Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Down

Author Topic: A favorite  (Read 16267 times)

armand

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5540
    • Photos
A favorite
« on: October 18, 2010, 12:04:12 am »

I already like it, I just want to see how objective I am so go ahead with the critique.

armand

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5540
    • Photos
Re: A favorite
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2010, 09:39:55 am »

Nobody? I don't bite  ;D

popnfresh

  • Guest
Re: A favorite
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2010, 01:35:47 pm »

Okay, I'll bite. Apart from capturing nice textures in the iquana's skin and dorsal spines, there isn't much to say about it, in my opinion. I also think that the way it's cropped is odd and doesn't make for a particularly interesting composition.
Logged

Riaan van Wyk

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 812
Re: A favorite
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2010, 03:38:25 pm »

You could lose the top half of the photo here which, for me, would make more sense Armand. The composition presented is confusing me as I don't know where I am supposed to look.   

jule

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 738
    • http://www.juliestephenson.net
Re: A favorite
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2010, 04:31:02 pm »

Armand, What is it that you like about this image? There is a bit of a mish-mash of things going on which make it confusing for me. There's the subject matter of a lizard - with his head chopped off....and then there are wonderful colours and textures. If it is the lizard you like, why is it important that you remove his head visually?....and if it is the textures you like, i would suggest just making that the image and focus in on the back and body and not include the legs.

Julie
Logged

PeterAit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4559
    • Peter Aitken Photographs
Re: A favorite
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2010, 04:48:26 pm »

"Objective" opinions about art? I don't think so! But subjective or not, here's mine.

The foreground - branches and foot - is out of focus, and it really detracts from what is otherwise a detail-oriented closeup.  Plus areas of the branches appear to be "blown" (pure white with no detail). I don't see why you excluded the head, usually the most interesting part of a critter. The brightly lit left front leg vanishes out of the frame, distracting from the composition.

Sorry to be so negative, but that's what I see. I think you have an interesting subject with great potential, but it needs more work.

Cheers,
Logged

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: A favorite
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2010, 05:19:06 pm »

Looks like we are all falling for a troll. Looks like someone decided to kill his boredom by pulling randomly an image from a trash bin and posting it, hoping there must be someone somewhere taking it seriously and seeing something "artistic" in it. So far we took it all seriously...

popnfresh

  • Guest
Re: A favorite
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2010, 06:35:34 pm »

Looks like we are all falling for a troll. Looks like someone decided to kill his boredom by pulling randomly an image from a trash bin and posting it, hoping there must be someone somewhere taking it seriously and seeing something "artistic" in it. So far we took it all seriously...

Well, you're either right or you're rather harsh.
Logged

RSL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 16046
    • http://www.russ-lewis.com
Re: A favorite
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2010, 09:33:07 pm »

No, Pop. Slobodan's being right and rather harsh. Also known as being honest.
Logged
Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

armand

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5540
    • Photos
Re: A favorite
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2010, 11:36:50 pm »

ok, i said go ahead not kill the messenger  ;) I know about some of the flaws but the people around me who saw it (printed 19x13) like it quite a lot. However they are definitely not in the photography art so I just wanted to see how much translates in expert opinion.

The purpose of not including the head was to try to make a little more abstract, and maybe wander how the head really is after all. I thought that the diagonal branches could emphasize the back of the iguana (as they are almost parallel), that's why I didn't crop more and left them, out of focus and blown out, I actually overexposed them a little in postprocessing so it doesn't detract from the lizard. When I shot it (btw, it's uncroped), my intention was to have the spines from the back as a culmination of the textures from the back. As it seems I didn't succeed. Also like the colors.

And calling me a troll it's not honest, just unnecessary. You could just say the pictures suck according to your standards. What I am really looking for is why.

John R Smith

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1357
  • Still crazy, after all these years
Re: A favorite
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2010, 03:41:42 am »

Armand

People around here are usually extremely diplomatic, and very polite. If someone posts a real clunker of a picture, very often there will be zero replies because nobody wants to be cruel or cause offence - especially if the poster is new to LL. If this happens to you, the best option is to let the post sink gently down the list and out of sight, because the message is clear. However, if you insist on bumping the post back up to the top, as you did, I am afraid you really are asking for an honest opinion.

Which you got.

John
Logged
Hasselblad 500 C/M, SWC and CFV-39 DB
an

popnfresh

  • Guest
Re: A favorite
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2010, 04:12:12 pm »

No, Pop. Slobodan's being right and rather harsh. Also known as being honest.

Honesty and politeness are not mutually exclusive.
Logged

Dick Roadnight

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1730
Re: A favorite
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2010, 05:02:36 pm »

I already like it, I just want to see how objective I am so go ahead with the critique.

The skin texture looks like the over-sharpened noise that seems to be popular in portraits.
Logged
Hasselblad H4, Sinar P3 monorail view camera, Schneider Apo-digitar lenses

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: A favorite
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2010, 07:51:47 pm »

Honesty and politeness are not mutually exclusive.

Perhaps they are not. But they are not the easiest bedfellows either, especially when it comes to criticism.  It is definitely easier to be honest with praise.

The OP broke too many rules, mostly deliberately. A wise man once said (and I wholeheartedly agree):

"... People like to say that rules are meant to be broken, but I say that rules are meant to keep the clueless from looking like idiots. Only break a rule when you're good enough to know what you're doing."

That is a very honest and powerful statement. But not very polite to the clueless.

Now I have a dilemma: who is actually harsh and impolite in this case? Me for quoting it, or the original author for penning it? *

* The author is otherwise known on this forum as "popnfresh"  ;)



RSL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 16046
    • http://www.russ-lewis.com
Re: A favorite
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2010, 09:23:14 pm »

Slobodan, Touche!
Logged
Russ Lewis  www.russ-lewis.com.

armand

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5540
    • Photos
Re: A favorite
« Reply #15 on: October 20, 2010, 11:14:40 pm »

I don't care how harsh anybody's comments are as long as they say something. If I didn't want to hear them I wouldn't have posted.
The only thing that I found unnecessary was when somebody wise stated I am a troll.
So peace to all, I'll keep asking.

fredjeang

  • Guest
Re: A favorite
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2010, 03:48:20 am »

You know, I've seen worse than that in the "recent professional works" of the MF section. Like when some post truck dealer facades or malls alley, Not a lot but it happened. And even repplies saying nice shot!
Oh, and when they spread the forum with bricks, roof or gardens pics each time a new back with more MP is coming out.

And what about the xillionth snapshots sunsets well executed, well exposed, but unpersonal and boring like hell. Does that should also deserves the congrats?

I guess the Russ's statement that "pro does not necessary means good" is true.

I basically agree with Slobodan, too many rules broken, but my point is that there are numbers of "ruled mastered" pictures that receive aprobation and shouldn't either.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2010, 04:10:01 am by fredjeang »
Logged

John R Smith

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1357
  • Still crazy, after all these years
Re: A favorite
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2010, 04:05:13 am »

You know, I've seen worse than that in the "recent professional works" of the MF section. Like when some post truck dealer facades or malls alley, Not a lot but it happened. And even repplies saying nice shot!


Ah Fred, so you have noticed that sometimes the Emperor has no clothes?

John
Logged
Hasselblad 500 C/M, SWC and CFV-39 DB
an

fredjeang

  • Guest
Re: A favorite
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2010, 04:14:02 am »

Ah Fred, so you have noticed that sometimes the Emperor has no clothes?

John
Oh yes John, definatly.

And I would have understood harsher criticisms in the pro section more than here in the sense that if someone submit such pic in the pro section...
« Last Edit: March 26, 2011, 03:25:38 pm by fredjeang »
Logged

John R Smith

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1357
  • Still crazy, after all these years
Re: A favorite
« Reply #19 on: October 21, 2010, 04:28:33 am »

I don't understand this world sometimes John.

Fred

This Forum actually mirrors the world quite well. What you see reflected here is simple human nature. In this section people feel free to criticise or be forthright with their opinions because the photograph has (usually) been posted by an amateur or unknown person (like myself - or yourself, for that matter). So there is no peer group opinion of the work, as yet. Whereas if a pro posts a picture, very few people would dare to criticise it other than in a very minor way, for fear of seeming foolish because, after all, this is a pro with a big reputation and everyone else thinks they are brilliant, so they must be brilliant, right?

There are some wonderful pictures posted here on LL from time to time. And there is a load of ghastly dross as well. And some of that dross makes very good money for the people who turn it out.

John
Logged
Hasselblad 500 C/M, SWC and CFV-39 DB
an
Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Up