The Image Shredder

sdevine89

Would really love some honest feedback on this, thanks in advance.



Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia by StephenDevine, on Flickr

dinneenp

Kuta Beach feedback-

For me it's a grand photo.
I think there's too much going on; I'm not sure what's the focal point. You have the sun, clouds, reflection of the sun and the people.
The sun in the sky is too bright and doesn't add to the photo.

I think the fact that the scene isn't eye catching or that there's nothing of not in it doesn't help. What I mean is if there was a boat moored or the silhouette of a lone person fly fishing or similar it'd be better.

Personally I'd crop the photo so that you just have the people, their reflection and some clouds. Maybe the reflection of the sun but probably not.

That's just my personal c&c, others might love it.

superflyninja

Cheers all. I might try and re process/crop my shot.....hmmmmm. some interesting thoughts there. I had tried a few crops and that one worked the best imo...but maybe reprocessing it will give a different feel to the crops....

@sdevine89
Id agree with the earlier poster. There doesn't seem to be a main subject in the photo. I find my eye wandering over the image a bit and not resting anywhere. The sun does seem to be at an intersection of thirds lines and (to me at least) it seems to from an L shape with the beach silhouette which i find quite interesting! But the sun is a bit too bright i think.

Tiriel

sdevine89 wrote: »

Would really love some honest feedback on this, thanks in advance.

Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

I quite like it - but agree with what others have said in that the sky is too bright and distracting. I like the interaction between the people and the fact they are to the eye grouped into three pillars.

I think a crop would work well, depending on the size of the original. I would make a separate shot with the people as the focal point, cropping out the bright reflection of the sun.

CabanSail

Took this shot yesterday and processed it last night. It is actually an eight image stitch (2 lines of 4) which makes it a very large file to process (>2Gb)

Now I look at it I'm not so sure I like it, but others here do.

Is the subject too bland? Is the processing too much?

Tell me what you think.

dinneenp

@CabanSail- it doesn't do it for me. The sky is very dramatic (good) but the actual landscape/land seems flat and bland as you say.

The foreground doesn't work for me either; I think it's to do with the lillies/leaves on the water, they look messy so you don't get a full reflection.

Lastly the central, low cloud area seems very processed; too blue, one cloud stands out badly in particular.

superflyninja

@CabanSail
Im afraid it doesn't work for me. I think the sky and reflections are too contrasty with the strip of land in the middle sticking out as being less so. In general though Im not a fan of the PP. Along the ridge of the hills towards the mid left it looks like some ghosting, is this a HDR combo of images? The scene itself is nice though and quite dramatic but nothing really grabs.soz!!!! Dont hit me!!!

dirtyghettokid

@cabansail i think a crop just at the water line would have been better.. the sky is nice & dramatic, but agree with the others RE: PP on the trees. too much detail brought out.

Tiriel

I'll throw myself in the hot seat with a shot from last night's photowalk.



Do your worst All feedback is welcome!

superflyninja

I like it. I really like the pp and tones. Only thing I would say is the image seems very unbalanced, weighted toward the left if you know what I mean.

D.S.

i like the PP also - particularly at the bottom of the frame - it definitely grabs me..

Overall - i think the composition doesn't really work for me. There isn't really a place where my eye wants to go naturally after I was grabbed by the bottom of the frame.

you could try lightening the white posts and then the wall behind them, and some dodging/burning so that your eye continues to travel through to the back of the frame.. However, that will depend on whether you have enough raw data in the file to bring out as you travel around the back of the image and over the bridge. you could think about cropping out those boats on the right hand side as they don't work for me personally.

superflyninja

Undecided by phorgan82, on Flickr

Go wild

magicbastarder

the colour balanace changes about halfway across the frame, looks a mite odd.

superflyninja

Hmmm form what I remember I might have used a light flare layer on the right hand side....now that you mention it, it does look at bit odd!

eoglyn

I like the transition of the colour balance - it reads cold to warm - obviously the ocean is cold so there is a kind of message there, you are telling some sort of story through colour, maybe the trasition should be more gradual though.

I like the scale, the small man versus the giant ocean, again storytelling, you can't help but wonder is what is he thinking, is he in awe of the view, or is he simply deciding whether the waves are good enough to bother going in.

I think the crop is too square, there is no information in the top part of the frame, so do we need it - how much does that negative space contibute to the story? Did you try a 16:9 crop?? maybe its just me, but i quite often think things look better in 16:9.

I think the left side of the surf board is lost against the background, maybe a mask with a bit of burn or extra clarity might bring it out a bit better.

Overall, and i am saying this as it is the shredder, i don't think it's that strong an image - it would fit well in a series of images telling a story of a day or something like that, but i don't think it stands alone as a really great portfolio worthy image.

I have a couple of images that are kind of similar to this - a lone figure doing something identifiable in a big landscape that i really want to work, that i think work, but seem not to engage viewers at all. Each time i've taken them i've thought, 'that's it, human element with a story in a cool landscape with a great sky, winner'. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to engage, no matter how much you want it to, or think it should.

eoglyn

Here are a couple of my examples that i don't think ultimately work despite the fact that i had high hopes for them:



Lunchtime-1-2

superflyninja

I see what you mean about the 16:9....Hmmmm must give it a whirl. And indeed what you mean about the shots not connecting. I find similar with those you posted,nice shots but there isnt a story connection there for me. In the first one I see a guy fishing. Thats sort of it. Like I like the silhouette with the lovely sky, right up my alley but there is no wow or punch to it. Same as with mine. Some similar shots I see on places like 500 are super dramatic, but thats mostly down to the setting.

eoglyn

Yeah, ultimately a guy going fishing, for lunch or surfing isn't that dramatic a story. The human story doesn't match the dramatic landscape/sunset etc.

Maybe couple interacting in some way - could bring more of a story.

Like you say, if it was a better setting for your surfer, same angle but if there were jagged cliffs with tons of white water also forming part of the background. Again, more drama and danger. To be honest, your surfer just looks like he's going for a dip in the local lake, he might not even be more competent than i am with a surfboard, which is not very. As a viewer i pick that up and think 'meh'.

Working with what you had, maybe your surfer could be epic if he was centred in the frame, facing away from the viewer, silhouetted against waves that were considerably larger that him, all playing out in the bottom 6th of the frame, thus with a massive expanse of sky, beach and sea. i think it could put the viewer more in the drama. Or, as you had little excitement in terms of waves to play with cut out the sea altogether, surfer from the knees up, running or being active with the board with that golden light in a giant sky, expose it so you can make out the determination in his face. Even if he's a crap surfer he's still going to be concentrating and standing up some of the time.

Just spit-balling - maybe those ideas wouldn't work either.

magicbastarder

eoglyn wrote: »

Working with what you had, maybe your surfer could be epic if he was centred in the frame, facing away from the viewer, silhouetted against waves that were considerably larger that him, all playing out in the bottom 6th of the frame, thus with a massive expanse of sky, beach and sea.

with an apache gunship chasing him, with rambo hanging by his feet from underneath firing a gatling gun.

you're suggesting he should take a completely different photo.

eoglyn

magicbastarder wrote: »

you're suggesting he should take a completely different photo.

Yes.

superflyninja

eoglyn wrote: »

Yeah, ultimately a guy going fishing, for lunch or surfing isn't that dramatic a story. The human story doesn't match the dramatic landscape/sunset etc.

Maybe couple interacting in some way - could bring more of a story.

Like you say, if it was a better setting for your surfer, same angle but if there were jagged cliffs with tons of white water also forming part of the background. Again, more drama and danger. To be honest, your surfer just looks like he's going for a dip in the local lake, he might not even be more competent than i am with a surfboard, which is not very. As a viewer i pick that up and think 'meh'.

Working with what you had, maybe your surfer could be epic if he was centred in the frame, facing away from the viewer, silhouetted against waves that were considerably larger that him, all playing out in the bottom 6th of the frame, thus with a massive expanse of sky, beach and sea. i think it could put the viewer more in the drama. Or, as you had little excitement in terms of waves to play with cut out the sea altogether, surfer from the knees up, running or being active with the board with that golden light in a giant sky, expose it so you can make out the determination in his face. Even if he's a crap surfer he's still going to be concentrating and standing up some of the time.

Just spit-balling - maybe those ideas wouldn't work either.

true its hard to pin down what makes an image special. In my case though I couldnt really have shifted position, surfer would have been gone by the time i got there The human story wasnt the prime focus of my shot, he was just part of the landscape, like an interesting cloud formation or something.
Im thinking the bar is raised very high lately in photography, equipment prices has come down and sharing sites really give a lot of visibility to amazing photos. Its harder to stand out from the crowd now IMO.

With the two shots you posted, I like the PP on farm one in particular, the colours in the sunset and the 16:9 looks good. There isnt anything inherently wrong with them or improvements I could suggest. Maybe the content of the shot just doesnt grab. Its a problem i constantly run into. I might take a photo of a leaf or something, but it doesnt have that....certain something to make it special. Competent yeah, special no.

superflyninja

Hmmm In relation to the other thread about why CC is declining I think these few posts are very telling. Now I might be wrong, but this all reads like a lot of crossed wires to me.
I am confused a bit though. Now this is a genuine query and not having a go at anyone. Eoglyn you said : "You know this is a shredding thread right? You set it up so you should know. Your mindset when seeking regular C&C has to be fairly robust, shredding is that turned up. " I am confused, I didnt think I wrote anything to suggest that I was unhappy with the feedback or not able to handle it. It certainly wasnt my intention to give off that vibe. If someone replied and said "that photo is well **** innit" Id be annoyed because no reasons were given. But all feedback from you guys was elaborated on and so gets a thumbs up from me. So I'm scratching my head a bit as to this. I think I might need CC on my replies to make sure they read clearly and as intended ;p

Like even when I read your reply above Eoglyn it read as a defensive attack almost so I didnt reply last night. But today reading it, its more reasonable than I first thought lol. But it deviates from the original image quiet a bit and more a commentary my entire approach to taking photos which Im not sure is needed.

You are right about planning. 95% at least of my images are quickly taken while taking the kids out for a walk or something (i simply dont have any free time to go on photo walks) and Im not actively taking photos right now(concentrating on gamedev at the minute).

Have a look at my 500px account in my sig though its much more up to to date than my flickr.

eoglyn

Apologies for the wall of text from yesterday.

I deleted it, and i'll start another thread about some of the issues that it has raised for myself.

What you said got my mind racing, and it came out like projectile word vomit, it really was more about my current thinking about my own work than anything you put up. I am trying to stimulate discussion, get feedback about it, but it seems it derailed the thread a bit.

I have no desire to make anyone the other side of a keyboard feel bad about themselves or their work, everything i post here in this thread is entirely intended in the spirit of co-operation and mutual betterment.

It sounded to me, probably wrongly, like you were throwing your hands up and walking away because there was so much good stuff out there on 500px and the like because this one image doesn't quite reach the standard that you are viewing at the top there. I was trying to encourage you that you shouldn't. I promise to keep my responses brief from now on.

dirtyghettokid

ok.................:pac:
here's a pic. shred away. :P

down by the murrans (2nd edit) by dgk905, on Flickr

eoglyn

Ok, promised i'd be brief:

Too loose a crop, lose the left and bottom of the image, nothing of interest.

The front wall of the house is too dark, could do with a dodge and more on the door.

Maybe warm the whole image up a bit, bring out the best in the autumnal colours, though you may already have done that as the sky doesn't look blue.

The large shed in the background is too distracting, it ruins the image for me.

dirtyghettokid

eoglyn wrote: »

Ok, promised i'd be brief:

Too loose a crop, lose the left and bottom of the image, nothing of interest.

The front wall of the house is too dark, could do with a dodge and more on the door.

Maybe warm the whole image up a bit, bring out the best in the autumnal colours, though you may already have done that as the sky doesn't look blue.

The large shed in the background is too distracting, it ruins the image for me.

ok. my original edit, which i posted back in october was like this:

dirtyghettokid wrote: »

down by the murrans by dgk905, on Flickr

i'd done both edits on the same day, but only uploaded one. i'd uploaded the 'warmer' version the other day. i would agree somewhat on the crop comments.
it's funny you mention the large shed in the background. i had to have a good look, as i didn't really see it at all. my eyes just focus on the the white shed in the foreground, with the tree arcing over the road.
thanks for the CC comments!

Tiriel

I'd actually like a combination of both - to keep the white of the house and the sky in their natural colour, but keep the warmer tones on the foliage and the road etc.

Just to throw that into the mix!

eoglyn

Cork_girl wrote: »

I'd actually like a combination of both - to keep the white of the house and the sky in their natural colour, but keep the warmer tones on the foliage and the road etc.

Agreed.


My eyes were immediately drawn to the big shed - its incongruous with the old small farmhouse that is your subject. That'd be a fine juxtaposition, if you repositioned and made it a part of the frame, but as it is, it distracts.

eoglyn

fly fishing-1 by EoghanL, on Flickr

Be ruthless.

dirtyghettokid

@eoglyn's pic

personally i find there is too much sharpness & contrast.. pic is too busy.
for me, it would have been better if the fisherman was the sole subject that was focused on, closer in. maybe using a telephoto with a large aperture, blurring out the background..