Rate the Photo Above you

[vanished]

4 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The biggest issue is the noise and blotchy texture if you look at the image at 100% size whereas a camera with a larger (and perhaps better) sensor would've done a better job.

Yeah, at the size it shows up in the post it looks good, save for a little noise I suppose, but view it at 100% and you instantly notice it's a phone.  I don't know if it's the glass, or the combination of sensor and processing, but even using it 50% would be a bit of a stretch imo.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Couple of cell phone photos to laugh at

 

Not bad for unedited smell phone photos

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9 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Couple of cell phone photos to laugh at

 

Not bad for unedited smell phone photos

This demonstrates my point perfectly  Look at them here and the reaction is "wow that looks awesome!"

 

"Zoom" in and look at them at 100% and the reaction is very different...

[Hackentosher]

On 5/19/2013 at 5:29 PM, Blade of Grass said:

 

Rules:

• ONLY constructive criticism allowed
• No retaliation ratings, if someone gives your photo a low score, you are NOT allowed to give them a poor rating to 'get back' at them
• No OT posts, please stick to the rating-photo posts only, if you see a post that doesn't follow the rules, ignore it and move on
• Photos can be rated on a 1-10 scale, or can be verbal ratings
• Photos must be your own
• Skip OT posts and rate the photos above them
• Have fun!

 

lol rip the OG purpose of this thread 

[AkiraDaarkst]

5 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah, at the size it shows up in the post it looks good, save for a little noise I suppose, but view it at 100% and you instantly notice it's a phone.  I don't know if it's the glass, or the combination of sensor and processing, but even using it 50% would be a bit of a stretch imo.

 

5 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Couple of cell phone photos to laugh at

 

Not bad for unedited smell phone photos

But the composition is a complete mess.

5 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

This demonstrates my point perfectly  Look at them here and the reaction is "wow that looks awesome!"

 

"Zoom" in and look at them at 100% and the reaction is very different...

The guy who posted the sunset photo with the bridge mentioned he was using a phone, so I didn't bother too much with the artifacts when viewed at 100%.  He had a nice composition and captured a nice sunset photo with a bridge in the foreground.

5 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

lol rip the OG purpose of this thread 

Better to discuss why photos are such and such than blindly saying "the photo is #/#". 

[vanished]

6 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

But the composition is a complete mess.

Well, I'll give you that   Especially on the second one... not really of anything.  I do like the first one though, even if it's not technically perfect.

Quote

The guy who posted the sunset photo with the bridge mentioned he was using a phone, so I didn't bother too much with the artifacts when viewed at 100%.  He had a nice composition and captured a nice sunset photo with a bridge in the foreground.

Yeah, not debating that.  But the topic of cell phone vs DSLR came up so I couldn't help pointing out one of the major differences it would have made.

Quote

Better to discuss why photos are such and such than blindly saying "the photo is #/#". 

That's true, and we're still following the format's intention more or less.  Someone posts and then it gets discussed, until the next one shows up.  Plus, only giving feedback on one when posting one of your own seems like an unnecessary limitation.  And for that matter, not posting if you don't review others isn't helping anyone either.

 

I think by "don't post off topic and just ignore those", they mean if someone posts a car pic, don't go off talking about that car and the time you drove it in '69 blah blah blah.  Just because we aren't following <start post> <picture> <rating of previous image> <end post> to the letter, doesn't mean we're off topic.  Personally I think this thread has remained on topic very well.

[AkiraDaarkst]

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah, not debating that.  But the topic of cell phone vs DSLR came up so I couldn't help pointing out one of the major differences it would have made.

Just saw another one this morning "Nikon vs iPhone".  Cameras on mobile phones are capable of taking good photos, within certain conditions which are pretty limited.  Cheap point&shoot cameras are not much better.  Better cameras (with the word 'better' being subjective) have more latitude, a lot more, for dealing with non-ideal conditions.

 

Additionally, as most people seem to consume content on their mobile phones or tablets these days with their mostly smaller than desktop displays, a lot of the quality loss that comes with using a camera with a tiny sensor is less noticeable and a lot of the image quality of using a large sensor camera is lost when viewing on small displays.

 

OK enough OT about phone camera vs. proper camera.

[Mihle]

On 14.5.2017 at 1:49 PM, AkiraDaarkst said:

It's so satisfying printing photos yourself, and even more when you're being paid for them.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Really nice, I dont know anything that I think could be better, 9,5/10

On 15.5.2017 at 3:12 PM, Yannik said:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Great picture, would have been better with less of that reflection tho.
Old window make it seem like you are in an old world looking trough a portal to the modern world.
Also, if the rest of the buildings there, was modern and future like the one on the middle right, I think the picture would have been even better, but thats something not easy to find....

9/10

 

On 19.5.2017 at 1:00 AM, mok said:

 

Spoiler

 

Here is my submission

 

 

 

I like it, but its something in me that tells me that it would be even better if it was like a colourful thing in one of those, a person with some colourful clothes or something. It might just be me tho.
8/10

 

On 21.5.2017 at 11:06 PM, cc143 said:

Here's another one I got from the same store btw. I couldn't choose which of the 2 to post. 

Spoiler

 

 

I like it a lot, Might have been better with deeper DOF as Akira said, but for me to actually know that for sure, I would have to see it with deeper DOF.
9/10


And now for another version of a picture I posted erlier that is bellow average of the pictures posted here it seems.

Product Shot Ball Bearing by Mihle, on Flickr
 

[cc143]

1 hour ago, Mihle said:

Really nice, I dont know anything that I think could be better, 9,5/10

 

Great picture, would have been better with less of that reflection tho.
Old window make it seem like you are in an old world looking trough a portal to the modern world.
Also, if the rest of the buildings there, was modern and future like the one on the middle right, I think the picture would have been even better, but thats something not easy to find....

9/10

 

I like it, but its something in me that tells me that it would be even better if it was like a colourful thing in one of those, a person with some colourful clothes or something. It might just be me tho.
8/10

 

I like it a lot, Might have been better with deeper DOF as Akira said, but for me to actually know that for sure, I would have to see it with deeper DOF.
9/10


And now for another version of a picture I posted erlier that is bellow average of the pictures posted here it seems.

Product Shot Ball Bearing by Mihle, on Flickr
 

That is much better than the original, I can now actually tell what I'm looking at! Great job. Try to edit it slightly so the markings are a bit more discernible, but its a vast improvement.  

[mama_fluxus]

On 5/14/2017 at 7:49 AM, AkiraDaarkst said:

It's so satisfying printing photos yourself, and even more when you're being paid for them.

 

 

 

And the prints coming out of the printer.

Just curious, what did you use for your black background for these shots? I'm struggling to find a completely non reflective black "infinity" background. I've tried a few fabrics, black seamless, and black foamcore. Black seamless looks the best from what I've used, but I don't love it.

[fergusonnn]

Well, I guess I'll jump in this.  Won't be everyone's cup of tea.  Most of my stuff is railroad related, but I do dabble with some night shots and some shots at the various concerts I run sound at through the year when I have time.  First one is with my drone of the last run of the RBBB Circus Train through the hills of West Virginia, and the other three were taken last night with my 6D at a show I'm working in the hills of North Carolina.  After a couple days of severe weather, the break was nice and the weather was spectacular today, with tomorrow not looking as promising..

Judge away. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

7 hours ago, Mihle said:

I like it, but its something in me that tells me that it would be even better if it was like a colourful thing in one of those, a person with some colourful clothes or something. It might just be me tho.
8/10

I felt it might be better if the image was wider or taller, also.  The square crop feels constraining.

 

7 hours ago, Mihle said:

Product Shot Ball Bearing by Mihle, on Flickr

A lot better than your previous one.   Think about buying a piece of black glossy acrylic board or sheet of vinyl (like a cut sheet from black photography vinyl backdrops).  They're not expensive and you can use them as product photography surfaces.

 

4 hours ago, mama_fluxus said:

Just curious, what did you use for your black background for these shots? I'm struggling to find a completely non reflective black "infinity" background. I've tried a few fabrics, black seamless, and black foamcore. Black seamless looks the best from what I've used, but I don't love it.

I used a black glossy acrylic board, which is quite reflective.  I placed it on a small coffee table (barely knee high), put 2 lights at an angle (one on each side) and stood up on a chair taking the photo from right above.  Then a bit of cloning in post to remove dust flecks and some reflections.  I can post some before and after photos to show you the differences.

 

4 hours ago, fergusonnn said:

Well, I guess I'll jump in this.  Won't be everyone's cup of tea.  Most of my stuff is railroad related, but I do dabble with some night shots and some shots at the various concerts I run sound at through the year when I have time.  First one is with my drone of the last run of the RBBB Circus Train through the hills of West Virginia, and the other three were taken last night with my 6D at a show I'm working in the hills of North Carolina.  After a couple days of severe weather, the break was nice and the weather was spectacular today, with tomorrow not looking as promising..

Judge away. 

You have some good compositions, I'll go into detail later.

[Swndlr]

Some photos I took at my recent zoo trip with my art class. Sorry if quality isnt that great, uploading them in a whack way, so they may have gotten compressed.

 

 

[Yannik]

8 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

 

I really like the eyes and the story (as well as the colours) in the first one! 10/10
I think the secound one would be better with eye contact, or some highlights in the eyes. 7,5/10

My picture shows the iconic "Fernsehturm" in Stuttgart. My goal was it to bring movement (with the train beeing blurry) in this static composition.

[AkiraDaarkst]

15 hours ago, fergusonnn said:

Well, I guess I'll jump in this.  Won't be everyone's cup of tea.  Most of my stuff is railroad related, but I do dabble with some night shots and some shots at the various concerts I run sound at through the year when I have time.  First one is with my drone of the last run of the RBBB Circus Train through the hills of West Virginia, and the other three were taken last night with my 6D at a show I'm working in the hills of North Carolina.  After a couple days of severe weather, the break was nice and the weather was spectacular today, with tomorrow not looking as promising..

Judge away. 

I like photos 1, 2 and 4.  3 feels like the horizon is not level though it could just be the slope of the land. 2, I feel needs to be wider.  But good photos.

54 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

Some photos I took at my recent zoo trip with my art class. Sorry if quality isnt that great, uploading them in a whack way, so they may have gotten compressed.

The snake photo, feels that the leaves in the foreground are given too much prominence.

The gorilla photo... the composition looks nice but I don't think B&W works or your B&W conversion is not enough.

 

41 minutes ago, Yannik said:

My picture shows the iconic "Fernsehturm" in Stuttgart. My goal was it to bring movement (with the train beeing blurry) in this static composition.

The biggest problem I see here is the vertical composition or crop that contrasts with the lateral movement you are capturing.

[Swndlr]

1 minute ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The snake photo, feels that the leaves in the foreground are given too much prominence.

The gorilla photo... the composition looks nice but I don't think B&W works or your B&W conversion is not enough.

Thank you for the feedback. For the snake photo, I tried capturing some different angles but there are only so many different ways to capture it through the rather narrow viewing angles that I could have captured from, the windows are rather narrow in comparison to the angles I would have preferred to capture. Gave it my best I suppose.

As for the gorilla photo, how do you recommend I go about making the black and white conversion better?

[AkiraDaarkst]

52 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

Thank you for the feedback. For the snake photo, I tried capturing some different angles but there are only so many different ways to capture it through the rather narrow viewing angles that I could have captured from, the windows are rather narrow in comparison to the angles I would have preferred to capture. Gave it my best I suppose.

As for the gorilla photo, how do you recommend I go about making the black and white conversion better?

Yeah I understand it wasn't easy to get a better angle for the snake photo, no problem.  Do you have Silver Efex Pro, a Google Nik plugin.  Try playing around with that for B&W.

 

Here's a shot from a wedding I was photographing today.  Using reflections to my advantage.

[Swndlr]

11 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Yeah I understand it wasn't easy to get a better angle for the snake photo, no problem.  Do you have Silver Efex Pro, a Google Nik plugin.  Try playing around with that for B&W.

 

Here's a shot from a wedding I was photographing today.  Using reflections to my advantage.

I really like the way the refelction of the tree / greenery in the back adds to the feel of the photo. Im assuming you shoot professionally?

And on the topic of the two programs / plugins you mentioned above, would I be able to do the same thing in Lightroom or Photoshop?

[AkiraDaarkst]

39 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

I really like the way the refelction of the tree / greenery in the back adds to the feel of the photo. Im assuming you shoot professionally?

And on the topic of the two programs / plugins you mentioned above, would I be able to do the same thing in Lightroom or Photoshop?

Google Nik collection of plugins is free, you no longer need to pay for them.  Silver Efex Pro is one of the plugins in that collection.  Do Lr and PS have tools that can achieve the same things?  The answer is both Yes and No.  There are certain things that Silver Efex Pro has that helps in achieving better B&W photos.  When I convert color photos to B&W, I'm trying to mimic the look and feel of old school B&W film which is not easy to achieve.
 

I shoot professionally, but not that many weddings.  When I shoot weddings I want to make it a combination of wedding and fashion photography, however most couples don't have the time or money to afford my prices and when I shoot weddings for these couples (as in ones where I charge a reduced price) the photos end up looking more like boring event photos.  I want to be able to take the bride and groom, with their full attention focused on how I want them to pose under the various lighting I like to use, with a proper makeup artist and stylist.  It's not easy to do with you have the family of the bride and groom, and the couple have to focus their attention on the guests too during the ceremony and reception.  This wedding today was a favor for a friend, I still charged him with a family & friends' discount, as the groom is his nephew.  Though just because I am doing a favor didn't mean I did sub-par work, I tried to get the fashion side of the photography as much as possible while working around their schedule.  And it was funny trying to get them to work around their shyness.  It's not easy trying to pose people who aren't used to working as models in front of a camera.

[Swndlr]

1 minute ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Google Nik collection of plugins is free, you no longer need to pay for them.  Silver Efex Pro is one of the plugins in that collection.  Do Lr and PS have tools that can achieve the same things?  The answer is both Yes and No.  There are certain things that Silver Efex Pro has that helps in achieving better B&W photos.  When I convert color photos to B&W, I'm trying to mimic the look and feel of old school B&W film which is not easy to achieve.
 

I shoot professionally, but not that many weddings.  When I shoot weddings I want to make it a combination of wedding and fashion photography, however most couples don't have the time or money to afford my prices and when I shoot weddings for these couples the photos end up looking more like boring event photos.  I want to be able to take the bride and groom, with their full attention focused on how I want them to pose under the various lighting I like to use, with a proper makeup artist and stylist.  It's not easy to do with you have the family of the bride and groom, and the couple have to focus their attention on the guests too during the ceremony and reception.  This wedding today was a favor for a friend, I still charged him with a family & friends' discount, as the groom is his nephew.

Ill take a dive into Google Nik this afternoon or tomorrow, sounds like a useful tool.

[AkiraDaarkst]

24 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

Ill take a dive into Google Nik this afternoon or tomorrow, sounds like a useful tool.

They are very useful tools.

 

For the wedding though just because I am doing a favor didn't mean I did sub-par work, I tried to get the fashion side of the photography as much as possible while working around their schedule.  And it was funny trying to get them to work around their camera shyness.  It's not easy trying to pose people who aren't used to working as models in front of a camera.  In fact, the wedding was very informal.  The event today was just a civil wedding in front of a judge, not a big church ceremony.  No bridesmaids, no groomsmen, everyone wore whatever they had that looked nice and formalish for a wedding (as in the kind of clothes they would wear going to church on a Sunday).  The groom's side is mostly from Ghana, the bride's side is mostly from Spain, so there was also a theme of traditional costumes going on.  I wanted to create something special, as in beyond average wedding photos, and I do hope I managed to create some unique shots they will like.  I had gone in planning to create something similar to the works of Jerry Ghionis...

 

I'll post another shot from the wedding.

[Swndlr]

9 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

They are very useful tools.

 

For the wedding though just because I am doing a favor didn't mean I did sub-par work, I tried to get the fashion side of the photography as much as possible while working around their schedule.  And it was funny trying to get them to work around their camera shyness.  It's not easy trying to pose people who aren't used to working as models in front of a camera.  In fact, the wedding was very informal.  The event today was just a civil wedding in front of a judge, not a big church ceremony.  No bridesmaids, no groomsmen, everyone wore whatever they had that looked nice and formalish for a wedding (as in the kind of clothes they would wear going to church on a Sunday).  The groom's side is mostly from Ghana, the bride's side is mostly from Spain, so there was also a theme of traditional costumes going on.  I wanted to create something special, as in beyond average wedding photos, and I do hope I managed to create some unique shots they will like.  I had gone in planning to create something similar to the works of Jerry Ghionis...

 

I'll post another shot from the wedding.

Definitely share more, youve got me curious now

[AkiraDaarkst]

9 minutes ago, Swndlr said:

Definitely share more, youve got me curious now

Here's something that I haven't finished editing because I'm too tired tonight.  I used candle light and an Icelight v2 to help as a fill light from above.  I need to darken the background so that it looks more like their faces are lit by the glow of the candles.   I'll finish it tomorrow at the studio.

 

 

[fergusonnn]

9 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

I like photos 1, 2 and 4.  3 feels like the horizon is not level though it could just be the slope of the land. 2, I feel needs to be wider.  But good photos

I appreciate the feedback.  Yeah, 3 is a bit tricky due to the uneven terrain and not much to really relate to orientation.  Right now all I own is a 24-105 f/4L so that's the widest I can go, until I break down and purchase a 17-40 or 16-35.  I'm planning on a telephoto lens first.

 

7 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Here's something that I haven't finished editing because I'm too tired tonight.  I used candle light and an Icelight v2 to help as a fill light from above.  I need to darken the background so that it looks more like their faces are lit by the glow of the candles.   I'll finish it tomorrow at the studio.

 

 

Very nice for candlelight. Maybe brighten the gentleman a little more, but it looks awesome.

[AkiraDaarkst]

2 hours ago, fergusonnn said:

Very nice for candlelight. Maybe brighten the gentleman a little more, but it looks awesome.

I did these quick edits on my MacBook Pro last night after getting home.  Today I will work on them at my studio where I have a 10-bit wide gamut monitor.