Art & Inspiration Photography Critique

Hey guys. I am a freelance photographer, been shooting for about 5 years now, and really love the hobby, and mixing it with my passion for the kulture has made it a fun time! Ive been thinking about submiting photos to Magazines and such and seeing what people think, but id really love to have some of your alls opinions, as to what you think about my work! Think I got what it takes? C/C is welcome, and I hope you enjoy!

#1


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#4


#5

 

#6


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#10

 

I stole pic #4. That defines the whole reason I do this stuff.

 

Welcome to the site some cool pics. There is a photography group you may want to check out on here there are some great shooters there

 

Don't quit your day job.

 

They all look good to me! What else do ya got?

 

Although most of them are really nice, something that I feel makes or breaks a picture is the whole composition. In other words, the background is just as important as the foreground. I would have enjoyed many of the car photos a LOT more without the background interrupting it (like a tent, or some people walking around or a late model car) all those things in the photo detract from the subject in my mind and then it becomes just another snapshot at a car show, not a timeless glimpse at a moment in time. Just my opinion.

 

^good information! Thanks alot guys, keep em coming!

Alot of these shows, you know how they are...real congested and people tend to always want to flock to the guy with a camera to do a Navajo rain dance around him!

I appreate the critique guys!!! Keep it comin!

 

Not bad....

 

He may not have one thats why hes asking our opinion if he only knew the hacks he was dealing with

 

I'm retired commercial photographer. Fashion mostly, off figure and on, I did a several layouts for some city mags, Dallas, Chicago, North Shore, Miami," don't quit your day job" is incorrect. You have a good feeling for composition. If you want a critique, I would suggest two things, In your motion shots try to crop in your view finder, I know that's hard it takes a little practice. Get little tighter on your subject. When your capturing a moment in time less is more. Here's something every photographer fights in every shot he takes. LIghting in controlled setting takes hours to set up. Outdoors it's a nightmare, try stopping down a bracket or two. If you just can't get your shot use a good software program to alter the exposure. Cars are without a doubt the hardest subject. They have more curves then a human model and they is no way to control the color of the outdoor lighting conditions. Avoid the sun, shade you give you the best contrast. don't try to get the whole car like the magazines, try are showing off they're show. Less is more in cars, people interested in the subject want detail. Ever see the those how to shots were you can't figure out what the heck they are talking about? Get in on your subject and see if you are not more interested in the crop. Like anybody else my opinions are well.... opinions. Here's the thing, a good welder made 10 thousand passes a painter has done his work over and over. KEEP SHOOTIN! Nobody is born with it, like anything else it takes hours of practice.

 

I guess BJR can do better....all the pictures look good to me.

 

8, 9, and 10 are the best shots in my opinion. I'm with Gigantor on being aware of whats in the backround of those shots. I think through the lens we tend to concentrate on only what is right in front of us. Get used to looking at all aspects in your viewfinder. There are things in each one of the first seven shots that I could say that really are not thought out. Also one thing that bugs me is your signature in the shots, I know it may look cool to you, but it is really distracting, especially at the size you have it and in some cases I think it has bad placement.

 

Well, you asked. One word - clean backgrounds. Okay, that's two but you know what I mean. E-Z Up tents are the bane of car show photographers everywhere. Also avoid trash bins and porta-potties at all costs.

If you're patient and willing to try different angles you can get the shot.

Walk around the car checking the background as you go.



I took this at the Goodguys in Nashville on Saturday with thousands of people walking about. All of the usual background clutter is behind me and I just waited until there was a brief gap in the lookie-loos walking by.

 

Exactly right, Bernie! The signature is wayyyyyyyyy too big........and its placement often distracts from the composition.......I say scalle that sig wayyyyyyyy down......otherwise, most of your shots are very good......

Just my $0.02

CB

 

those look good ..except 5 and 6 ,I personally don't like close up or angled shots..I prefer to see the whole car with hood shut too LOL,but you do have a good eye for catching the unrehearsed moment and looks like you could do well at this..thats my opinion for what its worth

 

damn... no pics for me at work due to blocks on the network.

the key to good photography is to take lots of pics and delete the bad ones before anyone sees them.

people talk about those damn tents. I hate those things at car shows and avoid them at all costs. sometimes a tent can be "removed " from a shot by shooting at a bit lower angle. if not I remove them on the computer.

Alot of these shows, you know how they are...real congested and people tend to always want to flock to the guy with a camera to do a Navajo rain dance around him!

need a couple of things to avoid that. a short lens. I use a 20-35MM at shows. probably more important, you need patience. I don't even like people behind the cars in my shots. so I spend a lot of time waiting. sometimes I take 4 or 5 shots from the same place as the people move around, then edit to a picture where they are all gone.

 

I have a few years experience shooting commercially, so take this for what it's worth.
You are the sole person responsible for the content of you images.
That means exposure, composition, perspective and subject.
That means even the background.
This is what I drill into my students.
You are the one who decides when is the right time to pull the trigger, no one else.

Ask youself, if the image tells the story you want to tell. Is there anything in the image that doesn't help tell the story? Get rid of it.

Is there a perspective, exposure, composition that will be more effective in telling the story?

Don't wafer, just do it.
No excuses.

Ask yourself these questions before you take a shot.
Think before you shoot.
Plan your execution.
Be intelligent in your art. (that goes for more than just photography)

Shot number 1 could have been executed much better than it was. Go through the list of questions while you look at what you shot (listed here in the post).
I'm sure you can answer them more effectively after some thought.

You have some good stuff. Don't get discouraged.
r

 

Looks good - you're doing a lot of stuff right.

Whether you want to go pro, semi-pro, or stay amateur, you need to develop your own style. That doesn't happen overnight. Spend a lot of time online looking at photos you like. Take a gobzillion pictures and your style will start coming into focus for you. Then you can shoot less and composition will come easier. You'll know when your style is developing, 'cause it'll stand out in the pictures - you'll tend to spend more time staring at the ones you like.

There are a bunch of free places online to study photography, from the correct techinical aspects to the artsy stuff. Go through it all, try what you like and toss the rest. Don't be afraid to break the rules on the technical side - it may be necessary to get that killer shot.

I have my favorite photographers that inspire me - some are Hambers - your inspirations may be different. Mine tend to be the type who aren't too serious about themselves. I've seen photographers who made a big name for themselves but got stuck on themselves and their work never changed. Got to be big names and make the bucks, but I don't see any soul in their work, just dull technical perfection.

Magazines each have their own style, and if yours matches what they want you can get in. Check out the ones you want to submit to and see if that's what you want to do.

Get the car owners involved in the pictures. Most don't like it. but ther spouses do and they buy prints for gifts. It also gets you more recognition. Start by handing out cards and talking with them.

Mostly - have fun and don't get too serious about yourself. Make it all about your subject.

 

Alright, I'll give it to you straight. Hope you don't mind me being a bit on the harsh side, but I spend a bit of time doing this, and we are pretty no-holds bars when it comes to critiques between photogs.

#1

Photo is very centered, no use of rule of thirds, background is distracting, should have shot the car behind some neutral so you don't see a half a car threw the window, and also used a narrow depth of field bring the subject to the foreground. Very "snapshot"

#2

Decent capture in terms of timing, but again to much depth of field the muscion in the background should be blurred, to keep the subject the focus better use of space, but the blown out sky is unappealing, subjects though is still centered (ie head). Would have shot with a flash allowing to get some colour of the sky.


#3

Selective black and white is not something you ever want to submit to a mag. Number #1 rule when submitting photos to a magazine. DON'T ALTER THE IMAGE!

#4

Action is alright, trash can in the background, to much dof again, and burnout marks up front distracting, also still centered.


#5
[/QUOTE]
blurry, desaturated, whats the thing in the upper right..

probably the best of the lot, need to watch those highlights and make sure they don't blow out, and again while creative very centered, and the cars in the background are a distraction narrow that DOF, and you'd have a banger here.

 

Nice shots, only thing I would say is avoid having stuff in the background, and when in doubt get the whole car in the shot with a wide-angle unless you are just focusing on one feature of the car... I'm no pro but I'm working on my shots too...

 

Hey Dude go for it! Looks good to me. Keep at it. In my opinion, Zero in on your topic, I am not into angled shots, hurts my head. There are some awesome photographers here on the HAMB. Like all the guys said, watch your backgrounds, take your time, have a good time. Slim

 

Lots of good advice here to help you to the next level; and here's a little more re car shows and rod runs. It's very difficult to get good shots w/o all the background clutter.
Trying a shot from a small ladder, looking down at your subject will help. But, if you
have something that may be worthy of a car mag. feature, ask the owner to take the
car over to a quiet corner away from the mob. This will give you "a much better shot"
at success.

 

Lots of good advise that I will use in my photography.
Thanks.

 

Wow! Ive got so much more out of this than orginally expected! thats awesome Thank you guys so much for your input! Its givin' me alot to think about that I 1.) never thought of or 2.) have ignored out of laziness or ignorance. Im excited to take this tips out and do some more shooting, and not make any excuses! Again...I am floored at the awesome critique!!!!

Shelby

 

Just about everything Brahm critiqued can be corrected with Photoshop. So, my suggestion is to get proficient in Photoshop. It is a tool just like your camera.
Also, everytime you take a shot, turn around and look behind you, there may be a equally cool shot in the other direction, you will be surprised.
Try to get something red in every photo. An oldtime (commercial) photographer who shot Florida postcards used to carry a variety of red objects, towel, beach ball, toy shovel, an apple, and added something red to every shot.
That's all I can add here.

 

So, here the thing, while you can correct it in photoshop, and if you want to do so for commercial work, that may or not be fine based on your clients requirments, but if you want to submit to magazines (editorial work). You must under NO conditions photoshop your photos you can do minor cropping, some basic colour correction, but that is it. Retouching, heavy cropping, selective blurring, heavy colour modification, cloning, healing (outside of dust), ect will get you in a WORLD of trouble. You most likely will be asked to submit a RAW file as it was shot out of the camera. It's up to the photo editors how they treat your photo. I can not say this bluntly enough. If you try to submit photos for editorial purposes and they are photoshoped (and you get caught). You WILL get blacklisted, and that photo editor, and any photo editor they speak with WILL never take another submission from you again!

Another key thing, or trap that a lot of new and aspiring photog fall into. Under NO circumstances should you EVER give you work away for FREE! Don't fall for that "It will help you get your name out bullshit!", once you are known as somebody who gives work out for free you will never be taken seriously! Doesn't matter if it's for Web, print, whatever! Photography is a profession. All magazines should have standard rates they pay for editorial work, don't sell your self short because you are new. If it's good enough to run in the magazine, it's good enough for you to get compensated for, they are making money from your PHOTO! If they don't have standard rates ask how much they charge for the same space if used for advertising. You spend time, money, ect taking and learning how to take that photo, you deserve to be compensated fairly! Every photo you give away for free is taking money out of a WORKING photographer who needs that income to pay rent, food, gear, ect! I don't know how tight niche the car industry photog's are but if you are the type of guy in the action sports industry (what I shot), that gives stuff away for free, or undercuts the standard rates you will get blacklisted quickly from the other photogs...and as the industries are very niche tight nit groups it's just as important to know the right people as it is to take the banger shots, you really want to stay on seasoned vets, and photo editors (who mostly are seasoned veteran photographers) good sides!

 

Not bad, but work on your cropping skills. I like #6 but you cut off the bottom of the wheel. I also like #3 but you cut off the seat. #8 you cut off the headlight, #9 you cut off the handlebar
Lot of good critique already.

 

Yep! I was asked by an editor that had seen my work on another forum to shoot an event that he was unable to attend. I was told that "I'd be taken care of". The photos hit print and I ended up with a T-shirt that didn't fit and two copies of the magazine with my shots in it....Felt good to see my name in print...yet shitty knowing that they thought my work was good enough for print, but not good enough to cut me a check! Needless to say, I don't contribute to their publication any more. I have had a few other shots hit print that did pay...feels much better!

 

We can help a bro by asking permission to use or by buying it. If this picture ' defines why we do this thing' then surely it's worth this courtesy. Jus' an idea ( a recession buster ? )