Young Writers Literary Journal 2011

I am trying to decide what picture to enter in Young Writers Literary Journal 2011. It has been really hard because, first it has to be black and white, second I can only submit one. I have kind of narrowed it down... kind of This is the first time I have done black and white photography so besides telling me the one you like the best, I would love reviews!

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Annie croped.JPG (27.84 KiB) Viewed 231 times

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blabla 087.jpg (40.54 KiB) Viewed 231 times

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cat.jpg (52.9 KiB) Viewed 231 times

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flower.jpg (41.69 KiB) Viewed 340 times

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leaf fluff.jpg (50.23 KiB) Viewed 340 times

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river.jpg (96.87 KiB) Viewed 340 times

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tree.jpg (97.4 KiB) Viewed 340 times

Woah, sorry for the sizes for the sizes and the number of them. Now you can see why I said 'kind of'.

Please, help me decided,
A. S.

Hello there.

Whoa, this is a lot of pictures... I'll go one by one, and tell you what I think.

1. I kind of like this one, but it doesn't speak to me. I would probably cut off the left side so the focus of the picture is on the side, which would make the picture less boring.

2. The bird feeder gets lost here. The branches at the top left... I don't know how to explain, but they kind of get my attention. More than the bird feeder, which shouldn't happen.

3. I like this photo, and I think this is one you could submit. The contrast is just fine and the dog well placed here to pass the right message.

4. This one is something we don't see much, and Ii like how the cat can represent the balance. I don't think I have anything to say for that one.

5. Don't submit this one. It's too cliche, and submitting something that everyone's seen before won't get you anywhere. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and I really love it, but something different will get you further.

6. I LOVE this one. It's different, beautiful, the contrast is genius, and the messages that it could have... I think this is the one you should submit.

7. Even though this is beautiful, everyone's seen this picture before. For the techniques, it's perfect. But for the originality, it's not the best. I still love it in black and white.

8. I like this one too, and it's probably a good bet to submit it. I like how the sun is shinning down through the tree tops.

9. The focus on this one is a little off. I think you should take out the left part up to the mushroom because right now, they get lost in the picture.

10. I don't like this picture really, but I can't tell you anything to make it better either...

11. This picture, I like. Again there's nothing to say.

12. Landscape... Not my favorite, but it will do. It's well taken, but I would take up the contrast a notch.

Boy, this was long... 12 pictures is a lot. Hope you've got one of them that you like, and good luck for the contest!

Keep up the good work!

-Other One

Thanks for the review!

I love leaf fluff. It is just amazing, and definitely think that's the one you should submit. The others are nice, but out of all of them, leaf fluff is the one that caught my eye, and it caught it strongly.

Annie, birdfeeder, and tree struck me as being too busy. This might be a focus issue, but I think you can correct this busy-ness by some careful cropping and contrast adjustments.

This might be due to resolution, but blabla, mushroom, light shining through tree, river, and tree one felt a bit grainy and out-of-focus. A bit of sharpening in the case of river might be worthwhile, especially in the background, as cropping would destroy the composition. For the rest, I suggest a slight touch of sharpening and some cropping. Mushroom in particular would benefit from having most of the rock cropped out.

I don't have any real comments on cat.

Flower and leaf are lovely. The focus and the composition are both perfect, is the contrast. Leaf is actually my second favorite after leaf fluff.

I definitely think, out of all of these, leaf fluff is the one to submit. Otherwise, leaf or flower are pretty solid.

Thanks for the advice and stuff... I am going to get cropping

Hello! I'm here, as requested (although, I am a bit late).

Annie: This dog is adorable. Is she yours? And oh, the lovely land that is rolling in the background -- there's just so much of it. Sadly, however, this photo does have a few flaws that are noticeable. The dog's right side is completely blown it. It's blinding. When you shoot in direct sunlight, which I'm assuming you did for this photo, sometimes it's best to find a more shady area, or just a different angle where the light isn't so...harsh. Try adjusting your white balance next time, as well. The sky also seems a bit dull -- I mean, honestly, it doesn't look like a cloudy day to a well-trained eye. It appears more that the camera shot a flash, and the sun was bright as well, so it blew out the light blue of the sky so that it's dulled. I wonder what this looks like in color.

Bird Feeder: Goodness me, what is that white blob in the center of the bird feeder? Utterly distracting, and ugly. Quite ugly. Other than that, the angle you chose for this photo is uncreative and a bit "same old, same old." Like, well, okay, it's a picture of a bird feeder. Whoa, add some unique qualities to your photo! Take it from a different angle, blur out the background with the correct depth of focus, and more. Just...don't let it be "same old, same old," because that's what is right now in my mind.

Blabla: That's an odd title for this photo, by the way. Cute dog, though; a Labrador, I suppose? I see what you were trying to achieve in this photo -- a solemn look, perhaps? Like, dog's watching water. Peaceful. Serene. In a way, it's a great photo. However, the dog's muzzle blends in with the water. His muzzle is gray, it appears, so he must be an older fellow. The water is also a gray color. So it blends, and you kind of "lose" his muzzle in the water. Other than that, I don't like the angle. This is purely opinion, but I would have shot this photo from like ground level, have the leaves in front of me out of focus, and sort right behind the dog looking at the water. Don't be afraid to get down and dirty when taking photos.

Cat: Hmm, this isn't quite bad. I like the simplicity of this photo; also, the country vibe it gives out is nice. It reminded me of Ohio, my birth-state, where there's rolling farms everywhere, and John Deere tractors out on the streets during the fairs. I wouldn't change this one at all. It's beautiful.

Flower: This is fantastic! Angle, depth of focus, everything! Bravo, bravo, bravo. I'm going to take a leap and say that those are probably sunflowers (pretty flowers, sunflowers are). I quite enjoyed how your depth of focus created a beautiful "bokeh" background. If you didn't know, bokeh is "little, blurred balls of light."

Leaf Fluff: I completely disagree with Kyllo (sorry, Kyllorac) when he says to submit this photo to the Literary Journal. Quite honestly, this may be my least favorite of all these photos. Honestly (complete truthfulness here), did you put that leaf there, or was it already there? Because most leafs just don't end up in such a perfectly posed place. And quite frankly, even if you didn't put it there, it looks posed. And, I don't like it. I do like how you can see the leaf's "veins," however, as that is quite beautiful, along with the bokeh.

Leaf: This one is okay. Nothing amazing; nothing I have not seen before, in all honesty. "Whoa, it's a leaf on water, how amazing. Wait, I saw that yesterday at the lake...psh." As a photographer, you want to take photos of the same things people see, or new things, but if it's the same things, you want to give it "a photographer's view." That means, don't take a bland photo. Take a unique angle and play with your subject (not, like, literally -- just take different photos). Let us see the leaf on the water in a different way. However, I do like the reflection of the big tree on the water.

Light Shining Through Tree: Okay, here goes my rant: it is terrible, and I mean terrible, for a camera to pointed directly at the sun (even if there's leaves in the way). It can hurt the lens and camera. Unless you have a specific UV filter or something, don't do it. It's just not worth it. On the other hand, I don't quite like this, to be honest; the sun looks so odd to me, and the sky, so gray.

Mushroom: This is different, I'll give you that much. I have never once seen mushrooms with hair-like things on them. And it's a bit gross to see, but I enjoy the new view of these mushrooms. The only noticeable problem is the fact that it needs cropped. So get cropping, Calli!

River: I love this. And I don't say that often, so bravo.

Tree One: A bit cliche; this photo has been done by photographers everywhere at least a million times or more. It's done, it's over, and unless you can add something new to the "oh look, I pointed my camera up a tree" picture, just hold off until you think of that unique view. I swear, I see these kind of pictures all the time on flickr, too.

Tree: I like this; it has a certain kind of forlorn look to it. Like a forbidden treehouse or something. I don't have anything bad to say about this one, either, so good job.

Overall, I think you've been making progress since the last time I reviewed your photos. Keep practicing, though; remember -- a picture a day, will keep the bad photography away! And, as for what to submit to the Literary Journal, I'd say the picture of the sunflowers. Ultimately, though, you must choose.

Have a g'day,
Mizzle

I'm sorry I don't have the time to give a full on critique. But my faves:
The leaf and The Leaf fluff.

They're all pretty awesome!

~Lava

Thanks for the review!
Annie: She is my uncles, but she has lived with us for over a year, so she feels like mine XD.

Bird Feeder: The blob is a really ugly white rock that keeps the water from draining out of a hole in the bottom . I know, everyone says the same thing when they see pictures of it. Gah, am I really that boring, but yeah I know it isn’t the best angle. I took it off the list of possibilities.

Blabla: Yes a chocolate Lab, his name is Lightfoot. The title was because it was late at night and I just wanted to get the photos on the computer. (: I do get down and dirty! (on this adventure I got my pants wet from the river) Actually I was about to try that when he got up and just walked away.

Cat: This is my favorite one because of what you said, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to take it as far as the country setting.

Flower: You don’t think it is too ‘average’ or ‘same old, same old’?

Leaf Fluff: It was a really windy fall day and I was chasing this piece of fluff knowing it could make a fabulous picture when it blew right where I snapped it. The leaf was already there, so no not staged, but I can see why it looks that way. I don’t think I am going to submit this one just because I think it looks so much better in color. It was a light pinkish yellow fall leaf, the light was shining through it really prettily.


Light Shining Through Tree: Thank you for telling me! I won’t do this ever again. Gah, I am so stupid at times.
Thanks again,
A. S.

P.S. Thanks for the feedback lava, I totally did not see it until now (: