Photography (Long due.) + YWLJ submissions

So, I've a few photos I've been meaning to put up here.
The black and white ones are being considered for YWLJ submissions, so tell me which one you like from the B&W set.
The others are coloured because B&W makes them look meh-ish.

Enjoy. ^^ Critiques appreciated.

~~~





















Thanks for viewing.
DO tell me which of the B&W ones you liked the best.

~Lava

Lava!
They are all lovely pictures!
My favourite is the first picture, probably because it has the most meaning, but I also liked the 'Where are the words?' (though admittedly it would look better in Sepia)
P.S: I think the swan is indeed a swan xD

Good luck for the YWLJ submission!
~Meep(:

I agree with meep the first one has a really cool meaning to it and I also liked the picture of the rose don't know why but I love pictures of roses.

Hey

Ok, I'm gonna give you a comment on all of them, including the coloured ones.
I'll probably be a little harsher on the B&W ones as you're entering one in a competition.
Here goes.

Black and White.

Building the positives over the negatives.

Impressions: I loved the concept and idea of this one, I thought it was really clever The setup of them was good and I really liked the angle on which you took them.
Critiques The only thing I would say is that the focus is on the bottom middle battery, which looks a little strange, as the one in the foreground (second row, my left) looks like it should be. That makes the main-view batteries slightly unfocused. Also, there's a bit of glare reflecting back from the top three batteries, which doesn't look that professional.
EDIT: Looking back at the focus, the writing on the main battery looks like the object of focus as well, not sure what's going on there...

Raindrops.

Impressions: I really love this shot, the focus is beautiful and I love how the background's different colours change the look of the raindrops from linear (top half) to more "raindrop-y" (bottom half).
Critiques: That being said, I don't like the actual background that much. I love the colours, but not the background which I'm guessing is the view from a car window. Still, I really like this picture, I think it's really strong and beautiful.

I'm not sure if this is a swan.

Impressions: Ok, I love the colours, textures, and light in this one. The contrast between the swan and the water in both colour and texture is lovely and striking, and I even like the post, it seems like a sort of anchor (though that could just be me being strange) I also really like the light on the water, and the ripples And yes, it is a swan.
Critiques: First, I don't like the title. I know that's not part of the actual picture, but I just thought I'd mention it.
The pose doesn't seem that artistic, if you know what I mean? There's no rare, special moment that you've preserved with the swan, it's just a swan cleaning its feathers. Still a strong picture, but it could have been much better. This, however, is no fault of your own, but merely the bird not being in the 'right' position. Also, the twig at the bottom (my) right kind of annoys me.

Am I dying?

Impressions: It's a beautiful tree, it has lovely lines to it, and I like the title. I like the contrast between the tree and the background.
Critiques: While I think it's a beautiful photo, it seems a little dead (no pun intended ) Also, there's not really any clever lighting or interesting angles, it's not that professional-looking. Probably the weakest of all the black and white, in my mind.

Where are the words? (Originally in Sepia.)

impressions: Yes! I get to review this one now! Ok. First, I love it. I love everything about this one, the light, the angles, the varying shades of the pages...It's beautiful, it's artistic and professional-looking...Oh, and I love the title!
Critiques: None that I can really think of! Probably the only thing is, I wouldn't tell everyone it was originally in sepia, it's now in B&W and that's how you want people to think of it as, not ignore it because they're imagining how it would look better in sepia.

Chateau B&W

Impressions: I really like the mystery of this one. Beatutiful and strong, I like the natural peepholes through which we see the chateau Pretty much ditto what I said about "Where are the words?"
Critiques: Again, nothing I can really see

I'd put in either "Where are the words?" or "Château" for the competition. If you really pressed me to pick one, I'd go with the latter. Hope this helps!

Colour.

Chateau -Colour.

Impressions: Oh I love this in colour too. It seems almost like a fairytale castle Love the colours!
Critiques: None really, I love it!

Is that a pussy cat?

Impressions: Hehe, I like this one. I like the unfocused background, and the colours, and I like the pose of the bird. Your title made me smile Cute photo
Critiques: See above!

White flowers and an insect.

Impressions: Again, I like the sharp/blurred foreground/background contrast I think it's a pretty artistic angle/shot.
Critiques: I think it's a little bland. Other than that, I like it

There are no raindrops on this rose.

Impressions: I like the bright contrasts, and the rose looks beautiful. An artistic shot Though, there are a couple of rainsdrops on there
Critiques: See above.

Anyway, hope some of this helps, and good luck in the competition!
Vampyre

Im not so sure about the battery one. Dont really like the cropping.

Rain drop one is very cool.

The goose is a good shot, however not centered, unless you wanted that string in the shot...

Am i dying is good. Makes me think of being trapped in a spiders web! haha

The blank book is good, well titled.

I like this shot. Looks like an awesome painting or something rather. looks best in colour I agree.

Thats a awesome shot, nice background extra.

Wheres the insect?!?!

And the last rose is awesome.

Favourite would have to... Is that a pussycat? - Best shot overall

You are so talented! I love the raindrops one, and the swan:) I also liked the batteries, just because I never thought that a picture of batteries could be so lovely:) You are very talented!

Personally, I like the battery one. I think it's the most original. After all, how many pictures of batteries do you see, especially ones with meaning? While everything else is good too, they've been done before. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it really makes the battery one stand out for me.

Oh, so you can post for reviews if you're submitting to the Journal?! How come I didn't know that. LOL I thought it would be a blind system so no posting... hahaha...just me though. Just "I thought".

Anyway, Hey, lava! Nice pictures you've got here. Though I'd be honest, I LOVE the concept, honest! But the way they are shot just doesn't strike me. The swan and the rest are too cliche? I don't know if it's just me, well then great if it's just me...but then again.

If I were to pick, I'd pick "Where are the Words?" because it's the unique one. I also like the batteries. Uh...okay, I'll make up my mind, the batts! LOL I'll go for either one, though you'll need to reshot those. For the batts, try to add some depth, for example, step back a bit, focus at the ends, and show that the butts (ahh you get it) are narrowed away. For the pages, try to show action--as if the pages were flippin', you know what I mean? That would be ultimately awesome.

Umm...that's all I'll have to say. Hope I've helped. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. =))

`jash ♥

Hello
Alright, I think there's a slight problem here. You seem to be just making all these photo's black and white because they need to be, rather than they actually suit it. A photo needs to suit black and white; it needs to have a certain quality to it, an emotional quality, a dramatic quality. Something just NEEDS to be there in order for black and white photography to work well.
I'll go through each photo in turn.

1# Batteries.
I didn't actually know what this photo was until I looked at it for a long time, and I think that it was caused due to the black and white editing. Try and look at a photo and say 'is the focal point obvious'. If not, then your audience are going to find it difficult to see what it is, unless that's what you want.

2# Raindrops.
This photo suits black and white, which is a good thing But the angle annoys me. I know it's difficult to be creative in photography, but taking a photo from a 'myspace' angle isn't the way to go. It just makes a perfectly good picture a little more amateur rather than more professional.

3# Swan.
I love the swan's action, but that pole is distracting and the water seems rather dull. Try not to take photos dead centre too. I feel this could have looked really cool if you would have taken it from a different angle.

4# Dying.
(I have to say, you're amazing at making up titles for your work!)
This is just very simple. Dead tree. Try and spice it up a little.

5# Book.
I like this one! It's a little too zoomed in for my liking, but I like the tones and the gentleness of it. Great shot!

6# Chateau B&W/ 7# Colour.
The colour one is definitely better. The B&W one doesn't have enough contrast. Nice framing, although, I would like to see more of the chateau than the leaves.

8# Sparrow
Nice positioning, although I can't feel but quality just lets you down on this one.

9# Flowers
The insect is too small to see easily, but I like the focusing.

10# Red flower
I like this one, it has lovely colours, yet I can't feel disappointed as the flower is cut off.

Overall:
You have a creative eye, which is where I always fall short, so well done! Simple things just need to be refined though. I'd definitely try and save up for a good camera as quality is where your photos just fall short there. Having a good camera really makes a huge difference (I was using a mobile phone camera for ages and ever since I got my DSLR after saving up, my photo's have just came to life). My DSLR was probably one of the cheapest you could get :} but it's discontinued now. You probably know this already, but there's a new Nikon out; D3100. It's expensive, but it looks amazing, plus HD movies
SORRY, RIGHT I'LL GET BACK ONTRACK NOW.
Basically, to quickly summarise, you've got so much talent but just need to get tinyy things sorted, then you're going to be actually amazing <3

Hi there

1. So, it looks like you used flash on this one- there's a glare on the batteries on the front, which is pretty distracting. Personally, I generally shy away from using flash. It washes pictures out, creates awkward glares and unnatural lighting.

Now, I personally don't really think that this photo works too well in B&W. I think that color would add in another element of interest which is really lacking in it as-is. If you want it to be B&W, maybe turn the battery so that the brandname is showing, which could be a focal point. Right now, it's kind of a vague concept (which is really cool) but without any point of focus.

Speaking of focus, I think that maybe the focus could have been a little cleaner on this- maybe direct the angle differently and put in some DOF to add another little interest point.

Again, I really like the concept- I just think that you could perhaps add some more interest into the shot itself.



2. Nice shot- this one is much more interesting than the last, though again, it lacks a focal point. I also think that this could be in color. B&W is usually used when the subject really needs it- if colors are distracting, if the subject needs it, a concept... that type of thing. I think this could be in color.
Also, I think that the picture could be clearer, again. Nice job though- I like the background coming through with the DOF involved.

3. Great focal point here! I think that maybe you could have used another angle here, but I really like the B&W tones here. I do kind of wish that the pole wasn't there, but there isn't much you can do about that. Nice contrast of the swan with the backdrop.

4. I think that in order to appreciate this, it might need to be bigger- the focus looks a bit off though, and it looks like this could be better in color. Also, I think that you could have a better defined focal point. When you don't define the focal point, the person looking at it doesn't really know where to look, and everything becomes distracting from everything else. Also, the little thing at the top right corner is a little distracting.

5. I like this one, probably the best so far- you have nice lighting and depth, and the detail is nice. Interesting concept, and the execution is spot on. Great shot

6. For the chateau, I like the black and white, because the green is distracting. Really nice contrast with the branches.

7. Really nice picture of the bird- love the contrast, and the capture itself, but it unfortunately looks really unfocused. :/

8. The flowers are excellent- you have a really clearly defined focal point, I love the colors and the detail (though I can't really see at this size) looks clear. Great job!

9. Like the rose one, though you might consider toning down the colors a little bit- they're pretty glaring as is, and I think that if you tone them down, you'll capture more depth in the shadows. Right now, it's almost flattened out.


Overall, really great job. Sorry, looks like my review got more and more threadbare towards the end, haha.

I think that you could work on your focus, your focal points, and your colors. You definitely have the eye for photography, and really look forward to seeing more from you. Keep on shooting!

-Coral-