Amateurs Critique Thread

[Oli77]

I don't dig the hypercolor on the first one too much.

2 is cool and 3 is awesome with ideal timing. You realize quick with shadow that kid is in mid air, I would crop that ball in the foreground.

Maybe also cropped extensively without the fence in back - but keep shadow.

Cool beans.

[UdubBadger]

i can tell you're getting good in post techniques but none of it is my style TBH

[jreyes19]

I don't dig the hypercolor on the first one too much.

2 is cool and 3 is awesome with ideal timing. You realize quick with shadow that kid is in mid air, I would crop that ball in the foreground.

Maybe also cropped extensively without the fence in back - but keep shadow.

Cool beans.

ok I see

so what ideas do you have for the first picture

and thanks for the suggestions I will be working on those

i can tell you're getting good in post techniques but none of it is my style TBH

thank you
can i ask what suggestions you may have

I have been getting a little too crazy with the saturation function lol


And overall, (please be very honest) are these good pictures, and what things could i do to make them more professional
I can post the original up if anyone would like

[UdubBadger]

***these opinions are totally subjective - please don't get offended***

youre getting the contrast idea which separates your work from true noobs which is good but here are a few comments

image 1 - youre creating DOF by using blur but its almost a little too obvious that its unnatural. I try to keep to subtle in this respect, add a little if needed but it shouldn't be as dramatic unless its SUPER artistic. Also its not blended as well as it would need to be, use a soft brush instead of trying to make it look cut out - if you want it cut out look, you need to be more precise with the brush cuz the edges don't look good. Its over saturated IMO which is a common thing with guys just starting out in PS, I did it too. For color correction I prefer some vibrance adjustments over saturation because its more realistic. Photo wise its not horrible but I would work more on your framing/timing. Would love to see more dog, less guy in chair. as mark and casey would likely agree with me saying - fundamentals in taking the shot far exceed the post processing done.

image 2 -better image on the framing, its a nice portrait. would have probably shot this one landscape but thats me. the subject is right dead center and kinda smaller in frame, if the shot is about the dog, pull in, if its about the dog and its surroundings, pull out. youre right in the middle which just looks general and not having a purpose or story to tell me. again, the blur doesnt work for me, learn how to get big DOF in camera instead of in post. The single color/b&w trick is well known in art school as "the wedding photographer" trick and not to put you down personally but its laughed at because its a gimmick. brides might want it but most photographers wont do it unless asked and paid well. nothing wrong with a b&w photo here, when you shoot for b&w make sure you bump your contrast for a traditional film look, you want those black a little softer though, in film most often there is no solid black but only something really close to it and lots of bright white so adjust accordingly.

image 3 - most natural of the 3. love the jumping, not the saturation though. i would love to see this one washed out TBH. framing isn't bad, the angle hurts the action though, get low (on your knees) when you shoot kids to bring the viewer down to their perspective level. plus youd see more "air" under his feet. also the fence is either dropping about a foot every 10 ft across or you need to straighten up the photo.


hope that helps.

[jreyes19]

***these opinions are totally subjective - please don't get offended***

youre getting the contrast idea which separates your work from true noobs which is good but here are a few comments




image 1 - youre creating DOF by using blur but its almost a little too obvious that its unnatural. I try to keep to subtle in this respect, add a little if needed but it shouldn't be as dramatic unless its SUPER artistic. Also its not blended as well as it would need to be, use a soft brush instead of trying to make it look cut out - if you want it cut out look, you need to be more precise with the brush cuz the edges don't look good. Its over saturated IMO which is a common thing with guys just starting out in PS, I did it too. For color correction I prefer some vibrance adjustments over saturation because its more realistic. Photo wise its not horrible but I would work more on your framing/timing. Would love to see more dog, less guy in chair. as mark and casey would likely agree with me saying - fundamentals in taking the shot far exceed the post processing done.

image 2 -better image on the framing, its a nice portrait. would have probably shot this one landscape but thats me. the subject is right dead center and kinda smaller in frame, if the shot is about the dog, pull in, if its about the dog and its surroundings, pull out. youre right in the middle which just looks general and not having a purpose or story to tell me. again, the blur doesnt work for me, learn how to get big DOF in camera instead of in post. The single color/b&w trick is well known in art school as "the wedding photographer" trick and not to put you down personally but its laughed at because its a gimmick. brides might want it but most photographers wont do it unless asked and paid well. nothing wrong with a b&w photo here, when you shoot for b&w make sure you bump your contrast for a traditional film look, you want those black a little softer though, in film most often there is no solid black but only something really close to it and lots of bright white so adjust accordingly.

image 3 - most natural of the 3. love the jumping, not the saturation though. i would love to see this one washed out TBH. framing isn't bad, the angle hurts the action though, get low (on your knees) when you shoot kids to bring the viewer down to their perspective level. plus youd see more "air" under his feet. also the fence is either dropping about a foot every 10 ft across or you need to straighten up the photo.


hope that helps.

Awesome thank you

this is exactly what I am looking for

ok so general things i need to work on

over saturated photos (should use vibrance not saturation as much)
Work on natural DOF (had to google this lol, depth of field)
make blurs more natural
tread very cautiously when using B&W function
Create a story by making sure subject is not in the center of the picture (which i should have known )
get on knees when taking pictures of children


Now for the questions I have

How to use the soft brush function you mentioned?
How to make my pictures stand out in a professional way, without only using the contract, vibrant, and saturation functions?
How did Casey do your Sig? it is awesome!!!!
how do i create a better natural lens blur or DOF (both while taking picture and in PS)?
on this matter I am under the assumption that the further the lens is zoomed in when taking picture the more natural blur will appear is this - assumption correct?


and lastly comment on the fence in third picture, that is an actual dip in the ground and the fence follows it, is there a way to fix that pictorially other than cropping it out

[UdubBadger]

Now for the questions I have

How to use the soft brush function you mentioned?

at the top left you have 2 boxs for the brushes when using any cloning, healing, painting ect... brush. the one with the number controls the size and shape of the brush. adjusting the "hardness" of this controls this. 0 hardness is soft, 100 is precise. use accordingly.

How to make my pictures stand out in a professional way, without only using the contract, vibrant, and saturation functions?

its about your style which is up to you, but the best way is to master the fundamentals of the shooting aspect of photography first. you can dress up a turd in a tux and top hat but at the end of the day its still a turd... same thing applies in photography, a fully photoshopped bad photo is still just a bad photo.

How did Casey do your Sig? it is awesome!!!!

I shot and did this. I am a C Withers Media photog... CWMG-Chicago to be exact. You probably mistook my watermark for Casey's. Thanks.

how do i create a better natural lens blur or DOF (both while taking picture and in PS)? on this matter I am under the assumption that the further the lens is zoomed in when taking picture the more natural blur will appear is this - assumption correct?

read up on how to create DOF. Its a combination of the aperture you shoot at (lower number = less depth of field = more blur), distance from the subject (closer = more DOF = more blur) and a small amount of your focal length comes into play also.

and lastly comment on the fence in third picture, that is an actual dip in the ground and the fence follows it, is there a way to fix that pictorially other than cropping it out

yes, you can use the cropping tool and tilt the crop (in the corner of the cropping box you can rotate the image right or left) to straighten out the fence line.

[jreyes19]

awesome thank you so much
I really want everyone to be honest and up front with me about these things because I am here to learn

and I am sorry i mistook the watermark and assumed Casey did it
it is an amazing photo (how did you get that effect)

[UdubBadger]

There really isn't any "effect", its just $80k worth of lighting knowledge in the form of a B.F.A. in photography combined with a few trips out to San Diego to shoot with Mark and Cdub.