This would even out some of the contrast between the foreground the the bright areas and allow the camera to capture a much better exposure of the foreground.   Needless to say, that means carrying more kit up the mountain!

Martin Speed Sunrise I love the light and texture of the clouds - they feel quite solid.   I have adjusted the levels slightly in Photoshop to bring out the colours. This also helps darken the top right-hand corner of the shot, which then better balances the silhouette of the tree in the opposite corner. Would it have been possible to move your viewpoint to get the twigs at the top into that corner? That would also help balance the branches bottom left.

 

Emily Watts  Tulips I like the shape of the group of three tulips and the central flower in the group is very sharp and detailed.  The other flowers being slightly out of focus works well to give a sense of depth, and the angle of the stems makes a much more dynamic image than having them vertical. Could you have moved the flower bottom right so that it was out of the shot?  I find that one distracting.  Also by moving your viewpoint, could you have excluded the brick wall from the background?  A plainer coloured, more blurred background would set off the flowers even better.  If you were at your lens's smallest f number, could you have moved the camera closer to the flowers?  This would have given you a shallower depth of field and more blurring of the background.

 

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