Your photos (150) |
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 Hints and tips by Philip Grosset If you'd like to submit photos for criticism, click here. |
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with comments from Philip Grosset "Could you please run your professional eye over these photographs and please give me tips on how they could have been improved. The pictures were taken with a Canon L1 APS camera and they are of the Angel of the north, which is in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. And of my girlfriend Katy. Thank you for any comments." (Bryan Webster, London, England) |
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| You've sent me two versions of this huge Angel of the North statue. I prefer the one on the right, as it's much more effective to see it in its setting, and there is the added benefit of a tiny human figure underneath it that gives an idea of its size. I'd have come in just a bit closer, though, so that we could have seen the human figure more clearly. |
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| Here are two more versions of the same subject. I suggest that both could be improved in the same way: by coming in closer, as shown below. |
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| By moving in like this, I've been able to move the figure away from being stuck right in the middle of the picture. Instead (in both photos) she's now in the more interesting intersection of thirds position (see the explanation at the foot of this page). As to which of the two pictures is the better, it all depends on whether you want the emphasis here to be on your girlfriend or on the location! Both versions are perfectly pleasing. Reply from Bryan Webster: "Thank you for your quick reply to my email and for the constructive criticism I can use to improve my technique, not only on the photographs I sent you but on other photographs I take, as looking at other photographs I have taken I do tend to place people smack bang in the middle of pictures as if they had a target on their head and I was shooting with a gun not a camera. Thank you for all the help you have shown." "My name is Aaron Gustwiller, Student studying Graphic Design and maybe photography when I transfer to Central MI University from Monroe County Community College. So I live in Monroe, MI. My camera is a Sony Mavica CD-300. With the ant's view and Red Flowers I used macro lens to give me an out of focus background to bring the images in the pictures. In the ant's view I wanted to look at the flower or whatever it was at a different angle. Showing its depth from the view of an ant. The Red Flowers picture I attempted to use the leaves that were around to me to frame the flowers. The Ghost Building and the Statue of Liberty are taken in NYC a few weekends ago. The Ghost Building was interesting to me because the contrast between the two black buildings and the middle almost transparent looking building in the middle. The statue of the eagle was a interesting piece too. The Statue of Liberty picture, I used the shapes of the platform of the statue, because I thought that it was interesting. I used a lot of contrast with the picture, since it was a sunny day. I did this to bring out the curves in the statue. Well tell me what you think? I have many more pictures! It was hard for me to pick just four. Thanks." (Aaron Gustwiller) |
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| The problem with your ant's view photo on the left is that hardly anything is in focus, except for a tiny area in the middle, as shown in my enlargement on the right. It is also slightly underexposed, presumably because your camera was misled by the bright sky in the background. If you really want an ant's view, you'd have to come in much closer anyway. Perhaps my version on the right is more what is needed. |
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| Your photo on the left is much more successful, but could be made better still by coming in really close, as I have done on the right. It was a good idea to use foreground leaves to frame the flower, and I like the light green deliberately blurred background too. |
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| The buildings in your photo on the left here appear to lean in towards the top, presumably because you used a wide angle lens setting and tilted the camera up. You may sometimes choose to do this intentionally to emphasise the height of buildings, but here it looks more of an accident. It's a pity too that we only see parts of people in the bottom foreground. In my version on the right, I've straightened the buildings, removed the slightly awkward foreground, and adjusted the contrast to make the ghostly building look even more ghostly. |
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| Your photo on the left looks underexposed. Unless you really want this dark gloomy effect, watch out for the effect of the bright sky on your meter. On the right, I've tried lightening the statue but leaving the dark sky as it is.
I think you've got good ideas for photos - and you'll soon be able to produce just the effect you want. |
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