LEAVE YOUR EGOS BEHIND. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS SUCK, YOUR TECHNIQUE'S NOT MUCH BETTER AND WE ALL KNOW IT. DON'T PRETEND YOU'RE ANY DIFFERENT TO THE REST OF US. PHOTOGRAPHY IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE. DON'T BE SURPRISED IF SOME COMMENTS ARE MEAN SPIRITED, TOTALLY UNHELPFUL OR EVEN GO OFF TOPIC WITH RELIGION OR POLITICS – SUCK IT UP. HOWEVER AMONGST ALL THIS WILL BE A FEW NUGGETS OF WISDOM THAT MAY ALLOW YOU TO GROW AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Critter
Canon EOS 350D with 18-200 IS lens; 1/125 sec; f/5.6; ISO 100; taken at 200mm
Ok, here's a little guy that we found one morning in Mongolia. He's a Long Tailed Ground Squirrel (I think). So where could I improve?
The good: I like that you can see a lot of nice detail in the subject. The image looks nice and sharp. You can even see his claws really well and I didn't expect them to look like that so that is cool too. I like the depth of field that you've achieved too. It does separate him from the background nicely.
The bad: Ok, maybe not too bad, but I'd like to see another 1 or 2 photos of the same subject.
With the first showing the same squirrel with a little more space off to the left so he is looking into the frame more, and the second being a really wide shot where the squirrel is only small in the frame, but you can see everything around him as well to help us get more of a feeling for where he is situated. Ie, is there any fields behind him, or mountains? This may or may not have been possible due to his surroundings, or him not sitting still long enough.
This is probably a good example of where f/5.6 is too small an aperture. The grass in front of the animal is too sharp and distracting. I'm not sure where or how you focused. But it looks like the camera chose the grass in front of the animal. The eyes look a little soft compared to the grass or even his forward shoulder.
I would have selected a single focus point and placed that on the critter's eye closest to the camera.
Also getting down a little more to eye level with the critter would pull the viewer into it's world.
The flat lighting, isn't helping much here either. Perhaps using a little fill flash at -1 to add a stronger catch light to the eye would help.
Like Craig said, I would have cropped a little tighter on the right and add a little more on the left, so the critter has space to look onto the image and not out.
Having the animal looking straight into the camera, always creates a stronger connection for the viewer.
Those claws on this critter look nasty. A nice tight crop of those claws would be interesting especially if you removed the head, leaving the viewer guessing what animal they are from.
An alternate image showing more of it's environment would be good too. A portrait like this should really isolate the subject and separate it completely from it's background/environment. Otherwise just include the background and call it an environmental portrait.
Hi Geoff,
ReplyDeleteThe good:
I like that you can see a lot of nice detail in the subject. The image looks nice and sharp. You can even see his claws really well and I didn't expect them to look like that so that is cool too.
I like the depth of field that you've achieved too. It does separate him from the background nicely.
The bad:
Ok, maybe not too bad, but I'd like to see another 1 or 2 photos of the same subject.
With the first showing the same squirrel with a little more space off to the left so he is looking into the frame more, and the second being a really wide shot where the squirrel is only small in the frame, but you can see everything around him as well to help us get more of a feeling for where he is situated. Ie, is there any fields behind him, or mountains?
This may or may not have been possible due to his surroundings, or him not sitting still long enough.
Nice pic though. Looking forward to more.
Cheers!
Craig.
Geoff,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you could join us.
This is probably a good example of where f/5.6 is too small an aperture. The grass in front of the animal is too sharp and distracting. I'm not sure where or how you focused. But it looks like the camera chose the grass in front of the animal. The eyes look a little soft compared to the grass or even his forward shoulder.
I would have selected a single focus point and placed that on the critter's eye closest to the camera.
Also getting down a little more to eye level with the critter would pull the viewer into it's world.
The flat lighting, isn't helping much here either. Perhaps using a little fill flash at -1 to add a stronger catch light to the eye would help.
Like Craig said, I would have cropped a little tighter on the right and add a little more on the left, so the critter has space to look onto the image and not out.
Having the animal looking straight into the camera, always creates a stronger connection for the viewer.
Those claws on this critter look nasty. A nice tight crop of those claws would be interesting especially if you removed the head, leaving the viewer guessing what animal they are from.
An alternate image showing more of it's environment would be good too. A portrait like this should really isolate the subject and separate it completely from it's background/environment. Otherwise just include the background and call it an environmental portrait.
Brutal Enough?
steve
Thanks guys, great feedback.
ReplyDeleteI've got a few more of this guy, so I'll work some of them up and see if he can make another appearance in the future.
Geoff.