"Simple" pictures

[Kaphias]

These images (except the two sunset ones) were taken for a lit project. I had seen a photo gallery in town where the photographer's style was to take very simple photos, often with just one object. I attempted to imitate that style in the images below. Although simple, I really like a few of these. I haven't really seem this style here much, so I'll be interested to hear what you all think of it.

 

 

 

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And the two sunset ones:

 

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[Shiny]

Simple Photos:

 

 

 

Just because it is simple doesn't mean you can't get the basic stuff right. Quite a few of these have really boring compositions as you have just plonked your subject in the middle. My advice is to only do that if your thing is powerful. Another good rule of thumb for that kind of thing is if your subject is symmetrical or not. With center-subject photos, you really need to try that, because with symmetrical photos, the subject is a lot more powerful and eye-catching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo is probably your best one because you have a very powerful subject, which uses symmetry.

 

 

 

Another problem you have with your photos is fringing. This is because your white-balance is incorrectly set. Get Woopidoo2 or Zargo_VI to help you with this.

 

 

Sunsets

 

 

 

Your sunsets are fairly good. They lack are certain subject and seem generic. Are you doing any post-processing in them?

[Kaphias]

Simple Photos:

 

 

 

Just because it is simple doesn't mean you can't get the basic stuff right. Quite a few of these have really boring compositions as you have just plonked your subject in the middle. My advice is to only do that if your thing is powerful. Another good rule of thumb for that kind of thing is if your subject is symmetrical or not. With center-subject photos, you really need to try that, because with symmetrical photos, the subject is a lot more powerful and eye-catching.

 

 

 

-removed-

 

 

 

This photo is probably your best one because you have a very powerful subject, which uses symmetry.

 

 

 

Another problem you have with your photos is fringing. This is because your white-balance is incorrectly set. Get Woopidoo2 or Zargo_VI to help you with this.

 

 

Sunsets

 

 

 

Your sunsets are fairly good. They lack are certain subject and seem generic. Are you doing any post-processing in them?

 

Alright, thanks for the info on centering/symmetry. I'll see if I can re crop any of the pictures... if not, I'll try and apply the idea when I get out next.

 

*waits to hear about fringing*

 

The two sunset images were not edited at all. If that is what you mean by post-processing, of course.

 

Thanks. :)

[remoteman]

That fire hydrant is awesome, it's such an awesome location already, with the texture background, and the hydrant is in such a contrasting colour. Love it.

 

Your problem is composition, as noted. It's rather boring, no offense. You want to look at photos and be amazed, photography is all about showing people things that they've been looking at their whole lives and haven't noticed the beauty in, or what ever emotion that you're trying to convey. With art, your goal is to invoke emotion in your audience. The emotion itself will differ between people and their life experiences, but you have to have a general idea.

 

To improve this, you can do two things. First, head over to somewhere like deviant art, go to the photography section, pick a category and sort it by popularity, and see what the photographer has done in these photos to make them so popular. Or you could visit a local art gallery and look through a photographic exhibition if they have one. Inspiration really helps.

 

Secondly, go back to a location, such as the fire hydrant, and seriously stay there and take say, 100 photos of it, all differing. Force yourself to reach this high number so that you have to try new things, trying macro, different angles, selective focus, framing it with something, only including parts of the hydrant etc. I'm just mentioning the hydrant because i want to see a cool photo of it, but you can take this approach to any photo. Forcing yourself to try new things, rather than seeing it, taking a happy snap and moving on.

 

 

 

Just my two cents.

 

RM

[mister_moocky]

 

Defonately the best one.

[Sam]

The photos are all promising, but they all look very "auto" (using the cameras default settings); I can see overexposure in the sky, and slightly overcooked colours, even on the fire hydrant one, which is indeed the best of them all, even if it does need a little work.