File :-(, x, )
JP
I need some criticism, /p/. I'm posting what are my favorite five that I've taken over my whole experience with photography. I've used multiple cameras for all of these images. I did the color processing with Adobe Photoshop CS3. I don't ever modify the actual image, just the colors (unless lens vignetting counts as modding the image). These aren't the original image sizes, mind you.

This picture was taken in SLC. I kinda took it just as a snapshot, but I messed around with the colors on it and decided it had lots of potential. The orignial image's colors and contrast were very bland.
EXIF data available. Clickhereto show/hide.
Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeNIKON CORPORATIONCamera ModelNIKON D40Camera SoftwareVer.1.10Maximum Lens Aperturef/5.7Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaColor Filter Array Pattern4834Focal Length (35mm Equiv)82 mmImage-Specific Properties:Image Created2008:05:21 22:13:22Exposure Time1/60 secF-Numberf/5.6Exposure ProgramNot DefinedISO Speed Rating400Lens Aperturef/5.6Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length55.00 mmRenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardGain ControlLow Gain UpContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormalSubject Distance RangeUnknown
>> JP
     File :-(, x)
I took this one on a trail that's up by the hospital at the University of Utah. Yes, I did mean for the biker to show up in the picture. The lighting was really bad that day, so I had to do a lot to the color to make it look like this.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeNIKON CORPORATIONCamera ModelNIKON D40Camera SoftwareVer.1.10Maximum Lens Aperturef/4.6Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaColor Filter Array Pattern4834Focal Length (35mm Equiv)52 mmImage-Specific Properties:Image Created2008:05:23 02:31:42Exposure Time1/200 secF-Numberf/8.0Exposure ProgramNot DefinedISO Speed Rating200Lens Aperturef/8.0Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length35.00 mmRenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardGain ControlNoneContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormalSubject Distance RangeUnknown
>> JP
     File :-(, x)
I've always liked this car. It's been sitting in my grandpa's pasture behind his house for years and years now just rusting and falling apart. I wanted to portray a feeling of nature taking over again. I did little editing to the colors.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeCanonCamera ModelCanon PowerShot A570 ISCamera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS3 WindowsMaximum Lens Aperturef/5.0Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaImage-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandImage Created2008:07:01 23:17:04Exposure Time1/250 secF-Numberf/5.0ISO Speed Rating80Lens Aperturef/5.0Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length19.60 mmColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width3072Image Height2304RenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandard
>> JP
     File :-(, x)
This, funny enough, was just a light at a gas station. I liked the color of the paneling, so I wanted a picture of it to see what I could do with some editing. I like the outcome.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeNIKON CORPORATIONCamera ModelNIKON D40Camera SoftwareVer.1.10Maximum Lens Aperturef/4.8Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaColor Filter Array Pattern4826Focal Length (35mm Equiv)57 mmImage-Specific Properties:Image Created2008:07:01 19:38:13Exposure Time1/3 secF-Numberf/5.0Exposure ProgramNot DefinedISO Speed Rating800Lens Aperturef/5.0Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo FlashFocal Length38.00 mmRenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardGain ControlLow Gain UpContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormalSubject Distance RangeUnknown
>> JP
     File :-(, x)
And my final one was taken through Skyline Arch in Moab. I went down there with professional photographer Bruce Hucko for a class and he took us here for sunset. The only editing I did was I upped the contrast and added vignetting. The colors were even more vivid in person.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeCanonCamera ModelCanon PowerShot A590 ISCamera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS3 WindowsMaximum Lens Aperturef/2.6Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaImage-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandImage Created2008:07:26 13:45:10Exposure Time1/125 secF-Numberf/8.0ISO Speed Rating200Lens Aperturef/8.0Exposure Bias-1.3 EVMetering ModePatternFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length5.80 mmColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width2448Image Height3264RenderingNormalExposure ModeManualWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandard
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>I upped the contrast and added vignetting

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>> JP
Is that a bad thing that I did that?
>> Anonymous
>>230768
Fucking get off it already.
>> Anonymous
>>230761
turn up brightness bitch
>> Anonymous
They're plenty sharp and it's easy to tell you know your CS3. If you aren't happy with your pictures, it's not a technical issue.

Try pushing yourself in terms of composition, subject matter, lighting, perspective, foreground/background elements, and all those basic things every photo 101 class teaches.

By checking out Bruce Hucko's website, you can see how the space in his photographs flow. There's something interesting to look at in every section of the picture and the curves and lines are used to make your eye wander throughout the image.

In most of these images, you get a sense for what the "picture is about" on your first glance, and then are done with them. The biker in the second image is a step in the right direction.
>> JP
Is that the only thing you think is wrong with my pictures? I do try to go for a very solid, graphic image when I take pictures. So I haven't really considered making the images flow.
>> Anonymous
You don't have to make them flow more. But right now they're just too ordinary. Make them unique, go further in one direction or the other. If you want them to be minimal and graphic, study Minor White. But just try and do something more interesting, unique, push the envelope.

I also try not to change things in post. Not that it's "cheating" or anything, but it teaches me to be lazy when I shoot. So I never crop my images. If I screw up, I go out and I shoot again, if I screw up again or it just isn't working, I take it as a lesson and move on to something new.
>> JP
Yeah, I'm against cropping too. None of these images were cropped. The only reason I change my colors is becuase I could NEVER get colors that saturated in nature. I always find things that look unreal that way interesting.