Young Writers Society

Note: I've turned this into a thread.

So, another bunch of experimental photographs. It's getting colder and the leaves are gone so I spent more time looking for stuff to take pictures of. I might throw in the fat squirrel that was following me around

A tree. The color of the sky was lovely. (Reminder: My camera is broken so these aren't as good as I would hope.)




Another tree and my neighbor's roof




The branches looked so pretty.




A random wheel thing on a beautiful oak.




More branches!




And more branches




An attempt to use blurriness to my advantage.




Fat squirrel! <3




Another attempt to use blurriness.




Tell me what you think!
Kamas

Hello there Kamas! These were very good.

First Photo: I really like it, but I think you should have gotten less of the fat tree bark that was closest to you. It detracts from the overall feel of the photo.

Second Photo: Perfect. I especially love the tint of the sky. However, I think you could have gotten less of the house.

Third Photo: I like it, but I think you could have made it so you were looking up at the tree from a straight angle.

Fourth Photo: I think you should have focused more on the wheel rather then making it a tint in the background.

Fifth Photo: No Problems here.

Sixth Photo: It's very beautiful, but I think you should have sharpened the grassy area so we can get an image of the flowers more.

Seventh Photo: Sorry, but I think it failed.

Eighth Photo: XD
This photo is hilarious, and very random after all the branches.

Ninth Photo: A contrast to the other blurry one, I loved it.

Good Job, Kamas!
^^
Keep snapping pics.

Kammieyaz,

I don't really like the photos of the trees. Trees are super annoying to photography - and maybe it's just me, but I really don't like them, haha. If you're going to shoot them from these angles - which are half good because they're uncommon! - do, please try to find a major focal point of interest.

I like the one where you tried to make the blur work. The colors are soft and the photo is easy on our eyes which is good, because as our minds try to work over what it is, we don't need to have such a harsh contrast before us. Nevertheless, this is a favorite of mine.


That. Squirrel. I want a squirrel as fat as he is-- he's a terribly cute little creature, super fat and his tail is just adorable.

The last one is good as well; The blur works well here as well but it's harder here to determine a focus.

Keep at photography, Kammie. I like your stuff.

Best--
June

Hey Kamas

Overall I would say that these photos are better than the ones I reviewed before.

1 - I love the sky in the background in this one, it just looks so pretty and makes nice silhouettes. The branches in the background look nice against the sky but there is just a bit too much of the trunk in the right corner. It just takes up too much space in the photo, plus then you have that little bit of extra sky in the bottom right corner, which just throws off the photo more. Perhaps if you had just scooched a little more to the left, then you could get this nice V angle working more for you. I do think that this has a little more direction and more of a subject in mind than your other photos but it still needs a little more focus.

2 - I think this is my favourite of the bunch. It has nice composition and angles to it and I like the sun in the background and how it radiates this colour behind the tree trunk and I like that it's not just the tree but that you have the house in there as well, which just gives it something extra. However I think you could have gone a little tighter to eliminate these stray branches at the sides that are kind of messing your frame up.

3 - This one is fairly good but I think you have the same problem as you've had in some of your other photographs. I think that this photo needs more of a focus and a subject, at the moment it just looks like you pointed the camera up in the air without thinking much and snapped. One way I try and give these sort of tree photos more focus is that I will go to a trunk and shoot up the trunk, that way you are using the trunk to lead the viewers eye to the subject of the trees against the sky.

4 - Hmm this one I don't like so much. It's kind of like you were trying to be arty by putting the trunk in there instead of just taking a straight photograph of the wheel. Good thinking, I like how you are trying to think in a more creative way but it just didn't quite work here. There is too much trunk and when you first look at the photo all you see is the trunk and then the wheel is sort of a secondary thing, so in that way it doesn't work too well. Plus the sky is kind of bleached out but that is probably because it is over cast.

5 - This one again doesn't have much focus. I'm not sure where I am supposed to be looking or what I am supposed to be looking at. Also this big branch you have in the top left is quite ugly to the eye. I get that you were probably trying something out and trying to be creative, but just try not to take it too far and be arty just for the sake of being arty because then, more often than not, it doesn't work.

6 - This one could have potentially been pretty good. I think the thing that lets it down is the out of focus bit of branch that kind of points into the camera lens. It detracts from the pretty good focus that you have going on in this photo. Also I think there is a bit too much deadspace in the left hand corner of the photo, so you could potentially crop that. On the other hand I like the colours in this photograph and I like the angle that you have attempted, from high up.

7 - It's interesting but I don't think it works really. I would like at least something to be in focus and not all of it blurry. Plus I think that you overexposed the shot slightly because you have all these very very white bits. However it is good to experiment and see what you can achieve with your camera.

8 - I love the fat squirrel! You could have gotten closer and it would be a much more awesome shot but this is a wold animal so I forgive you for not having a closer shot. On the other hand, you managed to get the light in the squirrel's eyes and I love how you caught it looking at you. Good job.

9 - Oooh. I would have really liked this one if you would have had less out of focus green in shot. I think it would have been good if you had this out of focus green framing the shot, rather than intruding into it. Then it could have been a pretty amazing shot instead of just an okay shot. I do quite like this shot though. I like the colours and the focus that you have on the plants behind the blurriness. I'm also glad that you are thinking about foreground, midground and background to try and make your shot more interesting.

Well as I said at the beginning, I think you have improved from the last photos that I saw. I think that even if your experiments don't pay off all the time, you should still keep experimenting and thinking creatively because one day you may get an amazing original shot. So just keep practising! And I look forward to your next set of photographs!

PM me if you have any questions

Bex x

I have just one thing to say about those pictures.

That fat squirrel is my new best friend.

Ok fine I have two things, those are pretty cool! Lol, the random wheel, is it like a pulley from something?

Keep up the awesome work!

-Irish

Whoa. That was really cool!

Picture 1--the branches are so intricate! I really liked that part. But, as someone previously said, I think, the enormous trunk could've been minimized somewhat. In my opinion.

Picture 2--not much to say on this one. But I like how the sun is, like, blockaded smack-dab in its center by a tree branch. That was pretty interesting.

Picture 3--yes, I absolutely love this picture! I suppose it's the interweaving of the branches, how they seem to almost 'fit' together. (the ones from the separate trees. y'know, where the trees 'meet' in the pic?)

Picture 4--how did you find the wheel in the oak tree thing? That's really cool and surprising!

Picture 5--this one was nice. I liked how the branches ran across the whole length of the picture. Almost.

Picture 6--whoa, those colors are amazing! Where'd you find this, anyway...?

Picture 7--finally done with branches! Congrats. Anyway, very nice! The leaf (is that what it is? looks like bubbles attached together to me! ) in front is especially cool--like the blurriness effect.

Picture 8--haha, this was so funny! This one was by far my favorite.

Picture 9--ooh, pretty! Again, where'd you find such pretty leaf colors? I mean, wow--look at all these beautiful patterns in nature!

Thanks for the awesome photography! Please post some more.

Fruits : This is all in my little backyard. Sure makes you appreciate the little things when you get up close and personal with them. But then again, Canada is lovely. Next I'll wait for the snow before I go out for some more photos.

Thanks for the reviews everyone.

As I've decided to turn this into a thread, here we are, the new photos. (You may have seen some on my blog. Otherwise yay!)

A lovely horse, her name is Luna.




I know the spiked bar thing is blocking out part of the picture, but it was an attempt the capture the horses in movement. They were incredibly fast and this was my only decent shot.



Old fashion ice cream cart!



A copy of a roman temple. (it's actually a hotel )




Another attempt to capture movement. (Zomg, knights of horseback )

Kamas I love these photos! I think the Fat Squirrel is my favorite though! Haha I hope to see more of those potato chip squirrels! Haha!

Hi, Kamas, it's me again! Mind if I review your new photos?

Luna--
Wow, this was really nice and balanced. Though I think the whiskers and the hay (is that what it is?) could've been left out of the pic.

Moving Horses 1--
The only thing I didn't like was, as you said, the spiked iron bar-thingy. Everything else was beautiful, though! Especially the far horse's prancing legs and the turquoise/greenish (somewhat odd ) thing at the bottom. The feathers were also very nice.

Ice Cream Cart--
Wow. I don't think I can find anything wrong with this picture! The angle the cart's tilted at is very interesting.

Roman Temple Copy--
Whoa. That's...amazing...wish I was as good as you with a cam...

Knights on Horseback--
Again, very nice, very nice. Could you have included the top part of the yellow banner, though? That's just my personal opinion, and as I've said, I'm not the best at taking pictures!

I absolutely loved the pics, Kamas! Great job. Canada rocks. Your backyard is totally awesome. I'm sorry for the overuse of emoticons. Congrats again on getting Featured Member!

Hey Kama!

I'm back again! lol

1 - I loved this photo up until I saw the horses nose. That's the only part that kills it for me because it is out of focus or it might just be because the horse was moving when you took the photo and so it blurred the nose out. Otherwise though I love the angle that you took this photo have, I like that the horse is so imposing within the frame. I love the colour in this photo and I love how the background is all black it just makes the horse pop more. And this is probably one of the best lights in the eye that I have seen on this site. I know I harp on about getting the light in the animals eye but I think it is very important to make the animal seem more alive within the photo and I think the light in the horses eye here is amazing. So good shot here.

2 - I think considering how fast the horses were going and that there isn't very much time to consider composition and such, that this photo is pretty good. It doesn't matter that the horses are partly blurry here because you are showing the motion of them running. Of course you have things that are cluttering up the frame and making it messy but you already know that. I like how the horse's legs on the right are off the ground. It reminds me of a photograph experiment I learnt about. The colours are good and I like the angle because you can see the horses all lined up. So good job on a quick shot here.

3 - This is interesting but the colour is a little weird. It seems to have this red cast over it, which I think effects the overall image it just kind of distorts all of the other colours. What might have been more cool is if you could have caught someone on the cycle part or just people using it because at the moment it is a little dull as a photo. It's not an incredibly interesting angle and there isn't much going on with it. It would have been more interesting if it was like a candid of people using the ice cream cart. But I suppose if there was no one around then that is not your fault. Just if you want to be more serious about photography, try to think of not just taking a quick snap of something but how can I make this appear more interesting? What's could be an interesting angle? That usually helps me.

4 - I really quite like this one. It appears as though this hotel is just the light in a sea of darkness. You may have a bit too much black in the top of the photo, so you could perhaps crop that if you want but not too much otherwise you will throw off the composition. Otherwise there isn't much more I can say about this photo. I love the lights and I like how there are these little orbs of light at the bottom that appear to be leading you up to the hotel. This is what I am talking about when I say you need to lead the viewer through the photograph and here you are doing that so good job.

5 - I know I said above that it's ok to have blurry subjects if they are moving but I also think that is a judgement call and I think here they are just a bit too blurry, there isn't really a part of them that is sharp and I know it's difficult to do when they are moving. I don't know how sophisticated your camera is but on most digital cameras there is a sports setting that makes the shutter speed go fast or you could just manually do that yourself and then it would be perhaps easier to capture movement. But I like the colours and the composition is quite good although part of one of your subjects is out of frame, which isn't terribly great but good effort though. I know it's tricky to get movement shots.

So overall I quite liked these, you seemed not to be experimenting in these photos as you were in the other ones, except with the movement of course. I think you are quite good at candids so maybe you should try some more photos like this in the future. And also with the less experimenting you seemed to get better shots. I don't mean stop experimenting I just mean that when you weren't thinking about the photo as much or thinking about being different then your shots seemed to turn out good pretty naturally. So you obviously have some natural talent there.

Anyways, I hope that helped. PM me if you have any questions

Kammie--great photos. I don't quite have time for a full review, but I have a few (one or two) critiques):
-On the first pictures you posted on this thread, the example of bluriness the first time wasn't all too great. The second try at blur was much better, I believe--it had something in focus in the background, which was interesting.
-Of the horses, the last picture is slightly blurry.

All in all, though, these are some great pictures!
-Mizzle

Hey, Kamas. Thanks for the link to this, these are lovely!

Luna
I don't really like this one. It's a bit blurry around the nose. That would be okay if it were used to communicate action (if the horse were doing something like running or jumping) but it's so closed in that I can't see what she's doing. Also, I don' t like how the ears have so much space but part of the nose is cropped off. It just looks a bit sloppy.

Four Horses
This one is amazing! I mentioned how a little blur can be used to show movement, and you did it perfectly here. I also really like how they're not right in the center of the photo, it's like they're just on their way through it. I'm not exactly sure what the black thing is on the side... If this photo is cropped and you have the option of showing more (like the rest of the black thing so it's clear what it is) maybe give it a try?

Ice Cream Cart
Awesome subject! I also really like how it's placed in the photo. It's a cool angle, and the reflection on the top is awesome. Do you ever change the saturation in your pictures? I love it how it is, but something that you could try just for fun is seeing what it would look light in brighter colors, or in sepia/black and white.

Roman Temple Hotel
This looks like the White House! It could be a postcard advertisement. The only thing I would change is tip it just a tiny, tiny bit so the roof is exactly straight across the picture.

Knights
I love the subject matter. Something that I think is a bit strange, though, is that the foreground/subject (the knights) is blurry and the background is in perfect focus.

Thanks for posting these. They're really beautiful, and I can't wait to see more of your artwork.

Kamas!

Second Installment

I don't like the angle of the first horsehead and the lighting tapers off; it's okay, but more of a snapshotesque photo than something exclusive.

Pretty horsies! Are these Lipizzaners? The spears are a distraction, and while there's nothing you can do about that, the blur's a bit off. Does your camera have a sports mode? If so, try using that to shoot fast moving objects.

This might sound /so/ weird, but I have never seen an icecream cart like this, and I kind of really want to. Haha, you know, like... I dunno. In real life. Anyway! The angle's alright-- nothing superb, doesn't do much for eye catching either.

The roman temple one is great, about a half of degree off kilter-- nothing that photoshopping can't fix.

The colors in the last are excellent, but alas, blur invades.


Not bad, Kammie. You need a faster shutter for faster subjects.

June

The squirrel is my favorite. :] It's so cute!