Snoink's Photo Dump

Yeah... I got a camera for Christmas. Now, to see what works and what doesn't!

Critiques greatly welcomed! Also, I kind of suck at photography, so please, please, give out ridiculously simplistic instructions for your advice and explain any strange vocabulary you use, okay?

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Hi Snoink. As a matter of fact, I quite like the third, fifth and sixth. To be frank- forgive me for that, the others don't seem to register. I don't have much impression for them.

Anyway, enjoy playing with your new camera.

Jo

Sorry, but I don't like #7. It's been done before.

1. I actually like this one...the angle is nice, and it's a nice, clear picture!

2. I don't like this one as much as the first. You have to make sure that when *focusing* on a certain thing,(The train/graffiti) that the other objects in the photo don't make it cluttered. (Cluttered meaning...that other objects that you capture don't take away from the main focus.)

3.Tree branches are always a common thing to photograph. They're almost the cliché of photography. However, you can make it into something interesting! Fool/experiment with different times of day, focus on only the bark or even get in the tree! Photography isn't all about the picture...it's about the uniqueness and what the person takes from it. Anyone can take a picture of a tree...but a great photographer can make that tree mean something...and make us 'star-struck' by it.

4. This one isn't too bad...but the top half of it has too much noise. (Noise meaning...it's blurry.) In some pictures, noise is a good thing, a wonderful thing! However, you tried to capture the whole leaf...and, you didn't. (Or that's what it seems.) The place where noise is a good thing is when you're really close up to something and you want almost a silhouette of the main focus.

5. This one is more abstract, I like it. However, it's just "Here's this, and here's that. (Sand and balloon-toy-whatever). You could've made this cool by focusing on the inter-tube and doing a horizontal shot of it. (Like, laying on the ground and taking a picture of it.)That way, you would've gotten a ocean view too!

6. Just another tree...nothing special. Again, you have too much clutter in this photo.

7. This is more of a fun picture. Not really photography. It's plain to see it was just for fun. *Blog-post-ish* perhaps?

8. This photo is more for yourself to show others, saying, "Look at that! We saw that while visiting *Insert name of place*. It's cool looking, nonetheless.

9. You see a glare on the glass in this one. The bird is standing awkwardly, you could've got it's attention so it looked at you. It's also a little blurry. When you take pictures of (alive) animals, try to capture the life in them. This bird almost looks fake. The only way I could tell it was real was the paper shreddings and water-dish. (Not good) I should've just known by looking. (Just, next time try to capture the life of the animal. )

10. Again, this is cool. However, to show someone else and say, "I touched the bear's paw! See?!"

11. I like the white owl, but I would have liked to see a close-up. The darker owl looks like it's in pain... (Close-ups on this animal would've been cool. *Not the one that looks like it's about to die*, but, the white one. (I say this because it looks so distant.) With animals, most times, it is much better to be closer.

12. Top half is not good. :/ However, the bottom half of it is great! (I love how you got a closer view and we can see the owl's eye(s)! It brings *life* to it. (Which, makes it good.)

13. I love quirky photos like this. However, it's a little blurry at the top. Next time, try to make it all clear.

14. I can't explain it, but I like it. It looks so...industrial. (I could've done without the distant view of cars...but.) Always remember to angle your camera in a way that it looks better. The cars in the distant view kind of take away from the picture. You have to be always thinking about what you're capturing. ;D

15. I also like this one! However, The white bars get in the way somehow. I love the contrast from the bright orange to the dark brown...it's lovely! (Crop the fence out.)
http://www.photobucket.com (It's free and you can keep all your photos there!) You can edit, crop, (fix) some of your photos there...if you haven't got one already.

16. ...What? The angle is horrible. This shows me nothing but a rusted...thing. Too much clutter. There was no real focus. I'd have to say this was the worst of them all. :/

17. I like this one; I love the colors! However, try to get a close-up of the fruit...you can always have more than one picture/angle of fruit. ;D

18. This one is just..."Oh, okay." to me.


Anyway, I liked a few of them. My favorite was most likely the orange tree one (17). You had a lot of...questionable ones...and some very horrid ones.

Keep taking photos! It's how you improve!


-Jon

Eee! You posted pictures! This is awesome; it feeds my morbid interest for photography and I get to critique! I'm going to go with the thumbs up/thumbs down approach and explain it all, okie?


1.


I'm a bit torn on this one, because it totally holds potential for mad photoshopping. I'm going to go with thumbs down, because, the sky's a bit overcast, so everything has that solemn tone to it in terms of color and such.

I like the fact that the natural lines in this are uniform; they don't clash too much with angles and such, but the powerpole in the left side of this really, really bugs me because lines in a photo generally lead up to a focal point, and your lines are leading to this, and it's like, "Where's the focus?" Overall, it's a fair photo, but the coloring of it makes it boring, so I don't like it.

...and yes, I'm a picky person!





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I like this one; I do think that the railroad light holder pole thing (unclear vocabulary is unclear) on the left is an eye pulling distraction.

Again! Overcast sky is overcast! Shooting on a clear day is better for colors, because you generally get more vibrancy that way. I like your composition, though. The way the curved tracks lead to the straight line is cool, and the vanishing train line is definitely appreciative.




3.


I like this one because that tree looks awesomely cool and a tad creepy, as well. I do think, though, that in future tree-photography, assuming that you will be doing more photography of trees, try to get a better focus, because here, there's no focal point [anything that says, hey, look at me!]. In photography, you need to have interest-- and really, this tree is awesome, so it's interesting enough for /me/, but for others it may not be.



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I'm torn between this one as well! While I love the angle you approached this with, I think you need more saturation in this, because the colors are pretty dull, and I have a feeling that the leaf should be a vibrant green. the little tendrils or whateveryouwanttocall them in the right corner are a neat little distraction, and they can go kapish. Not a bad shot; kudos on the original angle.




5.


Interesting. The Golden Rule of photography states that when you cut a subject off without focus, you should include dead space to balance it. Basically, it would have been cooler to see more sand in this, so that we can see that the cut-off shiny thing is intentional! Right now, it kind of looks like a cropped photo and I'm not sure what it is.

Wait. Isn't it a cropped photo? xD




6.


I like this, for the color, for the shadow of the tree, for the sunshine, and for the interest in it. The cement thing in the bottom corner nearest the camera is a distraction and where the dirt meets the sidewalk is a crooked line comparative to the rest of the picture. Being the picky person I am, I would suggest cropping this at the foot of the tree to balance things out a little more.



7.


While this photo is a creative subject, I'm afraid the angle of the photograph does nothing for me. I would have liked to see a more original angle, though I'm not sure how original you can get with that! And a bit of contrasting, because, really this should be a fun-looking photo, and the overcastedness of it all takes away from it.


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Cutie birdy! Good job on focal points. I would have liked for the paper in the back to not be cut off. But, it's good.

[I can't see images nine and ten]


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I like this one! Such cutie little owlsies!

Okay, but! In photography seriousness, the glass glare -- or what I'm assuming is glass glare anyways, is a little distracting and takes away from the prettiness of it all. Contrasting this in a photo edit program can help bring out color and sharpness.


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Cute little poor things! They're not taxidermied, are they?

This photo is better than the previous in both terms of focus, composition, and clarity.




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Don't like. In a way, it's cliche to take pictures of cell phones and all that stuff like ipods and all. It's not a very unique or rewarding angle here, and that makes it pretty boring.

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Got a bit of washout in the sky, and again, the colors are a little bland and could use contrasting. You have excellent composition; straight lines, good focus that pulls us "in" to the photo and leads us down to the end. It's good. I've never been that close to packing/processing things as this, and it looks fascinating!


15.

Here, this photo suffers from the "dead on" approach, where it appears as if you just snapped a photo of this as we look at it. I think this could have been much cooler if you had placed the camera on the ground, or gotten close, so that we're looking at these things in an angle that we wouldn't typically see them at! Try to make your subjects look interesting; it's a surefire way to keep your audience interested.



16.


It's hard to see what the focus is in this one, and I don't really like how we cannot see the full of this packing... crate? Or whatever it's called! I think this would've been much better had we been able to see all of it, or if you had focused on a nearby object with the rest of this blurred in the background.


17.

Wow, are those oranges or lemons? I've never seen any of those on a tree before, and it's still hard to believe they actually grow on trees...

This photo is good for clarity and color, but the focal point of it suffers from the dead on approach, and I think this would have been all the more cooler and rewarding if you had zeroed in on a fruit and had the rest of the stuff all fuzzily cool in the background.



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What is that? Haha, that's an interesting subject for sure, but I don't like how the focus is hard to decipher. I think there should've been more blur and contrast in this, so that the orange tube stood out more.


So!

It's good to see that you posted pictures, and I will now take it upon myself to pester you for more!

If your camera has a high color mode, use it. Auto settings on a camera generally put general aperture and shutter speed and it's not always the best for shooting outdoors, but if you camera features high color or SCN modes, experiment with them. If it doesn't, darkening your photos a few +Gamma points or +contrasting is bound to help as well!

Also! See if your camera has a macro mode, usually indicated by a tiny flower symbol. This will enable you to have things close to you in focus, and things further away blurred out.

Thankee for sharing, and please don't mind too much if my review sounded spazzy. Trust me, I really am pretty spazzy at the moment and need rest desperately... yeah. I'm rambling. Do, please, post more soon!

June

Haha, thanks for everything!

What is SCN mode? Or gamma points?

The birds aren't taxidermied... they're from an animal museum that contains rescued animals who were unfit for release into the wild. Many of them have missing wings and the like... it's a bit odd when they flap their wings! One is a lovely, beautiful wing and the other is a stump. The whole point of the museum is to raise awareness of how lovely nature and wildlife can be... it's pretty cool.

Also, 18 is the tube thing that is on the top of the rolls of tubes that you see in 15.

Hello, again!

Sorry! I meant to make a mental note to explain any thing I mentioned...

By Gamma I meant Gamma Correction points, and basically in photo editing it's where you lighten and/or darken a picture without damaging the contrast too much. On most photo editors it's usually under curves (where you can adjust lighting and color) or indicated by the Greek letter Gamma (Γ) and such. I can explain how it works... but, yeah. xD It would pretty much be unimportant! Basically, really, it's just lightening or darkening a photo without ruining the overall image.

Some cameras feature SCN modes along with PASM modes, which is basically:

SCN: Scene Selection mode
A: Aperture Priority mode
S: shutter speed priority mode
M: manual exposure mode
And P varies; usually priority settings or whatever.

And, basically, PASM enables you to manually edit shutter speed and all of that fancy stuff to let you get better focus, color, exposure, but those aren't important.

SCN is preset modes for shooting in different places, like shooting in snow, bright light, dark without flash, night time and such-- basically, just fancy presets instead of using PASM stuff.

Hope that clears it up! (Can I come kidnap a bird??)

=)

June

Another question for you! What exactly is "contrast" (in photography terms) and what are ways to make sure you have enough?

Heylo!

Contrast is pretty much what it always is-- the difference of tones in a picture. In photography editing, it's usually used to bring out color and add shading between colors. The best way to tell when you have a good contrast is when the subjects of a picture are easily distinguishable from each other, but not overly done where areas of the photo are too dark. Basically, your best bet is to use your eyes and see at which point your photo looks best to you.

Hope that's not too confusing!

June

Wow, this is so good compared to my photos...hehe!

Pic 1--I think this was nice, but as June said, the sky's too dark in my opinion. And I hate the white lane marks on the road. Of course, there's not much you can do about that, right?

Pic 2--This one looks pretty good to me. The sky is a little better, but not much. Maybe you should try tweaking the brightness of it...

Pic 3--Stunningly beautiful. I'm not an expert photographer, so I don't care much for focal points, but rather for the looks of something. Come to think of it, this reminds me of one of Kamas's photos...

Pic 4--Ooh, pretty. As June said, I think the green leaf should be either darker, brighter, or both. Interesting focus in the background, by the way.

Pic 5--Interesting...what is that shiny thing, though?! Please tell me! (I'll join your Evil Minions group...) Anyway, where'd you take this pic? Just wondering.

Pic 6--Wow! I think it looks very nice. Your photos seem to be improving little by little just here...

Pic 7--Looks nice to me! Lemme guess...you had a 2nd person in the tube-thingy with the girl sticking her head out. Am I right?

Pic 8--Whoa, cool. Is that your work? 'Cause that origami folding is amazing!

Pic 9--Interesting crow. But anyway, what are those paper scraps doin' in his cage-thing? And why's the red thing in the top right corner cut off? Just wondering. (And you can see a wispy reflection in the glass or whatever it is)

Pic 10--I think the human fingers should be more spread out, like the paw in the picture. But it's cute! The flag looks cool as well.

Pic 11--Uwah! So cute! Where'd you take this pic? I like the multicolor background behind the owls.

Pic 12--Very nice. But I don't really like the broom/mop thing in the pic. Otherwise, looks really good!

Pic 13--That was completely out of the blue to me! You have all these nature pictures outside, then suddenly a purse and a cell. Um...not much to say for this one...I agree with June and Jon's comments on this one...

Pic 14--It makes me feel sad. Dunno why, but it does. It somehow reminds me of homeless kids that have nowhere to go. So sad...

Pic 15--Hmm...interesting....I'm thinking about fires and long, dangerous cord lines. Boy, your photos really ignite the imagaination, don't they?

Pic 16--This reminds me of those action scenes in the movies where the hero starts jumping across roofs of buildings, dodging the obstacles, and the baddies come in pursuit. Interesting, no?

Pic 17--I like it! Nice job with the focus and clarity. But are those oranges or something else? Tangerines? Clementines? (I'm getting ahead of myself...xD)

Pic 18--Now that looks really cool. Especially 'cause I now realize it's the top of those barrel-thingies in Pic 15! Nice.

Anyway, I've said this a million times but...wow! Great job for a beginner. I congratulate you.

Hahaha, thanks!

The shiny thing in #5 is just one of those twirly playground slide, by the way. Nothing fancy. I took it at a playground.

Oragami isn't mine, sadly.

Hey Snoink

I got here in the end! I know you have a lot of reviews already and this may be going over other points but you did say that you couldn't get enough reviews. I warn you I tend to ramble.

So here we go...

1. This shot isn't that good compositionally I think. There is a bit too much space at the top and at the bottom that sort of distracts the eye. Perhaps you could have gone in a little closer to the train so it was bigger in the frame, as it is the subject of this photograph. Maybe it would have been nicer if you had focused more on the graffiti on the train or if you had gone across the road you could have gotten a nice line down the train. Also perhaps you could have used the wires as a frame for the shot. These are all types of things you should consider when taking photos. How to create interesting lines within your photo for viewers eyes to follow. Also I would encourage you take numerous shots. You have a digital camera after all. It's one advantage we have over film cameras. When I go out photographing I take 3 or 4 of the same shot and then I will shift my position on the same shot.

2. This shot is kind of annoying to me because you had this perfect line on the floor which you didn't utilise in the shot. That big white line would have been perfect to use as a line in the photo. It could have lead the viewers eye up to the subject, the train. It perhaps would have improved the photo quite a bit. Also again I think you have a bit too much sky in this photograph. Just think about composition and how to utilise what you have around you to create good shapes and lines.

3. I like this shot better. Perhaps you could have cut the bottom branch out because it is a little bit of a distraction. I do like how you have focused on one main tree though and it is easy to follow this up from the corner and flow out through the branches. I like the colour of the sky and the silhouette that is going on here. You are so very nearly there with the composition on this one.

4. I'm not sure about this shot. There is something about it I don't really like. Perhaps it is that the colours are kind of washed out. It would have been nice if you had a punchier green to make the leaf really stand out. I think I don't like the curled leaf that is intruding into the other leaf on the right hand side of the frame. It is a little bit distracting for me. I don't know, maybe I find it slightly dull and uninspiring. However the angle is interesting and I think the focus is good. I like how it goes out of focus towards the background of the photo.

5. I quite like this one and I tend not to like shots like this. I think perhaps it would be good if you cropped the bottom of the shot to give it more of a symmetry. I do like the reflections though and the colours in this photo. I think this is a pretty good shot. Someone on my university course did something like this. Taking normal objects and photographing them in a way that no one recognises them.

6. Hmm. I love the shadow in this shot but there is an awful lot going on here. The frame is very cluttered with a lot of different aspects that are quite distracting. You have the tree in the mid ground, the stone in the foreground, the benches and the play area in the back. It's just an awful lot to be in the frame. So just consider what you include in your frame because everything matters and makes an impact on your photo. However I like that you did a portrait shot, a lot of people who start out in photography forget that you can turn the camera portrait and it can give you some good lines. So that's good.

7. I'll admit that this photograph is funny but it's not really photography material. It's something that you would more likely put on facebook. Not to mention that the composition isn't that great.

8. I like the light in this shot and again the fact that you have used portrait. Also the photo is clear and crisp which is always good. However you are getting some distracting reflections on the glass, they aren't that bad though. It just seems like this photograph is one of those 'I was there photos'. Rather than being visually interesting they are more of those kind of photos that document things for personal memory, which isn't necessarily bad of course.

9. The reflections from the glass are a little more distracting in this photo because they intrude on the subject, the bird. They cover part of the tail and make it a different colour from the rest of the bird. Also I think I now like the simplicity of the last picture compared to this picture because again you have a lot intruding on the frame. Also I would consider this an 'I was there photo' too.

10. This one is kind of cool too but another one I would consider being more suitable for Facebook rather than here.

11. This one is worse than the other two bird photographs. The composition isn't that great. I think you should have focused more on one bird rather than trying to get the two. It also seems a little washed out and has this sort of cast over it, which I assume might be to do with not having very clean glass. I would also consider this to be an 'I was there photo'.

12. Most of what I said on the above photo applies for this photo also.

13. I don't think this photo really worked out. If you're going to do this type of macro photography then you have to be very precise and pretty much perfect to pull it off. Some of the out of focus elements here are a bit annoying for the eye and some of the colours aren't that great. Also it looks like you have used the flashed which usually ruins the colours in these types of photographs. I don't know how sophisticated your camera is but you should try using manual and switch the ISO higher maybe. The ISO setting lets more light into the camera so you can photograph in darker places without the flash. Then you can use the manual to let you change the aperture and what not and this will also let more light in. Wherever I can I try not to use flash because it tends to ruin the quality of the photograph.

14. I quite like this one. The angle you took it at is good and creates some nice lines. You could do with tightening it up a little bit, composition wise. Also the sky is a little bleached out, you could use the manual settings again to create more definition in the sky. However, I quite like this shot.

15. I quite like this one as well. Again you have chosen a good angle which gives a new perspective on objects in our lives. That is what I like about photography and photographers sometimes. We have a different view on things to other people and we take photos to show people this different view and give them a different perspective on things.

16. I don't like this one as much as the other two. There is no clear subject for me and it looks slightly tilted. When you take a photo like this you have to be careful of your horizon because if it is a bit wobbly it can throw off your whole composition. Also you just need to keep in mind what your subject is and clearly convey that to the viewer.

17. I love the colours in this shot but I think you could maybe have gone in a little closer. This would have made the shot a lot better I think because you would remove the sky and just have this vibrant green and orange. Also composition wise you have a bit too much space to the right of the frame. I would call something like that dead space. Dead space is awfully distracting for the eye so watch out how much you leave in the photograph.

18. This one is pretty good but again I think you could have gone in a little closer to make the composition better but the focus is pretty good and I like the colours in this shot.

Overall I think you did quite good. I think you just need to think more about the composition and using lines within your photographs to lead the viewer through the photo. I also think you need to be careful not to do so many 'I was there photos'. I mean of course still do them for personal memory but not so much for proper photography. I hope that you will post some more photos soon!

PM me if you have any questions.

Bex x