Random Photographs

[starcluster]

i have seen the scenery some where before. but am not sure exactly o.o'

its nice to have a vacation :3 i hope it was a nice one for ya sadiaa (missed you and AA ).

i say; The first: image have a quite lot of distraction- trees, the fence from below-
the second: is a lot better.
the third: your subject is a bit too light from behind, i maybe if you tried to change your postion a little bit to avoid the direct sunlight
the fourth: also try avoiding the distraction and the direct sunlight.
the fifth: i like the shape of the lines in the circle. but the line from the corner in is distracting.

Keep up ;)

[notfunny]

I did not start using the camera for long. I just like something that pleases the eye. Advices and/or criticism are welcomed.

[ljetibo]

5th is a solid image, though I'd say it probably lack a bit of contrast, probably caused while you were going from color to black and white. When shooting in black and white you should remember to only count it the contrast of the shadows vs lights because colors don't transform. (to improve contrast try a shorter exposition, and to show your focus point better I'd probably use a bigger stop)
along with 6 (too bad it's blurry) it would make a nice story

apart from that, images 1, 2 and 3 are not really special. It's an often mistake to overcrowd your images, similar to what sadia was doing with her landscapes (sorry saddy I saw them and wanted to comment but didn't have the time and latter I forgot).
Try fixing it by adding depth. It's really easy like I explained HERE and it will (probably) enable you to make a good image out of your 3rd one. By focusing on the bushes in front, and by using small f number you would get a lot of contrast.


Landscapes, seemingly easy, are actually not really THAT easy to make. Reason lies in the fact that you have to know a lot about how humans "read" graphical context.

First we usually spot a center of interest (most dominant part of the image, one that captures your eye for that 1st second). It's important to group all your main subjects in the most contrasted part of your image (bee that tone, hue, illumination saturation.....or any of the other contrasts).
Of course there's nothing wrong with having more centers of interests, however you have to make sure they somehow follow the overall flow of the image and don't come into conflict.

Secondly you should be careful that things and objects don't run off your screen. Considering how I stressed out the importance of leading lines, ESPECIALLY in landscapes since that's almost all you've got, poles branches etc... basically shouldn't start in the middle of an image and then continue off it by a great amount. Like it does HERE, it's almost like a finger in your eye.

Well then after that there's about a million rules about "stops". Really dim dark, dominant areas that usually act in a way that prevents the watcher to "exit" trough that side of the image, effectively turning him back for another look.

Rivers are also usually placed is an S pattern. Ansel Adams and his snake river anyone? That's done because it slows down the watcher and it "forces" him to follow the lines of the rivers shore, effectively making him look through the entire image because it moves in an S pattern.
Similar should be done with roads. Strait roads that lead, diagonally off the screen should be avoided, when someone looks at that image it will feel to him like he's driving a Formula 1 car right off the image. All you need is a small change:
look at this: THIS THIS THIS THIS VS THIS
Of course this doesn't really apply if you're standing in the middle of the road since then you've got that symmetry thing playing for you (that's one of the reasons why even the last image works although I said it shouldn't, it's got a road and bushes lined up making a leading line right through the center).

Usually people also feel like they are less "violated" if you start your movement, or lines, on the left part of the image. However this is not the case always, considering that not all cultures write from left to right.
Oh and give your images depth, that's the biggest things probably of all. Landscapes are great because you've got a large area to cover and you are able to get a lot of light which means bigger f number and more sharpness. But if you don't give some perception of depth the entire image will look like plastic and usually won't get a positive feed back. Well luckily for us it's should be easy (converging lines in the distance, bluer colors, less details etc....).

Look at starclusters or sligh's photo's. Despite being overall quite sharp you still see them going off to a distance.

Well you're probably now wondering what do all of these in nature landscapes have to do with anything that's going on in the city (@sadia)?

1st image: no center of attention. a straight line (fence) that is not horizontal and everything in behind is hidden by trees.

2nd image: ok so you've managed to place some leading lines (fence, pavement, edge of pavement) however at their converging point, which kind of suddenly stops, you meet an empty poll. What you usually have to do here is place a center of attention here (point of focus, interest point), because it's so cloudy and cold looking image, the best way to do this would be to place something of warm color into it to make sure that it's the center of attention.
It would also be for the better if you placed someone/something a bit bigger and such a way that you are able to hide all the distractions from behind.
But then you don't quite have a landscape, though in return you'll get a decent image.
So all you really had to do, is place and interesting subject in that "hole" (from the end of the fence to the end of the image, if you had your friend stand close to you and make a silly face you'd have a decent "portrait". You have to fill it out somehow, you made the watchers eye crave for material to observe but all you left was a hole.
I'm feeling your predicament because I too don't want to take a picture of my friend but of the city, if only all those people that keep interfering with it would just understand T__T.

3rd image: well it's most obvious here, it's apparent that you had a case of bad weather (and it's noticeable in all your images). Cloudy weather makes for lousy images because 1) you loose all colors, and 2) you loose all contrasts. Stupid clouds like you had in your images illuminate almost whole of the sky and you don't have shadows, and you don't have colors.
and if you are in taking images of statues like that, I'd walk around a bit to make sure that the guy from below is looking at me (like the rivers are flowing into the image) and not staring out of the image (like uncomfortable log). I presume you wanted to capture the strongest contrast there that's why you turned to the sun, but alas in vain since it was a bit too much contrast and there are sadly too little details on the statue, and what's even worse because of the clouds the statue didn't even turn out to be a silhouette because too much details are visible xD. (Do I make any sense?)

4th image: the london eye: If you are looking to separate your image into 2 parts to make them look like they are fighting each other, then you must be careful that you achieve "balance". Meaning: if you put right and left image on a scale that measures how "filled" out the image is the scale should point pretty much near the balanced middle. Which it sadly does not. You should also think of aiming a bit higher to avoid nasty reflections from shiny surfaces like oncoming traffic.
If I was there, which I wasn't, I'd try with a different approach: I'd probably walk nonchalantly pass the older couple in the background, suddenly squat and using a small exposure try to capture only their silhouettes and with the london eye in the background. That would give me some un-regular lines versus regular lines, and some depth perception. Sadly I'm pretty sure I'd still have to cut off at least half of the london eye because of all the buildings.

5th image: entire image is a bit too dim, and I'm not really sure you can transform an obvious vertical element into an diagonal one. However, this image illustrates that you at least understand basic points like point of interest, leading lines, and contrast, sadly that chandelier makes for a lousy point of interest.


I apologize in advanced if someone is pissed at me right now, I don't want to insult or cause any emotional damage (can't put it otherwise) I hope that anything of what I've just said makes sense to you and that you are able to learn something from it.
Have fun!


P.S. I should post some photos too shouldn't I?

[notfunny]

@ljetibo it would have helped me allot if i had read those before i took the pictures ^_^, you live you learn :) Thank you.
@sadia nice scenery

[starcluster]

@ ya ljet you should!! lool

its been some time since I`v seen a long post from you xD

on the top by starcluster100, on Flickr

The image was taken from top of an icy mountain in switzerland (Gryon)

[ljetibo]

um yeah ^^
but since I've been on that surgery while back I had my hands full with catching up to all of the exams so I've kind of been busy (xD man, I'm always busy)

I'll see if I'll manage to clear up some space soon so I could take a trip somewhere fun to get some nice photos.....

[starcluster]

business these days seams like A must! lol you cant live without it.

the most important thing is when you feel like losing it! Remember to take a break ;)

[Indieanna]

I'd like to share some photos. I don't know any information about the settings of my camera when the photos were taken, but I do like to edit them and mess around to see if I can get interesting results. These are from my deviantArt account which is here. Constructive criticism is always welcome :3

These pictures were taken on a sailing trip in Norway.

This one is of a place near Tjøme, Norway called Verdens Ende.

[Northernian]

Very nice pics. I love Norway. It is such a pretty country.

Here is one from my country (land of endless snow and ice):

Yes I walked upon it xD I kinda live on the edge...

[Nubi]

This place is close to where I used to live as a kid (used to live in the countryside when I was little before moving into the city bahah). Took a photo cause the rainbow was really beautiful.

These are the cupcakes that my auntie made for Christmas. =w.=

This... I can't even remember where this was (cause autumn is still autumn everywhere bahah) but yep, just found it in my camera.

This one, again, was close to where I used to live when I was little. I remember rolling down those hills once cause I was stupid. xD

One of the photos I took on our trip to Singapore. :3