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Viewer's Photos Critiqued: Part 3

So yesterday we went through what? One hundred pictures and today they brought me ninety five and I the only one I've seen so far is the one that's up on the screen right now so I do not know what I'm going to see so the reactions that I'm giving right now are in my truthful and honest full and unmerciful opinions about the photos so I'll just jump right into it is that what you want? Russ? Do you get what you want? You what you want what I what I what I want exact what I want okay? All right, here we go. Photo number one this this is cool it's a nice black and white aspect ratio wise is a cropped isn't it kind of looks a little bit crop to me, which is fine. What I like about it is that the arm sticking out is framing the subject below this guitar player right here and it looks good now I did hit this button is I want to see what a shot with fifty five to two hundred which is a really kit lens one two hundredth of a second before I so sixteen hundred so that's pretty good for that if ...

you can do this at a concert with that kid lends I think you're really well off so that's pretty good uh what so in a tent it looks like we're in a ten we have a literally one spotlight on this guy it's fine, but when we're looking at his face and he's really glowing like lower sin, the answer to this question is what everybody black and white just because look how glowy his face is it just doesn't work and if you pulled out the yellow let's see what would happen being that we can do that if we pull out yellow it just it doesn't work so well but we sit there we go black and white we have the ability to just boom I mean that's just quickly but does that make a big difference when you go from from that and you go to that it doesn't save the image it doesn't make it better than what it actually it makes it better than what it was in color but that's that so that's what I would do to that image if I was in charge of it it's soft it's nice it's a sleeping baby I think it's a beautiful shot that any parent would like I would I mean the lighting is soft um I mean, I don't think I can comment too much and say I need more light in the kid's face because they're sleeping, you have to take it into context the way that it is you're not gonna have the light in the face if this is just coming in from off camera or threw it through a window then that actually looks more like a sofa because of the leather so is the baby just sitting there on the laying there on the sofa so I think it does work composition wise pretty cool I don't mind that the elbow was cut off because my face actually my face my eyes go towards the face of the baby but I see these hands of cool part of this is if you did focus in on the hands here that would be a really cool shot as well but this is nice the firefighter hopefully it's not a real fire it could be a real fire in terms of a fire I don't I don't think this is a great photo journalistic shot it's too tight I don't see enough of the situation I want to see all of the fire I want to see it I want to see the wider shot I want to see the trucks I want to see the the fire hoses on the ground I want to see that type of thing yes we don't like devastation but in photo journalism to get something wider than this would be better because it's it's not as interesting in my opinion one two three, four people so yeah it looks like we have the whole band in there it's fine it doesn't it doesn't blow anybody's mind that it's going to be the you know a great shot it's a more of a snapshot of a live show uh it's exposed well it is it's actually exposed well especially for the multiple lights it looks like that it's not as bright on the two people on the side as it is on the lead singer in the middle it works it's fine it's just not extremely over the top is a just a wow image that you look at and that's cool that I'm drawn into this I don't hate I don't fully love it but I'm not saying that I need to see his ear because I go right to that eye right to his right eye so the left side of the frame I think this is a cool shot it's processed very well it's not to boom ified but it's not too flat it looks like it's sharp on the eye what do we have eighteen to fifty five kit lends everybody sam sam means that would be a cannon correct silent something motor I don't know something like that it would be cooler if if it wasn't cut off it the cheek there but I think based off of what we know and the way it looks this is way acceptable and I do like it oh snap take it off the screen it's the dutch angle that is killing me I just had lunch I just had lunch in and it is true if you stare at this long enough do you feel like you want to throw up? Well everybody I'm looking at all of you guys over there going you that's what's happening it's it's just so awkward that it doesn't work I just that's all I have to say it doesn't work plus he's eating the microphone that's cool I feel that I like the symmetry going on I want to see something here one sixty eight f fourteen five thousand irs so holy snap that worked five thousand dollars so we don't know what is shot with but this works I like this it's a nice environmental portrait I really I feel it I like the colors I like the tones I don't think the black and white would work but I do like this one all right? We have a fire thrower or a fire starter for anybody out there who gets that one I don't I don't know that the color worked on it. I just don't. So I'm just gonna go ahead and tweak it see what I come up with before after my off base in black and white do you need you know it's fire? Do you need to see that it's all are in? You don't have to agree with me but if you do that's cool I just think that that works better because now her face is lit up and we got rid of all that orange and it just pops moore I think I personally think that would look better. All right? A what could make this better? I think the horizontal could make it better because you could see that the singer or whoever is going to talk to the drummer other than that it's not very interesting of a shot from the side, especially with groupies right here on the right. I would keep away from that as much as possible. That looks like just a shot. A snapshot taken from from a venue. There's really? Not much I can say about it other than it's a snapshot? Yeah, they caught the fire that's fine, but other than that it's really there's there's. Nothing that makes you go. Wow. So this is a smaller venue that's okay, you got the three people in the band you talk about the other day hiding images in black and white. I think we have to hide this image in black and white again this a twenty eight to three hundred mega zoom at fifty five millimeters. I think hiding this in black and white may save us, especially from that exit sign or it may just just not be that good of an image what? I don't know this one this one's harder now don't want to do that I mean that's what I have that's where it's that it may be slightly better in color but uh I don't know it just doesn't grab me is a really cool shot that that's grabbing me as a pretty cool shot I like the tones I like the colors this is probably the drummer being either dragged from the stage or upset that is that that's something happened to a snare drum putting I don't think this is during a live show because look at the background I can't even tell what that is in the back of, but I love all the details in the background this is cool it's a nice captured moment nicely exposed great thing for a photojournalist photo journalistic style story on I think it works really well, but you guys see the difference between images that make you go who and images that make you go and exactly not so much cause that doesn't make me go home it's just the guys expression on the right in the guy's expression on the left it's not a great expression I'm going to sneeze in a second if that happens, but um it's cropped in an interesting sixteen by nine aspect ratio it looks like and I don't know that this is in focus it looks like it's back focused back here a little bit more so than right here. So it's not in focus this guy's actually in focus, I think or as close to focus is come being so I'm not a big fan of it. Pick one of these two guys to focus in on or or go a little wider, which it looks like there's heads so they may have not been able to go wider that's why they have the crop um, I wasn't there, so I can't tell you that. Yeah, yeah that's somebody jumping and then there's a shadow it's interesting. I don't know that it fully works because of the foreground, with a person jumping and in the shadow it's interesting it's interesting is what I'll give it. I don't know that I think it's that good of a shot? I can't tell you that. I'd like to see what I would like to see more light on the subject to see what they're doing there, but obviously with a strong light like this, they were trying to silhouette them or they were shooting in a mode that once much is second to fiftieth on the one hundred. Yeah, it's really hard to say how they were shooting without knowing everything, but I would like to see more light if I had my druthers on this subject. So we again again we got a lot of concert shots didn't weigh it seems like most of these air concert shots I guess that's what people were submitting this is all right it's okay I don't think the processing is very good it could be boom ified and brightened a little bit whether it's color or black and white it doesn't matter it's an all right shot snapshot that's all I got you snap that's what happens when you overexpose an image and you use the highlight slider and go all the way that way you can tell that it went that because you could just see what happened look soul arised where there's no white it totally brought those highlights back so that's trying to make something out of an image that should probably be thrown out I personally just having done a few concerts myself ah I do like the angle of the shot for some reason it grabs my attention just the angle of where his head is and like where he's got the guitar but it if there's more light on it you could see him or there was like like you know you actually made it more of a silhouette would be more interesting you're more dramatic contrast yeah the composition, the framing all of the wires in there with the petals all of that works I kind of would like a little bit more head room I just feel like it's xhm or bottom is really great in the corner and then the exposure wise we know that's way off so that's what hurts the image oh snap I'm getting kicked in the head let me take a look at this real quick one four hundredth of a second to eight, sixty four hundred eyes so four hundred millimeter to eight somebody's using a big piece of glass is that the sideline that's got to be the sidelines so this is it's cool I'd like it to be a little closer and a little tighter but it's a nice moment that's captured I know how hard it is to capture this type of thing with high school football I believe this is high school football could be college but I think it's pretty good for what it is if it was during the day obviously would be a little bit better settings wise pretty good right where they needed to be just tighter on this would would probably be the saving grace great exposure great color great processing it's the dutch angle that's throwing me off again there is no reason for it I don't see a reason this is stuck this legitimately izhar zahn ical if you want to know what horizontal really means it's somewhere between well now I'm innocent but I like saying horizontal for horizontal but this is stuck in between vertical and horizontal it is and it shouldn't be because it's a good shot that's all right, not a lot of action. Not a lot of emotion coming from the image I want to see more emotion get the guy as he's about to shoot pool get down on his level, shoot down the stick with the ball out of focus look on that you know things like that. What lens? And we have here we had a fifty one point four absolutely have that set up the shot if you can or or don't get close to the to the rail get down their focus on the subject just on his face with the ball out of focus here you could be done at one four could be done a one eighty could be done. It has to and that's going to create some interest in the image. This is just a snapshot. It doesn't doesn't pop that's good drummers shot nice job, heather that's it's a good drummer shot it's a little heavy handed on the on the uh the sharpening and on the clarity slider but color wise on the drummer is very good. I like that I see the drum kit in there we got broken sticks or falling apart oh, this is shot with a flash I take it back that's why you have a lot of light in there and now that I see the glow of the stick man, it was a little bit of a slow shutter speed, nothing wrong with that. We're talking about natural light stuff, mostly, but that's fine, if that's what you were able to do with the drummer, the photo absolutely does work, and something else you could do is slow the shutter speed down even further to get a little bit more of the glowing mick lower sin going in there on dh that's. Just another option. If you're popping the flash well, we're exposed for the outside, and we're not getting the exposure for the subject here. One thirtieth I also won twenty five that's the issue right there, this is a twenty four to one o five f four we need to expose for the subject and that's not what happened here, but we could also save it. I mean, that wasn't too hard. Do we go black and white? No, I kind of I don't mind the color. I like the different green in the tree. This was just a processing fail and and that looks okay. Do you guys agree? I mean, snap, I didn't expect it to be like that and expect to go from that to that and you have to remember that a lot of you your photography happen you take the pictures you've captured the moment and sometimes you get the exposure a little off we brought this j peg back and it still works so a lot of what happens to make your photos go boom and we saw this this morning when I shot the kid here maxwell and then sat here in process those images they go from flat toe wow when you just bring the processing to a certain point whatever your style is go with it and this I mean that's what happens after the fact you start bringing your images toe life it's great when you consider down bring those files in have a nice file to work with and bring it to life and make it go pal I like it I'm surprised that that was just a just a fail on that part dutch angle can't really yell too much about the lens flare here and let me get back into the full mode for you guys out there there's no reason for a dutch angle here it's like shooting a wedding how many times have you seen people while the groom was tall and the bride was short so I thought that I would get them on the same level while they're never going well I can't say they're never going to be on the same level because that could happen it's just if she's standing on something there's ways around it he can sit down, she can put her arms around him, they couldn't be just they could just be tall. In short, it doesn't matter why did what what rules says they need to be the same height in a picture, but if you're going to turn it like this and have her here in him and and then you look at the background and it's running sideways down the mountain like that, that just it doesn't work for me. I shot a tall person's wedding before the bride the groom was was six foot eight, the bride was six foot six, the father was six foot nine, the mother was sixfive, the one brother was seven one and then the shortest brother was sixfour he got the short end of the stick on that one, they were well, they met at a at a big person convention. It was a fantastic wedding and it was a challenge, but what I did is I stood further back, I took a two hundred, three hundred two point eight and I shot a little further back from a distance and you can and they're they're pretty close to the same height, but it were that that worked I didn't get to close with a wide angle lens and shoot straight up that wouldn't have looked too good, so something like this get down on a lower angle. Use the sun to block that. Have her head blocked. The sun is going to cause a nice halo and glow around her. But stop the dutch angle and you could have a much better shot. The colors and tones air pretty good, but the dutch angles what kills it? We saw this one yesterday. That's. All right, is that new york? So it's, the empire state building. It's cool of the chrysler building. All right, they've gargoyles on it, it's. All right, maybe back up a little bit, get his hand in there, having crossed his arms, and that will be a little better. It's ok? It doesn't. What was that? It seems like there was a strobe because the skin tones so even and wrapping like at night. So it looks like it was stroke in the front by something probably portable. Like a portable kit like soft box or something. That's what we're talking about, you know that there's no catch light in the eye just the way the skin appears it's kind of like, based on the background and him. Yeah, it could be, but I just I don't see a catch light, so that's that's a tough part, I mean, I do see that this rivett right here is lit up. It could be just it could be a continuous like plus maybe it is it's some kind of light source, but either way I don't I'm not drawn to that image too much. This is cool if she's in focus and that the painting isn't in fire she's not in focus I think the painting is more in focus in the background it's just it's thrown off why are we out of focus here? Seventeen, eighty five oh that's! Why it's not out of focus its motion we see it one fifteenth of a second at seventeen millimeters that's not a v I don't think that's a oh it's a it's an e f s so it is ah no! I don't know if it's a v r or in iceland's it's just the shutters meat had to be brought up just hand holding it like that just didn't work. Oh no, that doesn't work I think that's just the answer is that doesn't work these they're banging their heads but in that gazebo it just doesn't work. I got to keep moving so it's a candidate, this guy working I think we got to get a little bit brighter on this I think it's a little too much in the dark area not so much on the contrast again I'm not editing the raw file here but I think that we'll play a little better just frightening it a little bit not worrying about the noise or green thirty two hundred s so it's still holding up I just think just editing wise it just needs that little bit of change and that's nice but the moon has to be obviously fake so it's a composite of some sort but if that's what you want to dio then she you know as long as nobody steals your lucky charms were ok so it's okay the moon throws me off I think the image see I think the image is good enough on its own this is a nice subject it's a nice captured moment the processing is nice I think that the moon is just not necessary do you guys agree that I just think it's distracting because it's not riel the only way is that it's not distracting is if it's actually riel somebody may tell us that it is but I don't I would venture to say that it's not what is that to the right a reflector a light reflector and then in an umbrella I think it just doesn't work it just doesn't work just doesn't work that's extreme crop I don't know what it's from but you can tell that they softened it up if we're going to be honest the composition is great the composition is right on I like the frame thats captured, but everything else about it, I don't even know if we're gonna have data here. One third of a second it f six that's auto mode, so that means this was shot in some kind of auto could because of the f six most of the times we don't even have enough six in the camera. Tio stop at so but composition wise, I like that, but the shot doesn't work at the exposure does that b b king that's, that's great! I mean the lighting, it doesn't get any better than that. This is a very boom ified contrast is shot that that works one five hundredth of a second to wait I s o two thirty two hundred, two hundred millimeters this is this is a great live shot of b b king that works that doesn't work so much it's the hands it's cutting the arms off, it's it's just that the framing would be better. I don't know and and plus, we're eating the microphone. What band is it? Does that anybody? No and can't tell what that is, but now it's just missing and it could be an exposure thing one one hundredth of a second five six as part of the problem, when you're shooting a show, especially, you can bump your eyes so higher than this. You don't have to stay with eight hundred eyes, so you could do that if we wanted to bring it back in terms of the exposure, it's, just simply, we can brighten it up a little bit. We can do that. We can also do. This doesn't really work, but I think we need to move on from that one.